Bit of pink......

Just to prove I am not a totally grey girl, some little acquisitions in pink for you...

Pretty Laura Ahsley chintz curtains with a large scale hollyhock pattern......

The dinkiest of gloves for a very small child with their French Franc label on......5 inches from cuff to fingertip, so cute....

Cushions made from Kate Forman fabric.....

A beautiful hand painted Victorian meat plate......the flowers are so delicately painted they could be mistaken for transfers.

Finally some little French embroidery pattern books and vintage lace making bobbins with old glass beads and tiny pieces of lead in the bobbin to weight them.

Amazingly I now have 101 followers which probably means in blogland I have to think of a giveaway, get you to leave a comment, then draw the winner out of a hat!

I will therefore have to put my thinking cap on and report back to you after the weekend.

See you soon....
Julie x

Wire work.....

My new addition to the kitchen shelves......a wire teapot from the lovely Abby at Vintage TeaTime

Now sitting alongside the wire cow with authentic udders.....

I love the silhouette shape of wire work against a blank wall....simple but so effective.

 Wire glove stretchers and a wire corkscrew.....

Handmade wire toasting fork with a "curly moustache".......

 And a couple of  cooling racks supported by the charmingly naive, rusty metal kitty with a squashed face......

Hope you all had a great weekend......I am still recovering from an extremely busy Fair at New College, Durham yesterday..... so this afternoon I am going to get those cooling racks down off the shelf and make this delicious looking chocolate cake from the talented Belinda at Wild Acre as a well deserved treat!

Enjoy your week,
Julie x

Hats and dogs......

 

A very stylish hat by McCracken and Bowen, London, made for Jenners in Edinburgh with its original box.

I presume Mrs Moffat lived permanently at the Calendonian Hotel in Edinburgh as a number of "well to do" ladies did in the 1950's /1960's.

A pair of cute sleeping dog prints....

 And a strange sausage shape that is actually a plaid coat for a small pooch....

However, with the absence of a real pooch to model said coat, I improvised with a furry bear like handbag from House of Fraser which I rolled up and popped inside. 

Granted no head, legs or tail, but you get the idea...

All will be going to New College, Durham this Sunday 23rd January together with a couple of Victorian pewter tankards and a pretty plaid wool blanket in soft heathery colours.....

  

Two large C19 blue and white transfer print jugs

one depicting a hawking scene....

the other depicting an enormous dog with sunglasses and human features.....bizarre.

Finally the table has been painted......

F and B Light Gray.

I have put it in the kitchen for now to house the ugly, but necessary TV and Sky box.

I painted the legs and frame but left the top and gave it a good coat of pine polish.

When I have more time I will find a new home for it in the house where I can display nice things on instead of the ugly telly..

What do you do with the TV....hide it, stick it on the wall or maybe you don't even have one ?

Enjoy the rest of the week....

Julie x

The same table.......

Don't you just love it when you are flicking through one of your favourite magazines.....Country Homes and Interiors ( Jan 2011 ) and you think..... mmm....I like that table......

Simple lines, straight legs, nice handles, good colour......

The table "sits" somewhere in your head..... and you move on through the pages.

Then a few days later you get the opportunity to buy a table.......

Which makes you gasp, because you have seen it somewhere before.

 Same simple lines, same straight legs.....same handles.

What are the chances of that happening?


So, having been jet washed, treated for woodworm and rapidly drying out in the kitchen..... I will soon have the task of sanding and painting....

Now, where did I put that paint chart?

 Have a lovely weekend....

 Julie x

Made in Britain....

Flying the flag for British made vintage with yesterday's spoils from the Antique Fair at Hexham....

A full size Union Flag....British made. 

A pink silk scarf with famous landmarks of London.....

                                            Made in England.

And a couple of embroidered pictures from 1935, made in the North of England.......

I remember that rhyme....we used to recite it before we ate our school dinner when I was very small.......aah memories.....

Julie x

Full tank.......

Yes.....I am up and running again with a full tank, thank you Mr Google.....you were pretty quick!

I don't know what it is about the post Christmas period but I have a great desire to clear the clutter and clean the house....

Spring cleaning in January helps me look forward to the new year and gets my head in order. 

Tidy surfaces.....

Spring bulbs to come away.....

Postcards of Paris I bought at an Antique Fair just before Christmas are now displayed on a wire heart stand from Helen at Busy Bee Studio  instead of a pile shoved in the drawer.

They are on my desk as a reminder of my visit in November 2010 to see my daughter, although the people on the backs of the postcards were well ahead of me....1906, 1908, 1909! 

No Easyjet then of course......

As well as "Spring" cleaning I have had the paintbrush out....

Can I introduce you to the re- vamp....... Madam "Lamp Room Gray" courtesy of F and B.

       The orange tan has gone and my eyes are happy.

She will now blend nicely with my stock at the Fairs, even the Fairisle tank top and tweed coat look calm and subtle.....

Thank you all for your lovely comments, I really appreciate the time you take to reply and to my new followers....I always wonder how you find me!

I hope you all have a clean, uncluttered start to 2011......
With love,
Julie x

Running on empty....

Apparently I have run out of photo storage according to blogger......

Don't know how as I have only been blogging since May last year...must be the size of my photos or something....
Will be back when I have sorted it out.
In the meantime I will be at Hexham on Tuesday 11th January 2011 with more new goodies if i don't get back before.

Have a good weekend.....
Julie x

Madam "Perma Tan".....

OOOH....ORANGE!
 This poor waspy waisted lady has had the indignity of being painted in what looks like...orange vinyl silk. Unless of course, she has paid a visit to a tanning booth over Christmas.....
The photos make her appear to be more of a dirty red/orange colour...... but I can assure you, she is definitely ORANGE in real life...

I picked her up at the Antique and Retro Fair at Gateshead Stadium on New Years Day along with some other nice bits and pieces with the intention of re painting her and the wooden base in a classy grey colour.

Here she is modelling a 3/4 Irish tweed vintage coat.......

 With a hand knit Fairisle tank top......

 And a cosy pair of sheepskin lined ankle boots from Draper of Glastonbury.

A dinky birdcage....

And some girly frames etc complete some of my purchases from Saturday.

I now have some polishing of shoe lasts, painting of large picture frames and possibly a re vamp of a mannequin to do.....so what do you think.....orange or grey????

Julie x