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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Lovely Customers

Gosh I have some lovely ebay customers. And it's been a pleasure to get to know so many of them over the years and to have been involved with their decorating. It's particularly exciting when they send me pictures of my cushion covers in their homes.

  
This one was taken in Michael and Richard's apartment in Clovelly, Sydney. Wonderful styling boys!

And this one is from the lovely Robyn in Curra Qld.
Thanks Robyn, I hope you spend many happy hours in your new room.
 
 

Monday, October 29, 2012

Two Weddings and a Baby

It's been a busy 18 months in the Gingham family with our eldest son getting married in June 2011 and then he and his wife having a baby boy (our first grandchild) in April this year.
The Little Cherub 
 
And earlier this year, our youngest son was married to a lovely country girl named Nelly.
 
                                        I made the bride's                                        

                                                      and bridesmaid's bouquets.                           

The girls looked gorgeous
 
                     and the boys scrubbed up ok            

 
It was a truly joyous occasion. 
 
                             

                         

      
 
 



 

Friday, October 26, 2012

Loving Design Legacy

I love the quirkiness of Design Legacy fabrics by Kelly O'Neil. Kelly's designs are fun and rustic and nothing is taken too seriously.
 
There are birds and animals galore as well as flowers, vegetables and insects
 
and most fabrics are heavy linen or a blend of cotton and linen.
  
I was fortunate to acquire a length of the bird toile  
 

 and have really enjoyed making up these cushion covers
 
 
 
 
which are available in my store.  
 
 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Rydal Daffodil Festival

 
The Station Garden
 
Each year in September, when the grass is still brown from frost, the little village of Rydal (population 80) near Lithgow in the Blue Mountains, holds its daffodil festival. 
 
 
There is a variety of gardens, big and small, and most are open to the public. For a small fee you can spend the day wandering from garden to garden and chatting to the owners. The locals serve morning and afternoon tea, including home made scones, and of course the pub is open for lunch!

 
 
 
 
I think even I could wait for a bus if the bus stop looked like this
 
 
The train to Sydney passes through Rydal station once a day. However, you have to ring up and book if you want it to stop for you.

It's so wonderful to see what a small community can achieve when everyone works together.

Monday, October 22, 2012

From Unloved to Adored


Some time ago I bought this gorgeous old chair through ebay for $20. I was the only bidder so clearly no one else could see its potential.
 
The chair looked quite small in the picture, so being the twit experienced decorator that I am, I didn't bother asking for the measurements until after I'd bought it. When they came back as larger than I'd expected, I just assumed the guy had made a mistake and excitedly packed Mr Gingham off to Wollongong to collect it.
 

As soon as I saw Mr G struggling to get the chair through our front door, I realised it wasn't going to fit where I'd intended. So I did what any other experienced decorator would do under the circumstances, which was to shove it in the spare room, come out, shut the door and try to pretend it didn't exist!

Some months later, our newly engaged youngest son was saying how much he liked the old chair. So, not being one to miss an opportunity to off load a mistake spare piece of furniture, I offered to organise the restoration of the chair and give it to him and his fiance as an engagement present.


And here it is, just back from the upholsterer and looking somewhat out of place in our 'decorated in the 90s' entrance. The fabric of course is David Hick's  'La Fiorentino' in domino. Isn't it dreamy?  And at a total cost $1600, not bad for such a beautiful piece of furniture. 
 
 
Here's the chair again, this time in Russell and Nelly's house with Russell on the morning of his wedding. BTW, if you're thinking the chair looks small, it isn't, at 2 metres tall, Russell is just plain big! And yes, that is Miss Sunny who managed to get into quite a few pictures that weekend.
 

Speaking of David Hicks.....

His was the first decorating book I ever bought.....
 
 
It cost $9.95, and still being at school, I had to save my pocket money to pay for it. I've seen copies sell for over $300 on ebay but I won't be parting with mine, at least not just yet! 
 

Friday, October 19, 2012

Welcome to My New Blog

I never intended being away from blogging for so long, but after I finished my cancer treatment last year, I felt so tired I lost interest in most things including posting on and reading blogs.

Now, feeling much better and wanting to start afresh, I asked the lovely Katrina from MerdiaMaid to design a new blog. Katrina is not only the sweetest person (we all knew that from her time on The Block) but I also discovered she is very, very patient with customers who change their minds again and again!

Miss Gingham is my ebay ID and the name many of my customers call me. Gingham has special significance for me because it featured heavily in my first shop which I opened in Sydney's Paddington more years ago than I care to remember. I used to team it with little floral Liberty prints in patchwork quilts, lampshades and of course cushions.

Sunshine, Flowers and a Pretty Girl

I can't think of a better place to start my new blog than sitting on the front deck with my favourite girl.....
 
 
enjoying the fresh flowers we just picked from the garden.
 
 



On Monday I'll be showing you some pictures of a gorgeous chair I recently had recovered.