French dressing

My final post from our French holiday comes from the ancient Dordogne town of Monpazier, where we came across this gorgeous little kidswear boutique called Piquepoule, whose Dutch owner hand-makes beautiful Liberty print dresses for little girls in lovely vintagey styles (I'm hoping she might introduce some boys' rompers soon!). I also loved the paintbox bright tees and polos below. Inside is beautifully decorated, combining antique sewing paraphernalia, piles of fabric, old stone walls and crisp, bright colours, as well as an atelier and craft table for little visitors.

Inspiration from France

40s motorbike propped up in Saint Pompon Village

Van Gough chairs in the abbey

Worn cobbled floor

Vintage enamel kitchenware found in St Pompon attic sale

 Pretty candles from gorgeous Monpazier boutique Lilly Mary

Handmade pottery found at Monpazier market

 Cute cup from Lilly Mary

Milo loved his bunting

French Fancies

I'm afraid moving house and a holiday in wifi-less rural France has put paid to my blogging of late - and I now have a backlog of lovely things to post. The Dordogne provided plenty of vintage inspiration - flea markets, faded antiques, medieval market towns and some suitably chic boutiques.

 La Petite Minoche in the picture-perfect village of Daglan is a lovely hat shop where the young milliner creates vintage-style panamas and cloches, as well as contemporary looks from her atelier within the shop. Her wares are displayed on vintage hat stands, with framed antique fabrics and pressed flowers on the walls. Milo loved the little play area set up for mini hat lovers (although, he only likes his bike helmet at the moment.)

Pretty windows

I keep passing by the second-hand bookshop Richard Way on my road and marvelling at the gorgeous window displays - this one is Jubilee / boat race-inspired. I love the bunting made out of old music sheets - handmade by the owner herself.

Craft Club

When we first moved out of London, I had visions of setting myself up a little space in our new house to craft, sew and generally create. I managed to make the space, with an abundance of vintage fabrics, handcraft books, ribbons and buttons waiting patiently by the sewing machine - but did i create? Well, you can guess the answer to that. Discussing this with local friends who have similar crafty ambitions, we decided to start a craft night when babes are in bed and we can natter over a glass of wine while working on our own projects - hopefully with a bit of peer pressure to keep the momentum going! 

The first Craft Club was held at my house and I loved every minute - we had Michelle knitting a beautiful grey baby cardi, Sara stitching vintage-style embroideries, Nikki expertly quilting and I got down to making cushions using vintage fabric for Mrs Biddle's (long since past) birthday. You can see how the finished cushions look in her lovely new home here. 

Local Crafts

Today I raced round the craft and design fair just outside Henley at the end of the afternoon, and came across a few lovely things (alongside a fair amount of felt and new age jewellery!)

My favourite was this gorgeously pared-back, hand-thrown pottery by Adam Marsh, which really stood out for its beautiful display of earthy colours.

My eye was also drawn to the cute hand-smocked dresses in vintage prints by Sallyann Dunn, who told me she also makes boys' smocked rompers!

The fair also had some imaginative food stands, including the intriguingly named Victorian Kitchen and this cute retro ice cream van. 

Vintage luggage

Milo's Godmummy over in NYC found this fabulous vintage suitcase and her talented sis stencilled Milo's initials on the front - a treasure to be kept forever (and useful too!)

Queen Street Jubilee!

The street next to ours came alive on Monday with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations - we had bunting, flags, Union Jack rugs, cucumber sandwiches, HRH-themed cupcakes, live bands, Olympian games and dancing 'til nearly midnight - fabulous!