Fabric patterns and designers - like Cath Kidston!

One of my all-time favorite, favorite, favorite designers is Rachel Ashwell, as people who know me can attest to. I usually buy the Simply Shabby Chic stuff she has out at Target (especially when it goes on clearance!!!) and I really like her bedding. I like the mix of colors (never thought I would like white that much, or even pink, much less froofy roses, but like I have said before, I am TOTALLY turning into an old granny cat lady, except sans cat) and the paleness, the pastels, the florals. I haven't ever seen and I doubt I could ever afford her Treasures stuff. But I find her ideas, her look, and her home philosophy utterly inspiring and am always on the lookout for things related.

I only first heard of her when I was over at Jen's house, and her younger sister, who was studying interior design at the time, I think, happened to have a Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic book out on the table. I remember looking at the cover, reading the title, but never picking up the book or even leafing through it or anything. But that is the first time I heard of the chick, and shortly after got really into the Target stuff. (Incidentally, I've run into Jen's sister - and mom - TWICE now, as of yesterday, out on thrifting finds. First time was a local estate sale in their neighborhood, and then just yesterday, at Goodwill! Heh.) This was at least 3 or 4 years ago.

So I love searching for stuff on eBay (have a few things I missed out on during the sales and would love to get), and on some google searches, ended up finding other blogs about thrift store shopping, yard sale-ing (if that is even a verb, though I attempt to make it so) while I was looking for what was then my newest Target obsession - the Chelsea line of dishes!! I wish I had a pic of the flatware, but I've been too lazy to take a picture of it. It's what first caught my eye in the line a few months back when it was regular stuff on the shelf, and I remember making a note to myself to come back when it went on clearance. I never even looked at the salad plates, and then the stuff totally FLEW off the shelves once it started clearancing!!! Horrible.
I love, love, love those floral plates. I was able to get a set of large dinner plates, 2 sets of 2 bowls, and the mugs for 30-50% off. They only had the salad plates in the dots or stripes so I decided to go with the dots, since I think the stripes are a bit ugly. I did, however, get the large salad/serving bowls in the dots and stripes because that was all they had. And this stuff is porcelain!! So I have the floral salad plates, with the polka dot salad plates, floral bowls, and floral mugs. I liked those last two because they have the little butterfly peeking out from the inside. I suppose I could have gotten some polka dot mugs, too, but I really wasn't in love with them. Oops. (They really are very Cath Kidston, though. She has something almost exactly like it out, just for, like, three times as much.)

So the picture I found is this:

from the adorable site freshvintage.typepad.com . The odd thing is, I also came upon a vintage Mikasa set of dishes like the blue pictured there, and I hadn't thought of putting them together. I nearly got the blue Mikasa for full price, but was able to hold off until it went 50% off. It was a slightly different line, but the colors were very similar. What I really need to do is get everything out and set up on the table like I have it imagined in my head! You'd all be impressed, I swear.

So then, I found a link off the freshvintage site and discovered Apron Thrift Girl ! I LOVE her site. She posted about a set of sheets she got, a Cath Kidston print from Ikea.

I was starting to recognize some of the elements of Cath Kidston stuff and was interested in checking it out. A few weeks later, I saw these at a thrift store ...

These aren't exactly the same ones from the store, these are off an eBay listing, actually. I saw one of the flowered print pillows way high up on the shelf in the bedding area, and whacked it down, and a sweet dear old fellow shopper informed me that there was a matching 2nd one!!! I grabbed them both. I unzipped them to check to see if they were slipcovers only, thusly easy to wash, and moreover, to see if they were Ikea - which they were! (Though nowhere did it say Cath Kidston). Then she said she thought I had good taste. Ha! They were $6 each, and one was even labeled $14.95. Don't know what exactly it was for, because it was a hand-made tag, so it was probably for resale in a little shoppy boutique somewhere and couldn't sell! (I do always wonder about gorgeous adorable stuff that ends up at the thrift store somehow!!) And yes, the tag also was labeled "Shabby Chic pillow." The are larger than regular square pillows. These two covers-only sold for $10.50 with $8 shipping. At the thrift store, i also ended up chatting with a nice older lady who noticed the pillows in my cart and was eyeing then. She ended up buying a white-painted cast-iron garden chair that I was hoping would last until 50% off. Oh well!!

So now I officially also have Cath Kidston on the brain, and have a new color combo that I'm diggin' - reds and blues and whites and teals. I was able to get a vintage tablecloth in the 40-ish red/blue/white/smattering of green combo, for about a buck.

Like the Target "Summer Strawberry" line that I got on clearance over the summer!! (Along with a nifty aqua rolling cooler!)

(The color on the plates is way off, somehow, it's more like the strawberry plates right here:)
I love all this stuff. I love matching colors, I love putting things together, and just making it look nice. I just need to find some way to properly STORE and ORGANIZE all this craziness!!

Anyhoo, lately I've also had a mondo quilt fixation (still meaning to post some pics of ones I've gotten lately since for them I hold mondo adoration) and have gotten several off eBay, and a rather uninspired, yet somewhat quaint, patchwork from Goodwill for $6. This is one I am currently watching on eBay, love the colors!!

I had also eyed this quilt because it totally reminds me of the Cath Kidston palette. It was a cutter, though, like, already pieces chopped off the sides and everything. Darn it. The colors, and patterns, and prints, and sheer WORK that was involved in making something like this is quite staggering. What a pity about this little piece, though. It is very sweet and I wouldn't have minded just a swatch for my future "inspiration board".

I'm also hoping to get this one soon, it reminds me of spring gardens!
And, to end this surprisingly long post, at the same glorious thrift store where I found the Cath Kidston pillows, I found this quilt (new, with the new smell, but no tags) for $9.95. It's Simply Shabby Chic from about 4 years ago! I have the matching duvet on the bed right now. And coincidentally, Target has the twin quilt for 50% off and the matching pillow shams for 75% off. I SO remember seeing these in the store and passing on them because I wasn't into it at the time. Agh, naivete and ignorance!! So I bought a few sets of shams and a quilt, why not. I figured I was meant to since it was free shipping with any order over $50.

Still raging over the missed out pink rose quilts, though. That's a story for another time.