Today is D-Day........

doily day, that is. I had laundered some fabricy bits including doilies, which I had acquired at some bootfair or other, and was ironing them yesterday, when it struck me that, even though I must have hundreds of the things, no two are the same! Some are made with the finest thread and using such intricate designs, others are a little more rustic, made with thicker cotton thread and more basic patterns, but they are all so very charming and I love them to bits. And yes, I use doilies everywhere, both here and in the cottage in France.

I thought I'd show you just the few which I had laundered this weekend. Bear in mind, this is only a fraction of the doily stash, lol, and I didn't pick out any particularly brilliant ones from the stash, they are just the recently found ones -


There you go, all very different but all very charming in their own rights, don't you think?

Sunday was a bit of a washout re bootfairs, because it had been raining so heavily during the week, fields were way too soft. There was just the one teeny little bootfair at a local school, hardstanding thankfully, and we did have a little womble around. One can usually find a couple of little things even at the smallest bootfair.

My DH was happy, because he found a quite specialist plane, errrmm, with an edge to edge blade, which apparently is unusual, and not often needed, but.... occasionally absolutely essential when making whatever it is, errrmm, he is making ( you may have gathered he does like his woodworking ). Also bought a couple of pairs of VERY thick leather work gloves, they are the only things that will let ya fight with brambles and actually win!

I found a couple of things for myself as well. This gorgeous little dish decorated with roses of course, and made in the former DDR ( Deutsche Demokratische Republik ) or GDR (German Democratic Republic). It seems to be numbered and signed, well initialled, and I would love to know a bit more about it. If any of you out there know about this sort of thing, please let me know -

I love old sewing stuff, goes without saying really, and I find darning mushrooms very tactile. Mind you, I havent done any darning in, probably, 40 years or so, but that doesn't mean that one can't get the darning mushies out and give them a quick fondle, lol. I found this ginormous one at the bootfair on Sunday, just look at the difference in size! Frigging heck, what sort of hole is that one for??? Is it even a darning mushroom or is it perhaps for something else? -

I also have a collection of stone hot water bottles, on the stairs in our Victorian house here in England ( the stairs are much wider than modern ones ), and I found this dinky little one to join the big brothers on the stairs. It is only half the size of the ones I usually see, maybe it was for a
baby's bed? -

Oh, and look, look, what I also saw, grabbed very quickly before any eager harpies could pounce on it, and stashed away in my bag with a gleeful grin. Fastest bootfair transaction ever, lolol. No pouring over it for ages, no haggling, just grab, pay and run, lol. The background colour is a divine light duckegg blue, with a hint of green in certain light conditions, the oven gloves and the oilcloth bag are of course covered in delightful roses. Those two bits are just perfect for the cottage as I had already decided to paint the kitchen cabinets in just that colour. I know, not CK, but sort of CK-ish, right? -

Here is something I have been playing with this morning, lol, making words and having a think about what to do with them, old metal stencils!-

I do like wearing nice leather gloves in the winter, and these vintage kid gloves are sooooooo soft and fit so well. I don't often find leather gloves to fit my tiny hands -

I think thats quite enough for one morning. XX