Plates, paperweights and trays

As I had a day in London last week - I was invited to the Garden Press Event in Islington - I thought I would make the most of the time and pop along to Liberty in the West End, quickly hopping on the tube to reappear in a part of London that is probably more well known, and well visited than Islington.

I’d seen some enamelware that I was keen to buy, and even more keen to avoid the £9 postage fees for, so when I saw that Liberty was a stockist well, it was meant to be wasn’t it? It’s been a while since my last visit, and it’s always an interesting place to window shop. Sadly the enamelware didn’t happen, and I was a tad disappointed by the range they had which was shoved in a corner and took up a whole two shelves. Sigh. I still want the small tray and the small sauce dish, so have ordered online and only winced a little at the high postage costs for three very tiny items.

Yes, I could have trawled around any number of shops in the West End and beyond, but I’m really not that much into shopping. But while I was in Liberty, I did have a mooch around before hitting the fabric and haberdashery departments!

Sidetracked by the lobster and cat’s eyes

I have no need for any paperweights or glass tray-plate-things, but I couldn’t help but admire them and how they were displayed on a simple wooden table. The glass tray-plate-things remind me of those that as growing up older relatives or neighbours would have on their sideboards filled with boiled sweets, or next to their bed for their jewellery. I’m sure there’s a million and one other uses for them, but that’s where my memories took me.

I’m still not sure if I like the tabby cat paperweight or not, I think it’s the tongue for me. Maybe it’s because there were two - double trouble - that I’m not sure. The lobster was a lot less disturbing, and I daren’t look at the price, though I’m sure without looking it was “too much”.

Next I was drawn to a brightly coloured table mat of a hare with what looks like artichokes for ears, yes really.

And that led to the trays

In fact it led to many trays - all of them with drinks emblazoned on. Not all alcoholic - there was tea and coffee too, but for some reason I don’t have photos of those. My next stop after my Liberty mooch was the pub, so perhaps that was it.

Fun aren’t they?

Though again they’re not cheap, starting from £40 and upwards. So if you want a fun boozy or non-boozy tray Liberty could be the place for you - some are available on their website if you’re really keen. And if you want to pop the lobster plate in your basket for me that’d be appreciated, though you’ll have to go in person as thankfully that’s not on their site.

Still feeling slightly miffed about the enamelware, but less so having raised a smile at these trays, I decided to head up to the fabric and haberdashery, that was more successful - though with all the colourful fabrics on show, I think I am probably the only person to leave with two grey patterns, but I’m still sticking to my brief for the extended floral fancy quilt.

I think I took even more photos in those departments, so I’ll share those separately - but before I go an only in Liberty. In their remnants basket there was a bargain silk 1.3 metre remnant for £175. I didn’t leave with that either (it wasn’t grey) but that did make me smile!

Putting the Ultimax gardening gloves to the test

* This item was gifted by Town & Country
It must be said I’m a fan of pink gardening gloves. My regular go to gardening gloves are pink, and are also by Town & Country. They’re reliable, but somehow I do seem to go through quite a few, and I’m not quite sure why. While I do always wear gloves while gardening, I don’t think I go through them due to some kind of extreme gardening, it just seems to be the way it goes.

I always revert to buying the same sort - or style? (do gardening gloves have style, now that’s a whole other question I’m sure!), because I know they fit. They don’t have overly long fingers which mean they’re useless, and of course they’re pink. I mentioned before I like a pink gardening glove or two. Actually two gloves are better than one…

So when Wilkinson Sword offered me a different type of (thankfully pink) gardening gloves, I was sceptical. But then again, they were pink and so I thought I could definitely give them a go. And last weekend I did.

I needed to dig my way into the greenhouse, which had become another storage space for our winter garden. And while I wasn’t expecting it to be mucky, I know what I’m like, and so the gloves went on. The blurb on the label says that these Ultimax gloves have “an innovative design offering an extremely close fit for unequaled dexterity.”

The palm of the gloves do look very high tech - there’s textured pads for grip and extra protection. And while the photo below looks as if there’s holes in the fingertips of my first two fingers, there isn’t, that’s the texture pads. You can see it more clearly on the thumb in the photo below.

The gloves did fit well, the velcro fastening at the wrist kept them on, and I was able to pick things up that perhaps I wouldn’t have in my other pink gloves. I’m not sure I’d be able to sow tiny seeds in these gloves, but then again I’m not sure I’d want to. Even me, who’s someone not keen on having mucky hands, thinks that sometimes you have to feel the soil, and sowing seeds is one of those times.

Thankfully there was nothing nasty or slimy lurking in my greenhouse and it wasn’t long before I’d cleared a space and found a new home for the things I’d moved. Something - a squirrel perhaps - had been in the greenhouse as pots had been disturbed and overturned, but whatever it was seems to have moved on.

The only downside for me with these gloves is the labels (see the photo above). They’re quite large, and while I’m glad this size label isn’t on the inside as that would most likely be uncomfortable, I’m not sure what value these labels add. They stand out literally and visually and I suspect I’ll be cutting them off as I found them distracting - but then again I’m not much of a label lover, and regularly cut them out of clothes too, so it could just be me, but if they were half the size then I think they’d be less intrusive.

I’ve still some more to do in here - including sowing some seeds and rearrange the benches so there’s more space to move in here, and hopefully incorporate some more growing space too. But these new Ultimax pink gloves are a keeper, and on their first outing had quite a workout.

Overall, it’s a thumbs up from me.

* While this item was gifted by Town & Country, I was under no obligation to share it here on my blog.

It's a bucket!

* This item was gifted by Spear & Jackson

A collapsible and compact bucket at that. And while I never thought I’d rave quite so much about a collapsible bucket, I also have to apologise for the title of this post. As soon as the phrase popped into my mind, it reminded me of the Brian Conley “it’s a puppet” catchphrase from the 90s, which was big in our family. But rave about a bucket, I am - and of the two things I’ve just mentioned, be grateful it’s the bucket.

And yes, it really is a bucket, not a frisbee, although…

Seriously, when I saw it my first thoughts were “that’d be great for under the sink.” Our buckets have been relegated to the shed, which is all well and good when you can plan, but when you can’t it’s not so good to have your bucket supply a hundred yards away. We’ve not been in an emergency bucket situation (thankfully) but I think MOH knows that if we were, it’d be his job to hunt the bucket down.

Anyway, back to the actual bucket which is easy to pop up and down, it’s one of the new products from Spear and Jackson and well, can be used like a bucket. It’s made from silicone, retails for £8.99, has a pouring lip and a handle (like buckets do) and a potential useful hangy-up thing. Because even though I’ve said it’ll be useful to keep it under the sink, there’s still very little room there so hanging it on the back of the door could be the way to go. I’ve a feeling that MOH will be keen to make this work, especially when he learns of his bucket fetching duties, should the need arise.

A BIT BLURRED - BUT THE BUCKET MATCHES MY POM POM SLIPPERS, AND THAT MAKES ME SMILE

And one more thing that made me smile - so much so that all the pictures I have are slightly blurred - the bucket matches my slippers, how serendipitous is that?

* While this item was gifted by Spear & Jackson, I was under no obligation to share it here on my blog.