Buying Florence Broadhurst bed linen

It's mid-year sale time in Australia and I've finally bought the Florence Broadhurst bed linen I have always admired. As my regular readers know, it is my mission in life to never pay full retail and also to not enter a big shopping mall (they depress me).

So it was win, win all round when I discovered from a friendly commentator that Adairs online stocked some of the Florence Broadhurst range and that it gets discounted at sale time. Hooray!

The Japanese floral bed linen with Chinese Key pattern backing

I scurried to the computer and ordered the Japanese Floral quilt cover, Florence Broadhurst Chinese Key pillow cases and some random flannelette sheet set (there is free delivery until June 30).

I really love the pattern of our new quilt, although the overall quality and general finish of the product is not as great as I would have expected...which is a shame...Thank goodness it was heavily discounted...

The Chinese Key pillow cases, on the other hand, are fabulous. I'm kicking myself that I didn't buy the whole sheet set because it is just gorgeous. The sheet set I was after is now sold out.

Florence Broadhurst Chinese Key pillow cases

It is great having some new bed linen this winter. Nothing like a new quilt cover to freshen up a bedroom.

Rainy long weekend

What a wet horrible long weekend we had!

Fortunately for us, it was mostly spent indoors listening to ABC Classic FM's countdown of the top 100 movie scores. Ha! Yes, we are super-geeky.

The boys were listening with us when it came to the last three in the countdown...LOTR, Star Wars, and The Mission

We felt like we were back in the days before TV with the whole family gathered around the radio. The boys were thrilled when the music for Lord of the Rings and Star Wars made it into the last three. They sat there enthralled, as they love these movies. The fabulous music from The Mission was number one.

A well-covered Jason fitting the new bathroom window

And it wasn't all music and movies at the Sow's Ear. Jason fitted the little window in the bathroom...and it looks excellent. The weather was too wet for painting, so the window will come out again next weekend. We're hoping for a few days of good sunshine to paint and finish that little project off.

Dinky little window

Today, I picked up the new window that we had made. As it was being loaded into the boot of my car, the man from the joinery place said it was a dinky little thing. I chirped up and said of course it was dinky, "It's for a dinky little hole in the wall."

Jason arrived home ill this evening and is becoming acquainted with the toilet bowl as I type this...(poor sick Jason!), which means I have no one else to share the joy of the window with. Luckily the blog is my outlet. Ha!

So, please admire my dinky new window...Isn't it darling?

single light casement window with arctic glass

The dinky little thing is made from Surian Cedar and the glass is fixed into place with timber beading rather than the putty that we have in all the original windows. We also opted for toughened arctic glazing to match our other windows.

The new window will have to be primed and sealed with an oil based primer and then painted with a few coats of gloss before it will be ready to install. 

Fortunately, this weekend is the Queen's Birthday holiday which means a long weekend. Hooray!!

If painting goes to plan, installation of the window will be this weekend. Cross fingers!

Swift Whip Rotary Beater

I now own a Propert Swift Whip rotary beater. My life is complete. Well, not really but I know that I'm going to love my new egg beater. Especially after I tossed out my old egg whisk.

One of my friends who read this blog post spotted the rotary beater of my dreams at a charity shop and snaffled it up for me. She knew I had serious egg beater envy...Ha! Thanks S.

Propert Pty Ltd in Australia made the Swift Whip rotary egg beater from the 1930s to 1980s. My egg beater is most likely from the 1970s because it has small plastic gear wheels. The earlier versions of the same beater would have metal gears. 

Obviously they were built to last as I have friends whose elderly parents are still using their Swift Whip rotary beater. And they are guarding them fiercely from their children's clutches.

My 40 year old beater seem to be in very good nick. I'll be sure to whip something real good with them tomorrow. 

Concentrating on the front garden

Over the past few weekends, we've been working on our front yard...nothing too drastic, just weeding and clearing out garden beds. It is a low-cost project as we hunker down for a Brisbane winter.

When we first moved into the Sow's Ear we planted quite a few agaves which have matured into great beauties. Now they are growing pups.

Agaves in the garden beds

Today, we transplanted some of the larger agaves into a side garden bed and and have started clearing some old sword ferns which have grown out of control. We'll spend the next few weekends getting everything up to scratch.

And in very sad news, one of our nicest flowering grevilleas is dying. Over the past month we noticed its leaves were browning off and now it is looking quite decrepit. We're going to give it a severe prune and hope that it may grow back. If it doesn't come good, it will have to be pulled out. Boo!

dying grevillea