Happy Monday to you. Hope you had a lovely weekend, we celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary (yes, I was a child bride!) but as hubby was so busy drawing in straw for the winter and our babysitter was away, it ended up that the four of us went out on Saturday night to celebrate! The children enjoyed their first pints – of rock shandy!

Maybe it is because the weather is feeling decidedly autumnal but this post feels very right for my mood at the moment. Quaint cottagey florals are very much ‘in’. Dara Flynn wrote about this in the Sunday Times a couple of weeks ago, how people in the depression-era of the 1930s turned to cosy florals to cheer up their homes and hey, we seem to be doing the same.

Vanessa Arbuthnott fabrics

Fabrics from Vanessa Arbuthnott

A comfy sofa, a throw, a woollen blanket and lots of cosy cushions, a rug on the floor, a fire in the hearth, lots of books, floral curtains, a couple of lamps, a teapot and I am set for the winter – and if they are all in chintzy quaint florals, well, you can double the comforting factor (In fact, I think I am coming down with a cold and am feeling sorry for myself and want to curl up on said sofa in front of said fire with that book!)

Cabbages & Roses

Dara was kind enough to mention our Sophia teapot in her article so I thought I’d share it with you here too and check out all our Sophia tableware and crockery.

Sophia Teapot

Sophia Teapot by Greengate

And here’s a sneak peak of what will be coming to our online shop mid September – Greengate’s new Nordic range is lovely, I particularly love the mix and match crockery of the Valery white and Naomi plum

Valery White and Naomi Plum

And that cake looks scrummy too! Just what the doctor ordered!

Greengate Millie

Hope you have a lovely week and that the sun is shining where you are!

Okay, time to tease you a little with some lovely eye candy from the Greengate new range that I will have in stock late August/early September.

I love these plum colours and as for that throw – pure gorgeousness

And imagine having a hot cup of tea from the new Millie white teapot on a cold autumnal day - served with a hot fruit pie – yum 

Do check out the Greengate we have in stock at the moment and the new ranges will be in soon

I actually wanted to order absolutely everything from the Greengate catalogue but had to restrain myself!!  I am in the process of adding the new Greengate products to the online shop – lovely cushions, beach mats, table runner, cake plates, luggage tags, stoneware jugs, pretty napkins ……

Just looking at them makes it seem like a beautiful summer day.  Click here to see all the latest Greengate arrivals.

I have been searching for the perfect oil cloth for months and my poor table has been begging me to protect it from the rigours of my children.  The problems were that the diameter of our round table is 54 in and most oil cloths are either 54 in or 48 in wide whereas I needed one at least 60in.  The other problems were that I couldn’t find the pattern or colour that would co-ordinate with my roman blinds. 

I loved this oilcloth from Greengate but it just wasn’t available in the right width.

I liked the fun aspect of this cupcake one (and apologies, I can’t remember where it is from) but I decided it wouldn’t help my figure at all as I would be ‘forced’ into baking every day!

But I digress, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. I eventually found exactly what I was looking for at The Blue Door in Naas and they offer an online service too.  Their oilcloths are wider than normal at 145 cm so are ideal for what I was looking for.  They have a lovely selection of Oilcloths and the one I picked is Mona.  They are not the typical oilcloths with the shiny surface but a matt surface that can be wiped clean and can be washed at a low temperature in the machine. Now I did query the amount of wiping as I must have the messiest children in the country but they assured me that if spillages are wiped as soon as possible, they will come out.  Now I have had to put it into the machine once already and it is due to go in again so I am either an extremely tardy mother or I have incredibly messy children, but it washes fine.

And I am also incredibly disorganized as I can’t find the photo I took of the whole table, elegantly set with lovely crockery.  Here is one from Mother’s day when I was presented with lovely school made badges, cards and homepicked snowdrops – you can just about see the oilcloth!!

This week is shaping up to be pretty busy so there may not be any more blog posts until after the bank holiday, I hope you all have a lovely weekend, x