Working at a rather unique school in Wimbledon and one that loves a good party, thats what we had.  We held a street party for all the children.  We had cakes, jelly, pies and of course champagne for the staff, but before all this could happen we had to sing the national anthem and wave at the helicopter flying over to take photographs.

In keeping with the royal theme I headed on into town to watch the wedding the day.

Then on the monday we decided a picnic in Windsor was a good idea.  I ‘d never been there before so we had our tour round the castle, by our very informative guide.  Whilst there I did hear the funniest thing, at George VI grave.  American tourist to friend: ‘Oh, so this is where Colin Firth is buried’ ha ha ha and they were being serious!

Can’t beat a bit of afternoon tea!

Being the glorious day we couldn’t go to that area of the UK without a visit to Camber Sands.  Bikini clad I had a stroll along the beach and stopped off for a bit of sunbathing.

The next day we treked down to Dungeness, a photographers dream.  Its a strange area sandwiched inbetween the sea and Romley Marshes, it has a RSPB bird sanctuary and the most amazing bleak pebble and shingle beach all over looking by a massive nuclear power station.  Along the edge of the beach are a few beach shacks, which I believe date back to the 20s when it became a popular holiday destination for the nearby towns.

I enjoyed walking around, exploring and taking pictures and would lovely to go back in the future to taking photos of the sound mirrors at Denge.

Spring is here and several trips to Kew Gardens were to had.  The plan was taking as many school years groups to Kew for some lovely observation drawing days.  We arrived only to find lovely sculpture by Tom Hare this was the best piece of luck the children throughly enjoyed it and I was thanked many times.

It really was special, our little Cornish Vintage retreat in Porthcothan.  On arriving I recognised the place, later to realise a TV program had been made about it.

The Red Buoy, was the wonderful home of artist & film maker Jane Drake.  Who’s husband made the film The Wrecking Season, an insight into the life of a fisherman, beachcomber and wrecker, gather the interesting finds of north Cornwall beaches.

The place was full of objects found and tracked back to there origins, be that the Amazon or Florida.  It really is an interesting watch.  I am yet to watch her current film the Art of Catching Lobsters, a look into her life during her husbands illness and death, though it seems like an emotional insight into grief and love.

The house was perfect, vintage, quaint, and exactly what I love.

I went out and bought some  Mirasol Yarn Cotanani, which is beautifully soft and will be wonderful to knit with.

I set about with various plastic cups of dye, plastic take away containers and spirals of wool. (Not forgetting the rubber gloves!) It went really well, though I mixed the dye with way to much water and my wool had a high cotton content, all adding to the less viberant colours.  However, I was please.

Originally the wool was going to be used to make myself a little jacket, but the colours turned out a bit to pale so I am going to shelve it and use it for baby clothes.

The pictures above show it looking a bit brighter, but it dried much lighter as you can see below.

Spring seems to have been and gone, a few weeks ago when the sun was shining I did a bit of vintage bargain hunting in Surrey.  It was the first time I’d explored the area near Hampton Court and what shops it had to offer.  To my surprise there were a massive selection of great antique, junk and vintage shops.  It was hard to stop myself spending a fortune.

The shop in the pictures had a great selection of goodies and is now my favourite vintage shop in London.  I’ll be heading back when the weather in good to hunt out some exciting new bargains.

The ideas are still in the making but going well so far.  When I can figure out why my sewing machine has given up I can making some soft toys.

It was great, and I have all the information to sign up for July’s event myself.

The July event seems to have a 40′s theme, something close to my heart, so I will be truly looking forward to it.  I am hoping to have a stall with my mother in law who will be selling her vintage inspired knitted cake’s.  I have thinking about a theme for my stall and it has to be 40′s garden party, similar to my wedding.

I have started creating a few new projects, knitted brooches with recycled wool,

I’m thinking, sunglasses cases, keyring’s and all my usual goodies.  I’m trying to think of some interested 40′s twists still though.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

I need to go on a sewing & dress making course myself, I am in need of cute hand made items for my home.  If you know of a course in SW London feel free to let me know.

Aart from the poor lighting in the picture, I thought they weren’t bad for a first attempt.  They taste pretty good as well.