at home and catching up on country style

As I am now at home reflecting on all the goodies on the way, I have decided I had better catch up on all the magazines which have stacked up in my absence. On top of the pile is one of my favourite magazines, Australian Country Style. And on the front cover of the April issue is our cane chair from our store! With a very cute dog sitting upon it. The linen toile cushion behind the dog is also from our store. Fabulous. What a great start to a great magazine...

One of the articles titled "The Sweetest Thing" is about Michelle Crawford's family's move to rural Tasmania. Above is their kitchen with many vintage pieces taking a starring role. Check out Michelle's blog, Hugo and Elsa, named after her two children...very cute!

Michelle now makes cupcakes under the name C & C Cupcake Factory. The cakes are based on Tasmanian seasonal produce. And she sells them at the Tasmanian Farm Gate Market, a market I must shamefully admit to not having visited yet. My must-do in Hobart list has just been updated.

The styling feature (pages 68 to 76) featured many vintage and antique items, much to my delight. I couldn't help but notice the zinc tub from ici et la. We have a few of these coming from our latest buying trip. I imagine olive trees growing in them. I also like the French chair in the above image and the French garden table in the middle image. Oh, and the linen sofa, of course!

As well as getting through my magazine stack, I was given a few buckets of beautiful big quinces. I love the smell of them just sitting on the bench but I decided to preserve them for use in tarts throughout the year.

I used my vintage preserving jars to bottle the cooked quinces. Look at the lovely deep red colour they turn when cooked.

Later this week I will be helping at the Melbourne AAADA antique show. The gala preview starts Thursday evening at 6 pm, but the show continues on Friday and over the weekend. I will report back with my favourite images from the show!