When we travel I usually don't buy much, but I did have two things I wanted to bring back from London:
1. A mug from Emma Bridgewater
2. Fabric from Cath Kidston
My interest in pottery by Emma Bridgewater goes back to the 80's. I remember seeing her darling hand made English coffee mugs at a local gift shop and being totally infatuated with them. They were expensive and I could never justify their cost so I just admired them thinking, maybe, someday...
Then about a year ago I started reading Susan Branch's blog and her love of Emma Bridgewater rekindled my interest. I thought a Emma Bridgewater mug would be THE perfect souvenir of our trip to London.
You can imagine my surprise and delight when I opened the cupboard in the kitchen of the house we rented in London and I saw these.
The woman that owned the house had an impressive collection of Emma Bridgewater and I enjoyed my morning coffee from a different mug each day we were there.
Okay. That's the background. Here's the rest of the story:
Friday our kids left for home and since we didn't leave until Sunday, Bill agreed to take "a little walk" to the Emma Bridgewater store with me. I Goggled directions and since it said it was just under two miles away we set out to get momma a mug. We walked, and we walked and we walked. Five hours later, in the driving cold rain we gave up, hailed a cab and went home empty handed and defeated. (At this point in the day I may or may not have muttered something under my breath about never going on another trip to Europe again).
Next day after a good nights sleep Bill asked if I wanted to try again. This time we hopped in a cab and let the driver find the Emma Bridgewater store. Not only did I find these two precious gems (it was so hard to choose and to limit myself to just two)
but we found the most charming shopping area called Marylebone High Street. The streets in this area are lined with small independently owned stores that create a most charming and unique atmosphere. I was in heaven!
We stopped for lunch in one of the darling little cafes and just as we were about to call it a day I spotted a Cath Kidston store across the street. Not just any Cath Kidston store, but the only one in London with a good inventory of fabric! (I know because I had already been to all of the other Cath Kidston stores in London looking for fabric).
Hallelujah....the heavens parted, the angels sang and the sun shone down upon us for the first time in ten days. (Just kidding about the sun part).
Yes, I know I have a store full of fabric but you can't get this stuff in the states and these came wrapped in RIBBON!
Awk, the cuteness...
Can you stand it?
Did you notice this trim matches the fabric I bought? Oh, yes it does!
I'm thinking I'll make zippered pouches from these hankies. Maybe not. We'll see. I probably will just look at them for the rest of my life, but I don't care they make me happy and did you see the ribbon?!
Here are a few things I learned on my trip:
1. The most fabulous house in London is just a big empty house once your family leaves.
2. Google maps are seldom reliable.
3. My husband loves me a lot.
Encourage one another,
