A Studio Still-Life

 These are what I call my 'lovely bits', although I don't think the family would agree - the word 'clutter' is often mentioned!  I usually have a glass dome over this little collection but the reflections got in the way when I tried to photograph it, so the dome had to come off.

The green glass bottle stopper is in the shape of a crown and I found it on e-bay for pennies - I am very in love with it at the moment!

These 'lovely bits' are in my dining room cabinet and occasionally get used for posh teas!  Some of the little cake forks and tea knives belonged to my great-grandmother but some I've picked up in antique markets.  Did I tell you I'm a bit of a hoarder!

More from the cabinet! 

I'm linking up with Mary over at Mosaic Monday.

Color This Quote

Over at Artists in Blogland there is a new challenge called Color This Quote - it sounded interesting and fun and I immediately had an idea of what I could do for it, so I decided to give it a go - I hope I am not too late!

This weeks quote is 

'Good friends are like quilts - they age with you yet never lose their warmth'.

The image is of my mum Joan (on the left) and her best friend Eileen - they had a warm and strong friendship for over 75 years.  I hand stitched small pieces of 'quilt' to represent the unbreakable bond between them - the little scraps of letters, the stamps symbolizing the miles between them, and fragments of memories from their days out in London, where they both grew up - all carefully held together by strong threads.

Mottisfont Abbey

I've had an unintentional break from blogging for what has amazingly turned into about 4 weeks - what on earth happened there!  I have been busy with many other things and I really don't know what happened to January. 

My nephews have learnt all about the Chinese New Year at School and so we made some cupcakes to celebrate - I must apologize if the Chinese symbol is the wrong way up on the cupcake - my sugar paste cutter isn't marked with the words 'this way up' unfortunately!

I am joining in this week with Mosaic Monday over at Little Red House. 

The cupcake is one I made and decorated a while back, and the little water jug, next to it, is an antique/junk shop find - it's currently my favourite possession! 

The chandelier was photographed on a recent visit to Mottisfont Abbey and the watercolour is a sketch by Rex Whistler - he decorated a room at Mottisfont using Trompe l'oeil techniques, and it's simply stunning.  The following photos are of the Whistler room and are from the National Trust website.

Pretty much everything is painted to give a relief effect - even the curtain swags aren't real!