Tuesday 17 May 2016

What a difference a day makes

It’s been a strange kind of week. Last weekend, we all but got sunstroke when out walking, and the summer weather continued during the week, making me sweat in my polyester summer dresses while slaving away at work!



I found this sleeveless green dress at Think Twice last week, just in time to wear while the glorious weather lasted.









We bought some fiery red Pelargoniums to put into the lovely green enamelware planters we found at Blender Vintage Shop a couple of weeks ago. Aren’t they a cheerful sight against the crackly white paint of our ancient potting shed?

The warm weather has given a boost to our garden’s greenery, giving it its usual lush summer outlook. Several Geraniums have started blooming, including the unusual dark violet Geranium phaeum. The double Aquilegia ‘Nora Barlow’ is also making an appearance, although not in the place where we originally planted her. No, she decided to self-seed in the most awkward of places, right beside the door of our potting shed. The many ferns, which were already in place when we “inherited” our garden, are starting to unfurl their fronds and will soon turn our garden into a true jungle.



Summer ended on Friday night, though, when  temperature started dropping. On Saturday, we were back to about 10 degrees Celsius, making it quite a contrast with the high temperatures we had been getting used to. So, goodbye to summer clothes for now. 







One advantage is that I could finally wear my pink spring coat, as usually it is either too cold, too warm or too wet to wear it.

There's always got to be a silver lining, no?













I bought the coat on my first ever visit to Blender Vintage Shop and it is a true gem.



It is tailor-made in a lightweight candy pink fabric, lined in palest pink. It has a round collar and closes with four buttons, ending with a cute little bow below the bust.


Beneath the coat, I wore a short-sleeved dress in a turquoise, green, grey and white pattern, with a notched collar and fabric covered buttons. The label reads “Courtaulds Lirelle”. 

To combat the cold, I added a green cardigan to which I pinned a blackbirds brooch bought from the “Brooch Lady”.




Black court shoes, a cream vinyl handbag and a colourful Italian-made scarf completed my outfit.


Dress and scarf: Think Twice
Shoes, bag, belt and cardigan: charity shopped
Coat and beads: Blender Vintage Shop
Brooch: flea market

Apart from the green dress shown at the start of this post, I did manage to find a few other nice things on the clothes front:


Skirt from Vintage Styling combined with short sleeved jumper found while charity shopping on Saturday.



Short-sleeved stripy blouse, also from Vintage Styling, in the second photo worn with turquoise blazer from the charity shop.


Finally, these cute red and white beads from Vintage Styling.

But that's not all! We had an extended weekend here in Belgium, and there was a huge flea market on Sunday, so there is more to come. Watch this space, as they say!

Did you do anything nice this weekend?



24 comments:

  1. Ooh, beautiful things! Your pink coat is divine, the scarf is so pretty, I love your orange jumper and floral skirt and that turquoise jacket is just my style, what a haul!

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    1. Thank you Claire. I'm quite pleased with my finds. xxx

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  2. What a stupendous round-up!!
    Your pink coat is gorgeous, hoorah for odd weather so you get a chance to wear it. Love the emerald green on you so much, fabulous with your hair!
    That psychedelic scarf is every shade of fabulous.
    I'm getting ready for this weekend, off hunting this morning and then cracking on with a suitcase full of antique and vintage linen - it needs to be made into something, but what? xxxx

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    1. Thanks Vix. Emerald green is my pet colour at the moment. I was going to suggest crop tops for your linens, and I just saw that is exactly what you made them into. They're gorgeous! xxx

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  3. I love your use of colours in those outfits. It's really making me think! (I'm very nervous about colour - lapsed goth.) That pink coat is to die for.

    Aquilegia do self-seed everywhere; I've given up trying to work out where mine will appear next - I just dig up any that are in obviously inconvenient places and leave the others to do their thing. Pelargoniums make me think of Spain, especially the Cordoba patio festival.

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    1. As I used to wear a lot of black myself, I can relate to that, Mim. But once I started to embrace colour again, I never looked back. I never once thought I would be wearing a pink coat though ... xxx

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  4. I am fond of flowers and your red pelargoniums are so beautiful!
    The dress has a lovely colour as well as your coat. Summer is almost here at last, enjoy the sunny days ...

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    1. Thank you Dan. I love all kinds of flowers too. I can't wait to wear all my summer dresses. xxx

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  5. I love everythng but that striped top, swoon! Its too perfect

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    1. Would you believe I was dithering over that top? I'm so glad I bought it though ... xxx

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  6. Your wardrobe makes me go weak in the knees, sweet Ann - especially that enchantingly beautiful pink coat. Love, love, super love!

    Many hugs & happy Wednesday wishes,
    ♥ Jessica

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    1. Thank you Jessica! I see the pink coat is getting a lot of love. It is so gorgeous I tend to keep it for "best" though. xxx

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  7. I was really taken with your potting shed and pelargonium until I spotted your coat. It's absolutely divine and I insist that you put me top of the list for when you get fed up with it. Bet you'll never get tired of wearing it though.
    Lynn xxx

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    1. I'm reserving a space in my wardrobe for "things Lynn would love to have when I'm fed up with them". There's quite a few things in it already :-) I can't see me getting tired of that coat, though xxx

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  8. OH MY WORD! I have serious vintage envy! I absolutely adore that candy pink coat- what a find! Thanks for popping by blog, I love your style! <3
    Donna x (www.polkadot-pink.com)

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    1. Thanks for your comment, Donna. I am following you. You've got quite a few gorgeous things yourself, though. xxx

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  9. Oh my, look at that green dress. Lovely! I love it the garden starts springing back to life. Nora Barlow's a beauty! The greenfly seem to love my aquilegia, little bloodsuckers! Oh my again. Pink coat alert. That has Jackie O written all over it. And it has a silver lining?! ;) how perfect! Xxx

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    1. My husband says you're right, that coat's really got a Jackie O vibe. I need to find a matching pillbox hat now ... As for greenfly, I had to pick off whole families of them from my Aquilegia as well. XXX

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  10. pink coat!!!!! totally gorgeous!!!
    and i love how you paired it with the pale greens and the beige bag! pretty scarf!
    you have marvelous flowers in your garden! my forget-me-nots and "maiglöckchen" (english???) look humble in comparison with that blooms from a fairy land. at least i have some ferns, wandered in while the house were on its own a couple of years......
    i spend most of the long weekend at home - shock frosted. on monday it warmed up a bit and we went on a little hike.
    the red&white pearls are very cute!!!
    xxxxxx

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    1. Thank you Beate! It seems you really had your "Eisheiligen" around last weekend ... Flowers like forget-me-nots and Lily-of-the-valley (Maiglöckchen, we call them Meiklokjes, so here we go again) may be humble, but they're lovely nonetheless. I'm glad you were able to go on a little hike on Monday. xxx

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  11. That pink coat is so lovely-I'm glad you've had an opportunity to wear it this Spring.

    Actually, I love all the beautiful clothes you came home with-and that stripped blouse is incredible.

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    1. Thanks Goody. I know I should wear that coat more often. I've had quite a few good finds lately. I know I should slow down, as I'm running out of wardrobe space ... xxx

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  12. I have a pink coat too! Mine is velvet so can only be worn when the weather is just right as rain would not treat it kindly xxx

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    1. Ooh, a pink velvet coat sounds very nice too, Melanie. I seem to have quite a few coats I can only wear when the weather is just right ... xxx

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