A Pretty Guest in A Sunshiny Garden!

Hope you've all been enjoying the fine weather, its not been too hot here.... and it seems to suit the garden.... a good mix of sunshine and rain.

A pretty Guest the other day...

I was stood idly gazing out of the kitchen window as I washed the dishes ..... household chores are so boring... don't you think?
Anyway... I noticed a pretty fluttery creature on the lavender.... not one of the usual kind of butterfly.... a more exotic looking, splendidly coloured, lacy winged little lady.

I had a peek in the 'Butterfly Book' ... we have books for most occasions ... being that bit... ermm 'older' we still turn to the books rather than Google as perhaps younger people do.
Anyhow ... I think our guest may have been a Comma Butterfly, very pretty.

Any ideas on this? I may be wrong ... any experts out there?

'The Book' lists food plants as Stinging Nettles, Gooseberries, and currants all of which are in this area of the garden, although of course she was sunbathing on the lavender!
Well... what Girl wouldn't... smells lovely....but of aromatherapy does a world of good!

The sunshine is always welcome.... it makes the leaves zing with green.

And just look at the pretty baby Apples.... the tree is laden with them.... its going to be a bumper harvest.
That's Apple pies all round then!

And who's for Redcurrant jelly? They are almost too pretty to pick... little luscious red jewels... isn't nature a wonderful thing!

As you know I am fond of my garden and although I haven't been able to spend much time in it recently, I did scatter a few Poppy seeds.

Just love Poppy's.....

Their paper like petals and pretty colours are so gentle on the eye...

And just look at this teeny tiny baby one...

Lets hope the sunshine stays with us for a while .... not overly hot but a good English summer will do.... what say you?

Enjoy your garden..... bye for now xx

Thrifty Snippets ...Patchwork..Mending and Vintage Togs!

A settled sort of day.... tackling some of the mundane, but necessary jobs around the home .... the sort of thrifty little jobs that give me a feeling of satisfaction .... a job well done and all that .... bit sad I know!



I managed to fit in a bit of patchwork here and there.
I gives me a silly little thrill to think I am using all the little offcuts of fabric (for the hexagonal patchwork) that perhaps would otherwise be thrown away. And it means I have a little reminder of all the lovely fabrics I have sourced and passed on to new homes.


So today I spent a good deal of time with my trusty old friend ... and a pile of mending!

My old friend Singer is looking a bit battered but works as well as ever .... she's a treadle sewing machine.... so the old legs get a bit of a workout too.

We found these Vintage woollen trousers for Hubby P ... they needed altering slightly to fit Hubby P's ... erm.... elegant, manly.... 'well built' figure ....

They have a label inside with details of who the trousers were made for and his measurements etc .... there were uniform issue Railway I think. Such care taken over the fitting ... nowadays you are probably be given a choice of Medium, Large or XXL and have to make do with an ill fitting uniform.

The trousers had stripes down the legs so I removed those ....

You can see they are 'fishtail trousers' .... they are worn with braces and have button fly. They had lots of 'spare' fabric in the back seam to allow for the letting out/altering of the waist. So sensibly made, the tailoring detail is amazing ... something that is made to last.

Hubby P has another couple of pairs of similar trousers, he wears them all the time and says they are so warm and comfortable .... no skinny jeans for him!

I actually got around to laundering these too...

Dress shirts from Harrods.

Again amazing tailoring and wonderful cotton fabric, these are destined for the Vintage clothes rail at the Emporium. Ladies like to buy these to wear over their jeans, shirts tend to be a bit on the small side for Hubby P .... Men tended to be on the smaller side years ago.

They are such elegant, well made garments ... makes clothes nowadays look positively shabby.

And a few buttons to sew back on ... what would we do without our trusty button jar!

So there we are ... not the most exciting day but lots done, and a feeling of thrifty smugness!

Bye for now x

Bed Jackets and Bloomers!

Out and about today ... sorting the stock for sale tomorrow.

Here's a few pic's of the bits and bobs that move in and 'hopefully' out of our lives....

I just love the little bed jacket someone has carefully crocheted ...... was a present for a dearly loved old Aunt? ..... does anyone wear bed jackets these days .... I bet ya any money they are Thermal these days!

Hubby P .... having a 'minute' whilst unloading ... you know .... when you get to his age!

Hats, hats and more hats ..... hats for all occasions!
Just look at this delightful Grannie hat .... how glam is this for an old dear, or indeed a young dear!

And is any home complete without a cherub or two?

We sell a lot of haberdashery .... vintage bits and bobs and of course the everyday staples.
There does seem to be a lack of shops selling reasonably priced sewing supplies, at least there is a lack in our little corner of the country.

Buttons and beads and pretty little bundles of lace ..... always go down well with the craft ladies.

Fabric ... glorious piles of fabric .... all the old and shabby, the hitherto hidden bundles of vintage joy. We source from all kinds of interesting nooks and crannies and find lots of lovely fabrics for the ladies to indulge their crafty passions.

Just look at this lovely little embroidered picture .... so sweet. Its got to be the find of the weekend.
I'm wrestling with myself at the moment .... should it come home with me for a little while ... or should I be 'sensible' and let it find its new home?

Early to bed tonight .. its a Trading day tomorrow..... I go and give a hand on a Tuesday... You never know I might just miss something delightfully shabby that just .. must ... come home with me!

Bye for now ..... x

Hello Again! A lovely Day Here On Anglesey....

Its a lovely day here on Anglesey so I thought i would take a few photographs and try and get back into the Blogging thing ...... i have really missed you all.

Sorry i have been away so long .... nothing really amiss.... just life sometimes gets in the way of the best intentions. We have had our share of lifes ups and downs .... Weddings, the sad death of Hubby P's Mother, Children moving away and the 'getting going' of Hubby P's new buisness venture.
Hubby P is keeping 'Bread on the Table' with his Trading buisness .... Vintage and Collectables dont ya know!
And just to be a Real Trader ... he has bought a van ....

And of course its a Big White Van ..... real white van man stuff!
(I have to have a little portable step to get in and out ... its so big/tall ... and I've only little legs! I feel a bit like the Queen .. bless her! )

Of course all my time has gone to helping with the buisness ... all hands on deck ..... its our livelyhood we are talking about ... and things were a bit lean over the early months. Its a good job we have had practise of the Thrifty lifestyle.

I must say its lots of fun .... hard work and tiring ... but fun. We find lots of interesting things and of course I want to keep them all ....

Some of them just have to come home ... if only for a little while and then we sell them on.

We managed to do some jobs around the house, and the cottage is freshly resplendant in a new coat of paint..... how do you like the pinky PINK look!

The lads were a bit unsure but hey .... I got the paint real cheap and anyway I just love the colour, nice and warm looking.

Let me know what you think .... is it a bit extream? Am I turning into a mad old woman.... or is it too late?

Is'nt this a nice little picture .... horse and foal in the field opposite the cottage.

Again this was bought as stock .... but could you believe it someone pinched the fuel cap lid (or something .. Hubby P knows about these things!) whilst it was on display so its unsafe to use .... never mind .... looks nice in my garden where it can happily weather its life away!

The poppies are looking just wonderful .... although dont look too closely the garden is dreadfully overgrown .... needs weeding when a have a spare hour or two.

Very pretty but a lot of it wild flowers .. otherwise known as weeds!

I do so like all the old and rusty .... could be said of Hubby P some cold damp mornings!

I will leave you with a couple of pretty flowers ....

xx Take care xx Bye for now xx

The Lentil Lads!!

Say 'Hello' to the Lentil Lads!

No.... I've not been slacking ... I know its been a while since my last post ... but I've been a tad busy .... just work stuff ... just the boring scraping a crust stuff.

But anyway! ..... the exciting news is that we are to have a 'Special Occasion' in the family .... end of May.

This requires the attendance of a gang of Likely Lentil Lads .... well the request was - something handmade ... a bit different than the usual 'Favours' given to Guests to take home.

So here we are ... the beginnings of the gang ...

Its been a bit of a 'make it up as you go along.... with what you have' .... but then that's how I like to work, bit of a challenge. And then of course there is the whole 'green-y' thing about reuse, recycle, make do and mend etc ... so these little lads are very trendy in their own way.

I found a good piece of rough towelling type fabric for the bodies, made a simple shape and filled them with ..... you guessed it .... Lentils (on offer at Lidl's)..... nice and cheap .. make a nice soup if you are desperate!

I wanted a Beany Toy type of feel to them, and it seems to work a treat ... and as Hubby P says it brings them alive ..... Gives them a Pulse! ..... Yeh I know .. haha ... get it lentils... pulse!

They are all individuals .... like you and I ... no two are alike, some are taking the occasion very seriously and adhering to the dress code ... to the letter!

Others .... well you know the kind.. a bit wayward, a bit funky... they have their own slant on the dress code, it all adds to the colour and the fun.

Here's a bit of a funky guy .... Neville works in advertising during the day .... likes to go clubbing.

Give us a twirl.....

Nice footwork!

As you can see I'm only up to four at the moment ..... had a lentil crisis and had to visit Lidl!

But there will be a whole gang by the time I have finished ..... for the end of May .... so ..

no pressure then!

I'm off to stuff a bunny ...... bye for now!

xxx take care xxx

Shabby Prettiness.....All Ready For Spring!

We had a bit of Sunshine today .... and a pretty blue sky ..... dare we hope Spring is around the corner?

How about these pretty little shabby baskets....

I spotted them in a box at the carboot sale..... just jumbled up with bits and bats of all sorts .... I just think they are so pretty.

They are made from metal/wire and painted a nice 'shabby' cream colour.

The Fellas were busy putting down some bags of blue slate chippings/gravel-y stuff .... we have it all around the house and paths, every now and again it needs replenishing and we have extended the area we sit .... and eat ... and chat ...and everything else! We spend a lot of time outdoors when the weathers is fine.

I was there as chief 'Pointer'..... you know the kind of thing .... 'put that there' .... 'move this here'... very important job .... essential in fact!

As is.... 'Head of Refreshments' .... chief tea maker.

But as you know being a Woman multi-tasking comes easily to me so I 'faffed'.... a Hubby P word you understand ...... other people ..... as I pointed out .... 'designer kinda people' would get paid hundreds of pounds for 'faffing' with baskets, terracotta pots a a few bedding plants!

It takes a bit of faffing to get the right size of pot ... the right combination of pot and basket etc.

To look truly pretty!

I gave the chairs and tables a wash over and moved them to the new seating area .... faffed some more with the little baskets ... and sat in the sun for a while!

All ready for the sunshine and lazy family lunches!

Bye for now xx

All Things Red ... Thrifty Snippet's and Frugal Finds!!

Just a bit of a 'doing' and finding' post .... lots of photo's ...

All things Red this week..

Its got to be my find of the Winter .... don't you just love my new pink eiderdown/quilt/bedspread .... and the lovely ruby red honeycomb blankets, edged so prettily in satin ribbon ...and all for so very little, a real bargain.

But even cheaper than the bedspread .... for free ...

This was a fleece jacket that was given to me, it was the sort with a logo on the front ... you know the sort, a garden centre or some such place. I nice red colour I thought, and good fabric .... so I decided to make it into a hotwater bottle cover ... I need some new covers after the heavy use they get during the cold months.
So I found my homemade pattern .... and cutout the pieces (very simple construction).



The bit of the fleece that was left went into the dogs bed (we have an 'old Girl' who's personal hygiene isn't just what it was ... so I change her bedding often, and just bin it ... I use up all the odd scraps and old clothes as bedding ... works just as well as a fancy dog blanket!).

Bit of a whizz on the old sewing machine...

and here we are ... a perfectly good hotwater bottle cover.
A bit plain so ...

I picked up this rather splendid 'elephant-ish' fabric at the carboot .... turns out it is Ikea fabric... anyway I thought an elephant might cheer up the cover.

So here we are ... pretty little elephant and a bit of chunky running stitch .... just livens it up a bit!
Cheep and Cheerful.

And hows this for a new rug .... original 1950's in excellent condition, stored rolled up in someones attic .... all for £2.

Ideal for cheering up my somewhat worn and tattered carpet ... at least covering the dodgy bits!

At least the dogs approve.

Take care for now x