The Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend...

I also hope that the sight of this enormous golden egg isn't too off-putting if you've been faced by an excess of chocolate over the last couple of days!

It was sat in a shop window in Frome when hubby and I visited the town on Saturday.
We also spotted a little antique shop that we hadn't seen before, selling rustic country style pieces.

I loved the handmade scare crows hanging outside adding a decorative rural touch to the displays - but I think that the 'granny-squares' crocheted waistcoat was far too good for a scruffy scarecrow!

(Its better than some of the clothes in my wardrobe! ha! ;-))

The cheerful daffs seemed to be just hanging on in there for the Easter weekend, before they start to fade for another year...

And glimpses of an approaching summer season had started to appear in some of the other shop windows. (Vintage fashion, of course...)

And I loved this simple adornment outside a shop selling French furniture...

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Back home that afternoon, I gathered together some oddments of vintage china. I wanted to plant them up with some small viola plants for my stall on Sunday. I had decided to have a big de-clutter and hopefully sell off some bits and pieces at the Shepton Mallet Flea Market.

As I filled the little containers with the plants outside on the bench, it did feel like I was being watched...

This sweet baby collared dove has just fledged this week from a nest under our raised decking and was sat amongst the cherry blossoms looking as relaxed as could be...

The pansy pots turned out quite well with her supervision too!

A touch of spring to add to my stall.

I also had this glazed cupboard in need of a make-over. Its surface was rather scratched, so I decided to give it a coat of paint...

Well, two coats actually...and hubby cut a new backing board for the inside, which was missing.

I also fixed some red gingham to the inside of the glazed doors.

It then had to be loaded into the car, along with all of my other de-cluttered items.

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An early start on Sunday morning and we joined the huge queue of cars waiting for the flea market organisers to designate pitches to all the stall holders. This was going to be a big market, and with the promise of sunshine, we felt optimistic.

An hour later and we were set up and ready to roll...

The first item to sell was the cabinet that I had made-over the day before, so I'm glad that I'd made the effort to finish it in time...

Hubby held the fort, (bless him! surrounded by all that girly stock - I do appreciate him being willing to do so!) while I headed off to have a quick scout for some pretty bits to bring back home!

I bought some French millinery flowers, a sweet embroidered camisole and a pair of shoe stretches which I intend to embellish.

French fabrics, velvet ribbons still on their reels and some gorgeous Deco buttons.

A postcard with an 'N' on it - for 'Niki'! (or 'Nostalgia'!)

And a fabulous 1940's celluloid posy brooch.

It was a tiring day, but we had lots of good sales...and I got to meet some of my blogs readers too - "Hello again ladies!" ;-))
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The de-clutter has also prompted me to have a good clean and freshen up everywhere...

I've had the sheer French gingham curtains up in our laundry room for a few years now.

I want to create a more 'grannyfied' look in here (if you're remotely with me on that one!) with colourful floral curtains, so I decided to recycle the existing gingham curtains to the kitchen.

Luckily, no alterations were required - I was able to just hang them at the small window and the front door...

I made the dress curtains for the large picture window (below) by cutting an old check tablecloth in half and hemming it.

I was also able reuse the embroidered pelmets from the laundry room at the windows too.

I have had a pair of c1940 daisy curtains that I've wanted to use somewhere in our home for a long time, but couldn't find the perfect place for them.

I think teamed with some similar vintage Sanderson fabrics, they will fit well at the windows of the laundry room, for my cottage-chic, granny look!

Hubby clad the walls in there with T&G a few years ago, which gave this room a less 'urban' look, so I hope these pretty fabrics will be the right decision...I'll let you know when the job is complete...

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A Bank Holiday Monday was not the time to be making curtains, so we decided to go out in the lovely sunshine for a while. We drove to Lacock, only to find that there was a scarecrow trail event on. There wasn't an inch of car parking space and the pavements were filled with crowds of people...

So we turned around and thought we'd try Corsham instead...I'm so glad that we did. We parked the car (easily in the almost empty town centre car park!) and wandered along the pretty cobbled street.

Stopping for a delicious lunch at 'The Flemish Weaver' pub.

Afterwards, we walked around the small town and came upon the stunning Corsham Court. It was recently used as a filming location for the BBC's adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. We paid to enter the beautifully kept gardens, which look particularly good in the spring...

We were the only people there; and to think of the heaving crowds just a few miles away in Lacock, we felt very privileged! I'll leave you with some photographs that I took during the afternoon of some of the vistas and details that caught my eye.

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I do hope you've had a wonderful weekend too!

(Auriculas flowering in my garden just now)

Niki x