Ready, Steady and off we Go

Two cheeky girls plopped down beside me yesterday morning ready to start their holidays. Red nails still linger from the end of term disco, tears of tiredness are ebbing away as the holiday mood takes over and Moshi Monster tattoo's are being liberally applied.

They looked so gorgeous cuddling up to each other, so I yelled "stay there, don't move" while I ran off to find my camera.

Problem is once they know the camera is coming they can't resist making faces. Cue dreamy lovey dovey expressions.

When I asked really nicely if we could have a lovely picture too. I got faraway daydreamy faces trying hard not to laugh.

Then they thought enough of this squit, lets have fun. I took loads more pictures of cute chipmunk faces and the odd one of them being strangled by each other too.

Summer holiday mood is already here you see.

I guess I need a spot of catch up stuff as it's been nearly a whole week since I've last stopped by. I had last week off work, apart from a training day and tons of school stuff so I don't think it really counted as holiday and now I've got two clear weeks with the Bun's - hooray. 

Mr Bun had an interesting time at the palace. The Royal lot came out to a band in the garden playing the theme tune to the Archers, which had me hooting when he told me. Apparently the whole afternoon was completely surreal from start to finish. Urns in the garden taller than our cottage, elderly Brigadiers and Bishops dotted here and there while three bands played to them all. Oh and the cake was delicious too in case you wondered.

Nursey is a Wheeler Dealer

Rather than be at work today, I've been at home nursing a poorly Little Bun. She's been ill since Saturday evening, aching all over with a feverish temperature. It's burnt out at last today and she's back talking non-stop again, she just needs to get her energy back.

In between nursey duties I've fiddled about with the scarf I bought from Glory Days on Friday and added a plastic bow brooch from Daniella at Acorn & Will.  The scarf was made by someone I know called Fiona, but I can't find a link to her website to show you her other work. Isn't it the most gorgeous barkcloth, it's backed with grey felted wool to make it really cosy. It's the first new kind of thing I've had since taking up the Dottie Angel challenge and being handmade it's fine.

I've also worked on a few more blankie type things. The summertime ripple is half way through and I was getting bored going up and down, so I started on a dottie angel square blanket today. 

In the middle of all this I found a few grannies I started an age ago. I hope I get the ooommpph back to finish them up one day soon, otherwise I'll have a lot of unfinished blankets not keeping us warm.

The other thing I've been doing is to find a few things to put up for auction. Mr Bun and I both had our cars in the garage for mending and they were far more broken than we knew. The bills have been scary so we've had a search for things we don't mind selling to try and raise the money. The problem is that they all have stories behind them, but we have to be grown up I guess.

My mum bought this stunning cigarette case for my adopted birthday in the days when I used to smoke 30 a day. The dealer told her how an elderly lady had brought it in the day before as her husband had recently died. He was an American serviceman who had found it in an abandoned German staff car in Paris at the end of the war. 

 

With the engraving inside and the business card a whole untold story is there waiting to be solved. I imagine a romantic story of Paris, lovers, horses and exotic locations all ending in a war. I guess I should really try a bit of detective work before I pass it on.

Another birthday gift, but there are no tales to tell. A really sweet 1930's childrens nursery rhyme tea-set that comes out every now and again for dollies teaparties.

There are other bits and bobs, but I thought I'd just show you these three. The last thing I've decided to sell on is this stunning art deco Midwinter teapot. It was given to me as a wedding gift many years ago now. I say me because it was one of the few things I brought with me from a previous marriage. So it holds no precious memories, I just like it a lot. Right now I'd rather it was useful, I left the house behind and everything else of value so fingers crossed this is worth something.

 

For now I'll avoid the garage until I find the funds. Burying your head in the sand keeps you sane sometimes.

A Vintage Lovers Weekend

We've just had the most wonderful weekend. Managed not to spend any pennies, but found some and still have a few treats to show for my bartering skills.

On Saturday we headed to Norwich to see Glory Days open for its first day of trading. We parked at the back of an old warehouse which meant we had a lovely walk through the building having a browse at the fleamarket going on inside.

A bit further up the road we crossed the bridge over the river and then Ruth's shop was there in front of us.

The sea.side window display has Little Bun's favourite cat basking for all to see. She's made by Sasha who also sells at our Pick 'n' Mix Makers Market. I can't wait to see what she comes up with for our Christmas market.

Inside the shop everyone was enjoying the joyful atmosphere that Ruth has managed to create. Mr Bun, like me, likes stuff, so he loved looking at all the bits and bobs and could have bought a thing or two.

We headed off to Pizza Express for a late lunch and then on the way back Mr Bun picked up a £2 coin and then a bit later Little Bun handed me a £5 note she found rolled up on the floor. How odd and lucky. We spent it on sweets and grown up fizz.

Sunday was an early one as Olly landed on my chest at 5.30am. By 7.30am I was all glamed up and ready to drive up to North Norfolk with Teena for Little Vintage Lover Fair.

I was thrilled with how my stall looked and pleased that I sold one of my patchy cushions. I'll be putting the other cushions and some of my Bits & Bobs Purses into my workshop later this week.

I just had to show you this beautiful French china on another stall, isn't it pretty.

There were some wonderful stalls there as usual, with everyone having a great time. It's always good to catch up with people I haven't seen for a while and have a chat. You might have seen Julie who writes Beach Bygones blog in Homes & Antiques a couple of months ago. Such a shame that the bright sun has bleached out the view of her fabulous stall.

Inbetween the chatting, eating and selling I found a bit of time to work a few rows of the ripple blanket.

Then I was joined by T. While she stitched and I rippled we laughed about a few things from the day and agreed we'd had a good day. Might be all the bits and pieces we bartered between each other that made us feel so happy. Or was it the shandy at the pub on the way home?

Halfway Already

When I was making Little Bun's bed the other day, I turned round and was stopped in my tracks by the beauty of our cherry tree. Now I've told you I'm no green fingered Lil so I might be wrong here, but I'm sure the blossom was pink last year. Eldest Bun agrees with me on this one too. Can trees do this and go for a change of image when they want to catch us out?

I think she's a lucky girl having that view out of her window, very dreamy.

It made me go and have a look at Eldest Bun's view from her room. Our garden and the fields beyond. She chose this room so she could keep an eye on the hens and anything else that wandered in. At the moment we have a male and female duck that come to the kitchen window to be fed each morning. EB and I watched from up here tonight as Mr Bun threw them some bedtime corn. Fingers crossed ducklings will be born in our garden.

Now those hens of mine have been allowed back into the tidy garden and they're having a lot of fun. I caught them nestled into deep dug holes having a fabulous dust therapy session before pecking the bugs off each other on Monday afternoon.

Spring is bringing out the cupboard clearing bunny in my nature. I've been finding things and looking at stuff as if it's new as I try and move the clutter from one place to another. The petal edge plate collection is growing.

I found a small greendawn jug I didn't even know I had, so I lined the colours up to admire their sugared almondness.

Then I spicked and spanned the downstairs bathroom, which sounds grand, but really it's a very tiny place where we feed the cat and use the bath to store bagloads of stuff. There are some nice bits though.

Around work I've been busy hooking different bits and bobs and coming up with plans of what I'll be making for my next market at the end of May. Yes time is rushing towards our second Pick 'n' Mix Makers Market. It's all systems go with a long list of things to do to be ticked off by us both this week over lunch.

We have had some great coverage already in the Norfolk magazine. Excitingly Selvedge will be mentioning us in their May edition. We have a really fabulous group of makers signed up for the day. Some new faces and some returning from our first market. I'm really looking forward to this one. If you want to find out more then pop on over to the blog by clicking the link above.