All Sorts

Hello everyone. It's a bit of a mixed up post, full of bits 'n' bobs really, today, a brightly coloured jumble, just like a bag of "All Sorts" funnily enough. It's simply things which have caught my eye on this glorious sunny, blue-skied, dare I say it, decidedly SPRING-LIKE day.

Jacky-Ginge noticed he hadn't appeared on (his) blog for ooh, at least a few days.

These hyacinths smell nice...

Have you caught my best side yet?

All the furry occupants of the HenHouse make a beeline for my den. Well, it is rather marvellous and I find it difficult to get out of here myself. Good job the rest of the house is pretty nice otherwise I'd probably move a fridge in and I'd be all set for bedsit-style living! Our house faces West so in the morning in particular, my den which is on the back of the house, gets all the lovely sunshine. As we all know, cats will always find the sun to give themselves a good toasting. My old table, in front of the big sash windows, is their favourite resting spot and they vie for space there throughout the day. Not only is it high up and sunny, from here they can see the entrance to the back door and utility room (or "cat feeding room" as the Munchkin calls it) and hence, their cat flap (woe betide any unwanted visitors).  They can also see the whole of our and next door's (nice) garden complete with bird feeding station and many birdies. Oh my, that makes for happy boys! If one jumps up to find a furry occupant already in situ, much peeved hissing can ensue. As you can see, Jacky-Ginge made it there first today.

Charlie-Boy was not such a willing participant in my spontaneous photo shoot.

Aww, mum...

(Check out that lovely stash in the background, though.)

After much rattling of cat biscuits, he grudgingly allowed us this one...

Vorey, quite frankly, was having none of it.

So, post lunch, the sun has moved round to the front of the house and if I want to photograph anything, I have to decamp to another room, so I'm decamping to one of the spare bedrooms. This room gets great light; the previous owner of the HenHouse was a bloke who used to (try to) paint and this was his painting room (as he was very pretentious, I imagine he referred to it as his studio!) Here I find myself photographing my new fabric with which I shall make cushions for the sitting room sofa. I have to confess, the Christmas ones are still there at the moment (I'm not superstitious) but the fabric took an age to arrive (thanks Royal Mail, especially for your £8 handling fee). Isn't it divine? It's Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party range. Not feeling in a sewing mood today (you're shocked, I know, but it's rare and won't last) so I am just gazing at it lovingly for now.

What else shall we look at in here? Ages ago, I embroidered this little picture. I happily found it fitted into a standard Ikea frame (I know, I know, I should have had it framed properly) but I generally have a few such frames hanging about, and for now, it's sitting on the fireplace.

What about this gorgeousness?

Whilst in Honiton on New Year's Eve, I spotted this in one of my fave shops there. When I met up with Mr HenHouse and the Munchkin, they mentioned  to me, have you: a) seen the grandfather clock in that shop? b) seen the eiderdown in that shop? Have you not bought it, we thought you'd love it? Well, I didn't need any further encouragement. So, Mr HenHouse got the clock and I got the eiderdown. You see, it's not me that spends the money round here! It is brightening up what is a very lovely but very duck-eggy room.

That's all today, folks!