Another Year Over, a New One Just Begun.

Well here we are right at the beginning of a brand spanking shiny new year.

Do you do New Years resolutions Blog Chics?

I never have.

When I had little children I was just plain too busy for such frivolities, and one day just ran into the next and you turned around and it was Christmas again.

I've also learned a thing or two about motivation over the years.

And it doesn't come upon you just because it's the beginning of another year!

It has to come from somewhere very deep within you;

almost a primeval instinct rather than a rational process.

So when it comes upon you, that is the time to resolve things.

And that can happen at any time of the year, and certainly not every year.

I have only experienced that kind of motivation a few times in my life.

Probably just as well, because it requires a lot of focus.

So instead I come up with a little mental list of things I would like to achieve.

Just for my own gratification you understand.

None of them are life and death, and in fact they probably seem a little facile.

It's the stuff I want to do because it makes me happy.

I have decided to make a collection of duck/pheasant/any kind of flying poultry on plates.

It was inspired by a naive duck painting of the Granny's that I've had for years.

It's one of my precious things.

It gets moved about the house often.

I have it in the kitchen now.

And I suddenly twigged that I have a Meakin duck plate on the wall, and wouldn't it just be so serendipitous to come upon another.

And there an idea was born.

So far I've found this lovely old and battered pheasant one to go with the Meakin one on my "duck wall".

The Granny suggested I might like three flying china ducks like Hilda Ogden's "murial."

But I don't know Granny - that might be killing the golden goose don't you think?

So I've moved the duck painting and put the small couch into the kitchen

and the chairs into the lounge instead.

And swapped the quilts and cushions around to achieve the desirable level of "squishy".

Soon we will start on the "Granny studio apartment".

Just waiting for the builder.

We are so planned up!

We know every detail of every detail in our heads.

Just need a few men out from town to make them into real

(like the velveteen rabbit - or the Christmas Goat for that matter!)

And I've re-arranged the bears on the window sill.
And enjoyed the Mister being home and watching "the world cup of pool" for a few minutes in between cricket matches.

And watched the garden grow and grow with the constant rain we've had.

And loved the pink hydrangeas that we have here.

And yearned for a sky blue one like in my old garden.
They say you should never go back.

The new people have ripped out the lovely cottage plants and planted yukkas inside the buxus.

What's that about?

I try not to think about it,

I have the lovely photos of how it was.

And I'm going to start making things again.

When the Granny has moved into the new headquarters I'm going to put a sewing table back into the spare room and have my sewing things all ready to go again.

I want to make pretty little dresses from vintage fabrics again.

Just because it makes me happy.

Which hopefully makes it a happy New year all round!

Customise and Embellish.

Every now and then a girl has to re-arrange things a bit.

A certain amount of re-shabbying goes on, this time inspired by a day in bed reading lovely books.

It's almost worth feeling poorly to have the excuse to just indulge, sleep and indulge again.

Rachel Ashwell's new book is just a pure confection.

The Granny has vowed to strew lilacs across her feet in the manner of Rachel on the front cover.

Never mind that we don't actually have any lilacs.

We have climbing hydrangeas that are equally frothy.

All the text across my photos is from a gorgeous book I got from the library

called Boudoir, by Hilary Robertson.

She categorises the many styles of romantic and vintage glamorising of the boudoir in the most resounding way.

I find I am strongly inclined toward the "material girl", with a strong influence of "vintage girl" and a dash of "boho".

She says, "the danger of vintage is that the whole thing can become madly busy and "Grannyish", but the vintage girl avoids this by balancing pattern with plenty of white paint on the walls."

"...a collection of mismatched rosy china cups is infinitely more charming than a conventional tea set."

Material girl has "magpie instincts" which draw her toward anything decorative or glittery.

"...Material girl is more likely to hang a particularly delicious frock on the wall than tuck it away in a wardrobe..."

"She likes nothing better than to scour flea markets and thrift shops for crepe de chine slips or floral tea dresses."

"...fondant shades of pistachio, lilac, duck-egg blue and sugared almond pink are mixed and matched with abandon".

...no -one can tell you how to be eccentric, but if you follow your heart you will inevitably get the "boho" look..."

...Material girl has never graduated from childhood's dressing up phase..."

I just love the text in this book. It's spontaneous and insightful and not in any way cliched.

Rachel tends to be a little bit NOT these things sometimes.

Have a lovely weekend Blog Chics.

Good For What Ails You.

My Grandma Ida used to say this all the time.

She applied it to things like gravy, scissors for cutting up raw chicken, Edith Piaff songs... in fact anything that came prefaced with, "Ida, why do you .....". Because it's good for what ails you.

These gorgeous blooms have been very good for what ails me.

I had a lovely gift voucher to spend in my fav french inspired shop.

La Paige in New Plymouth.

It stocks linens to die for!

What ails me at the moment Blog Chics is a lack of creativity. I've had nothing in my head for months really, but I just didn't like to say so. I think the logistics of keeping up two gardens through the Taranaki autumn, the pedantic nature of some of the stuff I've had to learn for work, leaving in the dark and coming home in the dark has just sucked it all out of me.

This is not to say any of this is abnormal, just part of life. And now it is over.

This weekend some retail therapy and my new House and Garden mag

have really done the trick.

I feel the cogs start to turn again, and I'm making bags and cushions in my head once more.

These are a few of the winter blooms I've found serendipitously in my garden at the new house.







I was reading my House and Garden (July Issue) in bed this morning, while onto my third cup of coffee, when I discovered an add for some people who make bespoke cake stands out of your old china!


A Eureka moment that was, because I've been wanting to do this for ages,
and been secretly lamenting the fact that the thing for unscrewing wheel nuts or the power drill were probably not going to be the right implements for drilling the holes.
And then where would I find the right hardware?





Problem solved. This lot do it for you. thevintagetable.co.nz



So I gathered up some of both my Grandma's china and emailed them straight away, before my fourth cup of coffee even. So I shall let you know how I get on.

The Granny and I went for lunch today to the new cafe in Eltham called Rhubarb!!!!

Have to say it was pretty ordinary, but maybe they'll get better.

It must be hard to get it all going smoothly in your first week.

Shall report back on that too.

So afterwards, we went round to "The Bank" which is a gorgeous vintage/retro emporium I have blogged about before.

Barb had this amazing reproduction french Louis something chair there, in the perfect celedon green that I love.

You know what happened.

I bought it; and it gladdened my heart so much to see it fit perfectly into my house.

You know what happened next too, don't you!!!

I moved my Grandma Ida's chair into the bathroom, which really appeals!

I'm sure she'd say that it was very good for what ails me.

And I have my chooks and ducks back at the front door too, now that the other place has been handed over to the new people.

And that really gladdens my heart!

One last thing Blog Chics.

This is the first time I have ever been compelled to print a retraction here at Magpie Chic.

It involved a certain Granny and the consumption of last weekend's rhubarb loaf!!!

After I'd published, I found 3/4 of a rhubarb loaf in the cake tin!!!!

She was "affronted" when she read that bit in my last posting.

In the manner of Tom Kitten's mother when the kittens were naughty upstairs when she had company for tea!

She wanted to leave a comment to that effect, but lucky for me, couldn't work out how to do it!

So a retraction I shall print ....even though one could be forgiven for jumping to such conclusions after the episode of the missing lemon tarts!!!!

My lips are sealed Blog Chics.

Grandma's Tablecloth.

Murhpy's Law implies that if there are really good quality curtains in the house you move into, then you are probably going to hate them with a passion.

Such has turned out to be the case here.

So in order to fit within my re-decoration budget which is nil, I decided to use my embroidered tablecloth collection to make curtains. I wonder what Grandma would think.

The one on the left includes a tablecloth she embroidered.

I am pretty pleased with the way the way they turned out. I think they suit the house.

Just need a few more to do the other window. Good old Trade Me should do the trick.

That's Grandma's tablecloth with the red poppies. It is particularly lovely.

I didn't know my Grandma very well. I only met her three times.

She died when I was in my early twenties, so I actually have quite few bits and pieces that belonged to her.

All my Grandmothers were accomplished handcrafters, but my Grandma Auss was the most accomplished. Especially at embroidery.

I think she would have approved of the "make do and mend" aspect of my new curtains.

Meanwhile I have been enjoying hanging my washing on the line in the meadow.

Climbing through the fence (having first established that it was not electrified) is part of the fun.

Confessions of a Christmas Shopper.

Hello Blog Chics. Nice to see you back.

I trust you all had a fantastic Christmas and Santa left you something nice under the tree. Or your nearest and dearest did.

This gorgeous mannequin was given to me by "she who is proficient at separating eggs", and her significant other. I love it. I had to rush down to the bedroom with it as soon as the Queen's message was over - even before I did the vacuuming (yes it is ok to be a little OCD about the carpet on Christmas night - all that glitter - and wrapping bits everywhere!)

I knew exactly where to put it, and how to adorn it.

I was so pleased with myself i spent about 20 minutes working out how to take a picture with my cellphone and send it to "she" who was in New Plymouth by then.

Hubby gave me Annabell Langbein's fantastic new cook book, which i had been coveting for ages.

I found a Christmas wish list thingy in a magazine, so I availed myself of it and added Annabel's book to the top, and stuck it to the fridge. It could not be missed!

I was also in receipt of the most magnificent weather vein to adorn my garden.

It has been a source of great consternation to me over the last 28 years that one of Hubby's most interesting idiosyncrasies is the need to know from which direction the bleeding wind is blowing.

In fact his whole family are mildly obsessed with it - and the wind doesn't even blow in Nana's garden!(According to Nana anyhow).

And there's no excuse. It's not as if they are farmers or anything.

The roads are well sign posted, it seems hardly relevant.

So I found it very sweet when he informed me later that he had chosen it because he thought I'd love it, and not because he needed me to be more accurate about the direction of the prevailing wind.

And I do love it. And I still have no idea which way the wind is blowing because I haven't the foggiest if it's the way the cat is coming from or going to... and he's never going to get that mouse!

So now I'm getting to the confessing part. There was another book I really wanted. Cath Kidston's Stitch. But writing two books on the list would have looked a tad greedy don't you think?

Si I bought the book myself. Boxing day is close enough i figure, for it to be legitimate. A prese from me to me.

You see Blog chics, it's the Cowboy. I love the CK cowboy with a passion. He just epitomises what i love about 1950s stuff. He's so masculine. It kind of amuses me, him stuck there with his lasso amongst the cabbage roses. So now I'm going to have him in a tapestry cushion for my very own.

This is inside Annabel's book. It's such a lovely book. The photography is wonderful.


Here's the CK Cowboy cushion photograph from the book.

But wait, there's more... I have a further prese confession. If I'd seen this fab shabby painting before Christmas I'd have definitely wanted that for Christmas too.

By chance I only happened upon it today, in my favourite shabby chic/retro shop in

New Plymouth - Faded Fancy.

The colours just jump out at you. It's in perfect condition. No fading, even the frame isn't chipped. Not that i mind a bit of chipping.

So now i just have to assist Hubby to hang it, facing in the direction of the prevailing wind!

See ya!

A small obsession with chairs.

I have my old couch back. Completely transformed. It is a thing of beauty.

Just as well Hubby is immune to flowers and pink and general shabby chicness. Because there is rather a lot of it about!

He takes the extreme pragmatists view that it is just something to sit on. It doesn't matter what it looks like. I consider myself fortunate to have such licence to be floral!

It can work the other way though, as it is also his view that all gardens should be made up of large areas of concrete for parking cars! I just keep planting the fox gloves and mowing the lawns, and the lack of concrete is only mentioned in passing when a "wind up" of "the sheila" is required.

So I have spent time moving the chairs about and then back again, resettling things into a state of zen-like calm and tranquility.



And the Tail Cat has slept on each of the three cushions in turn, testing which is the best one no doubt. No reports on weather the porridge was too hot or too cold!!!!!

For me the whole arrangement is right in the middle of the Goldilocks Zone.

But I don't think there is room for one single more chair anywhere in the house.

No matter how I re-arrange them.

I shouldn't think that will prevent me from acquiring any more.

I don't think there is any known cure for addiction to chairs.

It began many years ago when my God Mother Jill had her old suite re-covered in blue gingham.

I was captivated, and realised that there was a whole world of chairs out there just waiting to be discovered. And they didn't have to be brown and velour. Truly a moment of enlightenment, similar to discovering that tea cups and coffee cups did not have to be brown and made in Temuka.

Life is full of such serendipitous discoveries really, thanks to Fairy God Mothers and interiors magazines. And the blog chics out there who remain such a source of inspiration.