ROTTEN SEW & SEW

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

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

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

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

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

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

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......