Styling it up at Petersham Nursery

I have a bit of an obsession with interior design magazines and blogs. If I spent as much time tidying and decorating my own flat as I do looking enviably at other people's pristine homes, I'd be much closer to living the stylish dream. But a glass of wine and oggling a bit of someone else's styling invariably wins out after a day in the office.

Recently I felt like I'd walked straight into the pages of a magazine during a visit to the beautiful Petersham Nurseries in South West London, a short walk along the river from Richmond.

The lovely Teahouse is filled with shabby chic French style garden furniture and the shop is styled amazingly well while still managing to look relaxed and casual. A very difficult thing to achieve.

Now I'm not only lusting after a gray linen cabinet, yellow vases and giant pots of tulips but a massive house and a garden that look like Petersham wouldn't hurt either. Oh well, back to Hackney.

Hope you had a cracking Easter

Although I ate more chocolate than I should have this weekend, I did manage to fit in some more traditional eggy treats too. I wanted to share the story of how I acquired this cute Boiled Egg & Soldiers plate as it represents everything that is wonderful about Etsy.

(Photo from The Village Pottery)

Those of you that use Etsy to shop online will already know that it is a treasure trove of unique and lovingly-made things. However, the ability to create your own circle or 'favourite' other people's items or shops can lead to all manner of new and exciting conversations and interactions. It truly is a social community in ways that loads of other online sites only claim to be.

After reading about The Village Pottery in one of Etsy's brilliant regular emails (which never fail to introduce me to a new designer that I like) I favourited this spotty plate. I have a thing about all things polka dot as well as being a massive fan of a boiled egg and buttery soldiers brekkie. Seeing that I'd favourited her plate, the lovely Jen at The Village Pottery got in touch to say she loved my bibs and that they would make a perfect gift for her young niece - could we do a swap? What an ace idea! One of my Happy hedgehog bibs was dispatched and I think it's a great swap-a-roony for this lovely egg plate.

Now I'm looking forward to a whole new world of Etsy swap-a-rama!

Jen's studio is based in Bristol where you can drop by and even sample homemade cheesecake in the on-site cafe or you can check out her great hand-thrown ceramics at The Village Pottery store on Etsy.

Marvellous new material - a birthday bonanza

It was my birthday this week and I was lucky enough to get lots of great presents. Included in my pressie stash were lots of new fabrics from my generous friends and family.

This beautiful selection is part of the limited edition collection of printed fabric from the Victoria & Albert Museum. They're available from the Victoria & Albert Museum shop online.They were given to me by my lovely friend, fashion blogger and V&A expert Amber Jane. (Read her insightful fashion history blog at Theatre of Fashion.)

My thoughtful sister brought these two pieces all the way from Singapore for me. I think they're perfect for all the bright, colourful kids clothes that I make.

And this is some hand-printed batik fabric that my mum bought from a little batik workshop in the East Coast of Malaysia. Perfect for something summery...now I just need to start planning some new things.

Vintage Knitting Patterns

Some lovely old knitting patterns I discovered in a charity shop.

Now I've just got to work out what to do with them as I'm not really a knitter. I'm thinking of framing them one day if I ever get my own studio.

And here are a few more that are not childrenswear related but I couldn't resist them...

Rummaging...

This is the last post about our week rummaging our way through the antique, junk and charity shops of Sussex. I just wanted to share this picture with you of the wonderful shop Roberts Rummage in Hastings Old Town.

It's literally stuffed full of all manor of odds and ends, crockery, pictures and....buttons!!

Made in Hastings

While on our holiday in Sussex, we were exploring Hastings Old Town and I stumbled across Made in Hastings. I immediately remembered reading about it in Country Living magazine: it was set up by a group of women who wanted to open a shop but knew they needed time to make their own things as well, so they joined together to run it as a collective. It's not just their own stuff though, they also stock other unique and handmade gifts providing a valuable platform for local artists and makers.

When I read about it, I thought it was a great and idea and exactly the sort of set up I'd love to be part of one day.

It's full of lovely stuff and I would have loved to buy lots more things, sadly my budget only stretched as far as this lovely bird print tea towel and owl card.

I'm definitely hoping to go back if I'm in the area again as there were loads more things I was lusting after, and I really think supporting this sort of shop is worthwhile. It would be a great place to stock up on original Christmas presents.
(Oh dear I really can't seem to go very long without mentioning Christmas, is it wrong to be thinking about it already? Don't answer that!)

You can find out more about the talented ladies at Made in Hastings on their website.