glorious kaffe fassett

I've been a fan of the wonderful Kaffe Fassett since my early twenties when I read Glorious Inspirations and promised myself that one day I would knit his outrageous Romeo and Juliet Coat (immediately above) "grand romantic coats like the Romeo and Juliet coat inspired by the Nureyev ballet, with extravagant gathered shoulders and floor-sweeping skirts in stripes of mohair and bouclé with a tight jewelled bodice".

I just love the cacophony of colour, pattern, layers and busyness that his work celebrates. Truly abundant!

Linger a while at his gorgeous website and luxuriate in the Gloriousness that is Kaffe!

Gosh, it's been a while since I posted.

Been working away from home a lot over the past month, which has been busy, but great fun as well.

Wanted to share with you this lovely book that I keep on my bedside. It's full of inspirational ideas, beautiful photography, abundant colour and texture and quite simply, I feel good when I read it, hence it being a great bedside tome!

I've always loved the idea of combining knitting, favourite films, poetry and the lost art of professional chocolate-eating ;-) The talented author, Jane Brocket who's captivating blog is here, also runs an informal knitting group who meet in the magnificent Foyle's Bookshop in London (the most famous independent bookshop in the UK) and chat about books, and life while knitting...

Have a lovely browse through while drinking a steaming mug of Lady Grey tea and munching on a chocolate Hob-Nob - bliss :-)

Lots more updates and goodies to come over the next couple of days :-)

a peek inside the palace of versailles...

My spiritual home! And where my inspiration lived...

Simply stunning...

Feast your eyes.

Click here to see Versailles from the air!

And here to see a 360 degree panorama from ground level.

And here to see a 360 of Louis's bedchamber.

How I would love to have seen the interior full of the original furniture, decor and paintings, but alas that will never be possible as it was all destroyed during the Revolution...

The chateau at Fontainebleau, just outside Paris is also worth a look.

Enjoy!

it's time...

... to dig out my Welligogs again for some serious puddle splashing :-)

I think if Marie had worn Wellingtons, then these would have been they!

Simple pleasure, but fun !

ode to autumn

How I love the Autumn season...

I love the smells, the sounds, the gorgeous colours, the crunching of leaves under my feet.

Every time I walk through a pile of recently-fallen leaves, I can't resist swishing my feet through them and also, want endlessly to stop, pick up my favourites and take them home for pressing.

My encyclopaedias at home are fat with pressed leaves and kitchen paper :-)

I wanted to share with you one of my favourite places on earth. It's called Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire, in the West of England.

Enjoy the stunning colours and have a leaf through Keats with my blessing while you linger...

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Happy leaf-crunching :-)

painstaking attention to detail

Look at this lovely work from the very talented Jacque (BayRaysGirl) on Etsy.

I am a big fan - I love all the seashell detail, vintage sparkles and scrummy finds from antique markets.

Visit her Etsy shop for more gorgeous designs.

Hey, I just learned how to post an HTML link :-) I'm going to go back and HTML-ify all my links now. I really know how to live, don't I?

Thanks Jacque for all your beautiful creations...

wow, I have two followers !

I am so thrilled to have someone reading my wee little blog, still in its fledgling, embryonic form. I genuinely had visions of me being the only one here - writing, reading and twiddling my cyber-thumbs! I'm still getting the hang of how to upload things and add widgets and all sorts of interesting things...

And two such extraordinary exponents of the art as these lovely ladies: The wonderful Madai from Wren Cottage. It was this talented lady who gave me the blogger-bug to start with, by asking me if I had one. It's as if I didn't know what I was missing until someone asked me! Check out her beautiful photography, art, music and poetry collection.

And Laura. I adore her ceramic necklaces (above).

iPhone still in Casualty (ER) refusing to respond to treatment (silica gel and me getting cross with it).