Autumn Sun

Its been a funny few weeks since I last wrote a post.  I've been working hard at putting together my new business.  Been on a half day blogging for business workshop in an attempt to get my mojo into gear on the blogging front.  Gone to a few networking events and been seriously inconvenienced with a reoccurring back problem.  But at least, in the last week or so the weather has given us a few beautiful days.

On one of these I was having a few moments relaxation with a glass of elderflower liqueur (if you haven't tried it do - comes under the trade name of St Germain in a very beautiful bottle, not too sweet and fab mixed with sparkling wine!) when I noticed this butterfly enjoying it too!

Sorry about the grubby table it's beginning to show its age so I usually cover it with a cloth when we are using it - much easier than keeping scrubbing it down particularly as its covered with silver spray paint from an old craft project.

We took further advantage of the lovely weather last weekend and went to Whitby for the day on Saturday.  It was warm and sunny although a little windy.  We did our usual things, walked along the beach to Sandsend and rewarded ourselves with tea and cake and a visit to the art gallery there, although this time we didn't buy anything.  Then walked back into Whitby along the beach before the tide came in.  It was made extra special because youngest daughter was up for the weekend and she came along with us.

We also walked up to the abbey, exhausting but so worth it for the view.  It's lovely to walk round the outside but if you're ever up that way do go in it's well worth the visit.  You can find out more about it on the English Heritage site( http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/whitby-abbey/).

I've been editing my wardrobe and made a few purchases to fill the gaps as well as compiling my wish list for the winter but more about that next time.....

Bye for now xxx

Jams - Sweet and Savoury

Well its been that time of year again, when I get the urge to make jam.  Its been a good year for berries and our blackcurrant bushes have done us proud despite the heavy snow in March (remember that?) bringing the cast iron guttering down from the garage against which the bushes grow and flattening half of them.

This year I made blackcurrant liqueur from half of the berries and jam from the rest.  The liqueur will be ready by the end of the year so its good to have the jam to enjoy now.

I have also bought chilli plants from the supermarket the last couple of years which keep me in chillies for most of the year.  They dry really well and I make an amazing Chilli Jam courtesy of a recipe from Nigella, whilst they are fruiting at their best.

I bottled some of it up in these small jars which are perfect as gifts.  It tastes really good with meats and is particularly good with cheese.

The blackberry's are abundant this year so as soon as the apples get a little bigger there will be pies and of course more jam!!  The pears are pretty abundant this year too so I'm looking forward to finding interesting recipes for those too - although I'll have to get in fast as there are some rather large black birds enjoying them at the moment......

Well enough of all this domesticity I really must see what the shops are offering in the way of Autumn fashion, see you soon, thanks for reading.

Wonderful Lake Garda

This summer we holidayed at Limone on Lake Garda in Italy.  We have enjoyed a number of holidays in the region but last visited about 14 years ago. I was a little apprehensive, its always a bit scary revisiting somewhere you loved after such a long time - will it have changed for the worse?  Well I'm happy to say it was just as beautiful as we remembered it.  Fabulous scenery, amazing food, and real Italian ice cream in every flavour under the sun!  Our hotel was in the perfect position, about 25 minutes walk from the centre of Limone, on the edge of the lake with its own private beach.  The picture below is the view from our balcony.  It was wonderful to wake up to such a fabulous view every morning and to know that you have nothing to do all day but enjoy the beauty of your surroundings and no decision harder than what to have for your next meal!!

Not a bad view to wake up to hey!

The Hotel was called the Panorama and you can see why.  It was really comfortable and our room was probably the cleanest I have ever stayed in.

  

We took a couple of trips on the lake to other towns but mainly just chilled as we really needed the rest.

It will not be another 14 years before we visit again thats for sure.  Meanwhile we are living on the memories.

Have a great day x

Best of Intentions!

Well, after a long break, I confidently said I would be back to regular blogging.  Ha! I was immediately struck down with the worst virus I've had in an age. So after surfacing from under the covers I am now giving myself over to the gentle ministrations of those caring gents Ben and Jerry.

And found this great container on Anthropologie which I think will enhance the experience even more.  It's a bit pricy, but perfect for enjoying your ice cream a tub at a time - yes I know I'm greedy.

So I'm hoping that I will be able to get back on track soon x

Long time coming!

Its been almost a year since I posted on my blog.  It was originally started as a companion to my online store, but my career took a change of direction and I sort of didn't know what to do with it.  However, I did enjoy blogging about things other than my business and have decided that it would be fun to continue.

I'm not sure how it will develop, but there will be fashion, food, travel and the musings of a woman not ready to retire!

Jo Malone at the V&A

I had a few days in London last week and one of the things I did was go to the V&A to listen to a talk by Jo Malone.  It was an interesting insight into a woman who seems to live fragrance. Having sold the Jo Malone brand to Estee Lauder some years ago, and left the company in 2006.  She is about to embark on a new fragrance journey by launching a new brand called JOLOVES, with the first store opening in London in the Autumn.

She was asked what drove her to go back into business, after all, she is a very wealthy woman who has fought breast cancer - some may say she deserves to take life easy.  She answered that 'the first thing she thinks about when she wakes up in a morning is fragrance'.  It seems that to her it is her life and not to be involved in the creating and producing of it leaves a gap that other things cannot fill.

For those of us who love the Jo Malone fragrances, it will be interesting to see where this new venture takes us on our scent journey.

hot chilli and garden flowers

We have been eating quite a lot of spicy food recently as a result of this.....

Of course, as with all produce all the chilli's have ripened at once so I am trying madly to incorporate them into everything I make.  They are also really hot, I suppose its because they are fresh - all fruit and veg tastes so much better picked straight from the plant. So yesterday I took a few off and had a go at drying them.  I put them in a roasting pan and put them on the top of the aga for 24 hours and this is what I have..

they seem to have dried pretty well so I am going to put them in a bag in the store cupboard and see how they keep.  I will also be making chilli jam and infusing some oil.  You can tell I'm a good Yorkshire lass and hate waste!

After the hideous weather we have been having of late I went into the garden and rescued some of the most battered of the peonies.  We have loads of flowers this year but the weather has not been kind to them and the very heavy heads have been forced downward, so I thought better in my dining room than  as food for the slugs!

I don't know the variety as they were in the garden when we arrived, but they have the most heavenly scent, and some have either a pale coral, or pale pink centre.  I adore peonies, I just wish they lasted longer.

I also picked a few of the climbing roses that grow along the side fence.  They look really poorly this year - I think the mildew has got the better of them and when the flowers have gone I thing a good prune is in order, although my record with pruning roses is really bad - in that usually I manage to kill them - but as this is a climber I'm hoping I'll have a bit more success.

Well this seems to have turned into a bit of a gardening post today, maybe its because so far today its hasn't rained, so I'd better scoot out there again before it does, bye for now!!

baking the easy way

I love baking muffins, they are so easy.  You just throw everything into a bowl, give it a quick mix, load your muffin cases, bake and 14 mins later you have a fab tray of yummy muffins ready to eat!  I often make them first thing for breakfast they are that fast.

I made these the other afternoon when I had a sweet craving but nothing in the cupboard to satisfy it.

All the ingredients in one bowl

That after a quick mix look like this....

Fresh out of the oven....

...and ready to eat!!

They are fruit muffins made with the only fruit in the house a couple of very ripe nectarines, which to be honest could have done with being a little firmer but still tasted delish :)

here's the recipe:

2 cups (300g) self raising flour

3/4 cup (150g) firmly packed brown sugar

2 nectarines, stone removed, chopped - skin on

1 egg lightly beaten

3/4 (180ml) cup plain yoghurt + milk mix (about 1/2 and 1/2)

1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil

Put muffin cases into muffin tin.

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl, stir in other ingredients.

Spoon mixture into muffin tin.  

Bake in moderately hot oven for approx 20mins. (I have an Aga thats why they cook quicker!)

Remove from oven, leave in muffin tin for a few mins to cool a little then either put on cooling rack to finish cooling or eat warm from oven ENJOY.....

Beach Style

Even though our English weather seems to have given up on summer there are many of you out there that are lucky enough to be heading off to sunnier climates and with that comes the perennial problem of packing.  With most airlines now restricting how much luggage we take (by charging us a fortune for more than carry on) its always an advantage if we are able to take items that are useful for more than one thing.  So today I thought I would show you what you can do with the simple wrap.

Here is one of our silk and cotton wraps.  Wear it as a scarf when you are leaving for the airport and whilst traveling on the plane.

Then, with a bit of wrapping and tying, you can use it as a sarong....

.....or as a halter top ....

you just take the wrap, put it around your neck, with the two long ends in the front, cross them over at the front and tie at back, then arrange the fulness to preserve your modesty ....

and if your feeling confident you can tie it around your head, to protect your hair from the sun and cover beach frizz

and you can tie it around your waist to give a pop of colour to trousers/shorts/dress....

And finally, around your shoulders against either the heat of the day or a cool evening breeze, or even just those persistent mozzies!!

Just make sure your wrap is soft so it drapes and generously sized and you have yourself a very versatile addition to your wardrobe that will take up very little space in your suitcase.

Summer Shopping

Well, I've finally given in to the weather and stopped looking at all those lovely light summer clothes and instead headed to M&S to check out the sale rales and picked up a couple of lovely lightweight jumpers. One in a lovely bright emerald green and the other in a light turquoise (light teal? decide for yourself!).  The necklace is from last season at M&S and goes with absolutely everything and the shoes were this years bargain buy which I wear all the time.  So at least the colours make me feel summery even if the weather doesn't ........

Its been a frustrating past week, with mistakes from suppliers and therefore, bespoke orders backing up because they tend to need special fabrics or colours I don't stock.  Still, I'm hoping for a clear run this week, wish me luck!!

A weekend in the sun!

Its been a while since I've said hello here on my blog.  Life's been a bit difficult these last few months, as I've had an injury which has seriously curtailed my mobility and meant that a few things have had to be put on hold.  But I'm well on the road to recovery and beginning to get back into the swing of things, and hope to be back talking to you and letting you know what things I have in store for the next few months.  I'm hoping to introduce some new products soon which I think are very exciting - I hope you do too.

Whitby Harbour

View from our window

We had a wonderful weekend at Whitby which is one of my most favourite places in the world.  We were joined by our two daughters and rented a great apartment, it was really spacious in a perfect position with lovely views.  (you can see it here).  The weather forecast for the east coast of Yorkshire was colder than for the rest of the country so we went stocked up with jumpers and hoped for the best.  Well the best certainly arrived!  As you can see from the pictures we had clear blue skies and lots of lovely warm sun.

Whitby Abbey

It really is a lovely place to visit.  It has lots of history (it was the place Captain Cook set sail from, as well as its amazing Abbey), with lots of lovely little streets filled with interesting shops and some fabulous places to eat, many of which we took advantage of.  They have some interesting events through the year which I'll tell you about another time.

On our way home we spent the afternoon in York.  There was a food festival on so we were able to stock up on lots of locally produced food.  Our daughters caught the train back to London from there and we made our way home to finish of our trip sat in the garden enjoying our dinner and the odd glass.

Hope you had as much fun as us this weekend, bye for now....

Mary Quant, Mad Hatters and Phantoms!

Last weekend was incredibly busy but lots of fun.  We went to stay with our daughters in  London and they had planned lots of things for us.  I went down on Thursday as I wanted to visit the Ideal Homes Exhibition which was on at Earls Court.  Its a long time since I visited and I have to say I was a bit disappointed.  There didn't seem to be as many home related stands as I remember, and in fact, if it hadn't been for the large fashion and beauty section (yep, I don't know how that fits in either!) it would have seemed quite empty.  Still I had a most enjoyable time with daughter two and we still managed to buy things.

Friday evening was a joy. We had tickets for the Mary Quant talk at the V&A.  Sorry about the grainy photo, it was taken on my iPhone from quite a way back, but I wanted to have something to show.  She was truly a visionary.  It seems a bit cliched to say she revolutionised fashion but she truly did.  The clothes she designed were so different to anything that had proceeded them, both in terms of style and fabrics.  She was very keen on using different fabrics together, for example, tweed with soft silks.  She also developed a way of bonding silk crepe to give it structure and make it easier to work with.  She was also the first person to use plastics for fashion clothes.  And of course there was no way a woman could wear the stockings and suspenders that were worn then with the mini skirt!  She told us how she used to get tights from theatrical shops for her models to wear, until the hosiery companies caught on.

She has written her autobiography and I look forward to reading it because apart from the iconic clothes she designed she was also a part of the whole 60's scene that saw in change in almost every area of life and had a profound impact on womens lives.

As if that wasn't enough, on Saturday we had the most amazing afternoon tea at the Sandersons Hotel which was based on The Mad Hatters Tea Party!

Rainbow sandwiches, little bottles of fruit puree with drink me on and lollies that taste both hot and cold in your mouth.  Yummy cakes and some of the best scones I have tasted, rounded off with a glass of champagne (or an amazing cocktail) and tea, all served in the conservatory.    I can definitely recommend   it.  And if you do visit go into the lift - its interesting to say the least.  The bar is also quite cool.

Now, still keeping up?  We finished off our Saturday by seeing the wonderful Phantom of The Opera.  Its an amazing production and Sofia Escobar, who played Christine has the most beautiful voice. Its been running for 25 years this year but still seems fresh.

I hope your weekend was as much fun as ours.  Now its back to work and a different type of fun.

Thinking of proposing!

Well its that time again when we get an extra day in the year and traditionally its the day when the girls get to propose to the man in their life.  So girls, if your man's dragging his heals on the wedding  front then todays the day........

I caught the fashion segment on the Lorraine show this morning and they were featuring peplums which are big fashion news for this coming season.  For the uninitiated, a peplum is an extra bit of fabric attached around the waist that gently flairs out.  A good example of the style is this one from Zara (Zara black peplum dress).  It's a great style if you carry an extra bit of weight around your stomach, as it covers this area whilst still giving a nice lean silhouette. Also the defined waist with the gentle flair helps those of us who don't have much in the way of a waist. There are also lots of tops in this style out there, which paired with a pencil skirt or trousers combines comfort with style. You don't have to be young to wear this style, I think its a great look for the more mature woman - just maybe a little longer than this one! I think I might be hitting the shops for a try on session, if I'm successful I will post my purchase(s).

A springlike day!!

I know we British are obsessed with the weather but it seems to be that this year in particular we never seem to know what is happening from day to day.  Even the forecasters are backing their options giving us various scenarios, usually from either end of the spectrum!  Still I love it when the spring flowers come into the shops, you can import your own little bit of sunshine with a bunch of daffodils and you really know that the long dark days are coming to an end.

Last week I had an extra treat when our youngest daughter came up for a few days visit.  It was nice to shop and gossip in person.  We took the train over to Manchester for a little bit of retail therapy and a long enjoyable lunch at Harvey Nichols.  The food, as always was first class, and the desserts - they always have something a little bit different.  Daughter had a chocolate confection with peanut butter marshmallow, and I had a beetroot sorbet wrapped in white chocolate on a bed of chocolate soil (not the real thing, it was chocolate cake crumbs).  Now before you go ugh, let me assure you that even if you are not a great fan of beetroot, the combination of the white chocolate with it is a pleasure to the taste buds.  You also get an amazing red tongue from the red coloured dusting! (it appeals to the child in me!!).

If you ever go to Manchester do visit - it has the most amazing views over the Cathedral area of the city.

Another new year!

Its amazing how quickly they seem to come around!  We always try to get away over the holiday period and so on Christmas eve headed to the Alps for our yearly skiing fix.  I love being in the mountains, the scale and beauty fills me with awe, the air is so crisp and clear and we were fortunate to have lovely sunny weather for most of the week.  Of course, it decided to snow on the day we were due to leave so a rather long and delayed journey home ensued, but this is the first time in all the years we have skied that this has happened so we cannot complain - well not too much!

view from our hotel window

The weather since we got back has been crazy to say the least, with the wind taking out the greenhouse and the rain soaking the garden and making it impossible to work in for some time to come.  So its lovely to escape into designing for our spring/summer range and seeing all the lovely summer products come to life.   We will be giving you a preview very soon as to what we have planned, we hope you will be as excited as we are.

End of year!

Well, the last parcels have been posted for those of you who wanted your goods for Christmas.  Now its time to draw a deep breath and clear up all those odds and ends that need to be dealt with before we take a break for the holiday season.  We will be back in full swing on 3 January 2012 although we will be keeping track of any emails that come in in the meantime.

The next few days will be busy with stocktaking - it doesn't matter how careful we are with record keeping (ha ha !!) we still need to do that physical check.  As nearly all of our products are produced by us here at our studio/workshop chaos reigns at this time of year, so I am looking forward to restoring peace and calm.

We have had a very mild winter up until now but I'm sure things will change and that cold will bite soon.  Also, for many of you the ski season is on its way and our faux fur scarves, headbands and collars are perfect for snuggling into whilst enjoying a hot chocolate (or something a bit stronger!) on the slopes.

Arctic Wolf faux fur scarf

We look forward to helping all our lovely customers in 2012, thanks for shopping with us.

Not sure what to wear

silk/cotton bead trim scarf/wrap

Forgot to publish this post last week doh! but its still relevant today so here goes.
Realised that this time last year we were in the throws of snow and ice and yet here we are with temperatures that are far from wintery.  I never know what to wear on days like this, but one things for sure, we all need a bit of colour in our day.  Many of us are leaving for work in the dark and coming home in the dark so a bright scarf is sure to give us a lift.  Thats why I love our silk/cotton scarf/wraps (all those slash marks!).  Although quite large, which means they can be used as a wrap, they are lovely and light which means they are perfect for wrapping round your neck as a scarf without that bulky feeling.  Also, the fabric gives that great two colour shimmer which catches what bit of light there is.

Four seasons in one day!

Well this weekend we seem to have had - in the words of the Crowded House song - four seasons in one day.  We are very fortunate to live in a lovely village on the edge of the Pennines with beautiful scenery on our doorstep and it certainly means we are on the 'cutting edge' of the weather as it happens.  We always enjoy a walk on the weekend but with wind and rain (and a bit of sleet) on Saturday it was a day for enjoying the views from indoors.  However Sunday dawned bright and sunny and quite warm so after lunch we went on one of our favourite walks along the local canal.  Its very beautiful with trees running down to the edge of the water on one side and on the other side of the towpath is the river running through open fields.  I always feel the need to spend some time in our beautiful countryside, it makes facing the working week much happier.

The cobblers childred!

Remember the story about the cobblers children always having holes in their shoes whilst the rest of the village were well shod?  well, its a bit like that for me at the moment.  I have a rather fancy ball to go to this weekend and haven't had time to sort out what I'll be wearing.  Like all of us I have my trusty black dress - full length and in a simple light fabric, and being bias cut it doesn't matter what size I am.  So I'll just have to raid the shop and find something to give it that va va voom.  The beauty of black is that you can put any colour with it to give it an instant update.  I've been thinking of the magenta silk beaded wrap that we have.  We've done this wrap for a while, but you get a sneak preview of the the new clutch bag to go with it on the picture below.  Its so new that its not yet on the website (but it will be by this weekend, honest!).  Although we also have a fab new feathered evening bag that will hit the website this weekend which seriously tempts me. Keep checking out the website as there are lots of lovely new products which will be perfect for the up and coming party season.

beaded wrap with new rose trimmed clutch

New Website!

We've had a hectic few weeks here getting together lots of new photo's for our website and designing a new layout.  There are still a few bits and pieces to add but we are definitely on the home stretch.  There are lots of new products as well as all our customers favourites, so we're very excited about the future.

Lots of lovely faux fur!

All the designers have featured lots of fur in their winter collections so we have brought you all the luxury without the top designer prices.  The quality of these fur scarves is top class and we are happy to report that they are made right here in Britain.  Pop over to the website and take a look at the lovely selection.