More Vintage Treasures...

Hope that you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. It was great to take some time off, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to go treasure hunting again! Here are my best buys:

A fabulous original oil painting of Hydrangeas, an amazing hand painted celluloid baby brush and mirror set in it's original box and a pretty selection of vintage brooches.

Ruby red antique fabrics and an unusual trinket pot with floral lid.

A stunning fan decorated with cherubs, a pearly collection of hat pins and a very large china cup decorated with Lilacs and Daisies.

Two pretty French bridesmaids headpieces, a muslin baby bonnet and two sepia toned photographs.

Couldn't resist some delicate rose printed china and the framed print on silk. And two Deco parasols.

Finally, I treated myself to a gorgeous and dramatic quilt from Sue. At the moment I have placed it on my wooden bench in the living-room as a seat pad, but I think it will be useful in several other places too, so it will go for a wander now and then!

Sue had also spotted in the current issue of 'Antiquexplorer' that my hand made bags were featured. So she kindly gave me several (!) copies - thank you Sue.

On the Bank Holiday Monday we visited the Daffodil Fair at Mells, so I wanted to share with you the wonderful garden at the Manor House there. The Spring weather was amazing and the flowers were enchanting.

I really must catch up with lots of crafting now, after taking time off over the Easter holidays - enjoy the rest of the week. Hope this gorgeous weather continues!

"Happy Easter!"

Happy Easter to All! Hope that you enjoy a peaceful weekend.

OK, So What's Your Secret??!!

How do so many of you lovely ladies manage your busy lives and still find time to post on Blogger everyday AND comment on hundreds of posts too? What's your secret?

I have been so busy lately that my blog has not been able to feature in my life. Also, my middle daughter is heading towards the end of her 'A' level courses at school, so needs the computer a lot, to complete coursework and essays. The Easter holidays begin tomorrow, so I shall have to bag my slot on the computer early in the morning, I think, before my teenagers are up and about! Hope the good weather continues....

I managed to buy a huge lot of vintage curtains and fabrics last weekend. It has been wonderful to wash them all and dry them outside on the washing line. It was quite blustery yesterday and they dried in minutes.

I then had to face the acres of ironing!

I love my old wooden 1950's ironing board, but it is very small, so ironing the huge green satin curtain, that is over 5 metres wide, took some time!! Very satisfying to see them all looking clean and fresh again though.

I have covered my ironing board in an old blanket and a pretty vintage eiderdown fabric. If it wears through, I just add another layer of floral fabric with my staple gun!

I also bought a wonderful old Sanderson fabric made into a sofa cover. It is very worn at the seams, so I think I shall re-use the fabric for some cushions....which I shall make when I have the time!!!

Fabulous Flappers and Beautiful Bags.

I wanted to introduce to you today the talents of a friend of mine. Margaret Neale creates these adorable Flapper Doll ornaments, each one being unique.

She has an original chalkware one dating from 1913, which she used to create a mould. This is then cast in plaster.

Maggie spends many hours hand painting these wonderful creatures, making each one an original work of art. I love their appealing eyes, so typical of the Flapper era.

They are then embellished with vintage treasures to give them an authentic antique look. They display beautifully amongst original dolls, as well as sitting pretty with more modern pieces.

And as if that isn't clever enough! - Maggie also spends hours hand embroidering woollen bags with typical 1930's images.

A woollen blanket was dyed this soft aqua colour, then embroidered with wool and silk threads and worked into a wonderfully nostalgic flower boarder design. The bags are all lined with vintage floral fabrics and further embellished with old brooches with twinkling stones.

These fabulous items have been added to my website today. Please visit the catalogue for more details.

http://www.nostalgia-stonehouse.co.uk/

Yesterday, I visited a textile fair and met up with Sue and Donna.

Here we are enjoying a coffee in the lovely gallery cafe; we decided it was more appropriate to say 'fabric' rather than 'cheese', so it was rather funny to hear the chorus coming from our direction, whilst our photo was being taken!

Donna so very kindly bought me a present. I had admired on her blog, the broom that she recently purchased; and she bought one for me!! She also gave me a beautiful piece of 1950's flocked fabric perfect for fairy dolls. Thanks again Donna for your kindness and for going to such lengths to buy the gorgeous broom for me! I shall think of you whilst I sweep my floors!!

And here are my purchases from the day out:

A pretty cotton spriggy printed fabric in the background, a stunning Daisy chain headpiece, lace and ribbons and velvet Violets!

The collection above came from a charity shop in the town. Two rose printed pillowcases, coat hangers waiting to be recovered, antique lace and thread and the fabulous vintage Needlecraft book...all for £1.50!!

And to round the day of wonderfully, I was bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my great friend Debbie, who also visited the Textile fair with me.

I have been married for 22 years tomorrow, so these were an anniversary treat!

Box Frame.

Just a quick update today.
I think the spring weather has had some kind of effect on me and I feel the need to clean! And tidy! My workroom is the tidiest it has EVER been! I spent ALL weekend making it workable....well it was a BIG job, I had let things get way out of hand! I should be able to work a lot easier in there now!
Anyway, the update is the box frame that is now complete. With the help from my hubby, we produced this little display box using one of the picture frames that I bought at the flea market recently.

Hub used some pine boards to create the sides and shelves. I glued vintage French Ticking on the backing board.

I've displayed my French coffee cups along it's shelves, but it is a bit too regimented for my liking, so other treasures will be added when I discover them!

The cup on the left is my favourite and probably the oldest - funny thing is though, I don't drink coffee, in fact I hate the stuff!! (LOVE tea though!)

Can you spot the odd one out? One of them is an English coffee cup!