I discovered these delicious vegetable print bags in Au Printemps in Paris yesterday, rather, I fell in love with these at Au Printemps in Paris yesterday. Now there's nothing new about beautiful photo prints, nor, indeed, of vegetable prints. But these were perfect - in rich, bright colour, perfectly photographed and printed as if they were laying on your kitchen table temptingly ready to cook. And I love to cook. Particularly when there is produce as perfect and fresh as in these photos.

Unfortunately there were only store tags on the bags, so the clever maker is unknown - unless anyone out there can identify where they came from? 

And to finish - since sewing is another love of mine (my mother taught me how to make my dolls' clothes when I was little) a bag printed with empty vintage wooden thread spindles (the new ones are all plastic).

How domestic is all this?

There is a stretch of Pimlico Road, just south of Sloane Square in London's Chelsea, which is elbow to elbow antique shops. Not ordinary antique shops, mind, fantastic, sensational antique shops - wth a few galleries, fashion and food shops mixed in. This is where you find David Linley's furniture, the conservatory maker Marston & Langinger, the Daylesford Organics Cafe, flower and home shops, and Wild At Heart's beautiful flowers and home accessories. In short, a treat at every step! (And on Saturday mornings from 9-1 there is a wonderful farmer's market, a great spot to start the weekend!)

One of my absolute favorite shops is Howe at 93 Pimlico Road, always filled with a mix of original, often quirky, always exceptional furniture and accessories for the home, antique, vintage, remade or reproduced. Customers include the painter Lucien Freud who bought shabby chairs to use in his portraits, for example in the famous painting of Leigh Bowery (Seated) 1990; icons of the music and film worlds, institutions such as Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace and leading fashion stores including Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Hackett and Gieves & Hawkes. 

www.howelondon.com

If spring is on it's way, can summer be far behind?  And here comes summer with these enchantingly fresh lighthouse tapestry cushions from Chelsea Textiles in London

Opened in 1992 with lush, romantic interpretations of traditional antique tapestries and embroideries, Chelsea Textiles became immediately among the most desireable fabrics for your home. Since then it has constantly reinvented itself with light, modern variations on its mostly traditional themes, each more beautiful than the next. Even the interest in Mid-Century Modern has not escaped its attention, with deliciously subtle new interpretations of classic 1950's geometric design - so bang in the mood that it is almost as if the whole 50's look had been created anew. 

www.chelseatextiles.com

Chandeliers are big, yes? We know that. They're everywhere, made out of everything from plastic toys (as at Anthropologie in London - see this blog) to fanciful wire and coloured glass.

But they still look wonderful, especially when they appear in a completely unexpected and really innapropriate but amazing way - as here at Merci in Paris where an elaborate traditional crystal chandelier floats over a rough wood table and plain metal chairs. As the Conran shop says in its recent, spectacular window displays: Opposites attract. 

And here is another amazing chandelier at Merci - traditional in style, but made out of curling wire and cream painted wooden beads and strung over a bright red sofa.

And finally, a new use for all those old sleigh bells you might have hanging about; pack them together and you have a contemporary new way to light your table. Bravo!

Many years ago, when I first came to live in London, I fell in love with the work of the artist known as Patrick. A friend had bought a painted guitar from The Portal Gallery in London and I rushed to see if there was anything I could possibly afford. As fate had it, I found an exquisite little nude painted on a cupboard door and surrounded by flowers, paying the gallery bit by bit until it was all mine.  I have it still.

The painter Patrick is also the playwright John Byrne, best known as the writer of Tutti Frutti, an immensely successful six-times Bafta winning 1987 television series starring Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson, and Richard Wilson, followed by countless other stage and television plays until the present day. For his entire career Byrne has moved from painting to writing and back to painting again - on the way designing record covers for Donovan, The Beatles and Billy Connolly and others.

www.portal-gallery.com

www.johnbyrneart.com

All of this came back to me when I spotted this busker on London's Oxford Street, playing folk music on his flower painted cello. Of course I gave him his due.

It's a perfect sunny day - cold but clear - and after the unending rain, wind and snow it feels as if spring is finally on the way. And what better way to celebrate that with a bunch of yellow tulips in a favorite vase - here a treasured piece by the British designer Jane Willingale of Loudware.

I first knew Jane as a textile designer, but she soon turned her pattern making talents to creating spectacular, dramatically decorative ceramics called Loudware - quickly snapped up by Bergdorf Goodman, Barney's and Henri Bendel in New York (and by collectors such as the designer Zandra Rhodes - and me). But, sad to say, Jane's success was also her undoing for her bold, unmistakable designs were quickly copied at mass market prices. It became no longer worth making the real thing.

But if you have a hand painted, hand thrown original such as this you have a treasure beyond price

Don't you love to have something around that just makes you smile? 

Well this sweet, slightly quizzical face print lamp shade from Sigmar at 263 King's Road in London does just that for me. I'd love to see it when I walk into my office in the morning, sleepy eyed, with my mug of Earl Grey tea in hand (milk, one sugar). Wouldn't you?

www.sigmarlondon.com

Wonderful, too, at Sigmar are Marthe Armitage's beautiful hand printed linocut wallpapers.

Marthe started designing and hand-blocking wallpaper in Chiswick from the early 1960's and acquired a nineteenth century press in 1969. Taking her inspiration from the natural world. she uses plants, birds and fanciful architecture to create her imagery, cut by hand into lino blocks. Originally trained as a painter and print-maker, Marthe is regarded as one of the best of Britain's craft wallpaper designers and is a Past Master of the Art Workers Guild. Her wallpapers are also available from Hamilton Weston. www.hamiltonweston.com

Beautiful, beautiful leaf clustered white vases at Liberty in London - showcased on an ornate shelf against deep blue walls, they look more like precious works of art than pretty things to put on a table.

But they can be that, too -  just enjoy!

www.Liberty.co.uk

And did you know that Liberty is now showing items from my favourite Milan store (well, all right, one of my favourite Milan stores) 10 Corso Como? More on that soon! Meanwhile take a look at their charming website!

www.10corsocomo.com

I was completely passionate about dolls and doll's houses when I was a little girl. In fact, I still have several boxes of doll's house furniture carefully saved which  I hoped to give to my own daughter one day - except I had two sons and neither has given me a granddaughter yet!

I've never taken my passion into doll collecting as a grownup - but these enchanting handmade cloth dolls with beaded and embroidered faces in the window of D & Me at 309 Brompton Road in London's Brompton Cross could easily make me change my mind.

But then, it's not surprising, as D & Me is the new home of what was one of my absolutely favourite Notting Hill shops - One Vintage - which had not only the most amazing vintage dresses, but one of a kind pieces made of vintage and antique fabrics. For any crafty/fashiony/vintage loving person it was a dream come true.Created by by sisters Diane Metta and Marcelle Metta-Symons, it's one of London's must sees.

And their website is enchanting, too. www.onedandme.com

Letters & words in print & interior design have been an ongoing trend, but inventive new ways of using letters, words & numbers turn up from time to time, and when they do, it's wonderful to see.

Conran's use of industrial metal letters to make its design point "opposites" in its windows was one recent example (see this blog) and this mix of sizes and colours to create "What a perfect dinner" at that special store in Paris, Merci, is a great treat too.

www.merci-merci.com