Henny Penny is my hero (or should that be heroine???)

 Yesterday morning as I sat in the beautiful sunshine with some embroidery in hand there was a knock at the door. The postie with a box .... a very large box ..... stuffed to the gills with loveliness. Was it a coincidence that as I had been sitting there thinking about our holidays in Dorset and dreaming of visiting that lovely county again that the box had arrived from the very same place.

I had been extemely lucky to have been picked in Ted & Bunny's Very Vintage Giveaway by the gorgeous Henny Penny and you would just not believe the generosity of this lovely blogger and the splendiferousness in the box.  Wow, wow and thrice wow!

 

You are truly a woman after my own heart and I love every single item which was carefully wrapped in tissue paper and gingham ribbon ... I now just have to decide where to place them in this highly disorganised clutterholic's paradise of mine  .... thank you so much Ted & Bunny and of course Henny Penny xx

The Queen of Mean or the Gift of Thrift

Yes I have been out there again making up for lost time last weekend!! 

With DD1 and Ellie we set off this morning for two favourite boot sales and we were not disappointed.  Ellie the wise old shopper found two lovely Care Bears and some more Baby Annabell bits (a pull along case and car seat) that she hasn't got and I found the Etch-a-Sketch, Piglet ice cream sundae dish and books for her. 

I got three pairs of curtains ... Next Traffic Jam, some pretty floral gingham which are brand new from John Lewis and some applique cotton ones which I haven't photographed yet as they are waiting to be ironed.

A green & blue enamel lidded dish

A Victorian china bread plate

I stopped at a stall to buy the Blue & White Cross Stitch book and at the next stall the lady noticed the book and said she had some cross stitch magazines .... as I bent down to look at them I spotted this little lot of vintage women's magazines from the 30s/40s/50s .... she seemed to think they were just an old lot of tat but my heart skipped a beat and I got the lot for £2

TOTAL SPEND = £16.00

This afternoon has been spent tidying up my sewing room and look what I found .... the original pattern for the bridesmaid dress I blogged about yesterday .... was I really a size 12 once

This dresser top has been stored upstairs for 2 years awaiting a paint makeover and tomorrow, weather permitting, it will get a coat of Laura Ashley Linen paint and then be hung on the wall over my sewing desk.

Memories and booty bargains

What have I been doing with myself this week???   Well, my sister celebrates her Silver Wedding in August and my nephew is busy arranging a surprise party for them and asked if I would sort out anything I had that he could use.  Being the perpetual hoarder that I am I ventured into the black hole that is called the loft .... anything I can't bear to part with (useless and useful) is popped in there, to see what I could find.

Here we all are on the day ..... that's me on the right and my first born is the little man with the dicky bow.  The bridesmaid's dresses were handmade by me in a peach cotton trimmed with lace and you guessed it I've still got it.  Modelled by my new Freecycle acquisition .... hopefully to be recovered in something a little more fetching.

I also found in the same battered old suitcase this quilt that I made for said first born (he's 28 now!)

and a UFO which was going to be a crochet cotton bedspread which I must have given up on

and my own wedding dress .... again hand made and now 32 years old ..... my darling grand-daughter looked at it this morning, raised her eyebrows and said you're not going to wear that are you nanny (we are off to a friend's wedding reception this evening!).  We got married on a very tight budget on a wet and windy November day and I'm not a meringue type of girl anyway.

and I don't stand a cat in hells chance in getting in either of them these days (thank goodness!)

We went off to the car boot this morning and I'm pleased to report a successful morning of thrifting

Four curtain panels in a lovely floral chintz .... very useful and they are lined too which comes in handy for the backing fabric for string blocks

A vintage 1960s souvenir from Switzerland which opens to reveal

and the music mechanism still works while the little ballerina twirls

A Brixham Pottery nursery rhyme money box

A naked baby with cry mechanism (sadly not working) which I think again is 1960s as I had one very similar when I was small

Some Sanctuary hand treatment and a vintage sugar shaker

Two pretty dresses BNWT in lovely fabric that I am going to repurpose.

and finally some vintage linens which are a little tatty and stained in places but there is some useful crochet edging and hand embroidery that can be repurposed and what's left used as string block backing fabric.  Waste not want not ladies ;-)

Total spend = £15.00

As I mentioned earlier in the post we are off to a wedding reception this evening and it is a football free zone !!

Have a good weekend everyone x

Sunny Saturday in Berkhamstead

Today was my first visit as a seller to the Berkhamstead Art & Craft Market which is held every month in the old town hall.  This is a lovely old character building right in the centre of the High Street with three rooms holding 47 stalls in total and a lovely little tea room.

The day started with a steady flow of visitors and I was so pleased to make some sales .... my hope was that if I sold just one quilt I would be an extremely happy bunny and I have come home absolutely ecstatic because I sold two plus some cushions with lots of enquiries asking if I would be back there again and some useful networking.  I have been a maker for years but never had the courage to take one step further and sell beyond my circle of family and friends and today has been a lovely confidence boost.  Thank you to the lovely people of Berko for their appreciation of my hard but much loved efforts.

I will be attending another event in the old market town of Hitchin on Saturday 17th July in the Church Rooms behind the parish church and hope to be back in Berko in August.

Bridget if you read this can you see the lovely bunting that you made me in our swap .... many thanks it set the table off a treat x

Nice weather for ducks ....

It's half term and we promised Ellie we would take her down to the Watermill Shopping Village ... on Tuesday mornings there is the added attraction of a car boot and we had only been there five minutes when the heavens opened!  Undeterred we had a stroll around the garden centre (thankfully under cover) and needed to get some dog food ... these cheeky chaps live on the millpond right outside the pet shop and they visit at 9.30 am every morning when it opens up to get their breakfast ... not daft are they ;-)

We stopped for some brekkie ourselves in the restaurant .... tucked in one corner is this delightful Tea Room

It is furnished beatifully with pretty china to sip tea from with a faux fireplace on one side (my photo of that came out blurry)

I resisted purchasing any more fabric or yarn from the Crafty Quilter or Moonstone Yarns and had a lovely browse around the antique centre.

It's still dull, wet and cold so this afternoon will be spent getting more UFOs finished for the Berkhamsted Craft Market this Saturday where I will be taking a table for the first time.  I am a bit nervous but excited at the same time .... it's amazing how much time is taken up planning a display, pricing, labelling and presenting.  I must update my website too as it will be pointless taking business cards if I don't.

Ellie has nodded off now .... she is still tired from her day out yesterday when she visited her dad's grandparents in Norfolk and then went onto Great Yarmouth ..... think I will take advantage of the quiet time and get some more done. 

Flaming June .... ha!!!!