Ned's In The Nursery

Over at The Emporium, we were slightly perturbed yesterday to hear the clippety clop sound of hooves and wheels on the Nursery floor. Imagine our surprise to find this little fellow, settling down with all the other vintage toys and games.



This 1950s Chiltern Toys donkey on wheels seems to have trotted over seeking pastures new. We have both taken a bit of a shine to him and have spent rather too much of the past 24 hours smuggling carrots into the Nursery. In good condition for his age too, he really is hot to trot!!!



Worry not, he's not completely alone, along side all the other gorgeous cuddly vintage toys, it's fair to say that Stocking Stitch Suzie has taken rather a shine to him ... those big beautiful blue eyes of hers have come over all bashful...



Elsewhere in the Emporium, there are crinoline ladies in the Scullery (just perfect for afternoon tea) - who could resist a set of "Pinkie" tea plates?



And as Autumn takes hold and the evenings and mornings become decidedly "brrrrrr", there are recipe books full of home recipes and this gorgeous Duck Egg Blue Casserole Dish for your Autumn casseroles.



We refuse to say goodbye completely to summer and there are lots of summery florals in the Attic at the moment.



1940s calendars to decorate your walls (and allow a spot of daydreaming), pictures and paintings aplenty.



If you can't bear the thought of wellies and woollies, then how about a spot of armchair gardening - vintage of course!



Or childhood nostalgia or adventure - Enid Blyton style?
Judging by the sound of rolling wheels, I expect Ned and Stocking Stitch Suzie have trotted along to view the Library shelves too - hope they've found something good to read...

Just thought you might like a quick peep at what's been going on over at The Emporium recently. Lots of new goodies and the odd giddyup!


(Thank you all so much for all the lovely birthday wishes for Big Sister. She had a wonderful day and night! And has plans to do more of the same for a good few weeks to come!

Baby it's cold outside....

Brrrrrrrrr it's cold! Even colder here at the moment since the boiler has taken it upon itself to break down. So here i am typing away frantically trying to move my fingers in an effort to generate some heat. It seems that more snow is on its way too...
A White Christmas would be lovely but I really hope that I get a chance to go into town beforehand to get some much needed Christmas shopping done. To say I have been in denial over the whole Christmas business this year is somewhat of an understatement....



Over in The Emporium, we have been geared up for Christmas since Santa came and opened our Grotto weeks ago. Snow has very kindly settled on the rooftop and snowflakes are settling on the windowpanes of the various departments. There's even a robin happily chirping away next to the chimney top (best make sure Dottie and I don't light too many fires in the stockroom!). This is our second Christmas at the Emporium -where has the time gone? We have been fortunate enough to have been featured in Homes and Antiques and have had so much fun filling the shelves with festive finds.



If, like me, the thought of all those crowds in town, leaves you cold (pardon the pun) or you're simply at home waiting for the boiler man, please pop over to say hello to us in the Stockroom, we've added mince pies to the custard cream tin too. There's something for everyone from dear Auntie Ada to fussy Cousin Cecil.



We have ripping yarns in the Library, sewing yarns in the Sewing Room, dear little bears in the Nursery, or dear little deer in the Grotto. Bohemian glass in the boudoir or Butterfly Blues in the Dovecote..not to mention the odd fairy or two to add to the magic...

Sweet peas, honey bees & daisies

If I type this very quietly maybe nobody will notice that I'm not behind my sewing machine, beavering away. I promised myself a sewing day but I Just wanted to say that I hope you are all having some of this beautiful sunshine today. Sun shining from the moment I sprang out of bed (well 'sprang' not really the word, since I seem to have broken yet another toe!), all day long and I even managed to eat my lunch in the garden too.




You could almost be forgiven for thinking it was summer - the summer that never was... There is of course the whiff of Autumn in the air and we have woken up this week to seamists, the whiff of changing seasons in the air and holly trees bedecked in frosty jewelled cobwebs.



So when days like these come along, you have to seize them and enjoy. Almost as much as I am enjoying these lovely posters that we have recently added to our Emporium - let the sunshine in indeed!
Enjoy your week.
PS Holiday photos have been uploaded! And some time between now and Christmas at this rate I'm going to share them with you. Here's a clue - we went on a mission....

Now We Are One...

Well almost..

On the 25th July 2009.. Milly and Dottie put on their starched pinafores and smiles and opened the doors to their exciting new emporium.. otherwise known as Milly & Dottie's Emporium.
We have had great pleasure in welcoming visitors from far and wide, many who have shared our journey through this first year of enterprise
We would very much like you to join us in our 1st Birthday Celebrations this weekend... by putting on your best party frock and a fresh ribbon in your hair. There will be jellies and ice-cream, sticky buns galore, cucumber sandwiches and a delicious iced birthday cake with 1 pretty candle to blow out.

To celebrate our 1st anniversary we have a whole new exciting department to browse with the party occasion in mind.. 'Pass the Parcel' which has all kinds of everything to provide for your own vintage party.

Would you please join us in singing...

Happy Birthday to us
Happy Birthday to us
Happy Birthday dear Milly & Dottie's Emporium
Happy Birthday to us..

Hurrah !!

It's party time !

Time For A Wobble?

What is it about jelly? The shape of it? The taste of it? Its texture or just simply the way it wobbles? Whatever it is it never fails to bring on a case of the giggles whenever it is served at this house. Not that it is served that often and maybe that's something I should remedy because a serious fit of the giggles is never to be sneezed at!
I heard the other day somebody mention that they were going to make a special supper for their eldest child after an exam and that there would be jelly. Big Sister who was at that time, just embarking on the long and intense timetable of GCSEs that lay before her, needed cheering up. What a brilliant idea, nothing better, she's loved jelly since she was tiny.



What could be easier than making a jelly. I've made and eaten dozens of them, I could say I could make them blindfolded but that's the point, I almost did... Never, ever make your jelly without your glasses on. The oh so simple task of adding hot water to the contents of a packet is deceptively tricky if you can't read the measurements on your measuring jug. There was I gaily adding water and stirring and pouring contents into mould after mould, wondering why a) my jelly seemed to be resembling the everlasting porridge pot and b) questioning the thermostat on the fridge as the jelly just remained as liquid as the day it was born... Several hours and watery jelly moulds later I found my glasses, emptied the bin to retrieve the jelly instructions and realised my mistake. Poor old Big Sister came home in such a mood that I daren't even tell her the story of the jelly that might have been...



Last weekend I not only remembered to buy some more jelly but set to make them with glasses and magnifying glass at hand. Do you know what? This time the jelly only filled one mould! How simple was that? Not that simple, because basking in my reflective glory and smugness I forgot to get the jelly out of the fridge and give it to anyone. It was only the next day that it was found wobbling in all its glory.


Sunday night we had our jelly. Shimmering, jewel like, resplendent in its wobbliness it sat on our table. And then the laughter began... the first little wobble, the first squelch, the sight of the little domes... need I say more?



The exams are now over here, thank goodness. I don't think I have ever seen my daughter work so hard and feel so tired. She asked me the other day if I was proud of her - I couldn't begin to say just how much. It's not the marks that matter, it's the fact that she got through it with more smiles and maturity than we ever imagined, the fact that for hours she sat revising subjects that she neither really understood nor liked and, sorry huge proud mummy moment here, that whenever I look at her I am filled with the deepest pride and love. I only wish there had been a jelly and some of her little sister's mischievous giggles to greet her after every exam.


(We have a selection of jelly moulds in our Scullery

So now the exams are all over, the summer lies ahead and I for one am stockpiling the jelly and waiting for the jelly jokes... you don't need to have an exam to have a wobble!

Getting into hot water...

I took Miss Blossom out into the garden for this morning for an airing. Poor old thing, stuck in the corner of the room all winter long, she needed some air and a new apron too. She remained taciturn but I could tell the fresh air did her good. I left her in the garden opposite the line of washing soaking up the morning sun.



I wonder just how many frocks she's worn in her lifetime? It's rather a shame that after all these years of modelling fancy frocks she ends up next to the ivy wearing a ration book apron! I think she looks rather fetching - fit for a purpose, utility wear at its best. I'm hoping she might help around the house with the multitude of spring cleaning jobs that seemed to have reared their head since the sun decided to shine on this little house...



A week before Easter our boiler broke. We had no hot water and four disgruntled Roses. Our neighbours offered us the use of their shower and so we trundled up and down the road, washbags in hand, and returned home feeling fresher with dripping hair and shiny faces. Our water "rationing" took its toll by the end of the week, it wasn't so much the lack of hot water for bathing, I could manage a quick wash and feel clean, it was the hair washing that got us girls down.



Our plumber told us it would be fun, just like "all those years ago when we washed our hair at the kitchen sink". Well we tried, we really did ...

Even when Little Sister, head bent down into the kitchen sink, peering into the plughole shouted "Yuk I can see pasta down here" we carried on. I had to admit defeat when it came to my turn and I had to shout for Mr Roses to come and lend a hand - I just couldn't manage the boiling of the kettle whilst my head was shoved in the sink, the pouring of the said boiling water into a jug of lukewarm water and then aiming successfully at my head.



So Mr Roses aided and abetted and in a few moments transported me back to when i was a little girl - to hair washing nights with my mum. To days when our very temperamental boiler had to be primed hours in advance to guarantee any kind of hot water emerging from the taps. To days when my mother would insist cutting my hair shorter and shorter in the belief that it would make my hair thicker (it didn't), to days when she would try lemon and vinegar as a rinse on my hair as a friend had told her it would make it shine... to days when the smell of vosene would fill the bathroom. But best of all to days when she would wrap my hair up in a warm soft towel, give it a good rub and me a huge hug...
A week later the plumber came back like a returning hero with the spare part that would magically transform our cold taps to hot. I wonder if there was a water surge in the city that night, never have any of us (except perhaps for that first night back after our first camping trip), spent so long in the shower.
The very next day the sun began to shine and the dust and hidden yuckiness that had accumulated in the corners of our home over this very long winter began to surface. So, slowly, rugs have been washed and aired, cupboards are being sorted and buckets of hot water are being used...



Elsewhere, in our Emporium we have been having a bit of a Spring Clean too. We have opened up our Cellar to store some bargain items and filled the shelves with lots of new goodies.



If you're on a cleaning mission, you'll find in our Scullery a vintage gem of a book packed full of vintage laundry "how to's".

Our Dovecote is crammed with Spring loveliness, tins, books, linens and toys and right on the top shelf is this little embroidered picture of a the most darling house, which may or may not have running hot water (I suspect not) but where the sun seems to be constantly shining!



Have a good week.

Turning over a new leaf...

Hello! I'm still here. After weeks of frantic busyness, sewing, restocking the Emporium, visits to schools, old and new, applications to Sixth Form Colleges and new Secondary Schools, endless tumbleweed moments in the post office queue and neverending cups of tea, I cleared the decks and decided that I would sit down today and write a new blog post, apologise for my absence, tell you what I've been up to and get back into the swing of blogging and visiting you all again.
Well, hey ho, perhaps I was being a little optimistic. Last Monday morning in November and there was I expecting sunshine to take some lovely rosy photos in!!! Ha ha! That'll teach me. So forgive me if I change my mind about the subject of today's post but I'm unable to accompany it with the photos I wanted. For weeks now I have been giving myself a very hard time about neglecting this blog, and more importantly, not having the time to visit any of you. I have been walking round composing blog posts in my head (and believe me there are quite a few stored up there). I haven't even had the time to visit your blogs, have a quick read and leave without a comment, how bad is that, when I haven't even found the time to lurk. As the weeks have past the thought of writing a new blog became something akin to that dreaded piece of homework, the essay that you know has to be written, the one that makes you sit down and get on with it, and the one, ultimately, that will leave you feeling oh so much better for having finally written it.
Well this is it. I'm really sorry. Please excuse my absence. I owe this blog and my blog readers so much and feel very bad about having temporarily turned my back. So I promise, when the sunshine returns, however temporarily, I will snap those photos and tell those tales...



In the meantime, here are some photos of some of my favourite books that I have recently been able to hunt down and add to our Library at the Emporium (we've also been busy decorating the front of our Emporium, my goodness it was hard not using up all the snow from the roof in our snowball fights, a rather wet and soggy Dottie and I returned to the stockroom much later!).



Back to the books - I do try to find my favourite titles to add to our library. Books I have read myself, and can recommend. Old, original editions that smell like books should smell! Of course, my all time favourite would be "I Capture The Castle" and I have been lucky enough to find an old edition with dustjacket.



Recently, Mr Roses, Big Sister and I have been rewatching the BBC DVD of "Love in A Cold Climate". I can't tell you how happy I was to stumble across a first edition of this book to add to our shelves. "The Pursuit of Love" and "Love in a cold climate" were written for wet, rainy days like this, I'm sure of it!



At the beginning of this year I read "A Game of Hide and Seek" by Elizabeth Taylor, when it was republished by Virago. I must admit I knew very little about the author and had not heard of the story before, I was, I have to admit, attracted by the book cover! Having read the Virago edition and fallen in love with it, I set out to find an early edition with book jacket. Oh the thrill of the hunt! Nothing lovelier than finding a book unexpectedly when you've almost given up the search! What a scrumptious jacket too!



And there's more! The icing on the cake - not one book, not two, but four lovely stories in one book with original dustjacket too! The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield is one of the most amusing books I read last year. After reading it, I found an original copy of another in the title "The Provincial Lady in Wartime" and want to write more about this in another post. But here, in this edition of "The Provincial Lady" are four of her books. A real treasure that I am finding it hard to part with.
If you fancy a good read, or want to give a book at Christmas they're all on the library shelves.
I shall be back as soon as the sun appears with some photos and tales of 1940s Christmases, Horlicks, dried egg and woolly knickers!
x

A brighter shade of pink...

Hello! Hope you all had a good half term, if you had one. Ours was not as relaxing as we wished it to be. So lovely to have Little Sister back home again after her week away zip wiring, canoeing and forgetting to change her clothes... For Big Sister, however, it was somewhat of an assault course in terms of homework and coursework that needed to be completed before returning to school. Why oh why do they have so much to do in the holidays? She returned to school looking and feeling as if she needed a good break.



So we were unable to spend much of the time together, but there were a couple of times that we managed to get out and on each of these occasions I managed to embarrass both my daughters as only mothers do...
Little Sister and I went to see "Up" at the cinema. Thank goodness for the 3D specs is all I can say. My eyes were streaming from start to finish. I held my hand out as I thought that my daughter might need comforting, but not a tear had she shed. It seemed I was crying enough for the two of us. Well at least it was dark...



In the full gleam of the post office queue a couple of hours later, I found the December issue of "Homes and Gardens" magazine. Not having my glasses with me as usual Little Sister had to scour the contents of it for me to find my sachets. Yes! My sachets have been featured in the magazine this month (in the handmade gift ideas for Christmas). She then had to read very loudly to me what the article said etc (several times as I was so excited, much to her annoyance) and then watched my face turn from it's blotchy tear stained pallor to a very nice scarlet as I blushed with embarrassment! Hey ho, I'm sure it amused all the others in the queue...



At the weekend, I found out that Dottie and I were also featured in "Sew Hip" magazine. Further blushing followed and much whooping and skipping - yes I can understand why my girls find me a tad embarrassing.



Dottie and I have been very busy of late building our Christmas grotto and filling the shelves with all kinds of vintage festive loveliness. Please pop in and take a lot, I hear the elves are regularly updating the stock. Decorations, presents, stocking fillers, gorgeous vintage French haberdashery



and some lovely Christmas handmade items have been added throughout the Emporium too.


My new "Christmas Pudding" lavender sachets

To finish the week off, Big Sister and I went to see a special screening of "Bright Star". Sunday morning we arrived soaking wet at the cinema, drenched from a mad dash from home and settled down for a real treat. Please go see this film, it is absolutely beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful... exquisitely filmed and beautifully acted. But please take your hankies, achingly sad. Again I sat and absolutely blubbed my way through this. There was one point when I thought I would not be able to contain myself and would weep outloud. Big Sister looked aghast as she could see what was happening to me but fortunately I managed to contain myself. Judging by the subdued faces leaving the cinema I was not alone.
I'm wondering now if my daughters think I'm too much of a liability to take anywhere...
Have a good few days.


(1950s Feathered Friends in our Grotto)

PS Just found that our Emporium is also mentioned in the Christmas shopping section in "Homes and Antiques" - time for me to go a deeper shade of pink, I think.

Pumpkins & parties...

My goodness it's been a bit grey round here the past week or so. No tantalising glimpses of sunshine and to make matters worse my youngest daughter, Little Sister, has gone off for a week on a school trip and we all miss her so.... I have visions of her gripping on to cliff faces, rope in hand and sheer terror on her face, the reality is, I hope, that she has spent the past week up all night giggling with her friends. Can't wailt till Friday to collect her. Poor thing, I sent her off looking like the Michelin Man buried under a mountain of waterproof clothing and fleecy hoodies! (she won't thank me I know).



Just over a week ago there was lots of sunshine. We took Big Sister and a group of teenage girls camping for her birthday (thanks to all of you for your lovely birthday wishes, she had a very, very special day). Back to the camping - We returned to our favourite campsite and had booked two yurts on different fields, allowing the girls some independance and us some space from the noise (in the event they were really good and quiet, or so I'm told).
The girls' yurt was beside a babbling brook,



complete with swinging hammock,



beautifully made double bed,
Welsh dresser and cooker.



Ours was the yurt we'd camped in before in the beautiful tree lined spot that looked even more glorious in the golden Autumnal sunshine.



So we spent the weekend climbing giant haystacks (there was a wrestler called that, wasn't there?),



eating, swinging from trees, trampling through the golden, crispy leaves, eating, breathing out, long, deep breaths, playing table tennis, eating, laughing, eating, enjoying each other's company and eating!



I know you may have seen many of these views before,



but the sunlight and the dappled October shade, together with the most beautiful coloured trees just begged me to take some more photos!



We really didn't know where to look first.



Hot air balloons flying above us and landing in the next field... Pumpkins dotted around the campsite...



beautiful sunflowers still in bloom.



Tunnels full of the most exquisite gourds,



squashes and pumpkins,



Strange, exotic shapes,



beautiful mouthwatering colours.



Just look at those blue crates and orange pumpkins together!



We bought a variety to bring home



and once we had recovered from a weekend of binge eating we enjoyed the delicious and varying tastes of them.



It took a week to rid the clothes of the smell of woodsmoke... and now a week later I somehow miss it. Especially when I look out of the window and see the distinct lack of colour all around.
However, there are good things to look forward to - my little rose will be home tomorrow, my two roses will then be on half term (hurrah!) and in our Emporium there are exciting things afoot... and we're not just talking gorgeous vintagey Christmassy festive goodness!