Hey ho .... all ready for the Northampton Vintage & Handmade Fair tomorrow

I've been having a trial run on the kitchen table and have been very strict with myself.  My worst fear is that I end up looking more like a flaming jumble sale!!

Hope to see some of you tomorrow .... it's a wonderful event and not to be missed !

Sunday Car Booty Looty

We had a lovely day in Market Harborough yesterday at the Vintage Fair .... sales were good and it was another lovely opportunity to chat with bloggers, sellers and visitors ... these events are great social activities too bringing like minded folk together in one place for a day.  We were the first to arrive and I think I must have been so laid back with so much time on my hands to set up that I forgot to take photos !!

This morning was spent having a sort through the stock I brought home so that I could take some to Country Matters and then on to some car boots while the dry sunny weather was still holding out.  We were very lucky and were just on our way back to the car when the heavens opened.  Carnage then ensued as every Tom, Dick and Harry headed for the sole exit .... it was every man or woman for themselves as around six cars a time tried to squeeze out!

Thanks goodness it was a very productive outing to compensate for the car boot road rage that was bubbling in me at the stupidity of some drivers.

A pretty Cadbury's biscuit tin and Sheffield steel cake knife

 A boxed set of Sheffield butter knives

 Cute tray with chocolate box picture of kittens and flowers

 Little papier mache trinket box, crinoline lady jug and a 'Mother' brooch

A pair of 1930s banana split dishes, deco preserve pot, trinket pot, little glass salt and a pair of candle holders

A gorgeous embroidered silk panel in jesso frame

Art Deco mirror on a chain hanger

Art Deco dressing table set with unusual double sconce candle holder

We recognised this immediately as an old photo of Tilehouse Street in Hitchin .... a lot of the buildings are still there and below is how it looks today

and here's a link to google street view

Bliddy technology

What is happening this week ..... blogger playing silly beggars and not allowing me to leave comments on some blogs ..... poor bloggers must think they are being totally ignored by everyone this week as the problem seems to be quite widespread.  Now I am having problems with the lappy and logging into certain programs especially my e-mail account ... I keep getting a message saying I need ActiveX to be enabled .... it is flaming enabled but it still won't let me in and then to top it all this afternoon I can't get into my Virgin on-demand service.  A very polite and pleasant young lady called Melody with a strong Indian accent informed me that lots of customers were reporting the same problem and that they were looking into it.

Anyhoo back to things crafty and thrifty and vintage.

Last Saturday was the 5th Northampton Vintage & Handmade Fair .... this is a fantastic event with oodles of vintage loveliness, friendly sellers who are mostly bloggers too so great to put faces to names and organised by Ann and Trevor who do a great job.  Here are a few photos I took ...

It was a quieter day than usual but there was a similar event on at Stony Stratford which isn't too far away so we were probably sharing the vintage lovers that day.  Ann and Trevor are organising another fair on Saturday 9th July at a new venue in Olney ... I have my table booked and I'm looking forward to this one too as Olney is a lovely little market town.

I made one small purchase at the end of the day .... I don't know how I had missed it on my little circuits round the room earlier in the day but OH came in and said there's one of those baby picture you like out there and he pointed to Debbie's stall.  I grabbed my purse and ran over and there sat this

 

It's not by Lilian Rowles this time .... Bessie Pease Gutmann is the artist for this one ..... Bessie was an American illustrator and artist and was at her most prolific during the early 1900s.  There style is so similar and I just love them .... look at the little verse on this one.

So this little darling will now hang with my only other Gutmann which OH also spotted at the car boot a few weeks back (he's getting good .... I must pull my socks up!)

On the crafting front I have nearly finished my hexi quilt ..... just a little more hand stitching to do and then the binding and thankfully my poor little pinkie has recovered although the end of it feels like a piece of old leather.

I am champing at the bit to start another quilt ... I have an order for a single size blue & white one and I've collected all the fabrics together (some from Patch Fabrics & Haberdashery) .... just need to get started.

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend whatever you are doing x

Let's redress the balance ....

There seems to have been quite a bit of bitching and downright unfriendliness in blogland recently with a lot of dirty washing being aired in public and toys being chucked out of the pram.  Time to end this ladies and be grown up.

I am so pleased to offer a contrast to this appalling behaviour by telling you about the fantastic day that I had yesterday at the Northampton Vintage Fair.

This was my second time here as  a  seller .... the sun was shining, hundreds of visitors coming through the doors, homemade cakes and copious cups of coffee to keep me going and the friendliest bunch of bloggers you could ever wish to meet.  Sharon over at Clover Cottage was official photographer and she has loads of luscious pics over on her blog should you wish to drool .... we spent so much time nattering during the day every time that she stopped at my stall that she forgot to take photos so here are some I took myself.  Quality isn't good I am afraid as I was using the old mobile phone.

This time we made sure that we left home in plenty of time with a full tank of diesel and the correct directions .... you will remember that last time we arrived with about 20 minutes to spare before the doors opened and how on earth I managed to set up in that time still amazes me.  Yesterday we had and an hour & half and I was still fiddling around at the last minute!

So a big thank you to

Annie the Felt Fairy and her lovely daughter Amy at Blighty Boutique

Wend at Ticking Stripes

Karen at Tilly Rose

Linda at Tabbyroo

Sharon at Clover Cottage

Annie at Vintage At the Corner House

Debbie at Vintage Wants Not Needs

Vicky at Vicky Loves Vintage

Vicki at Ticklepenny Vintage

Ellieweb

and all the other bloggers, sellers, visitors that were there ...... apologies for not naming all personally .... would hate to start another blog war ;-)

Here's a date for your diary ...

be there or be square as they say !

 

To finish on a jolly note here is my GD Ellie dressed up for Red Nose Day .... she was cock-a-hoop to be in her school's Golden Award Book for the second week in a row.

 

 

 

 Don't forget we go into Summer Time next weekend .... Spring is here at last .... have a great week x

By the skin of my teeth ......

Yesterday was the day of the Northampton Vintage & Homemade Fair.  We set off in plenty of time and in our wisdom decided to avoid the motorway and go the scenic route .... first big mistake!  Flaming google maps sent us all round the houses wasting time and diesel and an hour later we ended up on the motorway desperate to stop to fill up and no idea which way to go when we got into Northampton.  Thank goodness DD1 was at home so I phoned her and she gave us directions which helped but we still managed to get lost in the town centre.  Time was ticking by and I thought we'd never get there so I rang Anne of Vintage at the Corner House who was jointly organising the event with Debbie of Vintage Wants Not Needs to apologise for being late and to ask for help.  Debbie's dear hubbie rang me back and was a perfect satnav and guided us into the fair with just 20 minutes to go before opening time.  A journey that should have taken an hour had taken 1hr 45!  We also passed a nasty accident where a motorbiker had come off his bike .... there were lots of people there helping and then this afternoon I got a call from my brother who had been driving in the same area in the early morning and in the pouring rain and darkness he had aquaplaned across the road and into some woods.  His car is a total wreck and someone must have been smiling on him because he walked away with just a few bruises.

Anyhow .... back to the fair ..... I managed to get set up in record time and everyone there was so lovely with offers of help and a cup of coffee.  The atmosphere was perfect and there were visitors by the coachload .... a big round of applause for Debbie & Ann who had organised the event to the highest standard.  We had such an enjoyable day and the bonus was that I was able to put faces and real names to some bloggers that will be familiar to you all ..... Wend @ Ticking Stripes, Sharon @ Clover Cottage but I missed Jo @ Hesta Nesta somehow!   It was very busy and I made lots of sales and chatted away all afternoon ...... can't wait now till next time !

Thanks again Debbie & Ann for a splendid afternoon x

PS I'll make sure I get there in plenty of time ;-)