Busy Busy Busy

Flipping heck it is 2 weeks since I last posted .... the Easter hols seem to have flown by and weren't they glorious .... so much for April showers !

Some good news .... our Royal Family listing on Ebay finished on a wopping £113 and we were absolutely delighted .... 100% of the sale was going to the Japan Tsunami Relief Fund.  While we are on the subject of Royals wasn't it the most heart lifting day yesterday .... only us Brits can do pomp and circumstance like that and have the whole world watching.  Kate's dress was just what I had hoped for .... simple but stylish, traditional and lacey .... I hate meringue type dresses and bustier styles.  We gathered at my daughter's house to watch the proceedings while stuffing sarnies and cakes washed down with a drop of Earl Grey of course.

Today I have been here

This is a new event for me and it is so handy as it is close to home and I must say although footfall was light (must have been the good weather keeping peeps at home I think) I did extremely well and was a good girl and didn't spend too much either.  A lovely cream tea, a jar of homemade Apple Chilli Chutney and these sweet markers for the veg patch.

My remaining stock has been sorted with some heading for Country Matters tomorrow and the remainder packed away until the next Northampton Fair in three weeks time.

Hoping for perfect car booting weather tomorrow .... my favourite one at Stondon started last week and if I can summon the energy there will be three boots to have a good rummage around tomorrow.

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend x

The Big Day

A group of my friends on a forum have got together ..... virtually of course .... and produced this

it has been listed on Ebay this evening with 100% of the proceeds of the auction going to the Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami Appeal

What a handsome bunch and we are really hoping to top a similar auction that ended this week on £205.

Please spread the word !

Had to share this with you too... I spotted this in a shop window ... do you think Kate will be wearing it on the big day xx

Bumper Car Booty

I just love a car boot .... I will rummage around in other people's cast offs all day long much to the dismay of my children and my dear husband trots behind me carrying the bags !

Our best local ones aren't starting until the end of the month but there is one just up the A1 near Biggleswade so off we went this morning.  It was absolutely heaving with buyers and near enough full to capacity with sellers too.  We wandered around for nearly three hours and I am always amazed at how the time flies when I am engrossed in bargain hunting. 

Would you like to see the booty???

A Betty Pease Gutmann print ..... can you see the similarity with my Lilian Rowles avatar .... Betty was American and painted between 1905 and 1935.  Next is a 1903 print entitled Me Loves OO by Maude Goodman.

Amber glass trinket pots, a Royal Albert cup & saucer, blue Pyrex gravy boat, pretty deco bluebird plate

A tinplate 1950s typewriter, two dolls in Edwardian period costume (they are very Sindy like and perhaps one of you dear readers may recognise them), a knitting bag, child's wooden picnic seat, some embroidered linens

Embroidered linen table mats and matching tea cosy, some more white linen, these two dolls actually came from the flea market on Friday .... they were absolutely filthy but have now had a bath and are looking much better and finally two nice summer skirts for moi.  I did get some other toys for the children and my total spend was £28

The only downside of the morning was that it took an hour & a quarter to get out of the car park because it was so busy ... it was an absolute free for all and the organisers need a good kick up the wotsit for not marshalling everybody out safely.

A bit of nostalgia in the sunshine

My dear grandparents died within 6 months of each other back in 1996.  They had been married for 65 years and had raised 6 children with my dad being one of them.  I have wonderful memories of my childhood with them .... they used to pack us older grandchildren up and take us off camping most summer weekends.  We started in a tent and then progressed to a caravan and mainly visited the Essex/Suffolk coast where we wandered with fishing nets and caught sticklebacks, flew kites and went cockling on the Jaywick mud flats.

Part of the camping equipment was the deckchairs and when their house had to be cleared two of their old directors chairs were sitting in the shed and nobody else wanted them so they came home with me.  Here we all are circa 1962

I am sitting in the one on the left of the photo, my cousin is in the foreground and you can just see a third on the right.  Grandma sits next to the empty chair and grandad stands behind her.

Well this is how they looked last year when I re-discovered them collecting dust in my shed

This morning they were stripped of the tatty fabric, sanded down, wiped and then a liberal coat of Briwax was applied.  I left them till after lunch and then with Tony Blackburn playing on the radio in the background they had a good polish and I started to get the fabric ready to re-cover them.

  It's funny how music can trigger memories and the hits from 1962 that he was playing today took me back to Sunday morning visits to my grandparents house.  Grandad would be in the garden, grandma was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and the smell of lemon meringue pie wafted through.  In the background their old brown leather Bush radio would be playing all the tunes that I was listening to today .... Matt Munro, Brenda Lee, Acker Bilk, Del Shannon, Kenny Ball, Sam Cooke, Roy Orbison .... I was transported.

Well by the end of this afternoon the job was done .... both chairs finished and here is a photo of one of them

Not bad for around 50 years old and lots of life left in them yet xx

On top of the world

Well it felt like that this morning ..... we awoke to brilliant sunshine so after dropping some more goodies off at Country Matters we went a little further along the road to Barton with the dogs for a walk around the hills.  The little corner of the village where the circular walk starts is so picturesque with choc box cottages and the church.

The circular walk takes you up a bridle path with views over the Bedfordshire countryside looking towards Hexton and Silsoe

the view down the bridle path

when we reached the brow of the hill to our right was a very steep valley looking down towards the village and we were so excited to see a pair of kites gracefully gliding on the thermals .... they swooped up and down the valley

our walk continued on a downwards path now (thank goodness as I am totally out of condition) down towards Barton Springs at the very bottom where two pooches immediately dived into the water to cool off

All that fresh air and hearts pounding as we walked up the hill made us glad to be alive and  it cost us nothing .... perfect xx

Sun Dried Chicken anyone ????

Since the calamity with our chickens last May with Mr Fox we have been taking extra special care with the new girls.  On days where we can thrown open the French doors and keep an eye on them we have been letting them have the freedom of the whole garden.  This morning they strutted their stuff as usual and then as I was putting some washing on the line they went over onto their sides and basked in the midday sunshine .... it looked so funny so I had to grab the camera.

Ruby was keeping a watchful eye and Molly was soaking up the sun outside her master's shed door.

I've been having a rather productive week ..... swap parcel completed and posted, letter cushion orders completed and posted, some new items to place in Country Matters tomorrow completed and I have started to organise what stock to take to the Originate Vintage Fair on 30th April.

I've also been making some upcycled cake stands with the vintage plates I purchased at the auction last week and some glass candlesticks.

and finally a group of ladies on the SCC forum are knitting The Royal Family to raise funds for the Japanese Tsunami Effort .... here is my Prince Charles

Enjoy the glorious sunshine xx

Through the eyes of a child .....

Some of my homemade cards from the children that I mind .... wonderful how they see you isn't it??   The earrings are captured perfectly in the first one and that's me with the short hair above .... you could tell couldn't you ;-)

 This is Lala two chins and Jack taken yesterday .... I hate having photographs taken and it is rare to actually see me looking at the camera ... I'm usually grimacing or squinting at the flash!

Here are some pics of my goodies from yesterday .... I got lots of my favourite Lindt chocolate too which should keep me going until Easter.

I've been out bargain hunting this morning too and spent some of the money given to me by DS2 .... you already know about my Blue & White china fetish and I was lucky to bag these at the flea market this morning

 This is a Staffordshire flow blue razor box dating to around 1880 .... there are no makers marks but with a little digging in my reference books I may be able to find out the name of the pattern and the factory it came from.  Flow blue really came about by accident during the firing process and was regarded as seconds for a while until the American market found a thirst for it and it is still just as popular over there now.  I just love the decoration on the inside too .... the two little rests are for the gentleman of the house's cut throat razor and this would have been part of a complete toilet set originally.

and this is a little miniature doll's plate by Royal Doulton .... the design is called Watteau ... the little sweetie only measures 3" across.

Some Ladybird books .... I have been searching for this crochet one for ages

Some fabulous 1950s DIY magazines .... love the division of labour !

I was at an auction on Wednesday and as per usual just couldn't stop my hand from going up in the air and bidding

Can't wait till tomorrow either .... there is a charity auction in a nearby village and part of it is being held in the pub  ... what a double bonus ..... have a great weekend whatever you are doing x

PS   Thank you for all your lovely birthday wishes too xx