Fairs Fair

It's been a busy few weeks. A couple of Saturday's ago I had a stall at Vintage Pixie's Vintage, Handmade & Gift Fair in Shalford Village Hall near Guildford. It was a fantastic day, despite the weather, and so well organised. I took one photo (of my own stall!) and then failed to take any more. Luckily Tina of Toby Boo took loads, as did Vintage Pixie so click on the links to see more. It was a really excellent selection of makers and sellers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another one not least so I can get one of Jumbly Crumbly Kitchen's Cake Pops which I missed out on this time! Check out their website to see what I mean.

This last Sunday I was at The Yard on North Road in Brighton on one of the hottest days of the year. Despite the lure of the beach there was a steady stream of visitors calling in.

I did manage to remeber to take some pictures this time... It's a lovely vintage market with a mix of stalls and, at the end of the alleyway, the yummy Farm cafe.

It's on the second and fourth Sunday of every month, 11 - 5 and well worth a visit. If you come make sure to buy a couple of tickets for Tom's "Tragic Tombola"; motto - "every silver lining has a cloud." All the prizes are fabulously awful - china dog with a doll's face anyone?

I'm back there on July 10th so come and say hello if you are in the vicinity!

Happiness Is....

Sometimes life has it's ups as well as its downs. My operation on my ankle, scheduled for last Friday, was cancelled. Now I had been dreading it and I may have moaned a bit (ahem) but I was really down about it not happening and being back to uncertainty. But then this week I find that I am surrounded by goodies so I thought I would share....

This is a basket of washed and dried doilies and vintage embroidered linen, found by my friend Claire in a cupboard in her dad's house. She rang to ask if it was "any use to me?"

Then yesterday I went to one of the local auctions and won two boxes of mixed linens. Half the fun is sorting out what's in them when you get home, these are a very mixed lot indeed with lace, trims, Edwardian children's clothes, embroidery... Above you can see yet more doilies on the drying rack!

And here are two beautiful embroideries and a vintage tapestry stretched and pinned to try and get them back into shape. How lovely are these? I think the tapestry will make the top of a big bean bag type seat. Not sure what to do with the embroideries yet.

And finally... Dah Dah! My new toy. It's an embellishing machine - just unwrapped. I've been saving up for it and now it's here! Watch this space!