Tat or Treasure?

They say one(wo)man's treasure is another (wo)man's tat so I'm going to let you decide if this is TAT or Treasure?

On Saturday I was scouring the Spring Market being held at the church hall and finding so little to interest me. Maybe it's me, maybe I'm more in a decluttering mood rather than a buying more in mood. Anyhow , my eye was eventually caught by a flat box that people kept shuffling round out of the way of more interesting items and curiosity got the better of me...

What was in the box?

Its about 14-16 inches long and about 12 wide and maybe 2 inches deep......

I picked it up, had a quick look at the contents and bought it. Again without a clue what I was going to do with it..... keep it? ebay it? But whatever it was far too nice to be left to be thrown around willy nilly on a stall and then probably chucked into the bin as no one else spotted its charm.

Can you guess what it is yet?

Wrapped in tissue and kept carefully stored away for the last 50-80 years it's in pristene condition. I've tried to date it and it could have been made any time from the 1930's -50's. I don't think it's later but if anyone has any information I'd be really grateful.

Is it worth anything? I don't know but to someone at some time it obviously was.....

Want to see it unwrapped?

It is, I think, a nightdress case or pj case. The colour is a couple of shades deeper pink than on the photos,amost a red but not quite and is quilted with chain stitch all over one side with a lovely ruffle to three sides. Lined inside with gold satin, it is perfect and unused.

Would you have rescued it? Would you keep or sell? Is there even a market for vintage negligee cases? Is it worth more that a couple of quid? I do think it is lovely but would be torn in keeping it in its box or using it....

This photo is the best match for colour and just shows how pristene the fabric is.

So Beautiful or not? Tat or treasure? What would you do with it?

Attic Sales and Spring Fayres

Spring felt like it was truly here this weekend (although not today as it's raining very fine rain which soaks you should you venture outside ) and I was buzzing on Saturday knowing that I had so many events to attend and all within couple of miles radius.


First up was the attic sale..... A queue was forming at the door when we arrived and people stood round gossiping, armed with large bags; it took me back to the Jumble sale days when I was a kid yet in those days there'd be a motley crew of lady pensioners dressed in zip up shoes and banging on the church hall doors should they not open in time. This time the ratio between men and women was the same and no one was over 50. The guy in front of me (with a high squeaky voice) was discussing his stall at a car boot sale held on a Sunday about 12-15 miles away from me in the next town over. My guess was that he was looking for cheap stock to refill it.


Anyhow they let us into the hall at 9am on the dot and we all trooped in.

It WAS a let down; two trestle tables pushed together formed the selling table and it was loaded with chipped glassware and table ware. There were tacky pictures in frames that should you try to remove the print would fall to bits and a pile of faded, washed out curtains in depressing 80's designs.

All I bought was a single posy candleholder for 50p and I bought that mainly because I felt so sorry for the church ladies trying valiently to sell the lot of tat that was there.

At the next 'Spring Market' (I bought my red vintage scales from there before christmas) I bought something rather lovely but I'm not going to show you what ......yet ;-) It's vintage, boxed and I'm currently trying to date it... could be 1930's 40's or maybe even a late fifties piece. I'm thinking the 1930's as it looks rather glamourous!

I also was given (for free) a brand new electric heat pad as the lady in charge of the stall said she didn't know if it was working or not and to take it home and try it. As it looked like new I pounced on it and am now using it to warm my feet on chilly nights .

We then drove over to the School Spring Fayre and was met by an eager looking man on a mobility scooter..... "Is the car boot here?" he asked.

I explained quickly it was a spring fayre and not a car boot but he looked at me as if I had learning difficulties (or was trying to keep all the bargains for myself) and shot round to the other side of the building where I could here him calling out, "Where's the car boot? I've come for the car boot..."

Anyway, he parked up his scooter and joined us in the queue for the fayre...

It was a very poor Spring Fayre. Plenty of raffles going on, cake stalls, face painting but only one interesting stall with prices that made your eyes water with their expensive price tickets. We left after 5 minutes and as we were walking out the car park the mobility scooter guy whizzed past us shaking his head. Don't think he'd found any bargains either.

So, in the afternoon we went to the jumble being held in another small drafty church hall set in a lovely quaint village on the banks of the canal. Many years ago my friends and I used to ride our horses along the canal bank to this village and I always wanted to live there. Recently they've done the village up with grants and its looking lovelier than ever.

The jumble was ACE! Just like old times :-)

There was a stall selling piles of curtains, tablecloths and bedlinen, another selling donated tins of food and fancies, another piled up with baby and childrens clothes, half the room had trestle tables filled with adult clothes and in the centre the 'white elephant stalls'.



It was packed! I never got near the clothes stalls, only had a quick glance at the stall selling linen and spent most of my time at the white elephant stall and the book stall. I came away with two books, a huge pile of sewing notions for £1, a very old mirror for 15 p but she ended up chucking it in with the sewing bits and bobs and not charging me extra, books and something else rather nice which I'll show you in another post ( i think, like the other vintage whatsit I bought they deserve their own posts).


Here is the mirror. Black laquer with handpainted roses and a butterfly.








There are two holes on either side of the mirror where probably candle sconces were. I have to admit I don't know what to do with it, its a little too small (11- 13 inches tall) for hanging over the fireplaces and too big for a hand mirror, plus nothing in my house matches the black. I'll have a think about it and if I really can't decide what to do with it donate it to a charity shop..... I just couldn't leave it for free could I?




When I arrived home and opened the plastic bag of sewing bits I was amazed at the amount of stuff it contained.

Besides material, sewing threads, dressmakers chalk, lace appliques there are gem stones, pearls, beads, buttons, piping cord, zips, fastners, crochet cotton, lace edgings, insert ribbons, ribbons, bias binding etc etc

So not a bad little bag to buy even though I have now got sewing bits and bobs coming out my ears!

ttfn

Sharie

Fretful Friday

Is anyone else having a windy day? Now sadly I don't live in the cottage above but we do have chimneys with coal fires in every room (cept the bathroom) and all last night I was kept awake by the howl of the wind in the bedroom chimney and the side gate rattling with the blasts of the wind. Not to mention the dreams of being bombed...


My own fault for reading 'Nella Lasts War' just before I go to bed.

Nella Last

The book has a strange effect on me, this lady just reminds me of my older female relations in her efforts to 'make do and mend' and having the stress of 'cottering up' a meal to feed her family on meagre rations. I think her tales of the bombing in Barrow must have played on my sub-conscious...

Anyone else read her two diaries? Nella Lasts War and Nella Lasts Peace?

****

Tomorrow I've a busy day planned.

9am Attic sale at Church Hall about two miles away.

10am Market and Spring Fayre at another Church Hall

11am Spring Fayre at Junior School

1.30pm Jumble sale at a small church hall located on the banks of a canal.

Haven't been to a Jumble for years and years so quite looking forward to it. Perhaps I should take my trolley so I can ram peoples legs with it if they start trying to push me around? Only joking, I'm not that bad..... I'll just poke them with my elbows if they get in the way.

ttfn

Sharie

Sunday Booty and stamps

I picked these stamps up the other day at my local post office (book of 6). Well I opened the strip and was puzzled at first as I thought someone had pinched two stamps and then I realised the two designs on each side WERE stamps. Don't worry I am getting my eyes tested in a couple of weeks :-)
Anyhow, they are called 'British Design Classics' one is a red telephone box and the other a London bus. I'd love to see the other designs in the range - maybe a trip to Google for a nosy later.


Sunday the DH took me to the big Booty that is about 10 miles away and we got there for about 7.45am to see lots of people walking away with bags and bags of stuff. I felt my usual thrill of excitement thinking that 'this could be a good one' but was very disappointed to be greeted by a field with more market stallholder type sellers.

The DH did find a stall selling fishing DVDs so he bought one of those ( a big spender who now wishes he'd bought more...). I trundled round with my blue spotted CK designed Tesco bag (forgot to say I found that in a charity shop last week for 99p) and found only books.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe which is about life during the 20s-50's in Alabama US. Weirdly I read this one Sunday night put the tv on Monday and the film version was being shown. It was nowhere near as good as the book but ok to watch.

I can't claim the glory of finding all these Terry Pratchett books my sister came round with three of them that she found at her little boys school fair.

I did however find this book at the Sunday booty.

I picked this up for 50p and as a lover of breadmachine' s (I bought a panasonic one last year and have never looked back) it was an absolutely brilliant buy. Check out the recipes...

Not just BREAD! I'm absolutely desperate to try these recipes out but as I'm still on my diet (18lb lost in 4 weeks and another 3 to go) I hardly dare look.

I did try one tip from the book though.... when you boil potatoes save the water and use it in your bread machine as the starch feeds the yeast and creates a bigger loaf that lasts longer. I tried this yesterday and can say that it definetely creates a bigger loaf but have yet to sample it to see if it tastes any different.

tfn

Sharie

Award

I was lucky enough to get the Creative Blogger award the other day from Lajoni at http://painting-new-memories.blogspot.com/. You just have to go over and see her site and the amazing things she has created. I could do with keeping her at my house as the official 'Artist in Residence'.

Thank You Lajoni!!

Apparantley I now have to name 7 things that I love not included are family and friends.

1. My Home (I'm so grateful that I live in the home I've always wanted)

2. My Pets (who have always meant the word to me)

3. My Freedom (so many people live in countries where freedom isn't a right)

4. The sun shining through clouds to brighten your day

5. The countryside (I've never lived in a city and would hate to do so)

6. pretty fabrics

7. comfy slippers

I'm now supposed to name 7 blogs to pass this award on to but I'm going to offer it to every craft blog I've ever seen.

ttfn

Sharie

PS if there are 'c' s missing in this post its because the 'c' on my computer doesn't work unless you 'stamp on it'. Any ideas how to fix it?

First Car Boot of the year!

picture by Beryl Cook ;-)

I just love that picture, its exactly what you see on arriving at a Booty... a mass of cars and someones behind as they bend down searching through the boxs.

I have a bit of a bad week this week.... my sister's husband was assaulted by the looney next door neighbour and had the police round when I went round to comfort her ( I don't know how she keeps her patience with that man I'd have gone round a thumped him for all the personal abuse he's given her over the years), someone stole one of our dogs and then the dog warden charged us £60 to return him, the mug I bought off ebay was delivered to the wrong house and the seller accused me of lying about it.....

Anyhow, I was sat with my Dad in the hospital (he has had a serious illness and still recovering) when he mentioned to me that the local car boot had restarted and would I be interested in going? Was I looking forward to it!!

So putting the muddle of the past week behind me I arrived at the local muddy field on a dull damp, grey, Saturday morning and was happy to see the field was packed with cars.

Sadly most of the sellers were semi-professionals and there were very few genuine sellers clearing out their own junk and most of those that were Joe Public wanted top dollar for their goods. I heard one seller telling a lady that 'the dress cost me £50 so I want at least £25 for it'!

Surely she realises that the dress is now secondhand and not on sale in its original shop? Her prospective buyer walked away from the deal and I'm not surprised.

Another stallholder was selling big packs of Persil washing powder on his stall - for £2 more than the local supermarket sells it.....

I reckon you are getting the message now that this booty wasn't very good but I did enjoy walking round in the fresh air and nosing at everyones stuff.

I saw a packet of union jack flags for 50p and silly me never picked them up! So many blogs out their are making union jack bits and bobs I could have had a go too! Troubled with after thoughts I am :-(

There were also a couple of vintage bevelled mirrors which I passed up on as they didn't 'call out to me', I need a couple to hang over my cast iron fireplaces but they need to be the right ones. The DH HATES vintage bevelled mirrors but then he HATES lloyd loom and that doesn't worry me either :-)

I found a brand new plastic dog bed for £1 which I havent took a photo of as its boring and I'm sure you know what plastic dog dog bed looks like. I need a couple of new ones as my dogs are chewers and I've just had to tip my old ones.

I also picked up this

A lovely draft excluder for the price of 20p!

The design is done in tapestry and the back is in velvet with a zip underneath so that you can pop it into the washer.

Tragic Boot Sale for bargains or what?

When my Dad dropped me off I spotted the DH spying through the window.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Checking out what rubbish you've brought home this time." was the reply.

Do you think he's getting paranoid? Maybe it was good thing not finding too much and then I can wean him in gradual as the season hots up?

ttfn

Sharie

Cath Kidston Birds!

I have a few favourite Kidston designs, you all know my desire for Rosali, well here is another pattern that I love but has been discontinued!

I was on the Shabby Chic Cafe the other day and got the heads up that TKMaxx was expecting a lot of CK goodies so as soon as I got the chance I made a special trip into town scouring the bedlinen department for a few ck flowery pillowcases.

It was completely barren of CK goodies so I wandered off to the towel section and snatched up a red spotty bathmat! Just the same as the one I bought a couple of months ago to finish off the bathroom and paid an arm and leg for.

Next I ventured over to the kitchen department and spotted this jug sat amongst a pile of nondescript water jugs.

I just love CK's cheerful bird design and even though this wasn't the cheapest jug on the shelf I thought it would look lovely filled with juice on a summers day.

So, any CK lovers out there check out your local TKMaxx and show us your finds :-)

TTFN

Sharie

PS I'm off to a Booty in the morning ;-)

Your Name

I've just seen this word game at Victoria's Vintage Tea blog and just had to have a go!!

What's In A Name?

Rules:
USE THE 1ST LETTER OF YOUR NAME TO ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. THEY HAVE TO BE REAL PLACES,NAMES,THINGS. NOTHING MADE UP! TRY TO USE DIFFERENT ANSWERS IF THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU HAD THE SAME 1ST INITIAL. YOU CAN'T USE YOUR NAME FOR THE BOY/GIRL NAME QUESTION

1.What is your name? ~ Sharie

2. A 4 Letter Word: ~ Song


3. A Boy's Name: ~ Steven


4. A Girl's Name: ~ Stella


5. An Occupation: ~ Sailor


6. A Colour: ~ Sage



7. Something you wear: ~ Sash


8. A Beverage: ~ Smoothie



9. A Food: ~ Sweeties!



10. Something found in the bathroom: ~ Soap


11. A place: ~ Sweden


12. Something you shout: ~ STOP!

PS... fancy ago? Just help yourself but remember to follow the rules at the top of this post

New Pretties

Well this is my tea cosy (50p at a boot sale last summer) but I propped it up against a selection of my favourite and new to me cushions. You know what I'm like for Rosali! 99p bargains from ebay :-)

Anyhow, they are sat on my ottoman (from the free pile car boot sale) which is currently in my craft room under the newly erected shelves.

This room is very nearly complete I'm just looking for a vintage mirror for over the fireplace.

I also bought CK's book 'In Print' (secondhand) and have enjoyed reading it - some very good ideas in there and well worth purchasing. My little terrier ornament wanted to sit on top and have his photo taken! He was a gift from a internet friend in Australia.

I was also lucky enough to spot a length of wipe clean self adhesive shelf lace and was even happier to find I'd won it for 99p! I've been on the look out from some of this for ages and ages....

I've edged the shelves of my china cabinet with it.

Hold on..... here is a close up

I've also bought a lovely CK cup from ebay for 99p but its been ages since I paid for it and the seller isn't answering my emails. Makes me wonder if they don't want to sell it for that price. Don't you just hate it when seller doesn't bother to reply?

I'm a winner too!!

Thanks to Victoria over at Vintage Tea (address in sidebar) I was a lucky winner in one of her recent giveaways. The cookbook above was my prize and its full of interesting tasty recipes that are guarranteed to make your mouth water.

Thank you Victoria for sending me such a lovely book and cheering me up on a dark and dismal rainy day.

Talking of food my diet is still ongoing but weight loss has hit a full stop. I have loss 12lbs but I just don't seem to be able to get under the 10 stone mark even though I had a terrible migrane this week (hence lack of posts) and hardly ate anything. Of course I won't give up the diet, I'm desperate now to reach the 9 1/2 stone marker so that I can treat myself to a buttered toasted teacake....how i'm dreaming about toasted teacakes!!

Besides the migrane from hell I've been busy with hospital appointments ( some of you asked how I'd been going on). I saw the thyroid specialist who I'd had a 'run in' with before and he was unbelieveably nice to me! Do you think he's been reading my blog??

I really couldn't fault the check up I recieved (was in nearly an hour) and the only complaint I have to make is that they gave me some tablets and another blood test and told me only to take the tablets once they'd checked my blood result and phoned me to state the dose.... That was well over a week ago and no one has bothered to ring me and I have no contact number for the department. Good job I'm not feeling too bad at the moment.

The Tummy specialist (told you I had a good few hospital visits) said that all my tests came back clear but he is sending me for a CT scan as I'm still having pain. If this ok I will be discharged and my condition put down to IBS (irritated bowel syndrome) even though my condition seems to be very different from the usual symptoms. So I have a nice drink to look forward to and a scan this saturday.

In the meantime (between headaches and hospitals) I've been taking a few pictures from around my home.

Here is the Parlour

I love the cushions. Two Ikea embroidered ones bought for 50p the pair and have seen them on ebay for £50!
I've also found a lovely heavy lace curtain for the bottom half of the window in this room which gives the room a really tranquil feel. Just right as a reading room.

And finally one last photo that I couldn't resist adding of two of my dogs sat with some of the parrots.

And the winner is....

Using a random number generator the computer told me that my giveaway winner is.....


.....



....



....



A piece Of Wood!!! http://apieceofwood.co.uk/

Please email me your name and address so I can send your prize on to you.

ta ta for now

Sharie

I couldn't put it down....

I was wondering to myself what to blog about....

My braided rug is nowhere near finished, the house is still a mess and I've nothing pretty to show anyone this week. The Dh and I have been at various hospitals and clinics all week trying to sort out 'that which is wrong with us'. I won't go into it all but the DH has a health problem that means he needs to watch what he eats and lose a couple of stone and I stepped on the newly acquired weights and to my misery found out that my weight had crept up to.......shush, not too loudly - 11 stone. Now for a 5'8 woman it isn't a huge weight (I checked) but for a 5' 8" woman who's never weighed over 9 1/2 stone I'm frankly horrified.

So, I am on a diet and so is the significant other. In one week I have dropped 7 pounds and the DH has lost 10 pounds just by eating sensibly and calorie counting to some degree. All toffees, sweeties and the scrumptious Romany pancakes dripping in golden syrup is out of bounds. I'm surprised to say I'm not missing them and have no cravings.

In between the hospital visits I had time to read a book I'd picked up at one of my local charity shops. That is the one in the photo at the top of this post.

What an absolutely gripping book! I couldn't put it down and would recommend it to anyone who likes a gripping true story of times not so long ago yet it could be set in the dark ages.

In a nutshell, a young midwife in Ireland during the 1950's takes a job at the 'local home for fallen women', a place run by nuns where unmarried expectant mothers went to have their babies thinking that they were finding a safe haven aware from the censuring eyes of the world. In fact they were subjected to heavy menial slave labour by the nuns throughout their pregnancy, denied drugs, refused anesthetic during labour and even denied stitches should they have been ripped while giving birth. For three years they were incarcerated in the home caring for their baby and then when their child reached the age of 3 years the baby was adopted out without their permission.

The young midwife (the author) has little power to change things except in small ways and then only behind the nuns backs.

A great book and well worth picking up should you see it.

ta ta for now

Sharie

ps, giveaway to be drawn within the next day or so