For young friends

I was talking to fellow blogger Michelle in America today and she hadn't heard of this wonderful poem by Jenny Joseph. So for Michelle and anyone else who hasn't yet discovered these marvellous words, here it is...

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.


Jenny Joseph.

My Poorly Children

What a day it's been! This morning Cecily and I left the house at 5.30 to travel half the length of Britain (well not quite, but before dawn it felt like it!) to take her to a hospital appointment. She's fine, but needed an MRI scan to investigate a problem with her shoulder. We finally got home at 6.30pm, had a bit to eat and settled down to a gentle evening in front of the telly.

Shortly after midnight, the phone rang. It was my son, ringing to tell me that he has had an accident and gone headfirst over the handlebars of his push bike and is now in hospital. He says he is fine and that it doesn't hurt (painkillers are wonderful things when they work effectively!), but nonetheless my initial instinct is to jump in the car and drive to see him. I have decided to wait until the morning before I set off, but I don't imagine I will sleep very much tonight as I will be worrying about him.

He has chipped the end off his elbow and the fragment of bone is now floating around inside his arm, he has broken is ulna and radius and the ball at the end of the bone (I think he means at the end of his radius) is crushed and disintergrated. The doctors are keeping him in at least for one night and I won't know more until I get to see him tomorrow.

So, if you are trying to contact me tomorrow (Saturday 23rd August), please understand if I am unable to answer to phone, but I may have gone to be with my baby-boy.
I will post more when I have more info,
Chat soon, Liz
All images and text copyright Pretty Practicals 2006 - 2008 except where stated.

New season Patchwork Quilts

Some of our new season patchwork quilts have now arrived in store and I just love a couple of them. They can be found at New Country Quilts, our specialist quilt and bedding website.

Marie Rose quilt from £14.95 for a pillowsham
The Marie Rose quilt has a hexagonal design with a lovely bouquet of pink roses at the centre, surrounded by sand colour linen and a deep raspberry toile design.


Beatrice quilt from £14.99 for a pillowsham
The Beatrice quilt has a central panel of summery blue background with pink and mauve flower sprays, surrounded by sand colour linen and edged with super soft velvet in matching blue.

These are both available as quilts, quilted pillowshams and matching scatter cushions.
Marie Rose scatter cushion

This lovely Marie Rose bed linen comes in pure cotton and has a deep raspberry toile de Jouy design printed on a sand colour background. Coordinating with the Marie Rose quilt, it also looks lovely on it's own.

All I need now is a couple more bedrooms....

Chat soon, Liz

All images and text copyright Pretty Practicals 2006 - 2008 except last image where copyright is held by our suppliers.

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All images and text copyright Pretty Practicals 2006 - 2008 except where stated.

French bed takes centre stage

I hope you have all enjoyed the summery weather that we've been having over the last week.

Dave and I decided to give the shop a refresh and moved everything around. Despite putting more country furniture and French furniture on display, there seems to be more space in the shop. Not sure how that one works, but I am really pleased with the results.

Here's the new view as you come through the door, immediately in front of you is our cutlery table covered with all the cutlery ranges that we stock together with cutlery baskets, table mats and a big bunch of fresh flowers from my friend Trina's lovely shop in Rhayader.


Look left and see a Chichester 5ft dresser laden with spongeware pottery

Look right and see a display of candles, painted accessories and kitchenware with tons of buckets and baskets below the table.

Here's the lovely French bed that sits in the middle of the shop, home to Mr and Mrs Bear and the most sensible cushions I have ever seen. These cushions are the width of a pillow, so they can sit on your bed and not only look lovely, but provide full width support for those times when you want to lounge around in bed reading, writing your blog entries etc.

If you have a look at the pictures that show the back of the shop, you can see some of our huge quilt and cushion collection, which can be found at our specialist quilt and bed linen site New Country Quilts.

Well, that's it, mini tour of our shop complete for now, time to put the kettle on and carry on working on the new version of our website. As I keep saying, it should be ready any time now, I can't believe how long it is taking to complete, but promise that it is worth the wait.

Chat soon, Liz

All images and text copyright Pretty Practicals 2006 - 2008 except where stated.