RAINY DAYS AND A LITTLE BEE

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

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

 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

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

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.