Postcards from the Edge

I'm worried that I might be developing an obsession with vintage postcards.

It started when I first thought about the postcard lavender sachet idea. An idle evening's e-baying produced this gem from Blackpool... and it's gathered momentum since then.



I'd always been able to completely ignore those stalls and shops with trays and trays of categorised cards but now... I'm in there! Shoulder to shoulder with men of a certain age as we all rifle through the categories.  I found this lot in a flea market.

It was when I started reading the backs that I became truly hooked! Here's one of my favourites - it reads:  "Dear Pat, Having a fine time. I shall not be back until Sunday afternoon, so get a good tea ready. Ray".

 I've got pictures of Ray and Pat in my head.

Then there's this one below. It says: "This is a street in Mombassa. It is a delightful place but very hot, but everything looks so green, even the golf course. Lots of love Mummy."

It came from a batch I got from a house sale. All the cards are from Africa and the Caribbean dated about 1926. Each one is to the children - who are presumably at home with the nanny whilst mummy and daddy are living the life on a grand tour...

There's glorious copperplate writing (which I can hardly decipher) - Rome in 1906...

and poignancy - Paris, December 1916 complete with Field Censor stamp.

I love them! You can find a whole life in a few sentences on the back of a card and they cost tuppence - well not literaly obviously - but not much.

I've also found myself drawn to poodles - but that's another blog entirely!

I've been sewing A LOT this week in a desperate bid to overcome my blind panic at the number of fairs and markets I've taken on between now and Christmas. I've finally made a quilt that I'd been thinking about for ages.

It's crazy patchwork but put together with lots of vintage children's fabrics, interspersed with some gingham, retro pieces and vintage embroidered linen.

I had the idea that if I filled it with interesting pictures and characters it could be a kind of storybook quilt that would spark off stories and ideas for adults - and children as they got older. Anyway, it's done and I have to say I quite like it! Although on the next one I think I'll add some words...

Meanwhile back to the bunting x