New trinkets, pretty flowers and a fab weekend

Having seen the pretty tea towels from Primark on various blogs, I felt the rare urge this weekend to visit said shop and bring some cheap goodies home.  This meant a trip to Bedford.  

We never shop in Bedford.  I've always thought it was a bit of a scruffy town with old-fashioned shops.  Sorry if you live there but whilst it has the potential to be super-pretty, you have to admit it's kind of scruffy.  This put us off to begin with - we hit Primark pretty quickly (lots of little treasures and I spent £14!), had a wander round the market with a bag of hot dinky doughnuts and were ready to leave.  I'd spied a lovely looking florist on our drive into the town and, as it was a nice day, suggested we take a walk to try to find it.  

Man, am I glad we did.  We found a fantastic little row of homeware shops in the Arcade and the florist was even lovelier than I'd expected.  We spent ages in there, with me oohing and ahhing.  It's called Fleurette and if you're ever in the area I'd definitely recommend a visit.  It's a new favourite of mine.  I finally made my choice, but it wasn't easy: 

A gorgeous bunch of flowers and a distressed chunky candle holder.  L♥ve!  Even better, the husband surprised me by whipping out his card to pay for them.  I know, I'm lucky - he's dishy, funny and spoils me rotten :-)

I am so pleased with the flowers.  Don't they look pretty on my sideboard!  I make a little squeal of joy every time I see them.  They are exactly the kind that I hope to grow in the cutting patch that I am starting this year, with the help of Belinda's cutting garden series and a Sarah Raven book.  If you haven't been over to the Wild Acre Flowers blog before, pop over and have a look.  If I lived near Belinda I would treat myself to a posy a week.  Lush. 

Now, I know that the dark pink flowers are ranunculus and the white are anemones but can anyone remind me what the little pink flowers are called please?  The lady in the shop did tell me but I can't remember.  I want to grow this - it smells nice too!  And the little white ones?  I need to scribble their names in my cutting patch notebook.  

I managed to pick up some tea towels in Primark.   I went in for the floral, Pip Studio style but liked this bright check when I got to the shop:

I'm also keeping my fingers crossed to win LaaLaa's gorgeous blog anniversary giveaway which includes more pretty tea towels!  

£1.20 each. Bargainous.  I also bought a few cheap faux pearls which I really like.

These will do until I can afford the real thing!  I love the look of lots of strands of pearls at different lengths with chunky silver necklaces interspersed so that's how I'll be fancying up my frocks this spring.

♥♥♥♥♥

I've got loads more to waffle on about - I've been very crafty this weekend and have made some sweet little envelopes.  There is also some crochet goodness to share.  I will save all of that for another day and finish up with my rocking chair reveal:

I am so chuffed with my favourite little chair.  I loved it before but the dark wood in such close proximity to the oak cabinet just bothered me a bit.  I used Annie Sloan chalk paint in Country Grey (needed a couple of coats) and sanded down in places to make the chair look worn.  I then gave it a good coat of soft clear wax.  

I have to admit that I didn't enjoy doing it; I got really bored halfway through, my back was aching, it was messy and I hated trying to coax the paint into all the awkward little nooks and crannies.  As a result, there are two little half-painted stools in my conservatory that I didn't have the stamina for.  I'm glad I did it though and considering the chair cost just £40 in the charity shop I think I've had a bit of a result.  Thanks again to Shabby Chic Sarah (the master of paint jobs!) for all of the advice on text and email!   Thanks espesh for the moral support when things were looking rubbish and drippy!  

So here we are - Sunday evening and I've got a bit of ironing to do and some crochet flowers to finish off.  There is also a small bag of dolly mixtures with my name on it.  It has been the most fab weekend and I'm not even going to let the prospect of Evil Monday dampen my spirits! 

Have a great week and thanks for reading, you gorgeous girls, you.

Nicki 

x

PS Other news in brief:  I've had a clumsy kind of a week. I fell out of bed in my sleep last weekend (ouch) and a particular low point was when I fell up the stairs the other morning wearing nothing but a towel (after a shower).  I found myself in an undignified naked heap on the floor with a sore ankle.  Thank heaven I was home alone.  

It's raining so much that we gave tonight's walk a swerve.  Someone isn't happy.