60s chairs

I went to a boot fair on Saturday morning and apart from a dvd of 'The Time Travellers Wife' for £2 it wasn't looking too exciting  - no fabric treasures waiting to be discovered.
Then on the very last aisle as me and my daughter were wandering along, a lady happened to get up from a chair  by her stall and as we were on the look out for some wooden fold up chairs and I noticed she had 2, I rushed back to check if they were for sale.
They were looking a little grubby, with a bluey coloured seat but when she said £1.50 each I snapped them up.

I'd gone to the boot fair with my Mother-in-Law as well and when me and D met up with her she informed me they were a genuine pair of 60s chairs, certainly worth more than £1.50! (she had also bagged a gorgeous original oil painting of Thames barges for £7!).

As soon as I got home I got out the Cif and gave them a good clean and was amazed at the gorgeous duck egg blue seat that was hiding underneath the grime!

I am pleased as punch with them and we have all been sitting on them over the weekend in our little sunny spot at the end of the garden!

Nothing feels quite so good as a boot fair bargain does it!
What bargains did you find at the boot fair or charity shop lately?

Secondhand furniture

I fell in love with this little cupboard at a local charity the other week.

It took a few days of persuasion and measuring and suggestions of where it could go before I finally persuaded the other half that we really did need it in our house!

We differ quite a lot on decorating. He grew up in a house full to the brim with antiques, which has turned him the other way and he prefers a more simple, minimalistic modern look (empty!), where as I love a shabby chic style and a mix of old and modern furniture, but not really antiques. I love things to look a bit lived in and have had a bit of life rather than being totally pristine.

I managed to convince him with the cupboard - although we both liked the idea of painting it plain white to give it a more seasidey look. The stencils were a bit to 80's for me! But I did feel a bit mean painting over them as someone obviously spent a lot of time and a lot of love painting it.
But 5 coats of eggshell later (yes, 5!) we had a lovely little cupboard, just right for us.

It was probably meant as a bedside cabinet, but now it has all my sewing bits and pieces (threads, patterns, scissors, pincushions etc) and looks a lot neater than the overflowing baskets I had in the space before.  We had a big clear out the other week and I took 4 big bags of fabric to a few different local charity shops - so if you are in the Whitstable area, there might still be some around!

By the way, I'm not sure if this is just on our computer as we had to reformat it the other week, but since then I have found I am unable to read posts from several of the blogs I regularly used to read (Bubblebay the only one I can think of off the top of my head). It opens up with their header etc, but won't scroll down to display the blog posts? Has anyone else had this problem?

More blue and white stripes..

Stripy finds at the boot fair last sunday! Some offcuts of old 50's nurses uniforms, which I thought I could use for appliques on vests and cushions, some very old ticking -which I am hoping will clean up as it is a bit grubby! and more stripy staffordshire finds to add to my collection! And it all cost me about £3 in total...oh I love a bargain!

A lovely handmade find

I was very excited to come across this gorgeous skirt in a charity shop in town. I loved the fabric and the style, but it was only as I looked closer for a label that I realised it was handmade. And how beautifully made it is too. I am very curious as to how anyone could give away such handmade loveliness, but very lucky it was for me as it fits perfectly!

It's Father's Day today, but my Dad is on holiday and L has gone sailing with his Dad! Happy Father's Day anyway you three! We are going to head up to Tankerton Slopes today for the Fun Day, where there will be a lots of stalls and rides etc and hopefully a fly over, heading our way from the Margate Air show! More photos to follow, fingers crossed the sun comes out as it is hiding at the moment!

Fantastic Fifties fabric find!

I came across this amazing bolt of 1950's fabric a couple of weeks ago at a Church sale in Whitstable.

It is so amazing and has this fantastic brown tape that runs through it saying how many yards are left (there are 35 yards!) what a brilliant idea! I have been trying to find out a bit about it but apart from the info on the tape, that says printed by Bell Punch Company Ltd, London England there is nothing on the selvedge. I am thinking of selling some, but feel I really must find out more before I do. I am told it is quite rare to find this much vintage fabric together on one bolt.

Fingers crossed I find out some more info!

Inks

Hurrah for Charity shops! Got the above 7 brand new inks from the RSPCA shop in Whitstable for the bargain price of 50p each! I used to love using the inks when I was at art college many years ago, so I am a bit rusty I am sure but I can't wait to do a couple of drawings with them!