The Birth Day

Not officially 50 something yet as I wasn't born until just before midnight - just as well coz any later would have made me a sillier fool than I am already!! Have had a lazy day really with friends and family visiting with cards and pressies and a chorus of the Happy Birthday song from my after school club. We were originally going to the local Indian Restaurant for a Tuesday special but then Charlie needed looking after so we had a takeaway instead - I have never seen a 2 year old tuck into so much curry! My fridge wish list worked because I now have the full set of this pretty floral dot M & S range.

A Daisy necklace to match the earrings I got last year

Lots of pretty flowers - Roses, Tulips, Carnations

A Flowering Cherry Plant and Azaelia for the garden

M & S vouchers

Chocs

Scented Heathcote & Ivory padded coat hangers

Pretty pink candle

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EVERYONE WHO SHARES THIS DAY WITH ME

Happy Birthday to Me !!

Another year to add to the totaliser ........ will be back later to let you know how the day has gone

Giveaway at the Sewing Room

Please take a look at these lovelies .... http://babysewandsews.blogspot.com/2009/03/giveaway.html

What are you coming back as ?????

I have been saying for years that my in my next incarnation I am coming back as a neutered Tom Cat - if these lazy examples of mine are anything to go by it seems the perfect life. Food & water on tap and sleep any time I like .........

Meet brothers Oliver & Binks - Ollie is the ginger and Binks the black one (obviously!) Binks is named after Zachary Binks from the Hocus Pocus Disney movie, very appropriate as they moved in with us at Halloween in 2006. They are a funny pair and still spend ages grooming each other and lately Binks has taken to giving our choc lab Molly a good wash and brush up. Amazing as he hissed like hell at her when we first brought her home - now they are all great pals.

New blogshop

I have decided to set up another blog with some of the little treasures I have found for sale at very reasonable prices. Work is in progress but I keep getting sidetracked and my photography is crap! If you get time please take a look at www.auntywainwrightstreasures.blogspot.com

I decided to use my old Ebay ID which most of you will recognise as the character from Last of the Summer Wine - I used to dream of rifling her old junk shop!!

Another new baby

Just had the brilliant news that my new grandchild due in July is a blue one. George and Alfie are the fave names at the moment and Ellie is so pleased at the thought of becoming a big sister - she says she has to sell all her current toys and clothes at the car boot to get a new stash of big sister things. She is learning already ...........

My New Baby

Had just given up of ever finding a bargain this weekend when I spied, tucked under a table, this Bernina sewing machine. As I bent down to take a close look a voice said hello Debbie and when I looked up there stood a Pat who lives just over the road. Sadly her mother-in-law had recently died and the machine had been hers - she very kindly set it to one side for me and on her return from the car boot let me take it to have a test drive. My old faithful New Home, fast approaching its 25th birthday, is beginning to clatter and splutter and there is no way I could afford a new one at the moment with the household income almost halved because of short time working. Anyhow, I gave it a little test and it was great, although 10 years old it has hardly been used. Hubby said it could be my birthday present so I ran across the road and paid Pat the £40 she had asked and she was so pleased it was going to a home where it would be used. She said she has boxes of material and patterns from mum-in-laws house which I can have. Not such a disappointing weekend after all and of course it is Mother's Day - lovely chocs, flowers and the matching teapot, dishes and teaplates from M&S to match the mugs I treated myself to last weekend.

Hope you all had a lovely day x Debbie

What's at the bottom of your garden ................

Look what's growing in mine - I love rhubarb and think it is very under-rated - my first batch will be going into a crumble tomorrow morning .......

Now for the linens I purchased at the auction yesterday - I have had a lovely day - pegged the first lot out at 7.30 this morning and have spent most of the day washing, pegging out, starching and ironing it - the last batch is ready for tomorrow. It is amazing that two dirty old boxes of what initially looks like rags can be transformed into such lovelies with a little TLC ............

Tray cloths, doilies, table covers, a cute little pram pillowcase with an embroidered teddy, most are hand embroidered with cut work on some - crinoline lady, flowers, oriental designs ..

There is also a little hand-made baby bib, a white cotton blouson top with crochet front panel, an Sanderson floral fabric table runner

Woman on a mission ..............

and I was .............. went to the auction as planned and my good friend came with me to amuse the small people when the lots I was interested in came up. The dolls were mostly Armand Marseille and went for a minimum of £80 each so I kept my hands in my pockets! Did manage to get a lot of 2 boxes of old linens which are now in the laundry process and when I have finished and they are all clean and pressed tomorrow I will post some pix (I know, how sad that I relish washing and ironing but there is something so satisfying about giving a new lease of life to some old tut that has been languishing in some dirty cupboard for half a century or more). The old toys went for more than I was prepared to pay and I hadn't intended on spending any more when whilst waiting for the last few lots to finish, I spied a set of wicker garden furniture. We gave them a test drive and I couldn't believe my luck - I got them for £12!!! I know that the fabric on the sofa cushion is Laura Ashley so it could be that they are LA also - if anyone recognises the style please let me know. Next I had to think how was I going to get that lot home with 2 small people and best friend in a Zafira .... ended up coming home depositing one load and then charging back for the sofa .... just made it back in time for the school run. Am now completely knackered, have had a nice shower and now sitting comfortably in the old jim jams .. I don't think I have the energy to lift a needle or crochet hook this evening ... Oh well tomorrow is another day

I have been a naughty girl ................

Have been swanning around in the sunshine this morning with one of my little charges - she loves the charity shops especially the books. Then, lo and behold, a house clearance auction down the road so I couldn't resist a peek. Amidst all the boxes of junk there are several boxes of old linens and lace and somebodies doll collection - an old collection of white and brown baby dolls from the late 1890s / early 1900s ................. and ............ some old toys ..... an old tub doll's pram, mangle, high chairs, wicker crib ............. I can't contain myself ........... the sale starts tomorrow at 10.00 and with estimates of £10 on each lot guess where I will be !!!!!!!!!!!

I am doing really well at the moment for orders of my alphabet letter cushions and am busy getting stock together for Northampton . Will let you know the results of the auction tomorrow - wish me luck !!!!!!!!!!

Granny Knit Knit

Had a lovely bargain hunting weekend - two table top sales and two car boots and the best ones don't start till Easter - can't wait. My girls call me 'granny knit knit' so I couldn't resist this one - her little card reads 'God couldn't be everywhere so he invented Grandmas' - so sweet and the little one peeking over her shoulder is just like my Ellie ... she has a little bag of scraps that she gets out whenever she is here while I am sewing or knitting .. I am looking out for a little toy sewing machine this year because she takes such an interest which is more than my girls ever did. I learnt to knit and crochet at my Nana's side - she was a tiny wee Geordie gal who had such a hard start in life. Whenever I see press reports of poverty in this country my blood boils - Nana's parents died from the influenza outbreak at the start of WW1 in Newcastle - her and her younger siblings were put into a convent and this is when she started to cut her ties with the Catholic Church as the nuns were horrid - she had to walk to school in bare feet and was put into service at the age of 14. She worked six days a week from dawn till dusk - cleaning, making the coal fires and had a couple of hours to herself on a Sunday when she took a walk to her cousin's house ... this privilege was quite often withdrawn for the slightest reason. Somehow she came south to London and met Grandad - I remember staying for weekend with her and my first completed project was a little knitted pixie and I can still picture him now.

Picked up some useful crafting bits and pieces - one tablecover with monogram and crochet border which was falling apart (£1) so I have finished the job and will use the border to make some vintage style pillowcases for my bed; bags of daisies, embroidery thread, ric rac (one in particular is enormous), rose buds, an old bridesmaid dress in a gorgeous floral broderie anglais which I will take apart and use for patchwork; sewing & craft books. All in all a most satisfying weekend .................

Have you seen these ?????????

I had left a very subtle hint for a Mother's Day gift on the fridge (photo of Emma Bridgewater spring flower mugs) for my darling daughter but yesterday we went to our brand new Marks & Spencer store. It has been re-located after God knows how many years in the same unit (I remember it as a child!) and it is great - three floors of lovelies and look what we found in the home section. I just had to have them and what a bargain at £9.50 for the four as opposed to £15.95 for the Bridgewater. Beautiful as they are I do think they are greatly overpriced. More later on my weekend finds.

Wednesday, Mitttwoch, Mercredi, Mercoledì, Miércoles

I like Wednesdays - it is the middle of the week so I feel happy that the weekend is not too far away. After my dismal blog on Friday we had a pretty good weekend - our youngest turned 21 and we are so proud of her - she has had a long journey through her late teens as she was only sixteen when she gave birth to Ellie but still managed to continue her education and with her partner the family have moved into their own home and have another baby due in July. They both work very hard to pay their way and have never claimed a State handout unlike many others out there. It hasn't always been easy as they lived with us for four years but we have been blessed with a very sensible daughter and beautiful lively grandchild who never fails to make us smile.

On Sunday we went to our regular car boot and I was extremely lucky to find a stack of craft magazines - I was picking out a couple when the guy said I could have the lot for £2!! Boy o boy my filthy lucre was in his hand before you could say crochet. I was delighted to find a whole load of USA imported crochet patterns, the bulk of which I have kept, the rest I have listed on Ebay where my ID is lalabi-baby - please take a look they are in pristine condition and most have UK price tags of £4-5 each.

I am trying to concentrate my efforts on the Delapre Craft Fair at the end of April now as the weeks are ticking away. Ebay also seems to be picking up a bit now that people have got over the expense of Christmas. The Country Living fair starts in London today and I would loved to have gone but Brownie starts the injections in his knee on Friday so until we know how that turns out we won't be going too far. I gave up on the Ideal Home show years ago but had a lovely day at The Spirit of Christmas Fair last November.

TGIF

We come to the end of yet another week ,which has flown by, as I write the old man is at the hospital (third time in a week) - this time for his gammy knee. Too much football in his younger days and manual work have taken their toll and his left knee is basically knackered. He had keyhole surgery last November to clean it out and the doctor wants to start a course of injections to replace the missing cartilege - he won't replace the knee yet as he says he is still too young at 51. On top of that a routine hearing test last year followed by an MRI scan has revealed what they think is a cyst close to his brain and he has to have a CAT scan next week to determine just how big and where it is situated. This is worrying me the most - he hates hospitals. Also his brother died at age 59 of a heart attack and his sister aged 54 died two years ago with leukaemia so this is playing on his mind. We are polar opposites - I try to keep positive and am a cup half full type of person whereas he has negative tendencies to say the least at always looks at the bad side - how the hell we have been together since school sometimes surprises me (30th wedding anniversary in November this year) but we have and have raised four great children and are now blessed with two grandchildren and another on the way in July.

To add insult to injury he is employed by General Motors and we all know what trouble they are in at the moment and there are so many rumours flying around about whether they will close the UK plants. But hey ho life goes on and we get these things chucked at us now and again. Not the end of the world but a possible change. Sorry to be a bit of a doom monger but I feel better now it is off my chest. More positive blogs promised for the weekend. XXXX

To paint or not to paint? What is the answer????

I have several pine shelving units and I am in a quandary - do I paint them or do I not? They are not antique pine but are probably some 20-30 years old one of them is in my banner heading with part of my blue & white collection. I do have a Victorian pine dresser, larder cupboard and display shelves and I wouldn't dream of touching them but my eye keeps coming back to the others and I have seen the wonderful results of other people's makeovers on this site and others. What is a girl to do?????

Couldn't resist these !!!!

Show & Tell

Heck I am on a roll this weekend. Just got back from the car boot with some more goodies - Edwardian swing mirror for £4 - this is going to get a coat of Laura Ashley paint and will be added to my stash for the bedroom makeover; two lovely old magazines dated 1951 (older than me!!) and I will be adding more pix from these - they are fantastic, full of old advertisements and hints & tips; balls of cotton for 50p each and a bag of mixed sewing thread for a £1.