sorry

sorry for taking so long to blog this . the vintage fayre at cressing temple barn. what a day! hard work but fun and very busy.... this picture is one of the rare shots of my sister (who helped on the day) but i caught her in the mirror .... as you can see the venu has the most beautiful beams, as a backdrop for my vintage stuff its perfect. we had a unbeleivable couple of hours in the morning then calmed down to a steady flow at lunch time , then a manic afternoon ,
a very well organised event by the very helpful people at helen rollason cancer charity.
the only down side i felt there where alot of new market type stalls which i feel will loose visitors next year. will do some more photos and blog the latest from the shop asap.
have a good week. Heatherx

VINTAGE FAYRE!

Hi, its been a couple of weeks of hunting and gathering ready for the vintage fayre at Cressing Temple Barns. its the second year for this event ... in 2010 I had a stand there , what a fab day it was , lots of like minded people both with stalls of beautiful vintage stuff covering every era , a display of dancers, vintage vehicles of all sorts and lots more , a good event to visit..
As with all of these types of events its very hard to judge what to take with you , I have a double pitch so i am hoping to fit enough in my hubby`s little van

The other news this month is I now accept all major debit and credit cards ..... I have been dragged into the 21st century...it is something I have put off mainly on principle of giving the banks allot more money each month... but sadly the demise of the the cheque guarantee card last month has not given me any choice , hopefully it will pay for itself and at least now I can take the machine to various fairs etc....

anyway on the positive having lots of fun stocking up..

I also have to say that the last few weeks I have had lots of new customers that are finding me on their travels what a great bunch of people vintage lovers are .. so friendly .. enthusiastic ... and very complimentary.. I love my work and am so grateful to be doing what I do ....

hope you all have a good week....Hx

MATILDA!

SORRY FOR MY RECENT LACK OF BLOGGING , WHERE HAVE THE WEEKS GONE ?
this is my excuse for the past couple of weeks ....I would like to introduce "Matilda" our beautiful little kitty who is now nearly 9 weeks old.... loads of fun, lots of little scratches (unintentional though) its the first time since moving out from my parent's home (more than 20 years ago) that i have a cat in the house , mostly due to my hubby insisting that he doesn't like cats! , but i think over the last 2 weeks he has changed his mind.....
Anyway this weeks finds ready to go into the shop[...... a real eclectic mix ....

the weather has been so unpredictable lately but happily does not deter my customers from venturing out to my little shop , thank you.....

I decided today to book myself into the vintage fayre at Cressing temple barns on Sunday 24th July , I have been ummming and aarring over the last few months but have decided to book in .

I will give more information over the next few weeks... have a good weekend...Hx

a little more Chelsea

A little bit more from Chelsea, the journey home was fun ... firstly finding a black cab that would take 4 adults and 10 potted roses from the free for all at 4 o` clock sell off ...we headed to the Harkness Roses stand , we bought 9 beautiful Roses for £60 all very fragrant .. all the people on the trains said how nice the carriage looked and smelled ..... although beautiful the thorns where still being plucked out of my hands on Sunday .... I am still deciding where to plant them ... but a lovely memory every time I look at them ... anyway back to work tomorrow (Thursday) get the window ready for the open Garden event in Great Bardfield this Sunday 5th June ... I think as far as gardens go the Bardfield gardeners do a fabulous job to rival any Chelsea exhibit... definitely worth a visit if you are in the area from 1pm. I will be wandering around with my family and friends looking for some tips ... have a good week....Hx

Chelsea flower show2011

The Chelsea Flower show... for the first time I visited this wonderful event ..

it was a very special birthday for my mum this year so my sister had a fab idea to take her to the Chelsea flower show .

I left home at 6.45am Saturday morning . we arrived there at about 10.20am ...lots of walking ....lots of ooh And aahhh -ing , we headed for the pavilion, the flower stands where amazing the blocks of single species with all colour combinations , the various scents as you walked through, was a wonderful experience.. some of my favourite cottage garden flowers where there in abundance , including Foxgloves, Aquilegia, lupins, and of course roses ..... I loved this 1940`s inspired

vegetable plot. i must say it was the only garden i would love to have taken home and just plonked in my garden.....if only!

My lovely Mum colour co-ordinating with the tulips

the scent on these was wonderful " my favourite spring flower"

I LOVE FOXGLOVES , SO DO THE BEES.....

THESE WHERE NOT SO INSECT FRIENDLY!

SOME OF THESE LOOKED LIKE FIREWORKS.

A NATURAL LOOKING WATER FEATURE

BIT OF A SHOCK IF YOU FOUND THIS CHOMPING YOUR LETTUCES!!!!!

THIS LITTLE CHARACTER IS THE CULPRIT THE SNAIL MAKER .. I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BUY SOME OF THE BRONZE SCULPTURES BUT MY BUDGET WOULD NOT ALLOW IT .....

TREE FOUNTAINS

MY ALL TIME FAVOURITES " BOXING HARES"

more photos to follow over the next few days.............have a good half term ................Hx

------ BEFORE---

Here is the first finished deckchair of my most recent re-vamp sessions already sold I am afraid

but this one in particular was hard to part with I love the sun canopy with bobble trim .. I will just have to look out for another . I have placed a sign in my shop ...WANTED... old deckchairs for re-vamping . so fingers crossed....Hx
----AFTER-----

handy work?

There is something about these hand embroidered pictures that i just love,
I have a small collection on a wall at home , these are on sale in my shop at the moment , the hours they must have taken to sew, the detail on some are amazing , when you think they sell from £8.00 upwards . I was about to take a photo of the ones I have on the wall at home but my fairly new camera decided to jam, now I have to look for the original receipt ,I have only had it since September last year, I really do not fancy spending an afternoon taking back to the shop I bought it from ! isn't technology great (when it works!) any way had a very busy day in the shop today and met some lovely new customers this past week has been a vintage clothing week , it is funny how things that are of the similar type suddenly you sell a lot of , have a good weekend whats left of it ...Hx

I thought the last couple of posts where a bit dull so here is some colour !!!! just a few pics from around the shop including my large stock of bling! brooches. some pretty vintage linen tablecloths................. one of the fab sun shelters based on a edwardian design with one of my revamped lloyd loome chairs with some great summer stripe cushions...

of course there is always a good supply of pretty JUGS ooh err!

I hope your day was good more posts to follow.....Hx

the before!

Just thought I would show you some before photos of some old deckchairs that a ripe for a re-vamp . Although I love the stripe on the one on the left I cannot guarantee how safe the old canvas is ?(probably perished as they usually are) so a coat of paint and some new fab fabric and they will look better than new, I will photo the finished chairs soon. While on the subject of photos I did say I would post some pictures from Saturday but the chaos of the garage sale sort of took over the day, there was a constant flow of like minded people in my little shop so it was very hard to (remember) to photograph, over the course of the day I met lots of new customers and some of my lovely loyal regulars, lots of bargains to be had (lots of sore feet too!)

A great day but I was very glad to get home and soak in the bath with a glass of wine. anyway I will photo the new window tomorrow ...... have a good week ..............Hx

latest!

well its that time of the year again the GREAT BARDFIELD GARAGE SALE . chaos will be the order of the day .. especially if the weather stays bright and sunny . we have 64 garages opening up and selling their trash or treasure whichever way you look at it ... a good opportunity to clear some old stock and meet some new people visiting the village.

But chaos seems to be the order of this week as last Friday I made the decision to take out the staging shelf below the window to allow me to arrange larger pieces of furniture etc in the main window , but what a mess that made..... after closing at 5 on Saturday I then cleared the window and moved all the furniture to the back of the shop , I put a little note in the window to explain what was about to happen just in case anyone thought I might be doing a moonlight flit, my hubby went in on Monday ripped out the window and as with all these projects for improvements plaster fell from the wall so 1st thing Tuesday we went in so he could re-plaster the wall , then we cleared and cleaned as much as possible.

I re-dressed the window to include my fab new canopy from deckchair stripes . we will paint the wall and the new windowsill when the plaster settles and dries.

Today amongst the mayhem I will photograph the new window and all the fun and post later (if I manage to stay awake this evening long enough?)....have a good weekend ....Hx

Wow , just have to mention what a fab afternoon we had on Friday at the village afternoon tea.
we had more than 100 people turn up for a cup of tea and a piece of cake (or maybe a couple of cups) , the sun was shinning, the children played on the playing field just in front of the pavilion and where all very well behaved . the kind ladies that helped ,did not know what they where letting themselves in for as when we opened at 4pm they did not stop for 2hours.... a big thank you to everyone that came near and far, making it a lovely afternoon..... and we raised £250 to pay for the new crockery for the pavilion. thank you again for your support...Hx

afternoon tea!

just to let you know about a little treat that is happening in the lovely village called Wethersfield in Essex , we are having some tea this Friday , as follows. All are welcome , tickets are available in advance or on the door on the day, hope to see you there. ...............Hx

deckchairs

Well here are the first batch of re-vamped deckchairs . fab cushions etc etc etc...I love the vibrant colours ... lets hope I am not the only one?