Wordless Wednesday - My Vintage Girls!

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Elbow, Country Living and other important stuff!

What a busy time I have had recently (nothing new there). On Wednesday I went to Plymouth with my Mum and daughter to have a day out shopping ending with us seeing Elbow in concert. We had a great day but the highlight was seeing my favourite band live again. As regular readers know I am a bit of an Elbow fanatic and have a huge crush on Guy Garvey the lead singer with the beautiful voice. Elbow fans must be the nicest fans in the world. We were right down near the front, a few rows back, and there was absolutely no pushing or shoving at all. You could have had a cup of tea without spilling a drop. Mum, who is quite tiny, kept on having people in front of her asking if she could see, when she said no, they made her go in front until she was right down the front, grinning back at us!!! I have got her hooked now and at last she can see what all the fuss has been about. She loved it as did my daughter. Sadly I didn't get as close as last time



but it was good enough for me!


My fabrics have been featured in the April 2009 edition of Country Living, out now. I had forgotten all about sending them fabrics last November and it was only when Claire told me she had spotted my mention that I remembered. Magazines work so far in advance.

They used some pretty Spring floral fabrics in their Easter Inspiration feature as well as using the spotty tissue paper and baker's twine I always use to wrap our parcels in, although they forgot to mention that! It's a lovely feature and makes me excited about the impending arrival of Spring.








I will be having a stall at the Talent for Textiles sale at The Meeting House in Ilminster, Somerset on April 1st. This is a wonderful event with some gorgeous stalls selling vintage and antique textiles, Lizzie will be there too. There is also the wonderful Gallery Cafe for lunch or refreshments. Let me know if you would like to come and I can send you an invitation.





I am also happy to announce that my 3rd Open House Sale will be held on Thursday 30th April, Friday 1st May and Saturday 2nd May. If you would like an invitation, please let me know and I will pop one in the post to you. It will be Bank Holiday weekend so you could bring your family for a break in North Devon and visit me at the same time. Hope to see some of you then.


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Snow in March

Woke up this morning to more of this............

There was no snow under the cedar tree though!

and the poor daffodils are very confused!

I thought it was Spring now?!

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Flea Market and Vintage Fashion Fair

When you have organised your stock room like I did the other week, what else is there to do but go shopping for more fabrics? After saying, only the other day, that I really need to have a break from buying, this Sunday I found myself driving firstly to Shepton Mallet Giant Flea Market and then on to Bath for the Vintage Fashion Fair.

It was a cold start but turned into a sunny and bright day and having no children for the day (after being blessed with their presence all week) was so nice. I really needed a little 'me' time doing what I love best. The flea market was great and I all but filled the boot of the car with textiles, haberdashery, quilts and a few vintage dresses.

On to Bath which is such a beautiful city and one that I haven't visited for years and years. Mum and I really enjoyed wandering round the city and it made me feel wistful for city life. We had lunch like adults, reading Sunday papers and relaxing before going to the Assembly Rooms for the Fashion Fair.

This venue is spectacular and the fair was not a let down!!! I have to say that it was the best vintage fashion fair I have been to in a long time. There was a huge amount of very good quality clothes there and I got therer just one hour before it closed so goodness knows what I missed! I can't wait for the next one. If vintage fashion is your thing I would really urge you to make the journey to Bath for this great event.

Lizzie was there with her wonderful selection and is always a face I am happy to see whether I am buying from her or not.





This lady's stall was one of my favourites there. She had such a wonderful mixture of things and the colours were such a draw. I wish Sue hadn't been so shy as she was as gorgeous and colourful as her stall. I only got to take the one photo before my battery ran out on my camera!


I was trying not to buy clothes as I don't deal in vintage clothing and would only have been buying for myself. I was pretty spent up by the time I arrived too but did manage to find some delicious textiles for the business.



Here are a few of my finds.

They are mostly unwashed and unironed so apologies for the scrumpled look of them but I wanted to show you before they disappeared into my room. The dresses are in the machine as I type this so I shall show you those later.


Click on photos to see a delicious close up!

Vintage Liberty silk fabric

1970's Liberty cotton

Vintage French fabrics

A beautiful Durham quilt from Sue

A load of mother of pearl buttons

A vintage French fabric box and loads of haberdashery bits



French ditsy florals


1950's floral curtains


Vintage floral fabrics


Vintage novelty fabrics


Bolts of retro fabrics

and one of my favourite finds was this wedding ring quilt made from feedsack fabrics. This is currently hanging on the line so apologies for the photo!

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Plastic Fantastic

Do you remember me telling you about the plastic boxes that inspired me when I went to Lizzie's sale? Well the other day I decided enough was enough. I couldn't even get into my fabric room let alone find anything. It was so full and disorganised that it depressed me. Fabrics were stuffed into vintage trunks, suitcases and pretty laundry bags but the trouble was I couldn't see what was in them and there was no order to anything. I didn't take 'before' photos, I was too scared to, but believe me it was a disaster zone. Sue shrieked when she saw it and said it made her feel better, hahaha! It is an Aladdin's cave stuffed full of gorgeous things but I could never find anything.

Anyway, I bought 10 huge plastic containers on wheels that cost £10.99 each. It hurt to buy something so ugly and have to spend over £100 on them but I told myself that they were a necessary evil. I lined them up along the corridor and for days I emptied the room, bit by bit, sorting the fabrics into categories and piling up fabrics to take to the recycling centre that I had no feeling for. Once I had cleared the room it was just a matter of labelling up the boxes and putting them back in the room.

I now have an organised room, still stuffed to the rafters as you can see, but now much more orderly and organised. Now when someone asks me for a certain piece of fabric I should hopefully know where to find it. A job well done, and well overdue!

Here, I'll take you on a tour round my newly organised room. There is lots to look at so remember to click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to see anything in detail.


















I now have lots of trunks and baskets for sale if anyone is interested?!



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A Snowy Day in Devon

I know you must be sick of the sight of snowy pictures by now but please indulge me. This is the first snow we have had in this part of Devon for at least 10 years, on the news they say it's the heaviest for decades! My 2 littlest ones have never experienced a snowy day before so we were more than a little excited when we woke up this morning.

We have played all day, built a snowman, had snowball fights, had sledge rides up and down the drive and ate hearty soups and stews. A wonderful day!

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