Lovely things I've found

I recently made my first purchase from Beth at The Linen Cat.  I’ve been a big fan of the Linen Cat blog for a while, but never bought anything for my boys as they would just wreck them. As special Christmas presents for my nieces however, they're perfect. I ordered a cashmere bear and a linen mouse which arrived beautifully wrapped in tissue paper with very stylish labels attached.

I'd actually love a dress like this...

They are both exquisitely handmade, with real attention to detail.  Beth also uses a lot of tweed in her work which I really like.  Which leads me on to the best bit  - as there was a delay in processing the order because of a rubbish e-mail connection, she sent me this set of tweed trimmed spring birds.

Talk about customer service!  I’m thrilled with them, they’re going straight on my Christmas tree.

Another discovery I made recently is a new website called handmade and vintage.  As you'd guess from the name, they stock some lovely, unusual vintage bits, including these packs of vintage bias binding I picked up

The contents of the shop change depending on what treasures have been found, so it's worth popping back to see what's new.  I just had another look now and saw some beautiful old French buttons for sale.  Hmm, definitely tempted...