It's auction time again

As summer draws to a close and the car booty season slowly grinds to a halt now is the time that I like to visit auction house general sales. Sometimes they are a load of old tut just like the booties but sometimes there are little treasures to be found. Last Friday we popped over to Tring Market Auctions for the viewing day of Saturday's sale ..... a bargain hunter's dream ... table upon table and box upon box of china, glass, brass, old, modern, treen, plastic, toys, books, prints and mirrors. I had a good mooch around and earmarked some lots that looked interesting and then came away to have a think about what to bid. The secret of buying at auction is to work out in your mind the maximum price that you are prepared to pay and STICK to it! It's so easy to get carried away when attending the auction in person but now there is a facility to leave online bids so I took advantage .... I left four bids on one lot of linens & textiles, one lot of collectors Christmas plates, one lot of mixed china and glass and two lovely prints. Leaving bids online left me free on Saturday to go to the car boot and do some shopping and then it was just a matter of a telephone call to see if I had been successful .... and I had. The box of linens was mine so all I had to do then was pop back to the auction to pay and collect. Here they are .... all freshly laundered and pressed ..... embroidered table covers, place mats, napkins, table runners, tray cloths, Viking rugs from Norway ... I find this strangely satisfying and will be keeping some for home use and re-cycling others. There will also be some put up for sale in my blogshop ... if anything catches your eye please let me know.

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

Half Term

Things are looking up - the snow has gone and it's half term holidays - shame the timing wasn't a little later and don't get me wrong I love the snow when it first comes down. Everything looks so clean and pretty but the past week of slush and black ice has been horrible. I have four of my after school club staying all day this week. I have been a registered childminder for 5 years and unofficial carer of small people for the past 27 years. My eldest hits his 27th birthday in a couple of weeks and my youngest reaches the grand old age of 21. There are two more in between - one is the father to my Charlie and my other daughter is a midwife so we are never too far away from babies and children.

We spent this morning sorting through all my papercraft bits and pieces and making collages - glitter, sparkly bits and scraps of fabric and paper stuck everywhere. Following lunch we chilled and watched Willy Wonka (the original - as much as I love Johnny Depp he just looks like a pervy Michael Jackson in the re-make) and it has been board games this afternoon. We are having an early Pancake Day as a trial run for next week coz making pancakes for six children plus the grown ups keeps me tied to the griddle for quite a while!! A busy day but I like to keep everybody occupied as it makes life much easier all round - there is nothing worse than bored 8 year olds. I would love to post some photos but am unable to because of child protection issues - although I have parental permission to take photos they cannot be used on the internet.

All this business has curtailed my bargain hunting quests this week but look what I found at the weekend - a lovely glass cake dome (£2), a pair of pretty floral cornucopia vases (£1), Painted Furniture book (75p), two beautiful white linen table cloths plus hand sewn Willow pattern embroidered tray cloth, napkins and teapot cover (the whole lot for £2). I then came over all queer and actually paid shop price at Waterstones for this lovely book by Emma Hardy called Sewing in No Time - it has some lovely projects so I thought I would treat myself. Can't wait till the weekend when I will be off again.