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A while ago, whilst visiting the Ginge's parents, we stumbled upon a little brown paper bag packed to bursting with the badges and patches he earned whilst a scout. Being a sucker for nostalgia, I set out to find a way of using them in the house. Their sheer brightness and variety of colour reminded me, for some reason, of  butterflies displayed in cases. I have therefore been looking to buy a entomology display case for several months, with nothing more to show for myself than a few sharp intakes of breath and some silent gawping stares at the price of the things.  Apparently, taxidermy is an expensive hobby. The grand plan was to put every single badge in one big white case and maybe that will still happen one day, but for now we will have to settle with the smaller version. I found this 'memories case' in John Lewis of all places and apart from it's size, it is exactly what I was looking for. I therefore spent a very happy Sunday afternoon pinning in some of the Ginge's most poignant badges; the first ever Gang Show he took part in, a badge from Andorra where he would one day work as a ski instructor, the Natural History Museum (no explanation needed for geeks like us), a mountain (his most favourite place to be), the scout crest, the Sandringham gates which are just down the road from where he grew up, his 'Sixer' patch and one commemorating the 75th anniversary of the cubs. It's a lovely mix of childhood memories and the things that make him who he is. It's no great work of art and would mean very little to most people, but I am very pleased with it and I smile every time I walk past it. The Ginge loves it too, which is just as well. 

P.S. Thank you so much for all the lovely well-wishes. I am feeling much better this week; all the more so for your wonderful kindness. 

Christmas Wrapping

Ooh, we're nearly there and I am so excited! I finished wrapping the Ginge's presents yesterday and have left them under our tree for when we are next together for our own mini-Christmas. He is working on the big day, to which I personally say a massive bah-humbug, but I am sure that his patients will be cheered by his jolly little face on Christmas morning, which makes me very proud. Anyway, I am very pleased with my wrapping this year. A while ago, I bought an old book, which at the time of purchase looked like an innocent nature handbook, but after close reading turned out to contain some rather racist sentiments in the 'homo sapiens' section. Not wishing to have it on my shelf any longer, I decided to cut out some of the beautiful animal illustrations for my labels and used some text pages to make snowflakes. Giving presents is my favourite part of Christmas. I love searching for the perfect present and making things I know people will enjoy. I love making the wrapping look beautiful and most of all, I love watching peoples' faces when they open their gifts. Not long now...

Bedroom Loveliness

We have finally (almost) finished our new bedroom and are feeling very pleased with ourselves. It used to be the spare room, painted sky blue with a dark blue scratchy carpet and garish curtains you would be unsurprised to see in a school library. Now, it is soft white with beautiful honey-coloured floorboards and gentle french-blue floral voile at the window. It doesn't look it, but the whole thing was remarkably unplanned, apart from the colours of the walls and floor, which were heavily scrutinised by me. We stumbled upon the wardrobe, chest of drawers and schoolboy's suitcase on a beautiful antique shop adventure; falling in love with them on the spot and buying them in a moment of caprice. The large travelling trunk once belonged to the Ginge's Grandfather, was passed on to his mother and has now come to us. It is waiting to be lined with some new ticking fabric, but that is a project for another day. The voile at the window was found in my parents' garage, in a box of odds and ends from a friend's old shop. Finally, the most recent acquisition was our bedding, which was bought for us by my overly generous Grandmother as a very early Christmas present. I must admit that after looking around most of the shop with lots of 'hmm, I'm not sures' and 'I like it, buts', I was concerned that the Ginge and I might not find something on which we could both agree. Happily though, we found this lovely, bluey-grey-striped number with matching floral pillow cases. It is boyishly feminine and pulls everything in the room together, as if it were all painstakingly pre-meditated. Isn't it funny how these things happen? The room has such a peaceful atmosphere and I am sure I sleep better in there than our old room. It is definitely a sanctuary for the ends of busy days and weekend lie-ins. Now we just need to get some stuff on the walls.  

A Mosey and a Nosey

My very good friend Beth came to visit me this weekend. What a treat! I have known her since I was a scrap, but we usually only manage to coincide over the major holidays: Christmas, Easter etc, with just about enough time for a drawn-out coffee. Diagnosis: not good enough. Treatment: girly weekend in Sheffield; spending some quality time together and giving her a break from the Big Smoke. 

It is so lovely when you see old friends. You could spend hours planning exciting things to do together, but the best times are always those when you can just rabbit-on endlessly to each other and we definitely did a lot of that! 

 The weather was absolutely glorious on Saturday, so we had a delightfully meandering amble down to Sharrow, via the beautiful Botanical Gardens. 

 The gardens make such a lovely haven from the busy roads that run so close by them. Being there brought back so many memories from my first year at university. I lived just around the corner from the gardens and used to regularly go there to escape from my work. 

 The gardens were just as I always loved them - alive and bursting at the seams with beautiful, spring flowers. I love how Magnolias manage to be so robust and yet so delicate all at the same time. 

Once we had got as far as Sharrow, we decided that it was high time for a treat, so we indulged ourselves with cupcakes from Fancie - Sheffield's answer to the Primrose Hill Bakery.

 They make seriously good cakes, although I can never handle all of the icing and usually donate it to the especially sweet-toothed of my friends. This time I went for raspberry and almond, which was very light and summery. 

Me...me...me...I do...I do...I do!

 Sharrow has lots of lovely little cafes and shops, including several that sell vintage and reclaimed items. I was just walking past one such establishment, when I spotted this bad boy. I fell in love with it immediately and it is now home to my back catalogue of Country Living magazines (seriously guilty pleasure), whilst it waits for the return of my knitting, which is currently somewhere alone and abandoned, in France. Whoops! 

The rest of the weekend was spent talking and eating(surprise, surprise) and ended with a lovely walk through Bole Hill Park, which has views over to the Loxley and Rivelin Valleys. Such magical names. Such beautiful places. 

It was, as my Great Aunt would say 'black our Bill's Mother's' and it did rain, but in a way, that made it even more delightful. 

Antiques and Curry

It has been a bitterly cold weekend in Sheffield. It actually snowed yesterday. We decided to warm the cockles by pottering around some antique shops, looking at cozy, homely, old things. It was amazing. So many things I wanted to buy - if only I had more money and more space! 

Andy found some brilliant old scales and I got very excited by this scooter. It was all I could do not to jump on it and whiz off down the road! 

They seemed to have a rather extensive collection of stuffed pandas. I love the one on the left. He looks so unimpressed! 

To continue warming ourselves up, we went to our favourite restaurant: East and West. In my experience, it is the best Indian food outside of India. We had this incredible Thali. It took me straight back to all of the delicious meals I have eaten in India and all of the wonderful people that I ate them with. 

To quote one of them(the beautiful Casey Heffron), 

"it made my heart so happy!" 

Something old...

The last week has been a bit manic in my camp (not that I'm surprised), but I have managed to squeeze some nice things in between the madness, including a trip to my favourite charity/junk shop. 

A few years ago, my parents suggested that I follow the family tradition of choosing a set of posh china to be gifted to me, in installments, on important milestone occasions (birthdays, wedding etc). I looked at nearly every pattern going, but couldn't find anything that I liked. There was no magic or romance to them and there was certainly no story behind them. 

So, I set out to create my own, completely unique set of mismatched china. I love the idea that each piece has lived in a different house with different owners and it makes me so happy to think that these once-loved little pieces of china, though thrown away, will now be loved by me! 

I have been collecting for roughly four years now. I just keep an eye out for things any time I visit a charity/junk/antiques shop. 

I bought these two plates at the weekend for a grand total of 60p! Amazing. Actually, it was very exciting as the hardest pieces to come by are side plates. Cups and saucers are easy (although not as much as they used to be -I think they are becoming quite fashionable) and serving plates pop up quite regularly, but side plates are really hard to find. I'm not sure I'll ever know why. 

The pistachio green serving plate is my favourite. It looks so plain in some lights, but at the right angle it has this amazing star-like pattern in the middle. I can't wait to bake some cakes to serve on it. Sometime, I will get a picture of some of the other pieces up for you to see the full effect.