Lots to tell and show

I might bore you to tears of course with this long post, but because I haven't posted every day, things have kinda piled up.

Well, Saturday was probably my last Fair, and it didn't go very well. The weather was absolutely awful, at one point we could see horizontal rain! I can't really blame people for not wanting to come out in such horrid condition. However, it turned out to be a really fab day anyway, because one very special person braved the horrendous conditions and paid me a surprise visit! I first "met" Charlie on the Fresholi soap forum a couple of years ago ( she is a fantastic soapmaker ), and I also read her great blog, all about her life in Italy. She comes over to the UK occasionally to visit her dad, and she suggested that we meet up. I had told her I was doing a Fair in TW, but I never expected her to turn up there out of the blue ( well, out of the very grey and black really, lol ). But turn up she did and I had such a fun time chatting with her. It seemed as if I had known her forever. Here we are, Charlie is the gorgeous, tall, willowy one on the right, I am the short little dumpling on the left, lol
Just as well there weren't very many customers about, we didn't really want to be interrupted by people wanting to buy stuff!

And as if that wasn't enough to make the day a happy one, the very lovely Debbie, who organises the Fairs in the area, and who makes the most fabulous jewellery, gave me this beautiful necklace for Christmas -


The stall next to me was like a magnet for my DS Nick. Beautifully turned bowls, vases, candlesticks, and a very knowledgable gentleman, who didn't mind at all chatting with Nick and giving him lots of advice on which tools to use for his woodturning, where to get exotic woods etc. This fascinating little vase was turned from a Banksia Nut, and I just had to have it, parts of the vase are almost velvety, very very tactile indeed -

The journey home was almost scary, I mean, a Volvo Estate is a pretty heavy car, right? And ours was full of stuff, but we were still being chucked about in the galeforce winds. BUT, when I got home, I got to unpack a package which had arrived for me, all the way from New Zealand!!! I was sooooooooooo excited because I knew it had been sent by Sarah, from Red Gingham, who has become a wonderful friend over the last few months of blogging.

Just look what the gorgeous girl has made with her own fair hands for meeeeeeeee. I went from putting my needles in this stupid thing

to using this! Bit of an improvement, don't you think?

And another "before and after". This is how I used to store my crochet hooks, not surprising really that they used to get lost in the depth of the wool bag -

And this is where they live now, in this beautifully made crochet hook roll-

This pretty little heart is coming to France with me on Friday, and I know exactly where it is going to live ( not telling yet, I'll take pics though )-

And look at this bookmark, isn't it just the sweetest thing? Its already in use now -

This little birdie is going to join some other birdies on our Christmas Tree. Again, it is so beautifully made, Sarah really is a fabulous needlewoman -

And last, but definitely not least, I got this brilliant card, designed by no other than Molly, one of Sarah's daughters, and obviously just as talented as her mum-


The world is indeed a happy place when you have friends like Sarah. A huge THANK YOU to you, and a big big hug.


On to today then. Of course it was raining when we got up (6am-ish, the doggies let us have an extra hour today, woohoo ), so we snuggled down and watched "Twilight". Neat movie. By the time that had finished, it had stopped raining, so we went and checked whether the local bootfair might be on. Hmm, there were a few stalls, perhaps a dozen in all, all professional booters, sigh. Why don't professional booters ever want to haggle? Geez, haggling is half the fun of going to a bootfair after all, but most of them are such miserable gits, grrrr. A little smile wouldn't hurt once in a while, humph. Anyway, this is what I found -

A vintage Chen Yu Cloud Silk face powder, still completely sealed. I love the packaging -

At the same stall I found these three little brooches -

This little squirrel is so sweet! It is French, and I think it is made from Bakelite-

Next stall and some buttons !!! Some newish ones, some very old ones, and all of them pretty darned gorgeous

They were in this little inlaid box. It is such a shame that it is damaged, but I love it anyway, and it still has the little key, which is a bonus-

I expect you want to see close ups of the buttons, don't you?

Those large buttons with the kind of Greek or Roman looking woman are pretty impressive. The set of buttons also has a matching brooch. There are also two sequined and beaded large buttons and those very shiny shimmery little glass ones -

Fabulous faceted jet black glass buttons -

Ribbed glass toggles!

Some odd pretties -

Some more modern ones

And some of the most amazing mother of pearl buttons I have come across -

Look at these two beauties, huge, delicately carved and the most fabulous colours-

Some pretty ordinary brown ones, but then, I do love browns and beiges -

And right at the bottom of the box was this Victorian button card. The card is very badly damaged, and there are only 10 buttons left, but they are wonderful! Quite tiny, with the prettiest design inset in the middle -

I cleaned one of the buttons, you can probably tell which one without me pointing it out, lol
Such a pity that the beautiful design of the card has been ruined-

At another stall, I got a whole village with people n all for granddaughter Paige,

and this lovely stallholder was smiley and friendly and prepared to haggle, he threw in this dinky little pin cushion

I love the quizzical expression on its face-

We did go to another bootfair, an indoor one, but I'll leave that one til tomorrow, I am all blogged out now.
xx