GET KNITTING - A NEW WOOL SHOP OPENS IN NORTHAMPTON

Big Rachel and Little Rachel are opening a wool shop on Saturday 29th March on Kingsley Front, it is a new venture for Rachel and a world away from her usual role of supporting Rachel and counselling others.

Rachel decided to put her love of knitting to use, and as circumstances would have it, a shop came empty on  Kingsly Park Terrace in Northampton not far from where she lives and after much umming an arring, shall I or shan't I Rachel has taken the plunge and the result of this is her new shop.

Rachel will be stocking wools by Sirdar, Debbie Bliss, Noro and Louisa Harding as well as Pony knitting pins and crochet hooks together with Buttons, Ribbons both new and vintage and lace for your projects.  In the shop they will also be holding workshops and drop-ins for those who are looking to learn how to knit or for those just looking to enjoy knitting something with other people.
All this will take place in a cosy corner of the shop with comfortable furniture to park oneself on whilst deciding what to knit and what colour to make it in.

Rachel will also be working in the shop and as you can see when I left they were busy putting the last touches to the shop sorting out the yarns and generally getting ready for Saturday.

The grand opening is from 10am on Saturday and as well as a having a spinning demo there will be tea, coffe and cakes so please go and  support a new local business.

                    70 Kingsley Park Terrace - Northampton - NN2 7HH - 01604 716768

Plimsolls No More

As you will see from my previous blog my workroom has quite a school theme going on and at the weekend I was out and about and we stopped at a reclamation yard in Croughton Oxfordshire and there stuck up in the corner was an old plimsoll holder that had come out of a local school.  Just had to have it

I have been keeping rolls of material in another wire holder but they kept falling out of the bottom as the gaps in the wire were too wide, which is a bit of a pain,  so I knew exactly what this would be used for.

Gave it a cleanup as it was rather algae covered where it had been out in the open air and voila somewhere for my offcuts of material.

An Homage to Charlie

Last year we lost my step-father-in-law, he had a massive stroke and sadly passed away in November.  He fancied himself as a bit of a wheeler dealer in the world of antiques. Many years ago he used to sell on the Portabello Road in London.  By the time he came into our lives those days had gone but he still collected - mostly what I would class as rubbish but which he saw as treasures - one mans meat is another mans' poison as they say.  After he died it fell to the family to clear out his room, which was full to the gunnels with STUFF.  One thing he did have was lots and lots and lots of wooden picture frames, some of which were quite good,

I took some to sell at the booth and looking through them decided that actually it would be nice to have something to remember him by and so when we decided to clean up and decorate the bathroom (more about that fiasco some other time)I thought I would use some in there.

I am quite pleased how it turned out and every time I have a bath now I look at them and smile as amongst all his stuff was a few pieces that I could use - thanks Charlie.

ANOTHER TIDY UP - MY WORKROOM

After last weeks tidy up at Most Marvellous I decided to set to and tidy up my office workroom.  I share this space with hubby - well he shares it with me he has a tiny space for his computer and I have the rest of the room.....  He will tell you I often spill out into his few inches as well which drives him to distraction.

When we moved the rooms around last year our spare bedrom became the office and we moved the the spare room into what had been our office I managed to pickup a set of pidgeon hole thingies (not sure what they are called) which had come out of a school and these are invaluable for storing some of my bits and bobs on.

The Shelves were rescued from a skip at work - I was caught by my manager skip dipping for these but it was worth the comments as they are just so handy and I store my magazines and rolls of off cuts of materials in them.

The desk was bought for my grandson from the Vintage Jumble to sit at in the office when he comes over  but I have to admit that he really does not get a look in with yet another collection of my childrens school samplers, old typewriter complete with typewriter ribbon tin and postcards and ATC's made for me by friends

Finally I have my boxes full of papers, ephemera and general junk, I won't show you my computer desk as yes you have guessed it I have spread over into hubbies side and it is still a mess....

Talking about the Vintage Jumble I will be there on the 20th July at St Matthews in Northampton  with lots of sellers, I think there are going to be some outside stalls there this year as well so head on over and grab yourself a bargain or two or maybe even three or four.....

A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A REST

A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A REST

As June is now over and the slow period is on us for retail I decided that I would give my booth a move about and display some items in little settings in the hope that someone would go "oh I could do with that in my home" and walk away with an armful of my treasures.


 I found this wonderful Edwardian nursing chair at auction and just had to bid on it.

The colour purple just zings and it stands out beautifully and I used some of my pieces with purple in them to display on the chair.

A great chair to curl up with a good book on.

I tidied up all the shelves and restocked.

 

Sorted out the clothes 

Tidied up the jewellery and ephemera and generally titivated it all up

It was not easy as anyone who know me knows that being a Virgo I have to have everything in its place and where at all possible everything matching.   When you only have a small space this is not easy to achieve and at one time I was virtually hyperventilating trying to get it right.  I have to say a big thank you to Alex at Most Marvellous for working alongside me, plying me with coffee and sending me outside in order to breath when I stressed out.  Your right Alex no-one but me will notice that the purple is slightly off on the mauve or that the green does not quite match with the yellow...... Being a perfectionist sucks or maybe it is just my OCD showing.

NO WILLPOWER

I had decided that I was going to be good this year and one of my new years resolutions was to have a clear out and thin down my collections.  I need to be able to display what I have got rather than keep adding to it. 

I made a start,  I sold one of my dolls on Ebay, felt good, I was doing what I needed to do and I also sold some of personal items at the Vintage Jumble in Northampton - another pat on the back. 

Alas I have to confess I am weak and before I knew where I was I found this little wardrobe that a dad has made for his daughter at some stage being sold by Sarah of Salvaged Style in Most Marvelous at Towcester.

 and before I knew where I was I had taken it to the counter and purchased it....  Mind you I knew exactly what i was going to use it for - I had a space where the doll had stood and I had some bears that were looking for a new home,  so there you are.....

We wnt to Spittlefields Market a couple of weekends ago and there was a vintage fair on and the first stall I came to had some packets of snippets of barkcloth in them and I bought three packs.  I have a lot of vintage photos and also some old cigarette cards that I have been looking for a use for and knew as soon as I found the material what I could do with them. 

some blank greetings cards that I will take to the next Vintage In the Shires Fair in Olney in February.  I like to take new hand made items to the fairs to compliment my vintage finds for sale and hope these will go down well.

MOST MARVELOUS IN TOWCESTER

I am sure that there are a lot of you who know that Most Marvelous is a great place to shop in Northampton and that their store along the Kettering Road is always buzzing but did you know that they opened one in Towcester at Bell Plantation in the early part of the summer and that has been going great guns too.

I had decided that, due to a miriad of reasons, I was going to close my booth at Brackley and just go with fairs and selling on Etsy - make life a little easier - yeh right -  when I was offered a spot in Towcester.  After lots of hand wringing  and "do I or don't I ?" kind of deliberation I decided to give it a go.  I have to say I have not been sorry that I made the decision as it has been a really great summer with lots of people finding us there and enjoying what they see.

I have started selling clothes - and although these are not necessarily vintage I make every effort to offer good quality labels such as Laura Ashley, Minuet, Monsoon to name but a few and these are proving to be very popular.  I made a decision this year that I would only wear recycled/secondhand clothes and so far I am wearing better clothing than I have ever done if I say so myself - maybe others are of the same mind. 

My Webbs Seed display comes in very useful for displaying pictures

 Two display cabinets full of lovely goodies such as jewellery, bags and little trinkets.

 I always try and offer a selection of homewares as I love these myself

 

The outside of the shop at Towcester

Inside the shop are lots of great booths offering furniture, homewares, clothing and a myriad of super items.

This is one of my favourite sellers - she makes and sells the most wonderful wedding dresses just beautiful. 

 

Jo and Gilly are great organisers and they hold regular monthly  craft and vintage fairs in the grounds of the garden centre.  In fact there is one there this Sunday.

Please come along and check us out I don't think you will be disapointed, it is not as big as the Northampton store but you know what they say about small being beautiful............