Yellow is most definitely the first colour of spring, the first colour to appear around us. I wanted a pop of yellow that wasn't just daffodils so what better way than to put the butter dish and lemon squeezer together ...
It was purely coincidental that I spotted these ragged tulips which have exactly the same tonal range as the china, they are so unusual in their colour combination of deep rusty pink with green and white in the flower head. The highland fling collection is a feminine take on tartan which I think can work through many seasons of table decorating, particularly at Christmas when this would be a lovely theme to have on your table, a subtle twist on the classic red and green.
Above is a lovely French style range called "the collection" and the rustic lace design is a great classy combination of country and elegant. The small espresso cups are a really cute set of four, some with a little pattern inside.
The website for all the Katie Alice ranges is at : www.katie-alice.co.uk
Keep a watch out on instagram when I will be including a new collection from her of blue and white.
The pretty napkins have a tiny touch of orange which just lifts the whole design, and so I couldn't resist a few of these roses. The florist tells me they are the "miss piggy' variety !
Next week I hope to bring you some more new discoveries including the products I have recently purchased from The Botanical Candle company. Introducing a range of fresh scents and perfumes to the home while looking in keeping with my antique collections.
I wanted to include some poetry about Spring, however, a lot of it is quite bleak, warning of unguarded jubilation. TS Elliot warning in The Waste Land that April is the cruelest month, and I suppose that the quick and rapid changing of climate, the sun encouraging the growth and birth, suddenly followed by frost and rain, can be cruel. So I'm putting on my positive optimists hat and choosing this :
Spring
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
