Recent finds

Thought I'd just share some pictures of my latest find in the vain hope that one of you may also think that I found something beautiful... Often I find that my nearest and dearest do not appreciate the things I find and love. Indeed some regard me as a bit of an oddity...so I had to smile when I saw this in a shop window! Obviously I wouldn't dream of spending the £180 it cost on such an item (unlike a customer in the shop who was proudly saying she had the same up at home. However I did find a pack of the Lexicon cards in a charity shop last week for a couple of pounds. Just wondering what little bit of advice I should assemble - maybe "to thine own self be true". What is your mantra?



I digress. When I saw this raggy piece of cloth in Lincoln I was hooked. I touched it and felt its soft texture - worn thin by years and years of use and love.



I pulled it out and marvelled at the subtle shades of patchwork pieces. Parts of it had worn so thin the top layer had disintegrated...



to reveal another layer of lovely patchwork underneath. I hesitated to ask the price and when I did had to wait for the assistant to ring the manageress. I was saddened when I heard eighty and thought I would have to return it to the shelves of despair but decided to just check.



"Not eighty but eighteen! It's Victorian you see." I do indeed. Oh decisions - what on earth can I do with it. Useful or beautiful? It won't register as useful - its days of providing any useful function are long behind it. Beautiful? Well it was to me.

Reader I bought it. (You knew I was going to say that didn't you?)



It has some unspoilt parts so I've folded it and put it on the back of a chair and I stroke it as I walk past and think of the comfort it has no doubt provided in years gone by. Unfortunately our cat has rather taken to it (she's no respecter of my stuff!) so she's going to have to spend the rest of her life outdoors!



I also found these lovely little hand painted tea plates, jug and bowl. I don't even "do" tea but they also spoke to me.



As did the young lady in this picture. I'm easily pleased (especially at £2 for the china and £2 for the picture - and I rarely haggle.) I hate to think what might happen to these things if I didn't take them home and love them...

Love Wend

Thwarted Christmas preparations...

My Christmas preparations are being thwarted. Yesterday I found myself hugging the road when I slid on its icyness. Having watched in horror as my twisted foot grew and grew it let me down and refused to allow me to stand on it. I had it xrayed and although it isn't broken I'm supposed to be chair bound for the day. This is tres hard for me - I don't do chair bound and certainly not two days before Christmas!

I thought I'd share some pictures of what should have been a Christmas shopping trip a few days ago where I spotted a new White Stuff in town. This put paid to my shopping.



I was surrounded by vintage loveliness and loved the changing rooms which were set out like a street of front doors which when opened revealed hallways all individually decorated and styled...















complete with drainpipe with added rat ...



The walls were covered with kitsch pictures



and they had even thought about keeping the children enteretained with this fish ride ...



and its own little cinema



with seats from an old picture house!



Loving the lift doors...



There were very few Christmas decorations but the pictures had been tweaked with fun





They also had a Magic Mirror - when you try on and want a second opinion you tap in an email address on a pad on the mirror and it e-mails the picture to the address you typed in! I had a go and the picture below is what I emailed to myself - I wasn't trying on - the assistant was so excited about the store she wanted to share everything with me and let me take all these photos.




And the clothes, and the vintage shopping - no idea - didn't spot the clothes and here's hoping foot has improved enough to finish everything off tomorrow. Here's hoping!

Love Wend

In the pink!

Why oh why did I touch the "blogger designer" thingy? Hopefully normal service will be resumed once I can get my technical assistant to sort me out...

In the meantime I'm going to have to manage which for someone as virtually challenged as me isn't easy.

A few days ago "A Thrifty Mrs" commented on my picture below on Flickr and asked me to share my thoughts. I've been steadily increasing my collection (the picure in my side bar shows what it was like a year ago!)and have been able to increase it quite significantly. (There is another shelf with my tureens on it higher up too!). I use this everyday now and love mixing and matching it! Such lovely sherbet-y colours.



Ann of "Vintage at the Corner House" (see side bar) has mentioned some of her finds recently and from comments on her post it seems that there is a general lack of pink (not to mention yellow) out there. Ann has a gorgeous pink jug with a green handle - I hadn't seen any with two colours before but it's lovely. Does anyone have lots of yellow?



I'm afraid I'm cheating a little here but I found a stash of pink a couple of months back the shade of which is almost identical to the Peach Petal Grindley that the real utility fans are after. My pink is actually Wedgewood from 1934 - so its actually art deco rather than post war so is older. This means the handles on the gravy boat and tea cups are a little angular but I'm not a purist and given how many pieces I managed to pick up I'll bring some to the fair in Northampton in case anyone wants to add to their collection. I have to say the pink and the yellow certainly lift the other colours when they are together!



Has anyone else discovered the "sherbet glass" which has had a Flickr group set up for it by Teena Vallerine - "Kitschen Pink"? I know it as "sugar glass" with its pastel bands of colour from the same era.



Have I inspired you to start on another collection?



Lovely aren't they!


Love Wend

Nosing around Norwich

After my spell in Scotland I was still on leave and had a few days at home followed by a little trip to Southwold . I stopped off in Norwich and thought I'd share some of my highlights.



This poster in Jarrolds an independent department store stopped me in my tracks. What a simple delightful way to identify the specialities of an area. This was designed by a Norfolk family but Id love to see one for each county.



They show all the things I think of when visitng East Anglia - particularly those BIG SKIES!




I always look out for independent shops and avoid the high street names and loved this book shop. Called The Book Hive the window contained some hives made from paper which opened to reveal quirky street scenes.



I believe these were the work of a an art student called Justine Austin (hope I have that right - I'm going from memory!)



There were three different ones and each had some found objects on or in it. The first one has little beech nuts hanging down



this one an old brooch and a card with segs (when did you last see any of those?)



and this one lots of matchboxes...



A couple of closer shots but I'm afraid they are taken through the shop window so apologies for the quality.



Where do people get their inspiration and ideas from!



I liked the juxtaposition of these two shops!



And wished I had time to go and see this exhibition!



And wouldn't you love to go into anywhere with an invitation like this at the door? Maybe next time!



Hope you have a great holiday weekend and maybe a sexy little cupcake?

Love Wend