plump pudding

Incoming thriftiness

I have been a bad blogger and neglected this little blog.   It's more having got out of the habit rather than not having anything to say.  There's not much chance of that!

But I have been busy acquiring some "new" items for the house.  All randomly found at the boot sale and the village jumble sale.  The pyrex teapot and coffee pot were a snip at 20p each.  I bought one and Keanan bought the other one for me - what a sweetie!  Joining them today is this vintage tin tray of the pin up lady.  Far too bashed to use everyday, but she looks good from a distance.

The boys and I both love the bi-annual jumble sale held in the village hall and for the same reasons - plenty of bargains.

After a quick recce of the jumble sale, I ended up helping out on the bric a brac stall.  When I first arrived the table was piled with items and nothing caught my eye.  Later on as the piles went down, I spotted one of these cat string holders which had been languishing underneath everything.  20p into the tin and it was mine.  Five minutes later I spotted another one.  Another 20p and there were two to take home.  Doubling my collection from two to four.  They are patiently sitting waiting for me to dig out the drill and mount them on the wall.

Today was also a good day at the boot sale.  Plenty of sewing items.  I was lucky enough to find four pillow cases in a pretty floral fabric.  No plans for them as yet, but they will be used at some point.

The next lot that found its way into my shopping basket was this collection of vintage sewing items: glass headed pins, needles and pins used for mounting butterflies - I only spotted that whilst I was taking the photographs.

Keanan came home with a bundle of Marvel comics and I also spotted a mirror which was originally from a dressing table.  A quick sand and it has just received its second coat of Farrow & Ball eggshell.  I think the mirror will be put in our bedroom - just haven't mentioned that one to Stephen yet!

Photos of that to follow.  Have a good weekend and I promise to be a better blogger!

Just what I've been looking for

This weekend I was Billy No Mates due to the fact that Keanan was playing an away football match and Ethan had gone to watch his friends playing football.  Stephen was in bed - so that meant I was all alone.

So what do you do when you are on your own?  Pop down the car boot sale.  Most times I go without some kind of master pan.  But occasionally there are times when I am looking for something specific. 

And I found them this weekend.  The first item I spotted was a child's blackboard - destined for the studio to write my orders etc on.

This was in pretty good condition and just needed a quick coat of emulsion before it was whiscked away to the studio.  The plan is to cross off the jobs when they have been finished.  Nothing like a kick up the backside to motivate you!

The second find was needed as Keanan keeps coming out to the studio when I'm out there.  There is only one tall stool which means that I often end up standing.  Damn cheek - it is my room after all! 

I already have one of these chairs that was a Mother's Day gift from the boys.  I wasn't after an exact match.  It just so happened this chair was there waiting for me and even better only cost me £3.  To top it all off I found a tin of paint in HomeBase reduced to £1.50.  Hence the lavender colour.

With all the sitting down I do, I need something nice and soft to sit on.  Being a meanie once again, I already had the cushion pad and cut up a vintage apron that I bought a few weeks ago.  I used the waist tie to tie the cushion to the chair and have backed the cushion with some lemon striped fabric.

No excuse now - back to work for me!

Bargains

I have been having problems connecting from one of the computers - so after installing the photograph software, am back to blogging.

Thankfully the weather has held and the boys, myself and my parents all went out to Penarth on Friday afternoon.  We ended up at the Pier for an ice cream and a wander on the beach.

After that I took the boys in to Cardiff where is is the Big Weekend.  We were lucky enough to have free tickets for the rides. Nine for each of the boys.  I just stood and watched - got pretty nercous watching and then treated them to a hot dog each on the way home.

The real treat for me was that the boys slept over my parents on Saturday night as they were going to Wembley on Sunday, to watch the Manchester United and Chelsea football match.

So of course that meant a trip on my own to the car boot sale.  Not an overwhemling success, but I did manage to find a few bits and bobs.  First off some fabric.  The floral stripe above and this pretty red and cream stripe

To add to my growing collection, I bought this vintage tin.  The top is pretty plain and distressed, but the outside is very pretty and inside is the stunning part.

My random buy was these door handles.  I think they are 1930s because of their shapes - but then again they could be 1950s.  I haven't a clue what to use them for, but how could I resist?