I've realised that my posting is rather out of synch. There I was, posting about trips to Crich and the like, and I've completely missed out the Festival of Quilts. I will back peddle to there soon, I promise. Too much inspiration there not to be shared.
Meanwhile, having uploaded some photos today, there are a few nice vintagey ones of our holiday to show you. We found a shop in Matlock which had gone to a lot of trouble to display its wares rather prettily. Some of the stuff was new, repro if you like, but there was some genuine vintage, too.
Loved this table setting and desperately lusted after the 1940's "Lusty" table, no less, but alas, nowhere to squeeze it in so in Derbyshire it stayed.
We ventured out one morning to a collectors' fair in Bakewell. The stalls inside were not my cup of tea at all, but the weather was good which allowed for some outdoor stands which were right up my street, somewhat like a more expensive up market car boot sale!
One lady had a whole bevy of genuine 1940's make do and mend goodies. Oh how we lament not having bought the rag rug. (Are you reading, oh rag-rug-selling-lady? Please may we have it?!)
We made a nice little haul but I was disappointed to find only a couple of charity shops in Bakewell which seemed determined to focus on cheap modern or new stock. The West Country it ain't!
While we were away, I was not idle, you know. I am not an idler. There was reading of the vintage variety to immerse myself in. Yes, I imagined myself reclining on the moquette sofa looking rather like this.
In my dreams!
There was quite a lot of crafty action and after Crich, I was in full-on 1940's mode. You guessed it, it involved felty stuff at the kitchen table. (Well here, it was breakfast, to be precise, I did let everybody eat.)
I worked on a new design based on a vintage posy I bought in Totnes. Crikey, the Instagram filter has made this look a little crazy.
Back here in the Den, oh how I missed you, a new piece of painted utility style furniture is in situ. Love, love, love its vanilla ice-creaminess and its £40 price tag. Oh, and the vintage Rupert the Bear wallpaper lining the drawers. Do you line your drawers? It is something of which I am most fond, myself.
After an enquiry about the posy on my patchwork bag (see last post) from the lovely Christine this morning, I pulled my proverbial finger out and stocked up my Etsy shop with all the latest posies I have been making. As always, they are based on original wartime patterns or original posies in my collection. A lot of these are more time consuming to make, more fiddly, larger in size and so on. I have found some fabulous pure wool felt which is more expensive but is giving stunning results.
Loving this giant marguerite, they liked their posies BIG back then! It really makes a statement. The suggestion in the original pattern is to wear it with a black frock but I've worn mine with anything but! I actually really like it with my more 1950's style outfits.
The anemone posy is a modified version of the original I made for myself from a 1940's wartime pattern awhile ago. Love the fat bunched up centre! Such a lovely and nostalgic flower, don't you think? It often seems to evoke special memories in people. I grew the real thing for the first time last year and they came back this year in Spring good as gold.
This carnation design is an amalgam of two original patterns. It invites you to tweak its ruffly centre.
I've also made some more felty pin cushions which are also in my Etsy shop. (Coral one sold, thank you.)
I am always happy to make items to order in the customer's choice of colour, it's an easy matter of sending me a convo via Etsy or you can always get hold of me in the comments section here. I've been asked a few times to make a whole co-ordinating set of pin cushion, needle case and tape measure and they do make a super gift. Me, biased?
I came back from our trip raring to get going on a quilt commission, something I'd been asked to make before going away. I had a lovely time shopping for some fabrics for it at the Festival and having worked like a crazy lady for the past week, I was happy to send it to my super lovely customer yesterday. I look forward to sharing some more snaps with you soon. It's something a little different for me and it has turned out really stunning.
The decks cleared, it was time to make the most of the sunshine and start on a little makeover programme today. More of that soon, then.
Well, I must toddle off to the post office and then get back to my orders.
As always, thanks so much for reading, it is always my pleasure to have you here. X
(The designs shown in this blog post are copyright of HenHouse.)
No comments:
Post a Comment