Fab Time at The Vintage Bazaar

Saturday was an early start for us to travel down to Frome for The Vintage Bazaar.  It was really strange travelling all the way there in the dark, like driving in a tunnel.  I do have some pics of the day but they are on hubby's Iphone so I will upload them to my Flickr account later.

It was lovely to catch up with some old faces and meet some new ones.

True to form I raided Ali's stand as I was next to her which was fatal.  We always buy something from one another.  This gorgeous hand embroidered panel must have been made for a wedding dress, it is exquisitely done, but I will be good and sell it on at some point.

This rather gorgeous round wooden box covered in faded floral fabric just had to come home with me, I purchased it from Tracey of The Vintage Bothy.  It was lovely to catch up with her and M as we haven't seen each other for yonks.

Two lovely beaded garters.

Yet more gorgeous 1920's beaded fringing...as if I need any more.

This lovely old chap just had to come home sporting his rather fetching Edwardian Child's Mohair coat and Vintage hat.  There is a rather lovely picture of him with my hubby over on Sophie's Blog, Fading Grace, she also has some lovely photographs of the day.

Two yummy pink paisley eidy's I couldn't resist from the lovely Cecile and her hubby at Elegance Maison.
A big thank you to Lizzie and Clare for all their hard work and attention to detail that made the day such a huge success for everyone.

The downstairs is now looking more like a theatrical costumiers thanks to all my costumes and textiles but as you know I do have a penchant for the ostentatious!  Have a great week whatever you are doing and a Happy Halloween.

Jo xx

Cottage Industry

The kitchen has been turned into a veritable production line by hubby.  He is in the midst of making dried fruit slices to sell at the Christmas fairs that are coming up.

The AGA drying rack is coming in very handy.

Once the slices are fully dried they are decanted into Kilner jars.

The end result, all packed neatly into cellophane bags and labelled ready to sell.  I have also made up some Christmas Pot Pourri scented with Frankincense and Myrrh.  We decided to make our own dried fruit slices as finding them in the shops was quite difficult, and they can be expensive in a certain craft shop!  They look fab wired onto wreaths or hanging decorations or you can make up your own pot pourri.  

They are all packed and ready for the Vintage Bazaar tomorrow...please come along if you are able to.  Have a great weekend whatever you are doing.

Jo xx

I Could Have Danced all Night........

After the trauma of the last few weeks and recovering slowly from 'Man Flu' I have at last got something lovely to Blog about.  This arrived from the lovely Shirley at Simply Chateau...... 

A gorgeous turquoise silk corseted Tutu dating to the 1920's.  It is absolutely tiny, I reckon a UK size 4 or 6!

I am absolutely thrilled as I never usually win auctions and believe me this one was a close call!

On closer inspection I could just about make out a name written on the original Paris Couture label inside the Tutu....G. Chernova.  We put the name into Google and found nothing but then put the word ballet in also and this is what came up.....

This lovely Ballerina was called Galina Chernova and the photograph looks to date from the 1920's so a similar age to the Tutu.  Unfortunately the website the photograph came from (Russians of Latvia) states that the text is not translated.  We are continuing to try and research more about this ballerina and whether this costume could have once been worn by her at the Paris Opera Ballet.  I will keep on digging and let you know the outcome, exciting isn't it?  Have a lovely week and thank you for all your support over the last few weeks it has meant so much to me and my family.  See you at the Vintage Bazaar on Saturday, now I've got to get a wriggle on and get organised.  Have a great week.

Jo xx

Thank you

Just a quickie to thank you all for your messages of support and condolences after the death of my Nan.  It is lovely to think that I have so many caring friends out in blog land, some of you I have met, some of you I have yet to meet.  Your kind words have really helped me and my family through some very dark days.  I have unfortunately come down with a dreadful cold so sadly couldn't attend Nan's funeral in Devon, but we are going to scatter her ashes back in High Wycombe where we all hail from at a later date so I can say my goodbye's then.  Once again thank you all for being so kind.

Love

Jo xx

A Special Nan

Sadly my lovely Nan passed away on Sunday at the ripe old age of 91.  We are utterly devastated but realise that her quality of life wasn't good anymore and it was her time to go.  I will remember her generosity and kindness and toilet sense of humour...always brought out at the dinner table much to the despair of my Mum!  

This is her and my Grandad when they married in 1942, he was in the RAF.  He sadly died at the age of seventy back in 1988.  I remember fantastic holidays with them when I was a child.  I lived with her for a while before I started my nurses training as I was working back in High Wycombe at the time and I remember many laughter filled evenings and nights..she would read the rude bits of her Mills and Boon books out loud to me and we would be in hysterics!  I will miss her but do realise that I am very lucky to be in my forties and have had a Grandparent for so long and that she was also a Great Grandparent to my son and my Brothers three children.  My brother and I will be lost without her as we were very close to her.  I am so glad we both saw her just before she died.  I will always remember what she used to tell me 'You'll never be a lady as long as you've got a hole in your bum, and you'll always have one of those'!! Thank you Nan for many wonderful memories and lots of laughs.

Mrs Jean May Evans 1920 - 2011.

Jo xx

Fabulous Fair & No 21!

We attended the V&H Textile and Fashion Fair in Chipping Sodbury yesterday.  It was an absolutely boiling hot day and the heat literally was like walking into a wall when we ventured outside after the fair...the weather seems very strange...not that I'm complaining.  We have just purchased yet another full size mannequin...and here  is Gloria in all her glory..no pun intended! This does indeed make 21 mannequins downstairs in various guises...yes, there are more upstairs!

We purchased her from Liz The Washerwoman and we reckon she dates to the 1930's/40's.  I actually was meant to pick her up last week in Totnes but we couldn't get her in the van.

She is sporting my satin 1920's/30's dress and shoes and a vintage hat with ostrich feathers.

I do apologise but Tristan still has no trousers though thankfully he is like Action Man in that department!!

The shoes are another recent purchase for my collection, they are kid leather wedding shoes and date from 1918.  The beautiful 20's appliques at the front came from Ali (Betty & Violet).

A gorgeous little Art Nouveau Appliqué that has been made into a brooch many moons ago, also came from Ali.

These exquisite late 20's early 30's shoes I also bought from Ali yesterday, I couldn't resist them, just look at the little ribbon roses on each one...wish I was a size 4!  The ostrich feathers also came from Ali (I think I single handedly emptied her stand).

Yet more Ostrich feathers!

This beautiful beaded satin wedding bag also came from Ali, it is so beautiful and goes perfectly with my antique wedding dress.

My final purchase from Ali was this 20's flapper necklace although she thinks it may have also been used as a belt as it is very long...Gloria is now wearing it.

This exquisite 1930's bag came from Helen.

Just look at the detail on the inside!

Gorgeous French fabric box from Clare (Daisy Darling).

These sweet little wooden clogs were very folk art and I bought them from Heather at Hellish Designs to go with my antique Decoy Ducks.

Hubby purchased these flight of drawers from Caroline Zoob, he is in the process of distressing them and I will take them to the fairs to display my haberdashery in.   The standard of the fair was fabulous as usual and there was a great mix of stands with something for everyone, it really was a great day spent with great people and I would like to thank everyone who visited my stand and made a purchase.  I would also like to thank Michele and Jayne for all their hard work in making the fair such a success. We had a wonderful day and spent too much so the emphasis must be on making money this month rather than spending it!! Hope you all enjoyed the weekend and the sunshine whatever you were doing.

Jo xx