On Saturday I went to Bronia's house in Somerset for her 'End of Summer' open house sale. You may remember me telling you about her house before. She has recently moved into here house and it is decorated in a mostly 1950's style with the bedrooms being a more shabby chic boudoir style. All absolutely delicious. She has a fabulous collection of things and I knew it would be somewhere that my mum would love to visit as their tastes and style of decor are so similar. I took mum and, as I knew, she loved it. She and Bronia have so many of the same touches around their homes that they could be living parallel lives! Bronia has her emporium outside the house in a very large garage and workshop which houses her huge collection of textiles, ceramics and vintage fashion items. I took my camera with me this time so that I could show you.
Here are the textiles all piled up. I bought lots of beautiful fabrics an eiderdown and some stunning hand painted French buttons.
We had a lovely time. I do so enjoy spending time with like-minded friends.
On Bronia's recommendation I also bought the Rose Maroc gazebo from Cath Kidston, reduced in their sale. I can't wait to see, and use, it!
Today I introduced mum to the delights of the local recycling centre. Our recycling centre has an area where items that have been dumped can be bought (for very little). Some of these things are really brilliant e.g wooden doors, furniture, bathroom fittings, mirrors, records, books, bric a brac and textiles of course!! Today I found 2 eiderdowns, which sadly need a bit of tlc, a lot of retro towelling, an old shabby chic religious painting and a cut glass scent bottle. It is amazing what people throw away and so wonderful that they can be truly recycled like this.
We visited a recycling centre in Somerset on our way home yesterday. I pulled up and immediately spotted a gorgeous wooden trunk, mum spotted an old wooden step ladder and there was a huge shipping container full of textiles. I approached the man who was in charge of the place who informed me that they were not allowed to sell the items as a bric a brac man had the contract to clear all items nor was he allowed to give it away. He agreed with me that this was very sad but none of the recycling centres in Somerset resell their items. I think a lot of these things will not be appreciated by the bric a brac man and will end up being shredded, pulped or burnt. Our charity shops are turning away old textiles, buttons, furniture and want only clothes with 'labels' like Next!!! They organise their fashions into colour blocks and they now have such a sterile feeling that I rarely find anything of interest there. They do not sell buttons because of the risk of choking! So thank goodness for the recycling centres of Devon, my new favourite place.
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Well I am back, I have been for ages but I just don't know where the time goes!I had a brilliant time in London, 3 fun, child free days filled with shopping, eating, laughing, drinking, loads of walking and lots of brilliant sunshine. I visited Portobello Market, Camden Market, the Mecca that is Cath Kidston's shop (of course) and Oxford Street. It really was just the tonic I needed.
In fact it was so great that I have booked my next trip there already. I am off to visit the Country Living Christmas Fair in November but have managed to eek it out for 3 days again, whoopee! My friend Amanda has also got a 3 day pass so we are currently looking at London hotels and are busy planning our activities. We are planning on visiting Beyond Retro and are staying in Hoxton. Any other tips on where we should go?Business is great at the moment, it keeps me going, so I have made a big scary decision that I want to have a stall at The CL Christmas Fair next year, if they'll have me! I was so scared that the moment I made the decision I had to rush off to the toilet! I know a few of you have done a CL Fair and I would be so grateful for any advice. I can't do it this year as I have a 3 day craft fair to do at the Cowslip Workshops in Launceston. This is a lovely mini CL Fair which is actually held in the Country. If any of you are in Cornwall from the 16th - 18th of November, do pop in, it's a beautiful place.I have had some great finds lately and have 2 textile fairs to attend in the next few days. I found these beautiful 1930's bluebird buttons in Portobello Market.
They are included in this big pile of vintage buttons, all recent finds and al will be finding their way to my website soon.(click to enlarge)
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Summer was fun, it was over far too quickly. The children had less than 6 weeks this year and we filled every day with activities. Although the weather was less than perfect when we did get a good day we could pop to the beach, which is a mere 10 minutes away. Even if it wasn't hot we found the loveliest new surfy cafe right down on the beach for cream teas or a hot chocolate. I booked Alfie into some boysie activity days so that the girls and I could do what girls do best, go shopping! I had lots of thrifty finds in the summer holidays and got to make a trip to Ashburton to visit The Snug, a gorgeous shop, where I missed Niki by minutes as, coincidentally, she was there on holiday with her family. We both bought vintage chocolate boxes too!Our holiday to Port Isaac was wonderful. I go with mum and the children for the last week of August. We rented the same gorgeous cottage that we stayed in last year and it really felt like coming home. It is a stone's throw from the harbour and all the gorgeous little shops, cafes and pubs. I could quite happily live there full-time, sewing and selling my fabrics. I might just end up there one day! There are always great things going on and the weather was brilliant which was a bonus.
I spent a lot of time and money in this lovely shop, Charmed, owned by Jackie Lewellyn-Bowen.
We went to the Big Cornish Day out which followed on from the success of the party they had last year to celebrate the centenary of John Betjeman. This was like a village fete really with stalls selling Cornish goods, old fashioned fairground rides and musical happenings in the arena, like this band who, although traditional in look, were playing 'Let me entertain you' by Robbie Williams as I took the photo.
My favourite stall was one that was there last year and I looked out for it. It was there. A gorgeous little camper van selling the most delicious vintage goodies. The stall was run by Shabby Chick, a lady called Amanda, who recognised me from my blog and confessed that she is a bit of a lurker, so hello Amanda :-). She has a stall in Totnes market so I shall have to make a trip down soon. It's amazing the power of blogging eh? I stocked up on some pretty vintage tins, a basket, patchwork and crocheted blankets. My friend, also called Amanda, bought a pretty deck chair made of vintage floral fabric.
My friend Amanda and her son Elliot came down and stayed in Port Isaac with us for a few days which was so nice. Alfie and Elliot are great pals and always love spending time together. Amanda and I never stop talking once we get together, we are such close friends and have been for some 16 years now. We have been through a lot together. She, like most of my closest friends, lives far away so I miss her terribly. We had a great few days on the beach, visiting Padstow, going on a speedboat ride, which I remembered halfway round that I hated last year but had forgotten, much to the amusement of all on board!
We had cream teas galore, well it would be rude not to, shopped 'til we dropped, went for fab meals and talked and talked and talked. When she left she made me sit down and handed me a large, flat, heavy thing in a bag. She started to tell me that this was something she had chosen for me for my new home and my new life but couldn't finish what she was saying and just flung herself at me sobbing. I didn't even know what she had given me but started crying too which then set mum off! She had bought me a beautiful painting by Katie Childs. The cottage we stay in is full of her gorgeous art work which I always admired. Amanda knew that Port Isaac was a special place to me so she knew I would love it, and I absolutely do!So summer was great and I really enjoyed the laid back relaxed time I spent with my children, I really enjoy their company (most of the time). I leave you with a few photos of my little, and not so little, pickles.
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Just to let you know that I am back, I am well and I have spent ages doing a blog entry on my other site so I am now too tired to post an entry here! The Period Living feature is out so if you want to see it I have posted photos here. Apologies for the quality of them but my scanner isn't working so I had to photograph them and they aren't the best.I will be back my sweeties with tales from my holiday and what I have been up to over summer.See you soon x
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Hi, Just popped out of my self-enforced retirement to say I am not in the September edition of Period Living after all, I shall be in October's, but if you want a laugh go to page 90 of September's Prima magazine and read an article about me and my mad collecting habit. Unfortunately the magazine omitted to mention my website so I look like a crazy lady who just collects loads of fabric for no reason, hahahaha!
Right I'm back off into the garden to soak up some more sun, toodle pip xxx
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Oooooooh how exciting, have just found out that the Saturday Times article will be out this weekend (9th June). Hope you get to see it but if not I am sure I will be publishing it here some time next week.
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