Fabric foraging

Well here we are in March, the sun is shining, there's not a cloud in the sky and it truly feels as though Spring is here, at last!

I love tulips and fill the home with them every Spring.

 

The hens are happy and have spent most of the day sunbathing in a huddle!

Yesterday's forecast was for torrential rain and gales, luckily I decided to ignore that, as the weather men are so often wrong, and ventured to Shepton Mallet Flea Market.

It was not a pleasant day weatherwise, it was pretty dismal, cold and wet but not torrential rain and no gales.  There were a few stalls outside, nowhere near as many as usual. Most of the action was indoors and after bravely scurrying about outside and getting a few goodies, I headed indoors to the warm and dry to continue my fabric hunt.

It was lovely to see Lizzie, Clare and Sue stalling inside and to bump into Lucy, Niki and Maxine all treasure hunting.  I'm not very sociable on my buying trips as I am aware that I need to get my head down and find as much as possible to make the 4 hour round trip worth my while, so often it's just a cheery hello exchanged on passing!

Despite the market being so small I still got a lot of lovely bits. I shall share these with you:

Vintage georgette and French rayon dress fabrics

 

1940's Paisley Fabric

Pucci style paisley silk

1940's Rayon dress fabrics

 

1950's dress fabrics

Wonderful London scenes novelty fabric

1950's French Abstract Fabric

  

Collier Campbell fabric for Liberty (I always get asked for this!) 

  

  

Genia Sapper 1960's Fabric

Some pretty velvet ribbons

Beautiful Woollen blankets, one Ikea, one vintage Welsh wool

  

  

A pretty corsage that a kind stall holder threw in for free

  

  

Wonderful Racey Helps playing cards. I love his work especially as he has North Devon connections too.

  

Kitchen Things pot by T G Green

  

2 pretty 1950's dresses, one blue

 

one brown, a bit too big for me but maybe belted....

and worn with my leather jacket?

After the fair we popped to Clark's Village, an outlet centre in Street. In Joules, I found these gorgeous oven gloves and hob covers for my aga at half price!  Perfect as our old ones are worn out and rather grubby.

 

Well, with all that fabric buying I now have a mammoth task of washing and ironing all my finds and with the sun shining I might just get it dried outside too. Nothing nicer than air dried washing! Bye for now x

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Somewhere over the rainbow

The first thing I do  on waking up is to look out of the hall window outside our bedroom to see what the morning has brought with it.  Today there was a beautiful big rainbow set against a moody sky. Five minutes later we had an enormous hailstorm, followed by bright blue skies which stayed for the whole day, bathing us in Spring sunshine and a promise of better weather to come.

This week I went to view an auction with my lovely friend Laura. There were some great pieces there

 

We were both unavailable for the day so we left commission bids on a few items. I fell in love with a pair of painted cupboards, perfect to put fabric in but nowhere to put them (minor detail) so was quite relieved to find out that I had been outbid!

I was successful on one item only, a rather shabby and battered old leather suitcase

 

A well travelled item with the prettiest floral fabric inside

 

A closer look?

  

Lovely isn't it?  It makes me wonder why Major West would have such a feminine lining to his suitcase?!

The inside is in perfect condition but the outside is flakey and dry.  Does anyone have any tips on how to restore it or is it not possible?

It will be perfect for storing fabrics or quilts in don't you think?

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Blankets and Cushions

I thought I would show you my crocheting as I haven't updated you for a while.  I have taken a break from my ripple blanket, mainly because it was getting too heavy to take to my Stitch 'n' Sip class, so I started a little lap blanket.  I was inspired by Lucy's lovely baby blanket and the colours are just to die for.  I also liked the fact that you join the squares as you go which is great and means you don't have a pile of squares lying around to be sewn together (my worst bit).  I'm loving making this blanket.

 

  

Here is the ripple blanket. I shall be returning to this soon as it is so very nearly finished.

Last week I received a beautiful parcel.  The lovely Hen is a regular customer of mine and has the most wonderful taste in fabric.  After seeing her latest creations I wondered if she would like to do a swap instead of buying fabric. Luckily for me she said yes and I am now the proud owner of one of her delicious cushions. 

 

  

I love it even more because it contains some of my favourite fabrics, that I have only shared with Hen, so I get them back, in beautiful cushion form, hooray!

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New Fabrics and Fairs

I have had some great new vintage finds this week.

As well as this lovely pile of eiderdowns ....

...... there are these goodies.  All to be added to the website soon but do email if you have any queries.

(click to enlarge)

 

I am attending a lot of vintage and textile fairs this year, which is great for me as I get to meet more of you.   Keep an eye on my sidebar for fair dates.  The latest one is a new fair organised by Lizzie and Clare, in Frome, called The Vintage Bazaar.  This looks like a great event and there is a blog for it here.

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Love Hearts

With Valentine's Day imminent, I took delivery of these gorgeous heart badges today.  Made from vintage and recycled fabrics in Scotland by the lovely Snapdragon, they are £3.50 each, including postage. See them on my website.

A wonderful way to show someone a  little love!

Oh and can you see that fabulous fabric underneath? The one with the cherubs and hearts?  That is also on the website in my 1940's section.  Adorable!

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Valentine's Day

For those of you looking for something a little different this year pop over to Helen's Etsy store and look at her beautiful cards.  They are a little more expensive than your average card but they are so beautiful that you could frame them.  Suddenly they become a very reasonable piece of artwork!

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Chambers and Beau

If you haven't already come across Amy's wonderful jewellery then pop over to her blog as she is having a fabulous giveaway, drawn on Valentine's Day.  Her pieces are beautiful, wearable,   heirlooms, something to treasure forever.  Go and have a look around her shop and see for yourselves, and, good luck! Pin It

High in the Treetops

There is something going on in the garden!

Can you tell what it is yet?

In the front garden is a huge and ancient Cedar tree.  We love this tree, it has swings hanging from it and now Paul is building a tree house!  

I shall keep you updated.

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Slow start!

I have found it so hard to get started this year.  The snow and ice made our Christmas holidays extend by a week and by the time I got the children back to school I had a lot of catching up to do!

Once I had spent a few days organising the house, tidying, sorting, finding room for the new items that had arrived over Christmas my attentions turned to my website which has been sorely neglected since before Christmas. I hadn't added any new fabrics for weeks and the shelves were looking a little bare!

So, here is the latest additions to the website with lots more to come over the next few weeks.

(Click to enlarge)

My favourites are the Lucienne Day fabric, the saucy French burlesque dancers, the 1920's carousel horses and the Muffin the Mule  fabric. In fact I love all of them but these were some designs I have not seen before.

Today I went to see an old lady who had a roll of fabric that she had been given just after the war and always thought she would do something with it. She now realises that she probably won't and as her children are not interested in it she sold it to me. It is very pretty and I will be adding it to the site next week. She was delighted to hear that there are people who would love and use her fabric instead of it languishing in an old trunk, or worse, as her children have already said jokingly that they will be getting a skip for all her stuff once she pops her clogs!!

I had a lovely pile of books for Christmas and have been dipping in and out of them.  Some are for reference and some are crafty books.  My lovely friend Amanda bought me a bag of wool, some felting needles and a book on making cute animals. I can't wait to give it a go!  I don't think my work will ever reach the giddy heights of Gretel's beautiful art but I would love to make a few little felty friends.

I have neglected my blog of late and have found it hard to keep up with everyone elses too so I am sorry if I have not visited yours or commented for a while. I promise to find more time to do this soon.

*UPDATE*

Many of you noticed the fatal flaw in my plan and have asked about several fabrics which have not yet found their way on to the website. I was hoping to have had them all listed before I posted this entry but that wasn't to be!  I will have all fabrics up this week, sorry! Pin It

Snow

The whole country has been covered in the white stuff including North Devon.  This week we had to give up all ideas of work, school or travel and instead we did a bit of sledging, snow boarding and snow man building, with a roaring log fire and hot chocolate to come home to.  I mean what else is there to do?

We are now snowed in (or rather iced in) as nothing can get up or down our drive and our lane is treacherous, the joys of rural living. we have had no post for 4 days and the weather is set to stay cold for sometime to come.  Luckily we have plenty of supplies with a well stocked larder and plenty of goodies left over from Christmas. Our heating oil is dangerously low and although we have ordered more the chances of the tanker getting to us is quite remote.  I think open fires, warm clothes and snuggling up together on the sofa will feature heavily in the next few days.

Keep warm.

(click to enlarge)

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Happy New Year

We had a great New Year's Eve.  My lovely friend Amanda came with her family and I got to meet her little daughter Anna, who is beautiful.  The little ones stayed up until midnight and the full moon was spectacular.

New Year's Day was sunny and bright, perfect for a  walk. We walked along the coast path to Westward Ho! and had tea and crumpets before being picked up!

I hope you all have a wonderful year. 2009 was a great one for me and I have big plans for 2010.  Watch this space ..........................

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Santa Claus is coming to town!

(Puddings by the wonderfully talented Jayne Ward)


Only 1 more sleep!!!

I am ready, it can happen. The last few days have been testing to say the least with my car breaking down spectacularly (costing lots of money, money that could have been spent on fabric!), but I am refusing to let that burst my Christmas bubble.

I wish you all the happiest of Christmases and a healthy and happy New Year.  See you in 2010.  I leave you with a fine offering from the Raveonettes.  Enjoy x





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It's beginning to look a lot like...

I am better, hoorah!  Thank you so much for all your get well wishes, they worked, after  a week of feeling rough I am now back to fighting fit and trying to catch up with work and Christmassy stuff.  I am feeling fairly organised and am no longer panicking but there is still much to do. For example I haven't written a single Christmas card to anyone in the UK nor have I  wrapped any presents, but it will be done, it always is, and a bit of adrenalin at the last minute always spurs me on!

We have been enjoying decorating this year though, as  the past 2 years pre Christmas period were rather fraught for us and the decorating  was done in a rush. Last year was this.  Oh and that TV stuff,?  That was Kirsty's Homemade Home. It didn't come off (thank goodness, the thought of being on TV made me feel sick). I sent them down to Cowslip Workshops for their textile fix.

The year before was this.  The decoration were put up at the end of November, when the children were at school and so they had no involvement.

I tried to take photos of the tree but failed, I shall try again tomorrow in daylight but here is a little collage of our other decorations made into a Christmas card for you all.

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From my bed

I’m so sorry that I haven’t been around lately. After doing the 3 day fair down at  the Cowslip Workshops I came home to a poorly boy, followed a few days later by a poorly girl and now I am a poorly me!    It has been, and continues to be, a very testing time.  I am not good at being poorly as I can’t stand taking it easy, resting and going to bed.  My family know when things are bad if I can’t get out of bed! 

So here I lay, bored silly, feeling too ill to do anything fun like crochet, listen to music or watch television.  Today was the first day when I could actually pick up a book and read for a bit until I got too tired.  So, the only thing I could do was to take a series of photos called ‘From my sick bed’. This is the view I have as I lie here and I will leave you with them and hope to be back on form soon, ready to  start enjoying the festive period (which is making me panic).

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