home thoughts from vintage wants

PRETTY WOMEN

2011-10-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

I have quite a collection of dolls scattered around the house and they come in all shapes and sizes. I was out and about the other day and found this old style antique shop. It was absolutely filled to the gunnels with stock. I would say that some of it had been there for years. The first thing that caught my eye as I came through the door was this lovely lady.

Yes her dress is faded and a little tattered but she is just exquisite. She has a stockingette body and beautiful hand painted face with the most delicately curled hair with wonderful detail. I do know that a lot of this kind of doll was made in Hong Kong but I don't feel that she has the same origins as she is so fine and detailed. When I asked the seller how much she asked for £5.00 and I was just bowled over so she is now sitting proudly on my mantlepiece in the sitting room.

Another doll that I fell in love with came from Jo of Hesta hestanesta.blogspot.com , she had taken this wonderful boudoir doll to the Market Harborough Fair and she was propped up behind her stall.

You know how it is - you take lots of stock to sell and come back with something - well she was my present to myself that day.

Whilst talking of presents my hubby treated me to this wonderful 1930's art deco lady hat stand when we were in the States this year.

These are not cheap and they are not easy to come by and I have been promising myself one for years but have always shied away from them due to the cost but when someone else is treating you who am I to say no.

My cousin in the United States is to blame for my doll collection, I was purely a bear collector before but getting together with her is fatal, her doll collection must go into the 100's and she has display cupboards full of old childrens toys books and dolls. I have to say that I am not a big fan of Madame Alexander dolls but Glynis found this one for me and she so reminds me of a character from Mad Men that I have to have her out and displayed.

Her name is Cissie and she is complete with tiny little net stockings. I do have one of her black mules but I think she must have lost one whilst coming home from a dinner dance one evening as this is sadly missing. To me she is just so 1950's and again another gift which as I say is always nice.

STOWE GARDENS - LAST DAYS OF SUMMER

2011-10-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Like most people we decided to make the most of this lovely Indian Summer weather and take ourselves off to Stowe Gardens owned by the National Trust.

The garden's are fully of Roman style follies and every where you turn there are great vistas with the follies sitting at the end of them, very clever landscaping.

I will just let the photo's speak for themselves.

I cannot ever remember kicking through leaves in my sandals before!!!

Even though the trees are still very green I found colour in the berries around the gardens.

I just hope this good weather holds for a little while longer yet as I have got lots of things I still want to do and my garden really does need me to turn my attention to it ready to put it to bed for this year.

BYGONE TIMES

2011-09-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Not saying that hubby and I watch a lot of television but one programme that we do like is Antique Road Trip and we have visited quite a few of the places that we have seen and which might be little treasure troves of goodies for the booth and fairs.

For my birthday treat hubby booked a hotel room for an overnight stay and we headed off to Eccleston near Chorley, Manchester to an antique mall called Bygone Times.

Believe you me it is as interesting on the inside as it is on the out. It is actaully three large rooms crammed full of antiques and collectables and as you can imagine we had a field day looking through and pulling things out. It even has it'd own little penny arcade where you can swop your £'s for old money and play the slots (guess where hubby headed for) and a small 1940's exhibtion complete with Anderson Shelter.

We found some sweet little sewing items.

Some great old cookery leaflets - I love the way someone has put string through the booklet in order to hang it up in the kitchen.

I think there is also a bit of a dog theme going on as well as seemed to find some nice doggie related items.

Another doll and a little bunny which I actually found in a charity shop.

This little nude lady figurinne is rather daring but I could not resist picking her up, she is sadly damaged and so the seller was not asking too much for her as these can usually command quite a price. Although she is not marked I think she is probably German as her facial features are very good.

I collect old childrens books and could not resist the front cover on this one and hubby decided to surprise me with it after we had finished shopping.

On our way home Sunday after we had hit two small antique fairs we headed for a National Trust House just outside Manchester - Little Moreton Hall.

It dates back to the Tudor period and was a nice change just to wander around the house and gardens and finish it all off with a brilliant High Tea of finger sandwiches, cheese scones, cheese and home made chutney, fruit cake, fruit scone, shortbread and flapjack and of course a pot of tea. Now please don't think I am greedy they packed up what I could not eat and we brought it home with us. Lovely.....

RAINY DAYS AND A LITTLE BEE

2011-08-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

We had spent Saturday inside the hall at Market Harborough for the Vintage Fair and decided that we would get out and about for some fresh air on the Sunday and a village not too far from us was having a garden open day so we decided that we would make that our destination.

Got up Sunday and the sun was shining which looked very promising so we took ourselves off – brolly less and coat less. We pulled into the car park and of course the skies opened up.

Other like minded people, us Brits are a hardy bunch.

Luckily our friends who came with us were a lot more organised than us and they had some spare umbrellas in the back of their car and one of the gardens had some bric a brac etc for sale and nestling in a box for £1.00 was a waterproof jacket for hubby which a bit like Cinderella’s slipper fitted him a treat. I on the other hand just had a summer cardigan on. My linen trousers soaked up the water like a sponge and they were flapping gamely around my ankles but undaunted we persevered and the sun came out and we continued on our way.

We got to the last garden and as I was turning to come down some steps I felt a sharp pain at the top of my leg very near to my derriere, then again another one. I could feel something moving around and so with no further ado I dropped my trousers in full view of all the other people that were wandering around only to find a little bee had crawled up my trouser leg and stung me – not once but twice......

So picture this if you will, there is me with my bottom hanging out (good job I had decent knickers on) and my poor friend kneeling down to inspect the damage. Like a good Girl Guide that I once was many moons ago, I had one of those stick pens that you use on bites and stings and I pulled this of my bag out shoved it in my friends hand and bade her to dab it on the injured area. Obviously others in this garden were more than entertained by my antics, I even got the comment “nice view” from some guy and what did hubby do, he put his head down and made a big effort to look very interested in some steam engine that was in the corner of the garden, pretending that he was not at all anything to do with the mad woman with no trousers on. Now that’s my hero for you.

On the plus side I did win a bottle of Bertolli tomatoe sauce on the tombolla, mind you there again a bottle of wine would have been better.

I reckon that bee was so busy smelling the roses he got drunk and decided to sleep it off somewhere, just wish he had not chosen my trouser leg to do it in.

JULY MAKES FOR THE OLNEY FAIR

2011-07-06T00:02:00.000-07:00

I always like to try and make something new for the fairs and with Olney coming up this Saturday I put on my thinking cap and this is my latest - gift bags made out of brown paper sandwich bags and matching gift tags.

My cousin sent me a pack of Victorian scraps from a shop that we both love to visit in the US and I just had to use the one above. I have been struggling with my sewing machine but now fianlly feel that I have got the hang of it and have been whipping up these bags and tags all weekend.

I have used vintage papers, cards, lace and all manner of bits and pieces that I have stored in my many boxes around the house and they are a great way of using up little snippets of items.

These ones have old postcards as their theme and I used some of my printed tie as well.

Children's theme bags.

I know you cannot get an awful lot in them but sometimes the sweetest suprises come in little packages.

TICKLE MY FANCY WITH TAKE THAT

2011-07-01T03:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a rare old time I went with my daughter and son in law to see Take That at Wembley. The last time I saw a concert there I was 18 and Elton John was headlining. So there I was a 50 something year old grannie screaming and jumping around alongside the rest of the audience. I have loads of photo's so will let them do the talking.

For those of you who are going to the concert LOOK AWAY NOW!!! for those of you that cannot go here are some of the highlights just pop on your Take That album and dance around your living rooms.

The first set was the lads without Robbie

Then came my Robbie moment

Back together again

The concert was spectaluar, the lads were on top form and still managed some of their old moves and I left the stadium with my dancing shoes firmly on my feet and woke up this morning still singing.

A SNEAK PEEK

2011-06-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

I just thought you might like to see some of the items that came back with me from the US this year.

Packing to come home for me is always a work of art, hubby always tells me that I have bought too much and I am not going to get it all in somehow I always manage to pack it all in and shut it up. Mind you poor old hubby was moaning like crazy at the weight and insisted I reduce each suitcase’s weight by around 5 kilos each, so out went his PJ’s, out went his toiletries, his wet flannel which weighed quite a bit, and I insisted he wear his coat even though it had been up in the 90’s... but I think you will agree with me that it was worth it.

Some of the bits are to go into the booth, some are for the fair at Olney and some (in actual fact lots) are now sitting on my shelves and in my collections.

Cute little velveteen rabbit found by hubby which still has its original working squeeker to go in the baby section along with these two baby pictures which I could not resist

This vintage patchwork eiderdown I found at a flea market and it is just waiting to be completed by someone. It is lovingly put together just needs it's wadding and backing. I did not mind as I would not have got it home otherwise.

I always buy tins as I can use them to put things into and I had believe it or not 16 tins... but this is my favourite the art deco design is just adorable and there is minimum damage to the paint and so this will be coming to Olney with me along with these two art deco party booklets – again the graphics and the colours just jump out at you

The lady that was selling the rabbit also had some wonderful ephemera and I could not resist these boxes as I think they will look great displayed.

This is just a small taster of the things I will be bringing with me to the fair, I have loads of ephemera, some beautiful brooches and more of those tins that I talked about also a lot of items are already in the booth at Brackley Antiques Cellar. Hopefully this will wet your appetite and you will come and pay me a visit and say hello at the fair.

QUOTH THE RAVEN

2011-06-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are wondering where I have been hiding myself I have just returned from my holiday where I have been visiting with family in the USA and catching up with all the gossip, travelling around, sightseeing and of course purchasing lots of great new items for the booth and for the vintage fairs.

Over the next couple of weeks I will try and blog about some of my more interesting visits and also show you a few of my wonderful items, some of which I have to admit are not going anywhere.

Hubby loves the American Civil War and we always visit some of the battlefields or areas where battles took place and one of the towns we visited was Petersburg in North Virginia. As well as the battle fields there are plenty of places to shop so it is a win, win situation. Hubby lets me shop and I let him visit the battlefields and we do a bit of the history stuff which I have to say is no loss to me as I also enjoy these.

Whilst there it was 97 degree heat with high humidity, we were definately flagging and we went into a little book shop/coffee shop Rivers Edge on 12 West Street

Now for those of you who have never been to the US they do love us Brits and we always seem to get a little bit of extra attention. The shop was originally a hotel and it was the place where the American author and poet Edgar Allan Poe stayed on his honeymoon after marrying his 13 year old cousin Eliza Clemm, and although the downstairs was set out as a interiors shop/book shop and a place to relax and drink good coffee, upstairs where they honeymooned was no longer in use. On chatting to the owner he offered to show us the upstairs and with no further ado we took him up on his offer and climbed the stairs.

Do you think this was the en-suite

The guy who owns it is slowly going to restore it and reopen it but as can be seen from the pictures he has a heck of a job to do and I can see it taking many years before he has it finished but he is trying to preserve it as best he can in the meantime. He tried for years to purchase the property and finally succeeded and I wish him all the luck in the world with his project.

Both hubby and I felt really privlaged to be allowed the view a little bit of literary history and the icing on the cake was that the coffee was one of the best we had this visit and the orange frosted cake was to die for.

KINDRED SPIRITS

2011-05-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

I got home from work today and looked in my mail box and there inside was nestling a little packet. I quickly ripped it open to find that a new friend that I had made when I sold her some of my goodies on Etsy had taken the time to make me a wonderful wooden hanging heart and and an amusing ATC (Artist Trading Card) together with a set of really useable rubber stamps.

Firstly the heart, the theme was kindred spirits and the funny thing is the more we spoke the more things we had in common - her name is Deb so is mine, her second name is Jean - so is mine, we are both in the caring profession and we both love altered art - that is just for starters.

We have the same sense of humour and the card really made me chuckle

What can I say Deb you made my day, no actually my week, thank you so much my kindred spirit.

It was made even more special as I had an accident last weekend and stopped the concrete floor with my face, pushing two of my capped teeth right back into my mouth, giving my top lip a trout pout and leaving my face looking like I had walked into Mike Tyson's fist. All for a bottle of wine which I had forgotton to pick up on my way out to visit family. All that and not a drop had passed my lips, after the fall not a drop could pass my lips as they were too darn swollen....

Anyway for those of you I wil be seeing Saturday at the fair if I am looking a little worse for wear you know the reason why - and I am not adverse to a bit of tea and sympathy.

OUT & ABOUT SCOURING THE COUNTRY

2011-05-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

I had a little jaunt out this week looking for new stock for the fair on the 21st May and decided to go into Essex and ended up driving through the most quaintest of villages called Finchingfield.

It has a little village pond complete with ducks and geese and some really sweet little shops including a small antique centre.

I purchased some bits from there and after chatting to a local they told me about a vintage shop that was in the next village of Great Bardfield and so I set off into my little car and headed off to find a little gem hidden in the centre of another little village.

Heathers Vintage Designs – You can check out her blog here http://heathersvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/. it is only small but inside it is packed with lovely vintage and handmade goodies. I was like a child in a sweetshop and picked up lots of lovely items to take to the fair.She had just had the plasterer in when I go there and half the stock had been put away into a tiny cellar that she has but that did not stop me ferreting my way around (nearly sent a teapot crashing in my haste).

We chatted about our joint love of vintage and she was so friendly and helpful that I just know I will be taking another run down there to see what great items she has for me next time.

Until then here are some of the items I managed to find on my trip all labelled up and packed away - gosh arn't I just the orgnaised one.

WHAT A SMASHING EASTER IT HAS BEEN

2011-04-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

I cannot remember an Easter where the sun has shone all weekend and we certainly made the most of it.

Good Friday we finally finished the decorating in our bedroom so did not go anywhere except to pick up our grandaughter who was going to spend some time with us over Easter.

Saturday we decided to take B to a National Trust house and we visited Wightwick Manor which is a Victorian manor house just outside Wolverhampton.

What a treat it turned out to be. This house pays full homage to the arts and crafts movement and is full of William Morris furniture fabrics and furnishings and not only that it has a wonderful collection of pre-Raphealite art work by Rosetti and Burn Jones. I was in heaven oohing and aahing all over the place. If you have not been I would definatly recommend it.

We had a picnic in the grounds, I read a book very relaxing and B went on an Easter egg hunt which was great fun.

Hows is this for a scarecrow.

We finished up with fish and chips from the chippie in the village ( I forgot to get anything out of the freezer oops). All in all a perfect day.

Sunday we held open house and all the family joined us putting whatever food they fancied on the table - what did you think I was going to spend all Easter cooking, we got through a fair few bottles of wine and just chatted the day away sitting in the sun in the garden.

Monday we visited Lamport Antiques & Collectors Fair with my sister and brother-in-law. I am going to have to learn to be quicker in future as she managed to beat me to quite a few nice items that would have looked great on my stall at the next Northampton Vintage and Home Made Fair, but here is a taster of a few items I managed to get before she beat me to it which will be coming with me.

A great leather suitcase in super condition, a gladstone bag and a lovely French material covered box which is a really good size.

Pretty set of painted shelves which I am soo tempted to keep and some lovelies to go on them.

After we came back from the fair Hubby did happen to comment that our conservatory was beginning to look like a lost luggage office

I wonder why....... Mind you where else would I store all my stock.....

1915 CALENDAR - KEEPING THE FAITH

2011-04-11T03:59:00.000-07:00

Everything seems to be happening at the moment with both of hubbies step parents. His step-mother has had a couple of nasty strokes which have left her with some paralysis and his step father fell and broke his hip. As they both live some distance away from us it has been a case of travelling backwards and forwards up the M1 to sort things out and to offer help and assistance where we can. Taking Mum shopping, mowing the lawn, sorting out official help to support them all - never ending. When did we become the parents is what I want to know. Nobody tells you that when your kids grow up and leave home you then swop roles and start looking after those that have looked after you.

At the same time I have started a new job, we have moved youngest daughter out into the wide world (again) and we have had the house given a total facelift with new rendering (more about that some other time).

So as you can see life has been quite frenetic over the last couple of weeks or so.

As this was going on I found an old 1915 calendar on Ebay that I actully bought thinking it was just one sheet but as it had Pansies on I could not resist it. When it came through I was just so pleased with it. There are actually four pages and as with a lot of Victorian/Edwardian pieces it has religious tracts on it. Now I am not a religious person I don't go to church apart from to light the odd candle in prayer for my family and my dad who passed away 20 years ago but I have found the words on this piece rather uplifting and calming in all the chaos that is going on with our household at the moment.

I do believe that sometimes we are sent little messages and gifts to help us get through things and this seems like one of those things and it is now taking pride of place in my kitchen where I can see if every day.

Mind you I keep getting slightly confused with the dates....

SALTAIRE AND SIR TITUS SALT

2011-03-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Whilst up in Yorkshire we visited what we thought was going to be just an old village with a few shops in it - oh no how wrong can you be. Saltaire is actually a complete old Victorian Mill town that was built by Philantrapist Sir Titus Salt and was named after him. This is now a world heritage site. He knew that the mills were billowing out smoke and pollution which was not good for his workers health and so he decided to build a new mill in the country and bought some land three miles from Bradford that was on the River Bure on which to create his vision.

He built housing for his workers.

Although some of them are back to back houses Titus had the houses built to high design specs, check out those stained glass windows.

Love the back alley ways complete with their recycling bins showing that life goes on and that the village is very lived in and not just a museum piece.

He also built a large memorial hall, bathhouses, almhouses, church and hospital

There was parkland and of course walks by the river.

The mill looms have long since been silenced but the mill itself has been turned into a shopping area Salt Mills. There is the most wonderful bookshop in there. Being the daughter of a bookseller I could have spent hours browsing through the books, then through into a marvelous cookware/homeware shop with a breathtaking array of items for the kitchen and home, stopping for coffee in the American style diner and then through into the antique centre at the end.

Another great plus is that the Mill has an exhibition of David Hockney paintings.

Along the streets are little individual shops, my favourites were a little vintage shop The House of Rose & Brown which I treated myself to a few bits from plus an old fashioned bakers that sold the most wonderfully tasty pasties.

All in all it is a town that is worth taking a trip to - put it on your list of places to visit.

MARCH MAKES FOR THE VINTAGE & HOME MADE FAIR

2011-03-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Spent most of today running around like a woman possessed getting ready for tomorrow's Northampton Vintage and Home Made Fair. I was making up packs of tags whilst eating my toast this morning - busy, busy.

Here are some shadow boxes for my March Monthly Make which I will be taking to the fair - the pictures are not that great as the sun was out and I kept getting a reflection - but I am not complaining I will exchange good photo's for sun anytime.

The conservatory is filled with boxes, cases and baskets full of lovely lovingly sourced items and the weather forcast is set to be warm and sunny. If you can make it come and say hello we would love to see you.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS - YORKSHIRE MOORS AS YOU IMAGINE THEM TO BE

2011-03-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Whilst we were up in Yorkshire we could not go without a visit to Bronte country and of course the Bronte village of Haworth. It was a just the kind of day you would expect when exploring the Yorkshire Moors, dark, damp and rather misty.

First stop had to be the Bronte Parsonage where Charlotte, Emily and Ann were brough up together with their brother Branwell

Although not the largest of buildings it has to be one of the most interesting houses I have visited for a while and I came away having learnt things I never knew. It is really sad to see the family items from such a tragic family. I never knew that Charlotte was pregnant when she died. Very sad.

Apparantly the village itself had a very high mortality rate and it was all because (for those of you with a quesy constitution please do not read the next bit)... The Victorians decided that putting slabs of concrete on top of the graves was a good idea, in actual fact this meant that the natural evaporation of the bodily fluids that would occur through the earth could not happen and what actually happened was that they drained off into the earth and into the village water course - yuch. As you can see from the picture above the graveyard was packed to the gunnels with bodies, no room to spare there then. Fascinating stuff - I don't know about you but I love a bit of useless information.

Beautiful stained glass window in the church.

Of course no trip would be complete without a little shopping and this shop was absolutely fabulous selling old style sweets and beautiful luxury hand made bath items. I treated myself to some super foot soak...

The shop is as it was in the Bronte sisters time and it is actually the same shop that Branwell used to go to get his laudenam - no sign of any of that on sale I have to say.

THANK YOU MR TESCO

2011-03-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Every year we collect our Tesco vouchers up and in March we cash them in for a short weekend break with a Marriot Spa hotel - this time we chose the Hollins Hall Country Spa in Shipley Yorkshire. This year my sister and her husband joined us which made it even more special as we have not had a break away together for some years. All in all the stay not including dinners or drinks cost £4.00 now that is what I call a bargain. A big thank you to Mr Tesco.

Our first stop on the way to the hotel had to be the spa town of Harrogate and of course no visit to Harrogate would be complete without a visit to Betty's Teas Rooms.

How about these for Easter Egss - the largest one was £220.00!!! I'll stick to my Cadbury's thank you.

A little light lunch

then onto the serious business of shopping.

Just down the road from Betty's we came across a shop that was selling the most wonderful vintage and retro goodies over two floors.SPACE the girl behind the counter was dressed in a forties outfit and was wearing her hair in a snood - mind you it was pink so a little bit of todays fashion had crept in too.

After some time spent browing we moved onto the Montpelier Quarter of Harrogate where the antique shops are situated and spent some time browsing in the lovely shops there. I bought lots of things for the stall and the booth and I also treated myself to this deco handpainted part tea set by Grimwades which I could not resist.

Of course no shopping trip would be complete without popping into CK's and this was our final port of call before moving onto the hotel.

I was really taken with the latest range of bags being made from vintage fabrics that are only being produced in ones and two's. Could kick myself as I walked away from one that I really liked and when I went back it had gone.....

A LITTLE BIT OF SHOPPING

2011-03-03T06:36:00.000-08:00

Not long to go until the Northampton Vintage and Home Made Fair and I thought I would go a bit further afield to try and find some vintage goodies for the stall. I have been on annual leave this week and decided to take myself on a trip to some antique places I had never been before.

Firstly I visited Bourne Mill Antique Centre in what was an old mill which is a warren of tiny little rooms over four floors filled with bits and pieces, some stuffed in nooks and crannies that you just had to peer into, very quint. The owners were very friendly and helpful and I came away with a few items from there.

Second visit was up the road to the Antiques Warehouse the setting for this old converted barn is in wonderful fields of horses in paddocks and then up a gravel drive to

This was fullof exquisite antiques most of whcih were out of my price range but which were lovely to look at.

If only I still had my big garden. Mind you I did manage to find items in both places, some of which went straight over to the booth in Brackley and some I have kept back for the fair.

Here is s sneak peek of some of the bits I will be taking with me.

Also whilst out and about I found this young lady who has joined my other dolls. I actually came across her in a Red Cross Charity shop. Even though she is not in the best of conditions - needs a little bit of TLC with a needle and thread, I could not resist her and out the cabinet she came.

She has such a lovely face and her little red apple cheeks look like they have been kissed many times as they are a little rubbed. Now she can join some of my other dolls (oops another of my collections).

FEBRUARY MONTHLY MAKE

2011-02-25T03:12:00.000-08:00

Ok so I have signed up for Annie Felt Fairie's Monthly Make and as I am getting ready with bits for the Vintage & Home Made Fair I thought I would use my latest make as my show and tell for this month.

I had some old sheets lying around the house and I could not just throw them away and so I decided to tea stain and age them, rip them into lengths, fray the edges and then hand stamp to make ribbon ties for presents or just to use in general artwork, cutting them up into portions for cards, etc.

All my Christmas presents were tied with this ribbon, I used the word Joy and I was so pleased with them I thought I would repeat the idea and take them to the fair.

So there are you folks my February Monthly Make - Simples.

MUSIC MAN - OR SHOULD I SAY GIRLS

2011-02-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

Many years ago youngest daughter used to sing at open mic events in pubs and clubs in our area. Sadly like the nightingale she stopped singing and we could not get her to even sing at family get togethers, it was almost like she had lost her voice. Last year along with my neice who is studying music at college she decided that she would sing a couple of songs at her sister's wedding, this she did - I think the champagne helped to grease the vocal cords - and that was that. Then a couple of weeks ago she decided that she would give it another go and together with her cousin's friend Jasmine who is an accomplished singer and guitarist they booked a spot on an open mic in a small village pub the New Inn in Abthorpe.

Had to laugh at the sign above their heads.

Anyway to cut a long story short a very proud mum and dad listened as their nightingale found her voice again and at one stage she sang an Adele song acapella and the whole pub went silent, no mean feat when it is a lot of burly blokes downing pints.

A warm up...

The two girls together.

Looks like her dad and I could be visiting a lot of pubs in the near future...

ANOTHER OF MY WEAKNESSES

2011-02-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

I sometimes have to agree with Dorcas Lane – and all of you who watch Larkrise to Candleford will know exactly what I am talking about - when describing myself, I have to say I am a woman who has certain weaknesses, one of those is that I have too many collections.

I was perusing in Etsy (as you do) and found the sweetest little tin of talcum powder being offered by Mary of thelostrooms http://www.etsy.com/shop/thelostroom that would go just right in one of my collections and so my weakness overcame me, even though I had promised myself to be good this month and not buy anything for myself, I found myself pressing the ADD TO CART button and low and behold it was mine.

In my bathroom is my cabinet full of lovely pretty vanity items including bottles of perfumes from days gone by that when you lift the lid actually don't smell too good anymore but that I love.

These are nestled in amongst Victorian floral trinket pots, pots of lotions and potions and Victorian trade cards.

I have the excuse that this collection does not take up too much room - only one cabinet - but I really don't know that I believe that as I know eventually it will spill over, in fact what I have not shown you is that there is actually some more floral china sitting on the top of the cabinet..... as I say collecting is my biggest weakness.

JUST IN TIME

2011-01-31T03:59:00.000-08:00

As you know I joined Felt Fairy's Monthly Make and set too with my new sewing machine only to meet with disaster and so had to rethink what I could make that did not invlove a machine. I had purchased a template of a mini gift box from Pam who sells in Etsy as "fromthecraftroom" and decided that I need to get making some stock for this Springs Vintage and Home Made Fair in Northampton and so I set too with scissors and glue and made up some boxes.

After I had made them up I added a little bit of tissue to nestle the present in and then used vintage lace and old jewellery findings and fancy buttons to make them that bit more special. Each box also has its own aged gift tag.
As we have now reached the 31st January I have just scrapped in for the January deadline...phew.

Talking about the Northampton Vintage and Home Made Fair there are those of you who know that in the past Ann of Vintage At The Corner House and myself have always arranged the fairs together. Sadly this year I have decided to take a back seat as I feel that I need to divert some of my energy to other things with family and work commitments. I am still going to be having a stall but I am going to leave all the hard work (and believe me it is hard work) to Ann and Mr Corner House. Good luck to them both in their new venture together, they are looking to increase the amount of fairs they will be holding - they have four booked for this year already so put the dates in your diaries and I will see all the friends that I have made over the time I have been arranging them there.

A GRAND TIDY UP

2011-01-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Went to Brackley at the weekend and spent a good couple of hours tidying up the booth and moving items around after the Christmas period. Took home the last of the Christmas themed bits and generally titivated for a while. A flick with the feather duster here and a flick there, move this here, move it there, move it back again you know the thing. It really is a curse being a Virgo as nothing is ever quite right, but when I had finally finished I felt satisfied with how it was looking.

Anyone for tea.

Whilst I have been out and about I have managed to find some nice items for myself - two of which had hidden surprises for me when I took the time to look at them.

Firstly I found this wonderful old glass Pear's storage jar - it has original thick glass. Funny thing is I was looking at buying something like this before Christmas to put my vintage baubles in and only found new ones at around £40.00 so gave it up as a bad job.

I was so keen to snap it up before someone else that I literally ran with it to the counter and plopped it down - job done. When I got it home I turned it around and low and behold....

what a fantastic label which had been preserved becuase it was on the inside of the jar and had not faded.

My second find was a childs book, I collect children's illustrators and one of my favourites is Honor C. Appleton, I really liked the cover on this book and so popped it on the counter along with jar. When I got home I took a closer look and low and behold the illustrator was no other than Honor herself - and I only paid £1.00.

How sweet are these.

My thrid find was a childs cup and saucer in a charity shop in Essex - I had been out hunting for the booth and found this little cup and saucer. When I turned it around it also had this little illustration which I love

Needless to say this has joined my collection of children's china - and whilst I am on the subject a mug I found on Ebay also warrants a little mention.

My mother-in-law is called Joan and she used to skip in the street as a child and so I could not resist a bid on this.

All in all a fruitfull couple of days.

ROTTEN SEW & SEW

2011-01-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

For Christmas hubby bought me a second hand sewing machine as I had decided that 2011 was going to be the year when I made more handmade items. Usually if I sew I hand sew but this is not viable if I am going to be making items for my stall at the fairs I will be attending as it take so long.

Today as I was reading through blogs I came across Annie of The Felt Fairy’s blog - A Monthly Make 2011 - and thought YES!!! So I duly signed up to it and as it was my day off I decided that some projects that I had in mind would be started. I would not put if off any longer I would get out my new machine and begin.

I sat down and threaded my machine – well after 20 attempts of reading the manual and threading and rethreading I sussed that part out, I pulled the thread through the bobbin, yes I was set to go – although it took me ages to find how the feed arm came down. Not to waste good material I did a test piece on some felt, OK I have this cracked I thought. Placing my material in the required spot I put my foot to the pedal – hold on something is not quite right, I took my material out to find 101 threads on the underside of the bobbin and a ball of cottons on the underside of my material, OK unravel it, unpick the cotton, rethread the bobbin and start again..... 2 hours later and nothing had been produced apart from a lot of swearing and cussing and the odd tear of frustration.

Rather than throw it across the room and stomp on it as I would really like to do I packed it away until I felt calmer. Half a bottle of Rescue Remedy later I am feeling a little better and more in control of myself.

I am sure it is something simple and can be easily remedied but for now I will just have to revert to hand sewing. Now where did I put my thimble......

A NEW ROOM

2010-12-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year we decided that we needed to solve two problems

1 – The door opens straight into the front room which means that we get draughts and all the leaves blow straight in the door. Very messy

2 – We needed to create a little extra space on the house for somewhere to go to get away if you need a quite time.

With Winter approaching and knowing that I had around 22 people for Boxing Day we decided that we had to do something and do it quickly.

We had a small space outside the back of the house that was only really being used to store logs in and we came up with the decision that a conservatory would be just what we wanted to solve the problems. As we only have a really small garden it had to be something that was going to blend in and not stand out too much. This is what we came up with.

Before

After

I now have somewhere to sit and read a book (well I will have when it is warmer) plus I can just sit quietly and watch the birds in the garden. My mother bought me the blue chair as an early Christmas present.

I found the Webbs seed display box in Brackley Antique Cellar and think it is just the thing for display in a conservatory. I had only just set up my own booth and made a few sales before buying this...

We still have to complete it with a proper floor, proper electric rather than cable through a window but I am just so happy to have it done by Christmas that these are small trifles that can wait.

The other plus side is also that the house is staying warmer and when I open the front door the snow does not blow in - BONUS

CHURCHILL'S WAR ROOMS

2010-11-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

What do you get a man for his birthday who really does not want much (unlike his wife) and who does not really collect anything either. After much wracking of the old grey matter I came up with an idea. Hubby has a real interest in WW2 and I bought him a ticket to see the Churchill War Rooms in London which were the underground headquarters of Churchill and the cabinet during the war years. Based in Westminster these gave me a chance to have a look at good old Big Ben and the wonderful old buildings that surround it. The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

Who would have thought what was going on under these wonderful old buildings

It is a most fascinating glimpse of what life was like for the people who worked for Churchill during this time how they lived, worked and slept and under dreadful conditions. When we walk around today it is clean and quite, back then it must have been dreadful, smokey (nearly everyone smoked back then) and no fresh air, no sunlight and of course constant noise. The rooms are all set out as they were when it was being used to plan the strategies of the war. Also there is a large hands on museum charting the life and times of Winston Churchill. I can thoroughly recommend it as a trip out even if WW2 is not high on your list of interests – I had the best all day breakfast I have ever had as well.

Whilst we were in London we took a quick trip up to Camden - it was absolutely heaving and I have to say it was just too much for us oldies and after a quick wander around the antique area and after I had bought a printers drawer and a few other bits we decided to head out for home.

As you know I love to collect and I love little bits and pieces the only trouble is they are small and can look lost when trying to display them amongst other larger items. I find the best thing to show my little goodies off is in printers drawers. These were used to store the metal letters in that were used in the print.

Here is one that I have on the landing.

This is my latest find in Camden all waiting to be filled up – GREAT AN EXCUSE FOR MORE COLLECTING

DON'T KNOW IF I AM COMING OR GOING

2010-11-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

I know I have been a bit neglectful of the blog recently we have been having work done on the house. We have had new windows upstairs and a conservatory on the back of the house and at the weekend hubby decided to remove a bedroom wall in order to enlarge our daughter's room to include part of a hallway – so as you can imagine I have been up to my eyes in workmen and dust.

Around the same time as all this was going on Ann and I were offered a booth at Brackley Antique Centre which is the biggest antique emporium in Northants. This coincided with the move of the Most Marvellous Place to Shop to Northampton town centre. I knew I would have to make a decision and decided that I would give Brackley a try as I could not work plus run two booths, (well I could but would meet myself coming back trying), and so I moved all my stock over and set up there.

We have been in for just under two weeks and it has been manic, we have been so surprised and delighted with the amount of interest that the public has shown in our little booth and we have had to make a fair few trips backwards and forwards keeping it well stocked.

I have been concentrating on keeping the booth well stocked and have not really been looking for items for myself when I have been making my pilgramages to the Charity shops but I was lucky enough to get a great find the other day a box full of vintage Christmas glass baubles all for the princely sum of £2.50...

These are going to go on my second tree that will be put up in my new conservatory – that is of course once it is finished and the dust has finally been removed from it – now where did I put that duster.....

A MOST MARVELOUS PLACE TO SHOP IS NOW OPEN

2010-11-08T23:53:00.000-08:00

A MOST MARVELOUS PLACE TO SHOP IS OFFICIALLY OPEN!!!

This Saturday saw the grand opening of the new newest shop in Northampton which is full of an eclectic mix of vintage, retro and wonderful finds . It was officially opened by the Mayoress who had to be dragged away from the vintage clothing.

I am going to let the photo’s give you a bit of a guided tour

THE MAIN HALL

RETRO ROOM

INTO THE CELLAR

It is all set in a building that is full of nooks and crannies and there is something new to be found around every corner.

You really must pay it a visit I am sure you will find some wonderful christmas presents there.

You can find it on the Kettering Road, Northampton just up from Abington Street - Opposite the Jaguar Garage. Parking is available in St Micheals Car Park - walk out and it is virtually opposite you.

It is a most wonderful shopping experience - go on you know you want to!!!!

WHERE HAVE I SEEN THAT FACE BEFORE

2010-11-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

When I was about 7 or 8 my cousin’s from the USA came over and visited us and I remember them bringing over Casper comics and Juicy Fruit chewing gum – my goodness I had never seen that kind of comic strip comic before and I remember reading them and chewing on the gum – which I was never usually allowed either. Very exotic to a young girl in the early 1960’s

I visited Lamport Antique & Collectables Fair on Saturday and picked up a few items for my Etsy shop and whilst I was there I saw this little lady standing on a table. I thought I recognised her and I just loved her little cheeky sideways glance and smile and so I picked her up and brought her home with me.

I thought I would have a little search on Google for her – somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered Casper the Friendly Ghost and low and behold there she was “Little Audrey”.

This young lass (or should I say old girl) was a star in Paramount Pictures cartoons from 1947 until 1958 and then she was later immortalised in Harvey’s comic strips alongside others such as Casper (I knew I had seen her before).

I found this little poem from Little Audrey - does she know me or something

Oh, Little Audrey says

"Save for a rainy day."

She saves, but every time it rains

She spends what she puts away.

Anyway long story short after a little search she is rather a rare little doll and a further search saw one on an Auction site (not Ebay) that has sold for just over $120.00, so my couple of £ investment was money well spent.

I am probably going to put her on Ebay and see how she does but I am not too worried about her selling as she is very sweet and can join my collection of dolls and I will enjoy her for a while.

Funny thing is I can’t stand chewing gum now and never chew it, Mum was right all along “It will give you wind”.... she used to say, I don’t know about that just can’t stand the jaw ache and it is useless for blowing bubbles with!!!

THE COLOURS OF AUTUMN

2010-11-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

Spring is my favourite season but it is closely run by autumn with all its showy colours of reds, oranges and yellows and as I was working in my garden today doing some autumn tidying up I just had to take some photos of the marvellous show the Chrysanthemums that I put in this year are giving me.

They have rewarded me with vases full of blooms that I have put around the house and which give everything such a welcoming look, especially now we have put the clocks back and the early dark evenings are upon us.

Whilst I am talking about gardening I found these wonderful old gardening books which I just could not resist, Mr Cuthbert’s Guide to Growing.

Now I will just take my boots off and thumb through them for a few hints on next year’s garden......

Northampton Winter Vintage and Home Made Fair - Thanks To All

2010-10-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry for delay in showing photograph’s of the fair, I know that I said I would give all of you that could not come lots of photo’s but when I got up on Sunday ready to download them all I pressed the delete button and they all vanished – PANIC!!!

Luckily youngest daughter is a keen photographer and she had taken lot and lots of them and so I have taken them off her card – had to trawl through hundreds but think that these will give you a flavour of what was a great day for both sellers and Ann and myself.

Before the sellers arrived - the quite before the storm

Setting Up

Wonderful goodies on the stalls

We all coveted the shelves but Ann got there first

Let the fair begin - eager customers

Tea and cake

These were the very last of the cakes, for the first time they all sold out before the fair ended. Make a note Lesley, more cakes next time!!!

This is just to say a big thank you to all our lovely stall holders and visitors. Everytime as it gets nearer to the day Ann & I say never again and then we get "You must hold another one" and we roll our eyes and say OK.

See you all in the Spring

TAKING IT EASY - KEEPING CALM!!!!

2010-10-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

Although I am up to my eyes in it preparing for the fair, pricing stock and making tags as well as acting as labourer for hubby who has been busy decorating the lounge I was determined that it was not going to be all work and no play for me this weekend.

Earlier this year I bought four Chrysanthemum plants for autumn colour, they were really baby plants when I put them in but rather like Topsy they have grown and grown and have rewarded me with the most wonderful display of flowers some of which I picked for the house. We visited my sister for a quick cup of coffee and collected the last of the pears off the tree from her garden.

I have been busy making more Christmas tags as these always sell well and I try to do different ones every year so that people don’t see the same items from me.
The highlight of the weekend was seeing my lovely granddaughter in her first dance production. Bee has always loved dancing and singing (she is a right little performer in every way!!!) Eldest daughter thought it would be a good idea to channel her interest properly instead of her dancing around the living room and she enrolled her in the Limelight Theatre School in Northampton. How proud her Grandpa and I were, I found myself with tears in my eyes and not just when watching her dance, some of the little ones were just so sweet. Bee did so well, being tiny she was one of the smallest in her class but she held her own and threw herself into the moves tapping and jazz dancing her way across the stage. Unfortunately we could not take any photos or video but the memory of her face filled with determination, with her tongue between her teeth as she remembered the dance moves will stay will me always.

The little Prima Donna posing

This wonderful child size chair was found in a reclamation shop and is for the grandchildren to fight over when they come to visit. I could not resist it even though we have no real room for it I have managed to squeeze it in.

Finally I never get over the generosity and warmth that comes from people in Blogland I was busy making yet more tags this morning and postie knocked on the door and handed me a parcel. I could not believe it when I opened it and a lovely thoughtful funny gift was revealed. Carol from SarahCarolMakes who is having a stall at our fair on Saturday had sent me a handbag mirror and badge - I think she is trying to tell me something....
Thank you so much Carol - I will wear the badge on Saturday with pride whilst touching up my lippie in the mirror!!!

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

2010-10-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

Ann and I have been up to our eyes in organising the latest Northampton Vintage & Home Made Fair, which we are holding on the 23rd October. Please see they flyers in the side bar for full information.

We have been out putting up flyers, distributing them to libraries, tourist information centre, local shops, cafes, the Fishmarket and generally handing them out to anybody that might be interested. We are also in the process of sorting out the newspapers adverts, now that just leaves the radio – whew...

In between sorting the fair I have been a little creative and have made another shadow box and some decorative vintage blocks which will be coming with me.

That aside my booth at Northampton Antique Centre also needs to be stocked and kept up to shape, I thought you might like to see a photo of part of my area now that I have been in a for a while

I am very pleased the way it is going and I have decided that I will be continuing with my booth when we move....

Yes you read right, Northampton Antiques Centre is moving to bigger and better premises in Northampton Town Centre . The address is 22-36 Kettering Road and it will be opening its doors on Tuesday 3rd November.

The premises are much bigger and brighter and it is in the town centre which has to be better for both sellers and buyers alike. There will be more space for new sellers to join us and it is going to have rooms for classes, such as general restoration, upholstery and arts and crafts. It is also going to have a tea rooms which means people can come and spend some time browsing and then stop and have a cup of tea or coffee with cake.

It is also going to have a new name

“A MOST MARVELLOUS PLACE TO SHOP”

and I am sure that is exactly what it will be.

SUITES YOU SIR

2010-09-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a very, very old bear that had belonged to a little girl who had grown up and was now known to her family as “Old Nanny”. Old bear now lived with a new owner “Old Nannies” daughter known to her family as “Nanny”.

This little bear had been much loved and like his owner was not feeling as young as he once was. His fur was a little threadbare, he had a scar on his tummy where he had once had an operation to put back his stuffing and his eyes were not as bright as they once were – in fact they weren’t at all what they had once been!!! As an even older nanny had replaced his original eyes with blue buttons many, many years ago when "old nanny" was still a girl during the war.

Like his owner he was feeling like a new look would be in order and so he had a word with his owner “nanny” and asked her if in all her boxes of lovely things she might just have something that would suit him and give him the lift he needed. Nanny searched through her boxes, and believe me she has a lot of boxes to sort through and found to bears delight a knitted three piece suit that another grandmother had lovingly knitted many years ago for either her grandchild’s doll or teddy and showed it to old bear.

“Oh my goodness” he said trying it on “This is just the thing, the blue even matches my eyes, how lucky is that”.

Now bear is not feeling quite so dowdy and he is now getting some admiring looks from other dolls and bears that Nanny owns. Nanny hopes they don’t all start asking for new outfits.

THE END

Explanation of Nannies
Nanny - Me
Old Nanny - My Mum
Even Older Nanny - My Nan - Old Nannies Mum
Hope this helps and does not confuse even more of my readers.

PUTTING THE KITCH IN KITCHENALIA

2010-09-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

On my recent trip to Kent we visited Rye which is a very quaint little town with lots of little shops selling antiques and collectables. The one that stood out for me was “Country Ways” on the Quay this was the shop of Jane Wick’s Kitchenalia and girls eat your heart out, I have never seen so many fantastic items in such a small space!!!

I could have spent hours just browsing around in there, I did manage to find some Christmas presents whilst I was in there but cannot reveal them as the people they are for might get to read the blog and I don’t want to spoil their Christmas surprises.

The streets were full of interesting nooks and crannies

I could not resist taking a photo and having a little peek inside this house.

The Quay full of antique shops.

Also while I was off work this week I decided to get a bit more creative and I have made another two picture boxes to take to the fair.

"Sisters"

"Boys Will Be Boys"

Plus of course another little foray to my favourite Charity shops and I found these couple of bits to go into the booth.

All in all a good weeks break off of work I would say – unfortunately back to the grind and normality tomorrow. I love holidays

SNEAKY PEEK & A TRAIN JOURNEY

2010-09-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hubby took to me to Kent at the weekend as part of my birthday treat and I had a whale of a time trolling through charity and antique shops with the idea of buying some lovely items for the fair in October. Probably cannot say the same for him. He does not really share my passion although he is getting pretty good at picking out things that might be suitable, he still spends most of the time standing outside the charity shops after he has checked out the DVD’s and CD’s

Thought you might like to have a sneak preview of some of my finds

Mini barbolla mirror, chalkware wall planter, cute deco dog, embroidered handbag and pretty tin picture frame.

1930's glassware.

Deco picture frames.

Crinoline lady embroidered fire screen.

Last but not by any means least a luscious plump eiderdown.

All these are set to come to the Vintage and Home Made Fair with me.

Just to show that it was not all shopping and me, me, me, hubby has a real passion for steam trains and we visited Tenterton which has a great steam railway. How's that for a set of luggage

Like sitting in an armchair apart from the fact it was rock hard.

At the end of the line is Bodium Castle and I think he was trying to get even with me as he made me climb the very, verysteep stairs up to the top of the tower – my legs killed me for days after that.

Mind you I still managed to carry on shopping - now isn't that a suprise.

OLDER BUT NOT WISER

2010-09-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

I remember when I was a child I could not wait for my birthday to come around as that would mean I was getting older and would be able to make more decisions for myself without my parent’s interference. Well guess what now I am older I wish I was younger and had the body I had when I was 18, the face that did not have any wrinkles, frown marks and bags under my eyes, the hair that was still blond and not died to cover the grey. The only good thing at my age about birthdays is the presents; yes I am still young enough at heart to get excited about those.

Being a Virgo is a bit of a pain as everything has to be just right and my family always moan and tell me how hard I am to buy for but this year the family did me proud I received some lovely gifts – although mother does not quite get it and moaned about buying me – as she puts it - TAT, thanks mum I love the tea tin and it is not TAT!!!

Firstly my new bear and his friends, the tiny one is actually a cake decoration. Hubby bought the bear, sister bought the googly eyed doll and youngest daughter the miniature.

The childs whicker basket I am going to use to put the post in rather than leaving it on the table - well that is the plan - I told you I'm a Virgo and everything has to go in a place.

Now to show you some of the kitchenalia I received

A great three tier cake tin, the TAT tea tin (love it Mum) and my novelty budgie egg timer. These all fit on my shelf that is in my kitchen which is full of cream and green kitchenalia - seems like I have another collection.

Finally Mum bought me these two lovely 1930's necklaces which I absolutely adore - which made her feel better about the tin.

These are just the vintage items I received, I also got lots of lovely smellies, chocies and useful bits an in order to be organised for 2011 my friend bought me Cath Kidstons 2011 diary. Now to put in all my dates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for something completely different I have decided that my table at the fair is going to have a mixture of vintage and handmade and to that effect I have had to put my creative head on - I have a long way to go but Ihave made a couple of things

Garden shadow box

Two altered bottles.

As I said just a start but I have a week off work I am going to Kent for a birthday treat for a long weekend and intend having a crafting week for the rest of the time - that is in between trying to catch up with the housework.....

OPEN THE BOX - OR TAKE THE MONEY

2010-09-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have been really busy with e-mailing all the stall holders for the Winter Fair and decided that I needed a break from the computer as I was getting bug eyed and decided to go foraging for stock for the booth and for Etsy.

It was a day for boxes – what do you think was in them....

My first find was an old leather suitcase which although battered and missing some of its straps was just too good to leave behind especially as it had its original labels on it. I would say it originates from around the 1920’s and I cannot help wondering what tales it could tell of its journeys in the Orient prior to communism.

The next was a wonderful old typewriter, it is a bit like the one I learnt to type on when I was a child - not quite the same as the one I had when I first went to work... but nearly. Love the old keys.

Finally, last but not least a complete 1950’s picnic set with all its original boxes, plates, cups and saucers. The only things missing were the cup on the flask and a fork. I will possibly keep that back until next Spring as picnics are the last thing on people’s minds at the moment but I could not leave it behind.

You should have seen youngest daughter and myself staggering to the car laden down with them especially as the typewriter weighs an absolute ton.

Now to put them in the booth - Northampton Antique Centre A Most Marvellous Place to Shop is certainly living up to its name and every time I go more items have sold and it is now a constant hunt for new and exciting items to put in there for vintage lovers to snap up. Joe who is now running the place has turned the business around and word is now getting out that it certainly is a MOST MARVELLOUS PLACE TO SHOP.

While I think of it if you pop over to Ted & Bunny's blog she is hosting a fantastic linens giveaway, just give her a hello for a chance to be the lucky winner.

OCTOBER VINTAGE AND HOME MADE FAIR

2010-08-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

OK for you folks that have been waiting for Ann and myself to announce the date of the Winter fair here it is

SATURDAY OCTOBER 23RD

This time we have produced two flyers

and

We will be announcing the names of the stallholders very shortly. There are still some places left so if you sell handmade items with a vintage twist or vintage goodies we would love to hear from you

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Debbie & Ann

TIME FOR A TIDY UP

2010-08-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

In my last house I had a whole work room to myself and I spread out all over the place. This house is considerably smaller and I only have half a room which I share with hubby. The only problem is that I still try and cram as much stuff into the small space as I did in the large......

You might remember in a previous blog I had picked up a set of shelves that I was going to paint and put up in my workroom. Today was the day I had set aside for them and I set too this morning with sandpaper and cloth rubbing them down. It was such a nice day I decided to work in the garden.

Once sanded down I set too painting them, please don’t look too closely as it is not a brilliant paint job but none the less I think they look better painted than they did wood.

Finally painted I stood over hubby until he got out his spirit level and put them up for me. Now I must try and not overfill them although hubby thinks that they won’t stay looking so neat for too long and I hate to say it but he is probably right.

HIDCOTE MANOR GARDENS

2010-08-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

As I look out my office window it is dark, damp and rainy and quite miserable, although I have been entertained by a pair of pigeons having a bath in puddle on top of the garage roof opposite me.

A couple of weeks back hubby and I went out and ended up at Hidcote Manor Gardens which is owned by the National Trust and it is on a miserable day like today I look back on a sunny summer day with fond memories and so I thought I would share the lovely day with you.

Hidocte was designed and created by the horticulturist Major Lawrence Johnston in the Arts & Crafts style, it is made up of garden rooms, each possessing its own special character, and it is a wonderful place to wind away a few hours just taking in the different plants and also gives you ideas for planting and landscaping.

I rather fancy this as a summer house.

It is funny how plants can lift one's emotions, I am feeling better already, now to get out in the garden and do some dead heading.

SUCH A LOVELY DAY

2010-08-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday was one of the greatest days of my life, how did my little babies turn into such wonderful, beautiful girls. This will be a day that I remember as one of the highlights of my life.

It was eldest daughter’s wedding day and she looked absolutely stunning, all the hard work that she had put into having the perfect wedding came to fruition and perfect it certainly was.

From the time we got up in the morning the whole day went by so smoothly, even the hairdresser commented on how calm we all were. Now for all of those that know our family know that CALM is not a word I would use to describe us but it was like a feeling of “oh well we have done all we can now let’s just enjoy it” came to the fore. Mind you I have to say when I got to the church with 10 minutes to spare and could not park the car CALM was the last thing I felt.... I just dumped it, threw the keys at one of the ushers and demanded he park it for me as I rushed into the church only to find my mother and mother in law in the wrong seats. I can tell you trying to move two old ladies one with a stick after a recent knee operation in a hurry also did not make me feel CALM.

Anyway after those minor hiccups the rest of the day went off beautifully and everybody appeared to enjoy themselves immensely. The weather was kind to us the rain passed over and it was not too hot. The food was wonderful, the Walnut Tree Inn in Blisworth did us proud and all wiped a tear away at some time during the great speeches given by hubby and son-in-law some of laughter and some of pure emotion. All that was left was to raise a glass of bubbly to the toast the happy couple and wish them a long and happy life together.

God bless you all my lovely family.

GIVEAWAY SUPRISES

2010-07-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

Today the postman came and dropped of a box of lovelies from my giveaway partner Vikki from http://giddystuff.blogspot.com/ it was all wrapped and presented beautifully with ribbons, hand stamped tissue paper and hand made labels. I slowly savoured the wrapped items and then began a tearing frenzy – ooh the excitement was just too much.

Firstly came a little something vintage or with vintage style - a wondeful embroidered garden scene tablecloth just the thing for my dining room table when I have company.

A little something with a shabby chic style in the form of this very wearable felted heart with buttons.

A little something thats full of colour and scrummy gorgeousness - a pair of vintage knitting needles and some tartan and yellow ribbon.

A sweet little suprise - yummy Hershey bars - must keep mother-in-law away from these as Hershey is her favourite chocolate and we always have to bring her some back when visit America

Finally last but not at all least is

A little something brimming with loveliness - and lovely it certainly is a porcelain posy brooch - how did you know I have a collection of these have you been peeking in my house.....

Vikki I love each and every item that you have obviosuly spent so much time picking and would like to say a big thank you to you and to Tilly Rose for taking the time to organising it. This was my first giveaway swap but I don't think it will be my last.

For those of you with eagle eyes yes I mixed up the labels when photographing the items - I did tell you that it was a tearing frenzy....

HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGY IN THE WINDOW

2010-07-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I always watch the Antique programmes on TV and we are quite addicted to the Antiques Road Trip and he is always saying to me “make a note of where that is” as if we are going to travel the country finding new and wonderful antique centres. Anyway the other day there was one in Warwickshire which is not too far from us – just over an hour or so – and so we decided that we would take some time out before eldest daughter's wedding the following Saturday and take a trip out to do a little bit of antiquing and have dinner out.

We set of for Barn Antiques Centre in Long Marston and the first item I saw as I got through the doors was this chap.

Now all our married life we have had a dog that is until a few years ago, but after our last dog Bella died hubby decided that enough was enough. Even though I have begged and implored, tried bribery and wiped the odd tear from my eye hubby refuses to budge on getting a new one until we retire when we stop being so busy - yeh right. He is usually so easy going but on this I cannot move him and so when I saw this old boy he just had to come home with me.

I already have a terrier on wheels that was looking for a doggy companion and so here we have my two dogs that have to take the place of a real one until I retire which will not be anytime soon.I really love his smiley face and my grandchildren will enjoy playing with him and I suppose on the plus side I don’t have to worry about leaving them when I go away or out for the day.

Anyway back to the Barn Antiques we spent a while pottering around and I made some purchases for the booth and Etsy and then we ended up having a scone with cream at Violetta’s Bistro which is attached to the centre.

It is totally charming and I loved this room where one could sit and partake of lovely things to eat and drink. How shabby chic is that and of course we finished off with tea and scones, just remembered to take a photograph before tucking in, truth be told it is Hubby's as I had already started on mine - greedy devil that I am.

Scone anyone?

HISTORIC HOUSES IN HALSTEAD

2010-07-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

One of the good things about having a husband who travels around the country with his job is that I get to cadge a lift to new places to search out new items for my booth and Etsy. One of my regular haunts is Halstead in Essex which has some good chairity shops and also an antique centre, he visits his clients in the area whilst I mooch around.

One of the things I love about this town is the unusual houses that are dotted around it.

Courtoulds the silk manufactorers came to Halstead in 1882 and they built housing for their employers. There is one street of houses that looks like it has been transplanted from Holland or Belgium.

As well as building houses for the employees of the factory, the Courtaulds also organised and funded a school, adult education classes, a library and institute, nursery, mother’s club, sick fund, amusement society, lodging house, Jubilee Fountain, Public Park, retirement homes and Cottage Hospital.

I love the doorway of this one with the original bottle glass window panel. All the houses have little seats outside the front door and the street sits opposite the factory (now a Co-op) with a river in between and I can imagine the workers sitting outside their houses just watching the river go by after a hards days work at the mill chatting with their neighbours.

This is a terrace of houses aptly named Factory Terrace. I love the leadwork on the windows of these houses.

Whilst I love the town it was not the most fruitful of days but I did pick up some children's books.

I do so love childrens illustrators and have quite a collection by different artists and I was lucky enough to pick up a nursery rhyme book with colour plates by S.B. Pearse who was the original illustrator for the Ameliaranne books.

I have put the book in the booth telling myself that I cannot keep everything but I do have a feeling that it might be coming back home with me if it has not sold.

IN AN ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN

2010-07-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

We had my eldest daughter's family hen night at the house last night and I have to admit to feeling a little under the weather this morning and lay in much longer than I would usually - I had a cold compress pressed to my head and could be found under the covers muttering about feeling a tad under the weather.

I had previously arranged that we would visit Ravensthorpe's NGS Open Day which is the next village up to us and so pulled myself out of bed and off we set. Iin the heat of the miday sun I found myself singing "Mad Fools and Englishmen...." as we wandered around the village. Mind you it was nice to do something that was not to do with the shop and of course there are lovely gardens to visit but I have to admit it was hard going and we kept trying to find shady spots to cool off in.

Cana Lillies by the lake

Cannot help wondering what is behind the door

How is that for a tidy veggie patch, hubby

managed to come away with some leeks from there

Arrived home absolutely pooped out and then just sat and read for the rest of the afternoon.

Now for something a little different, this little set of shelves has been up the side of the yard in Northampton Antiques for ages and eveyone who has tried to buy it has been told that they were not for sale as the gent that owned them was picking them up as he no longer had a booth there. They have been picked up and put down so many times by disappointed buyers. Anyway I commented that I wish he would take them away as they were just so lovely only to be told actually they were now for sale... Needless to say hand went into purse and I made the purchase. I am going to paint them and I have just the place for them on my wall in the office. Result

TODAYS BUYS - ROSES AND VIOLETS

2010-07-02T04:29:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to all of you who have e-mailed or commented to wish me luck with the booth it is really very much appreciated.

The hardest thing I am finding is keeping it stocked with new and interesting items, it is a full time job just sourcing new bits and I had a little trip out this morning to my local charity shops and found some wonderful things with my favourite flowers Roses and Violets.

Lovely Violet covered sandwich plate

Wonderful Rose covered bedspread

I nearly ran out the shop with these two wonderful pictures - a 1930's embroidered garden scene and a signed water colour of miniature roses

They are just both very pretty and I would keep them but I have to be strong and stop listening the little devil on my shoulder whispering "keep them, keep them, go on you know you want to"....

I DECLARE THIS SHOP OPEN

2010-06-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

I now pronounce VINTAGE WANTS officially open – cut the ribbon and stand back proudly.

Today was the first official day of the opening of my booth in Northampton Antiques Centre. I started setting up on Sunday but being as it was England v Germany in the world cup (the less said about that the better) we had to rush off to a family BBQ and for hubby to watch the match and I did not get a chance to set it up as I would have liked. So today I went back added more stock and did a bit of titivating. I dont have the biggest of areas and don't want to overfill it - although I am sure I will, once I get into the swing of things I won't be able to help myself.

To try and keep it in some sort of order I have tried to theme my items together

Some red pieces

Some green, and of course the 1930's crinoline lady and cottage pieces.

Lovely Rose themed pieces

Finally the booth itself

On Sunday the Centre is going to decamp to the Fishmarket and they are holding

So if you are at a loose end and looking for something to do why not pop along and meet up with some of the other sellers from the centre. I won't be there as it is getting close to eldest daughter's wedding and there are lots of last minute jobs to start sorting out and I only have one pair of hands and even though I think I can do miracles - and though I think I am WonderWoman, I really know I am not- and so I am going to sit this one out.

FATHERS DAY WITH THE FAMILY

2010-06-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

We had such a lovely Father's Day, we spent it with my eldest daughter, son-in-law-to be and the grandchildren. As it was such a lovely day before dinner we decided to take the children to our local Pocket Park.

Grandpa with the children on the bridge after playing Pooh sticks - don't let him fall grandpa!!

Wonderful water lillies on the pond

On the hunt for pine cones

After all the running around too tired to walk home "Carry me daddy" although son-in la-to be to be looked like he was more pooped than little man.

When we got home Bee put the wildflowers we had collected into a jug - I think they look so pretty as good as any bunch you can buy - if not better as they were picked with love.

ADVENTURE WITH MY NEW VENTURE

2010-06-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Over time Ann and I have talked about branching out and having a booth in one of our local antique centre, then we have another coffee and decide yes we will - IN THE FUTURE - The opportunity has now presented itself. Northampton has had an antique centre for many years but I have to say it has been a bit behind the times and not really been a place you would want to spend too much time in or your pennies in. It is now under new leadership and has new dealers who are selling the kind of items that I want to buy, vintage and retro and everyone is very excited about the new venture and so we decided to see whether we could get on board and luckily Joe the guy that is now running it accepted us and so Vintage Wants will be having a new venue http://www.northamptonantiquescentre.com/Reclamation.html. As from Sunday 27th June (after setting up) Vintage Wants can be found there.
On Thursday Ann and I went and took photos of the area we will be selling from and decided what the booth should look like, we were like a couple of schoolgirls, giggly with excitement, we had finally done it. Sadly Ann has a very heavy workload - she is the one with the very responsible job - and after a lot of anguish has decided that at this time she cannot give it the time and effort it needs to make it a success and so I am going to do this ALONE!!! We are still going to do our joint venture of the shows and Ann will still sell in the on-line shop and on Etsy but the booth is all mine.

With that in mind I suddenly thought oh my goodness do I have enough stock for a booth on my own and so had a frantic rush around the car boot this morning. Found some goodies that are going to make their way into the booth and also some for my Etsy shop.

Great old three tier trolley that I will keep, my old one will go for display in the booth - just need to get the paint on it. Old Pedigree doll and 1950's childrens book. Sewing basket,

Double string pearl necklace, floral china brooch, pretty art deco glass pot with enamel lid and a pretty little cup and saucer.

A set of handpainted Crinoline lady plates and the most wonderful butterfly wing Crinoline lady picture totally original and untouched.

Anyone who knows me knows I love flowers and Roses are no exception and I found these lovely bits of china that I know will look great in the booth.

Whilst I was doing my wandering I met my new neighbour in the next booth to me who was also on the hunt for stock - talk about its a small world out of all the 100's of people that were there I bumped into him - without even knowing who he was we got chatting at a stallholder that I knows stall and lo and behold - neighbours.

Anyway that is my new venture - my knees are shaking and I am very nervous but sure that things will be OK, if you are in Northampton why not pop in and take a peek.

GARDENING WITH ALICE

2010-06-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

It has been such a lovely day today, I had a little tidy up in the garden, little being the operative word because we only have a postage stamp for a garden now.

Earlier in the year I blogged about the new border I had put in and thought you might like to see how it is coming along.

It is beginning to fill out and the plants are establishing themselves nicely.

Our little veggie/salad plot is producing well although the birds have had all the Blueberries off the bush, pesky blighters they have not left one!!! Mind you the Plum tree from next door is ful to bursting with Plums, I wonder how M & J our neighbours would feel if we scrumped some later in the year.

As it was such a nice day I decided it was to good too sit inside and craft so I took myself and my tools off into the garden to work on some Alice In Wonderland tags for my Etsy shop.

This was not one of my better ideas as I felt just like Alice did chasing after the white rabbit as I chased bits of paper around the garden every time the wind blew up, digging paper tags out of the cracks in the decking, peering down holes....

After time I did manage to complete some and have packed them up and they are ready to go into my Etsy shop.

Later in the afternoon my neighbour from the residential home next door poked his head around the gate and in his hands he had a gift for us. Being next to a residential home for boys to some people would be a problem, we don't have one, in fact the boys treat us with respect and always say hello or if their football comes over they always ask "Can we get our ball back mister", the staff are great and they are good neighbours to have. "I just thought you might like this" he said

Like it - it is the most wonderful huge hanging basket and he even came complete with a bracket to hang it up with, needless to say I set Hubby to the task of getting it up on the wall.

Thank you neighbour!!!!

FUNNY KIND OF A WEEK

2010-06-08T01:23:00.000-07:00

It has been one of those periods in your life when you don't know if you are coming and going. Work has been busy, Ann and I are looking at another new venture for our shop and are busy making arangements for that and my mother is currently laid up in hospital after having a knee replacement which means trips back and forwards to the hospital.
Mind you it was not all fraught there were some nice periods my eldest daugher and I went to Birmingham on Friday to have her final fitting and pick up her wedding dress, the big day is fast approaching. Hubby came with us as he was needed to carry it to the station and I am sure that there was a tear in his eye when he saw her standing there, mind you that could have been due to the fact that it weighs a ton and he was going to have to carry it with his bad back....

Over the weekend we had plans to do so much - you should never tell the devil too much of your mind my old Nan used to say and of course they never got done as we received a phone call from friends inviting us over to them for dinner. Of course we could not decline such a kind thought. Lets face it is always nice when someone cooks for you and we spent the longest time just sitting in their garden,

chatting, eating and of course drinking wine.

Then on Sunday another set of friends rang us up to see if we were in for coffee.... then it was off to the hospital again to visit the invalid. Mind you I can think of worse ways to spend our time than with people we love.

We also went to a car boot on Saturday but it was very big and far too hot and we were defeated after getting only half way round and could not wait to get back into the car to put on the air con. Mind you in the time we were there I managed to pick up some new items for the shop.

Hubby who complains he never sees anything he likes found a Victorian etching by Fred Morgan, famous for his illustration used by Pears the soap company. He was a happy chappy with that tucked under his arm.

Here it is in pride of place over the fire place in the kitchen. It is called "The Tug of War" and shows an old grand dad playing tug of war with his grandchildren.

I found a pair of Victorian cherub spill vases and a pretty little Victorian milk glass jug with a girls head on it.

This little bare bottom lady came from the house of a lady that had recently passed away at the ripe old age of 102 Her daughter told me that she was made by the same lady that designed the Kewpie dolls Rose O' Neill, I am a little sceptical about that and will have to do some investigative work to find out more about her. Even though there is so much damage to the plinth she is standing on I had to have her she is just too cute and will join my collection on minature dolls. She was made to celebrate 100 years of Chicago becoming a city in 1933.

The shelves are just what Annie and I are looking to go on the wall of our new ventrue so had to have these together with another couple of jugs.
So as you can see even though I may not have done the jobs around the house that needed doing it was a weekend well spent.

I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO

2010-05-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

I never expected too but Tony Bennett was right, this is one heck of a city. It is really rich and diverse with so much to see and do, a long weekend was just not enough.
Everywhere you went there were fantastic street musicians playing all kinds of different music from blues to boogie, blue grass and even assorted drummers wonderful.

We were 23 floors up in our hotel and had the most wonderful view of the Bay Bridge from our balcony which could be seen peeking out between the sky scrapers.

Our friends joined us for the last part of our trip and we spent the afternoon in the roof terrace at Macy's at the Cheesecake Factory. Oh my goodness I have never seen so many cheesecakes in one place, so much choice, where does a girl begin to choose.

This was our final choiceyummy.

The portions were so huge that we all shared, I would not mind but we had a small lunch there as well which was a big as a large one here. My goodness the Americans sure know how to eat.

Finally we returned using the cable car - you can just make out theBay Bridge at the bottom of the hill.

As I say a wonderful vibrant city and one we will definately return to.

Now we are back in good old Blighty and if I can just get over this jet lag!!!

YOSEMITE - THE MOUNTAIN IN THE SKY

2010-05-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

Yosemite has to be seen to be believed, it is just beautiful, the scenery is breathtaking and blows you away.

Playing in the snow in shorts and sandals now that has to be a first. Hubby built his own little snowman.

The giant Redwood trees in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park. They are huge and not even the biggest ones in the area.

Well that is all for now - our next stop is San Francisco and we might not have internet access whilst we are there so will say goodbye for now from the good old US of A.

Mind you we don't actually have a date to fly home as British Airways originally cancelled our Sunday flight due to the strike which is now off. We are not sure when we are going to get home as we rebooked on the Monday flight and now they are saying that we might not be able to have that one as the industrial action will start again on that day and that our original Sunday flight is booked up. Oh well one thing I am sure of is that they won't let us stay forever..

CLOUDY IN CARMEL AND NO SIGN OF CLINT

2010-05-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

Nobody told me it would be be bloody freezing in California...my friend said just bring shorts and tee shirts so unlike me that usually packs for England I did as I was told. Just as welll I bought that jacket as it was the only thing between me and frost bite - I exaggerate slightly but it was darn cold.Apparantly Carmel has a foggy season which happens to be May. The fog rolls off the sea and sits on the mountain behind and cannot go anywhere and does not burn off.

On the way through to the town we paid a visit to the Carmel Mission which has been lovingly restored and is well worth a visit.

The gardens to the mission were very peaceful and we sat for a while just taking in the tranquility of it all.

As for Carmel after an hour of wandering around what is a very qaint smalll town that is filled with tourist shops - very expensive tourist shops I might add - we decided that the car would be a warmer option and we hopped back in and drove up the coast line to the Big Sur. We will come back later we thought, hopefully by then it might be warmer.....

As well as being foggy it was extremmely windy and I risked being blown over the top every time I got out to take a photo, I risked life and limb to have this photo taken, back a bit, back a bit....

Hubby sat inside ther car for most of the journey, well he is the driver, heater on full blow, not for him the bitter cold - his little knobbly knees had only just warmed up. I must say the views were worth it with the crashing waves and sea mists making for an atmospheric journey and when we got to the Big Sur the sun came out which meant we could stop and have a coffee in the sun and warm up properly.

As for Carmel we waved at it on our return through the fog as we drove by - never even got to see Clint!!!!

Looking at the weather forecast itis not warming up any time soon and as we have a cabin waiting for us in Yosemite which is in the 80's we have decided to head on up there a day early, will see you there.

IF ITS MONDAY IT MUST BE MONTEREY

2010-05-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

We are now on the coast at Santa Cruz and today took a trip up the shore line to Monterey.

We visited all the tourist spots, Cannery Row, made famous by the author John Steinbeck which no longer cans sardines but cans the tourist instead with shops and eateries.

After stopping off there we decided to take a walk around the coastline to Fishermans Wharf, again this was rather touristy (what do I expect it is a tourist destination after all)....

Round by the wharf this gull was tucking into a roll that was nearly as big as he was. You can almost see the glint in his eye daring you to come and get it at your peril.

The walk around to the Wharf was quite a way but it was well worth it as we suddenly heard a very loud honking noise, we looked over to the sea and this is what we saw.

There were hundreds of seals basking on the rocks. Apparantly they are Harbour Seals and they were taking in the spring sun,

Room for one more..... There were actually four of them sunning themselves on this tiny little rock. I don't know what you think but sometimes nature beats man made hands down.

CALIFORNIA DREAMING

2010-05-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

Now then I am sure you are thinking to yourselves what the heck that does not look much like good old blighty and you would be right I have flown across the Atlantic, across the USA and we are in Northern California.

We are going to be travelling around a bit and I will try and show you some pictures and let you know what I am doing and what finds I come across, so welcome to my holiday trip, join me if you want.

Our first port of call is a little old town called San Juan Bautista. It sits slap bang on the San Andreas fault line but we were fine and did not feel even a hint of a tremor. It has the oldest mission in California and is a very quaint place plus it is filled with the kind of shops I just love. If you follow me through the door I will take you on a small tour of the town.

San Juan Mission

The gardens of a wonderful Mexican restaurant The Plaza Hotel where the ladies of the night would stand on the balcony.

I had to laugh when I saw these two chickens - reminds me of the joke "Why did the chicken cross the road". This pair were obviously playing chicken with the cars that were going up and down the road.

How is this for a jacket, I just could not resist it, it was in a second hand shop for $12.00 and fitted me a treat so that was buy number one and then I came across a wonderful set of floral shaped bead necklace with matching earrings which I will put in the shop on my return.

FARAWAY IN FARTHINGSTONE

2010-05-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely day today Ann & I had a stall at the Bay Tree Cottage Open Day in Farthingstone, the sun shone and the venue was one of the nicest we have attended.

I am leaving the blogging of our fair to Ann but am going to give you a sneek preview of part of our stall...

Ann knows the village very well as most of her mothers family orignate from there but I had never been before and as it was such a nice day I was very crafty and left Ann to man the stall while I had a walk around the village with my sister who had come over.

I have to admit to peeking over the wall to see this wonderful garden

The local pub which Ann advises is like being in someones front room - they even have a three peice suite to sit on.

I know the next two photo's are a little strange but I loved the graveyard of the local church it was so well kept.

There was a demonstration of whicker basket making in the gardens and the man who was making them Bert agreed to pose with a sweet pea willow trainer that he was making - and guess who's garden that is going in....yes you guessed correctly.

If you look behind him the display is of vegetables and flowers in quirky containers, they have used a chest of drawers which was fully planted up - now that gives me an idea.....

TULIPS FROM AMSTERDAM

2010-04-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

I was absolutely blown away by the beautiful Tulips and Narcissi that were to be found in the gardens that were open in Guilsborough. I know that many years ago fortunes were made and lost on the sale of Tulips and now I understand why.

As promised in my earlier blog here are a few that were on view.

Please accept this bouquet of flowers from me to you.

MY THANK YOU SPEECH - BLOG AWARD

2010-04-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

I have just had a visit from the Felt Fairy and when I looked under my pillow I found this award

Thank you so much Annie it is nice to know that someone reads my ramblings and enjoys them.

I have thought long and hard about who to send it on to and here is my list

Vintage At The Corner House – Because Ann you are my friend as well as my partner in crime

Ted & Bunny – A lovely thoughtful lady – this is a thank you for the Bluebells

Clover Cottage – Sharon for having the confidence to ask a shop to stock her wonderful creations and getting them accepted.

Ticking Stripes – Wendy thank you for your support with our Vintage and Home Made Fair.

Birdcages & Butterflies – Annie for being so helpful and offering to sort out my head piece for my daughter’s wedding – must sort that!!!

Dollytub Cottage – For always making me chuckle with your wonderful stories.

PepperPi – Claire you are so supportive of the Etsy Midlanders team and this is a thank you for all you are doing with the team blog.

Ivory Faces– Hannah my wonderful daughter – keep those creative juices flowing.

Pennyblossoms – Zoe for always coming to the Bike Bazaar and supporting us at our fairs.

Suzy’s Vintage Attic – Isabelle whose blogs are always full of wonderful eye candy photos.

Sorry ladies tried to do the hyperlink thing but it never worked - so just put you all in italics.....

GREEN FINGERS AT GUILSBOROUGH

2010-04-26T00:38:00.000-07:00

Got up yesterday morning to a dull drizzle and all the plans I had made went out the window. Friends were coming for dinner and I thought we could perhaps go for a walk along the canal tow path before dinner, but it looked like that was not quite such a good idea.

Over coffee it was mentioned that Guilsborough was holding its NGS open gardens day and we decided to don our cagoules and brave the weather – what are we fair weather gardeners, my goodness they have an allotment, a little bit of rain.... you know the story, so without further ado off we set to have a nosey around other peoples gardens.

There were nine gardens open and what gardens they were – it was like walking around National Trust homes and gardens , the majority of them were huge, you could have got my courtyard garden into one tiny corner of their acres. I was not jealous, well not much, well actually I could feel myself turning green, and I am not talking about my fingers.... Mind you we all agreed we would not want to have to cut the lawns.

Anyway take a walk with me around some of the gardens and see what I mean.

How is this for a vegie patch.

A view from the bottom of the garden.

Our favourite garden.

Most people have a dog as pets....

I have to say that the gardens although spectacular, having love and attention heaped on them they were just a little too large and over the top for my suburban taste but they were well worth walking around and of course all the money raised goes to charity so we were doing our bit for that too.

One thing I did enjoy was the dazzling array of daffodils and tulips that were on show they were breathtaking and I will take you on a visit to see them in another blog.

A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME

2010-04-23T03:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you who follow my blog you will know that I have moved into a house that used to be the bicycle shop in the village.

As the sun has begun to shine we have turned our attention to the garden and have been busy planting and sorting out. I had noticed that there were some old planks of wood by the side of the shed and pulled them out to put in the wood pile. I turned them over and noticed that they appeared to have some writing on them. On closer inspection I gave a huge shout of “bloody hell Del look what I have found !!!”. The two pieces of wood were the original sign that would have gone over the door of the shop. You can make out the W.W. and the B of Blincow can just be made out, this is together with the remains of the words “Gents” and “Bicycle”.

As you can imagine I was so excited I gave them as gentle a clean up as I could without removing any of the paint that was remaining and then armed with nails and a hammer got hubby to pin the sign to the garden fence.

I am not sure that he was as impressed as I was – I did hear the mutter “I don’t want the garden filling up with junk” this was followed by a defeated sigh as he struck the top of the nail. Has he not looked around and seen what I have done so far.....

MESSING ABOUT ON THE RIVER - WELL CANAL

2010-04-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

We had a lot planned for today, look for a new summer house, sort out some fencing and shelve out the utility room. When we got up the sun was shining and all our plans went out the window, we did get as far as going out to look for a summer house and priced up a couple but decided the day was just too nice to waste on chores and we took ourselves off for a walk.

We are now living close to the canal at Buckby Wharf and decided to take a walk along the tow path and then treat ourselves with a drink at the pub that sits on the canal on the way back.

I want to live in this little cottage it is in the most idylic spot

In the banks by the canal I found two of my favourite spring flowers

Cowslips and

Violets

After the walk we sat outside the pub and had a drink while we watched the canal boats going through the lock.

Could not resist taking a photo of this lady who was seeing her boat through the lock gates, she was a dab hand with manouvering those heavy gates and she had the most wonderful array of dreds and matching necklaces - brilliant. What a wonderful way to people watch than to sit on the canalside, glass of wine in hand and the sun shining down on us

Oh well did not get much done today but there is always tomorrow and sometimes it is nice just to take a day off from the plans and chill out - now back to my glass of wine.

BORN TO BE WILD - EASY RIDERS IN NORTHAMPTON

2010-04-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ann and I met up in Northampton on Saturday for a coffee and a perusal around the Northampton Antiques Market that is being held on our Market Square. Although there were not too many stalls we both managed to find some goodies – well that’s a surprise I hear you say.

Suddenly we heard this almighty roar and rumble, we both rushed to the end of the market to see what the heck was making all the commotion only to be met by the sight of line after line of Harley Davidson’s making a procession up the road. They were giving it full throttle and lots of wellie even if they were only going very slowly. The noise was vibrating it was that deep and powerful.

The parade of bikes was in aid of the local Cynthia Spencer Hospice here in Northampton once they had finished parading all the bikes were parked up and the collection buckets came outThis lucky lad managed to get on the bike and see how it felt , I bet the guy in the back looking on was green with envy.I rather fancy this one myself, lovely and pink.

This one is great for your picnic basket and rug when getting away into the country, double seater and stow away. OK so not really the look one envisages when thinking of Harley’s and Bikers but some of us are not getting any younger and need a bit of comfort – Born to be wild, well nearly.

DECORATING IN THE GARDEN - A LITTLE BIT OF D.I.Y.

2010-04-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

When I was 36 I threw in the towel with my boring office job and went to back college full time to learn horticulture. I had the time of my life as a full time mature student, this time an equal with the tutor so could voice an opinion and soaking up all the knowledge that I could was just a blast. I had the confidence to change courses three times until I found one that suited me and I even received the Student of the Year award for Garden Centre – goodness knows how...

The garden in the new house is tiny compared to the 180 foot that we used to have, it is more of a large yard than a garden. I will not miss the maintenance as it took so much of our time up but this one needs to have some work done on it. Lots of hard landscaping in the form of decking and gravel areas but no plants. I THINK IT IS CALLED LOW MAINTAINANCE.

Yesterday the sun was out and it was time to tackle the problem. There was one small area that had been slabbed over that I could make a bed for some plants. Got hubby to lift the slabs for me and he put in my water feature – I do love to hear the sound of water and that gave me an area to work in.

I planted French Lavenders, Choiysa Ternata, Hollyhock, Hardy Geraniums, Turks Head Lily, Bleeding Heart mixed with some pansies and now all I have to do is sit back and wait for them to grow.

Talking about downsizing I have only got so much room in the house and so have decided to spill my vintage collecting bug out into the garden – I refuse to be beaten....

I wonder who F Pogson was and what did he store in this trunk.

EASTER SURPRISE

2010-04-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

I got home from work yesterday and outside my door was a plank of wood...I gingerly picked it up and underneath it was a parcel that my Postie had hidden for me.

I took it inside and opened it up and found to my delight a wonderful present of two little lavender chickens in a basket with some Cadbury’s chocolate eggs and a little Easter card.

They were made for my by a lovely lady that follows my blog Carol she had a stall at out Easter fair. She sells under the name “Sara Carol Makes” and the reason for the name is so sweet I am sure she won’t mind if I share it with you.

My daughter is 29 now but when she was little we always played shops and I had to stand still whilst Sara did "clothes alterations" she used to write in a little book she called Sara Carol Makes and draw pictures of things in our "shop" and put prices on them, I still have the book so when I started making my knitted goods and other bits and pieces I had some labels made with the name on and they have a lovely picture of a little girl playing with a dolly tub.

Thank you Carol for your generous gift and also for sharing that great little story I just loved it and am sure other bloggers will to.

CHARLES TWELVETREES AND MY NEW PICTURES

2010-03-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

One of my passions – of which I have many is for children’s illustrators – especially American ones. I have quite a collection of pictures and prints on my walls of little cuties and was so pleased when on my trip to Peterborough Antique Fair on Friday I came across a large pair of Charles Twelvetrees signed and numbered prints which I just fell in love with.

The trouble was where to put them, “Don’t forget Debbie you have down sized” my brain told me... “What the heck I’ll find somewhere for them” said my heart. Guess which one won.

I have just propped them up along the hall wall for now but think I will have them up the stairs.

Whilst making my purchases and on the same stall I also fell for an American felted young lady that was standing on a shelf. Now to find her somewhere permanent to live my dog is not impressed with her perched on his back.