Congratulations Kate And William

 I'm back and suffering my usual jet lag and so disappointed that Kate and William waited till I arrived home to have the baby but pleased my prediction of a boy proved right. Congratulations to the happy couple, well done. And look who came home with me! Yes H.R.H herself. She said all this baby talk was wearing her out and she was thrilled to accept the invite to stay for a while in my Royal Household. Charlotte was thrilled to see the Queen and will try not to leave cat hairs on the royal bed. The corgis did not come.

No bling for you Bling Bear but look who I got for you instead. A Man and it's Henry 8th no less. You can be wife#7. Can we now expect Baby Blings? Royal babies are in the news and you must follow the trend.
Apart from the Royal Baby non arrival I had a perfect week in London. More of that later and more souvenirs to show. This short post will do till all the bits of me that are scattered around the world meet up again.

I'm Off on Another Trip to Royal London.

All packed and ready to go I leave in a few hours for my marathon trip. First on my list is the Coronation Festival in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, then it will be a non stop rush to see and do everything else on my list. I have left a little bit of time for souvenir shopping. Bling Bear has put in an order for more bling and Charlotte is still thinking about her list. Girls' please remember I want to travel light and buy souvenirs for me because there  might be lots of royal baby stuff to buy. I'll be back on the 22nd so you won't have time to miss me.

Vintage Embroidered Aprons on Display

Latest eBay apron for my collection, it arrived in the post this week. Now look at the pic. below!

Same apron but sadly not in my collection. This one is a work of art and there are thousands of tiny stitches. It was stitched many years ago by Audrey Lampe and was part of her estate bought bought by Retro Vintage fabrics and this is their pic. I found it while browsing apron images on google. I got in touch with Vintage Fabrics hoping there was the slightest chance I could have the apron in my collection.
There is a sad ending to this story and the apron no longer exists.

My new apron display. Daughter S had the clever idea of hanging my aprons from curtain rods set on brackets in front of the built in wardrobes in the Diana room, now called the Exhibition room. When that was done I said I couldn't reach the aprons. Was told to lower the aprons on more rods then I could put royal tablecloths on the top rod . Never mind that it is now a bit difficult to use the cupboards and the display needs a bit of fine tuning. There are over 80 aprons most with embroidered ladies and still more put away and 21 royal tablecloths. The ceiling slopes up above the tablecloths so that still leaves more sliding doors up there to be used. That would involve a long ladder and one day I will explain my ladder issues and why I can't use those cupboards. This might be where I need my very tall grandsons.

The wall opposite the apron display, note the Charles and Diana curtains which match the bed quilt. There are 2 doll houses in this room and a third in my bedroom. A fourth one is still in the sunroom waiting to be painted.

The entrance to the newly named exhibition room. I found a new type of hanger to display Diana bags.

Looking into the room. This is the bed guests would have to sleep in. Haven't had any overnight guests for a long while, Can't think why!

Found in a catalogue, an over the door hanger, perfect for some of my royal towels. This door leads into my laundry where Charlotte's litter tray is so I can't keep it closed as much as I would like to.

I loved Gina's lace on my shelves so much I found a perfect piece for the top of my dressing table mirror. Don't know why I didn't think of it before. Daughter S has another bright idea involving the built in wardrobe in my bedroom but I'll keep that for another day.

Charlotte loves her new winter bed but we've had some warm sunny days and she had to put her leg out to cool it off a bit. I think her tail is out too, hard to see against the dark wood.