Lunch on the lawn...

 

This past weekend offered glorious summer temperatures here in the South West UK. Everywhere, the sound of flip flops and lawn mowers enhanced the summery feel, and on Sunday, the boys and I decided to have lunch in the garden. As the young family members had spent the morning playing football, I did not bother with any fancy table settings for them...

 

... but after they had finished and I saw the small table there in the shade...

 

... a little tired and in need of some TLC...

 

... it seemed to be cajoling me to dress it up and make it feel pretty for a moment...

 

So, inspired by a few small Indian wooden stamps I picked up in London last week...

... I dug out my old wooden stamps bought in Turkey 

(some still with traces of paint after I used them for card making)...

... and let their oriental feel set the tone for the table décor...

(Yes, I know I have mixed very different Asian details here, such as the old Turkish book pages wrapped around the violet and the onions, mixed with East Asian chop sticks... oh, and yes, Moroccan style lanterns which obviously do not belong on that continent at all! Ah well, we will have to adopt a rather liberal view on theme loyalty here, I think...!)

 

As I was playing around with these - in my opinion - rather beautiful wooden stamps, another idea was born. I hope I will be able to show you some results of that idea in a few weeks. I just need to find the material and...ah, yes, the t-i-m-e....

Wishing you all a really lovely week!

Helena

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Counting sheep...

It is the first few trembling minutes of Sunday here in the Swenglish house. We are trying to remind ourselves to forward the clocks in the house before we go to bed, and we are pulling funny faces in front of the mirror as we hope to spot a modest tan after today's summer experience.

Except for the golden light from a few candles, the house mostly rests in darkness now, and the photos bear that grainy, sleepy quality I wish I had the skills to avoid...

On the sofa where my favourite curling-up corner can be found (I can see through the dining area and into the garden from here), rests an inviting lambskin. Given the glorious temperatures today (+19-20!), this ought to be put away until next winter, but I am hesitating. I tell myself that the evenings might still be cold, and surely its cosy appeal can fight off the deceptive summer vibes and allow for it to linger a little longer...?

Yes, here we are, finally arrived at the theme of this blog post. 

The clue is in the "baah".

Bath is a very hilly city, and just outside the city, the countryside continues 

this up-y-down-y trend, however here painted in green, 

with a scattering of woolly wonders.

But, hang on a minute, could this be the world's cheekiest lamb? Let's zoom in for a second...

Yes, definitely! The little lamb is clearly sticking its tongue out at its mum, behind her back! 

Tss, tss, caught on camera, my woolly friend!

I know I risk some of my readers falling asleep during this blog post...  

... but I just could not resist introducing you to these sweet little fleecy friends, 

posing so kindly for me the other day...

To those of you who have managed to stay awake all the way through this post,

I wish you a  lovely Sunday and hope it brings you stunning weather and 

lots of fun and play!

Helena

Ps. A special hello to those of you who may have found your way here from lovely Annalisa at The Apple Market, who wrote a blog post about The Swenglish Home a few days ago. It was an honour to be featured in your blog, Annalisa, and thank you for all of your kind words!

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Feeling blue...

... but in a good way!

(The images in this post look better if you click on them to view them against a black background.)

Having returned from Lacock with blue & white inspiration from the Tearooms, I rummaged through my cupboards to find my blue and white second hand shop finds (50 p - £ 1 per piece), to organise my own little tea party...

But... ehm... you can't blaim a girl for being slightly distracted by newly bought pansies and stunning sunshine, can you? And so it was that no tea was ever brewed, but pretty pansies projecting their petal pride from the small coffee cups. 

These particular cups were bought second hand by some friends in Sweden, because they knew these were identical to the ones my grandparents used to sip their three o'clock coffee from. Just looking at these little  cups and saucers brings back so many memories, and I can almost hear my grandfather quietly slurp the coffee whilst holding a sugar cube between his teeth, the way he always did...

The garden table (spray-painted to look old and rusty) was brought in to 

the conservatory and decorated with some ivy from the garden...

There is something about the white and blue that oozes summer vibes, don't you think?

And if I am not mistaken, that is where we are heading, slowly but surely!

...and then one thing led to another...

... and a blue & white cushion was born!

The perceptive reader might recognize the photo on the cushion as the third one in this blog post, although a mirror image of it due to the transfer process. I used Iron-On T-Shirt Transfer paper, which can be found in most stationery shops (I made lavender sachets in the same way here.), and some white linen fabric I had in the cupboard. A couple of straight seams and voilà, a summer-inspired cushion. The images are not perfect, perhaps because of the not entirely smooth linen fabric surface, but we can perhaps call it...ahem... "rustic"...?

Wishing all you of you, new readers and old, the loveliest of weeks, 

and thank you for stopping by!

Helena

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Layered  loveliness...

Snow drops are on their last breath on the road side, ready to move over and give way to other colourful spring-petalled cousins. A few days ago, with fingers itching for some floral play, I grabbed a handful of the snow drops, a couple of stems of Chrysanthemums from the flower shop, some ribbon, left-over linen fabric and burlap and there, ready to go, I set to work. Hearing my heart humming joyous spring tunes, I also decided it was time to air my latest DIY project, the wooden cake stand... 

I made this cake stand in the same way as the one I made with plates and a cup a year ago, but this time I used different sized "plates" of birch, covered the wired metal rod with strips of burlap/hemp, and topped it off with a left-over piece of the wooden branch from which I made napkin rings before Christmas.

The wholegrain strawberry yoghurt with grapes, served in small tea light holders from IKEA many years ago, was devoured just a moment after these photos were taken...

Funny that, how two hungry boys just having returned from school seemed a lot more interested in the edible props than stopping to admire mum's little decorating frenzy...

***

Magazine feature

For those of you who subscribe to Country Homes & Interiors, you may see a familiar face in the April issue that arrived today (due to arrive in UK stores on Thursday, March 8th). In April last year, photographer Brent Darby and journalist Hazel Dolan did a feature of our home. Both were such lovely people and very skilled at making me feel at ease, despite my being rather uncomfortable having to appear before rather than behind the camera. Below are two of the pages from the feature:

***

Thank you SO much for all your kind comments on my last blog post. Those of you enjoying old English stone houses, "watch this space" as there are more to appear here soon. I confess to lately having gone a little wild and crazy with my camera on my walks in the spring sun...

To those of  you who may have found your way here through the magazine feature, a warm welcome and thank you for stopping by!

All the best, 

Helena

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One step behind...

Dear, oh dear... sometimes the wheels spin so fast one forgets all sorts of things...

...like the second anniversary of my blog! A week ago, it was two years ago that my blog took its first stumbling little baby steps, and little did I know that two years later, I would have enjoyed the most amazing experience being part of such a warm-hearted community! So many smiles, so many encounters - even if many only virtual - with lovely, lovely people, whom I feel very grateful to have met.

But this journey has not only been about virtual friendships. Some blog friends I have had the delight to also meet in the flesh, so to speak, and last weekend one of my very cherished blog sisters visited the Swenglish Home again. Charlotte, with the inspiring blog Trädgårdsflow (Garden Flow) ended a UK business trip with a day here, and you can imagine the rattling sound of our thoughts, ideas and giggles flying back and forth between us. Think squash game, but without the ferocity behind the serve...

We took a little stroll through Castle Combe...

...where the snow still lined the road of these two love birds 

(unknown to me, but my lens caught them showered with sun light and couldn't resist)...

Imagine my delighted surprise when on Monday we woke up to a completely snow-free world, 

and not only that, but one where GREEN seems to have been set as the new trend.... Yes!

Today, the spring-dizzy birds are singing as if their life depended on it, and when I saw these 

lovely snow drops on the side of the road, I let out an equally spring-effervescent tune.

***

As a special treat for my boys who are on half-term school holiday this week, I took them for a scrumptious lunch at our favourite sushi restaurant in Bath (Yen Sushi). This little coincidental leek heart in my Miso soup brought a smile to my lips that lasted long into the afternoon. For once, I also happened to have my camera handy, and there it is, ladies and gents, evidence that we only have to open our senses to the small signs around us, to see that there is love in the world, sometimes even in your lunch!

Soooo, last, but not least... a Valentine greeting a little late... 

This little heart is for you, for being the lovely readers that you are! :

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Golden glory for lunch anyone...?

After an inspired autumn walk, I felt like bringing some golden sunshine into the house...

A few - by the man in the house - home grown pumpkins were still around...

One small home-made willow wreath on the table, a leaf-clad larger ditto hanging above...

And yes, for those of you wondering, the photo above 

was taken whilst levitating, in true Halloween spirit...

My hessian (burlap) fabric here again used as table cloth and glass decoration. 

(See here how it was used for a spring table.) 

And the best bit? With the exception of the two pears and the rustic bread, 

all the material was old, recycled or free from the forest...

May all your meals be sun-lit and scrumptious today!

Helena

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