Tesco to the Rescue!

Sunday didn't start too well. We set off for what we think was supposed to be the last regular boot fair for the year, but alas, it was cancelled. It was a gloriously sunny morning, but it had rained the day before and the field was too wet. Wimps, lol. As if a little bit of mud mattered. So we turned round, went home, and had a cup of tea and another look at the paper. And there it was, a little ad saying that there was going to be an afternoon boot sale in the Tesco's car park. Hurrah, maybe the day wouldn't be a complete loss ( boot fair wise that is ). I had only been once to a boot fair there, they are not on regularly, and I wasn't all that impressed with it. Still, anything is better than nothing to a confirmed car boot enthusiast, lol.

My goodness, it was heaving! It had started somewhat earlier than advertised, and because all other boot fairs in the county seemed to have been cancelled due to the weather, it was packed! Great news, of course. It was mostly what I had expected to see, lots of modern stuff like toys, clothes, general modern family stuff, but at least there were a few stalls with older bits and pieces, and I managed to find a couple of sweet things. Nothing that I was really coveting, like lace or buttons unfortunately. But here we go, I'll just show you.

This was the first thing I bought, a really lovely old Maling ware soap dish. I haven't seen this combination before, with the two bowls, I can only think that the smaller bowl was for the soap and the larger one for a flannel perhaps. If anybody knows, please do tell me -


Next was a stall with lots of bling bling. I spent ages there, because the lovely old coot who's stall it was, was sooooooooooo slow taking things out of his little boxes to put them on the table, and he wouldn't let anybody near the box in his hands, lol. I picked up a few bits and pieces, some of them missing a couple of stones, but that doesn't matter too much. I have badly broken bits which I use to repair other pieces with. I picked up three beautiful old medals as well -


I probably spent even more time at another stall, because the stallholder had THREE shoe boxes full of postcards! Most of them were very recent ones, but I did find a couple of cabinet cards and a bunch of lovely old postcards, mostly from 1910/1920s -


The next one really surprised me because it is a French piece, and the last time I was in France I picked up a very similar pen rest and inkwell set, but with the Louvre in the middle. This one has the Sacre Coeur as the centrepiece -


My next find made me smile. It was the perfect colour for the kitchen in France ( light green ), and metal! I hate the plastic ones. What am I talking about? Dustpan and brush set, of course.
This one has a smiley face, isn't it just so cute -


I went back to the first row again, to have another look at the bling bling stall, but there wasn't anything which took my fancy. However, next to that stall was the stall I bought the Maling set from, and I noticed that the soup tureen which I had admired earlier was still on the table. That was it, it was obviously meant for me after all. It had sweet little rose decorations, how could I resist that? It even has a little rose decoration in the bottom of the bowl. Condition was really good as well, and when I turned it over, I saw that it was Wedgewood! Needless to say, I snapped it up and brought it home. Another lovely piece for France.


Bit of an eclectic collection of boot fair goodies, lol, I know.

I also went to a jumble sale on Saturday. There is a good reason why I don't go very often. These sales are the hunting grounds of young mothers with pushchairs, and old ladies with shopping trolleys, in VERY confined spaces. And they develop killer instincts when they are at a jumble sale. They push and shove and elbow you as if their lives depended on it, and getting to a table is nigh on impossible, lol. I only picked up a couple of bits and then beat a very hasty retreat to safer ground outside.

A silver plated tankard, very heavily tarnished, but it had the sweetest engravings, not sure you can see them properly -

Silver plated and monogrammed soup spoons -

A sweet little dressing table ring tray with rose decoration -

This is a bit kitschy, but it appealed to me somehow -

A very old dictionary with beautifully aged pages -

And an autograph album. No autographs in it, but the pages are beautiful, gilt edged and the prettiest pastel colours, pink, blue, yellow and beige. They'll be lovely to use in collages etc -


That's all, folks. And now I am going back to crafting for a little bit. Toodlepip, xxx

France Post 3 - A few Vide Greniers finds

Honestly, just a few! I may have mentioned to one or two of you before that I was extremely restrained at the vide greniers. I passed up so many things which a year or two ago I would have snapped up, but I am seriously running out of room to store everything. A lot of the things I did buy, I bought with selling on in mind. I did promise my DH that I would attend a fair or two before Christmas to move a few things out of the house. I might even go back to Ebay, I used to sell ever so much on there a few years back. Ah well, we shall see. In the meantime, here are pics of a few things I brought back. Ahem, they were in the small box, I haven't unpacked the biggish box yet, errr, that I will attempt tomorrow. I also had a few gorgeous old books in the small box, but I haven't photographed them yet, I'll do that tomorrow as well. I love books and their fabulous covers/illustrations so much, I think they probably deserve a post of their own.

Right, stop talking, woman, and get on with the pics, right? Ok, I'll start with one of my favourite buys, this beautiful enamelled coffee tin -

I just love the blue veining on the white background

I was thrilled to bits to find some gorgeous little tartlet tins which had come out of an old patisserie. These shallow ones make fabulous little frames for photos, little collages etc -

Yes, they are horribly crusty and mucky at the moment, I'll have to spend some time scrubbing, sigh.

These taller ones are great for making dinky pin cushions, for example.

They also look so sweet on a shelf in a row of six or so, filled with autumn treasures, conkers, moss, acorns, seed pods. I have done that in France on the kitchen window sill.

A vintage madeleine baking tray, I love displaying these in the kitchen-
Of course there is no reason why one shouldn't use it to actually bake some madeleines, hhmm.

Aah, and what about these dinky little tub things?

Can you not instantly think of at least a dozen gorgeous things to do with them? I have a particular project in mind for them. In a little while. When I have finally caught up with everything.

The gilded big old curtain rings are fabulous! Most of the time you find them without the clips, they were just sewn to the fabric, but these have the proper clips for holding the fabric still attached to them. Now that is quite rare -

I found another vintage Eiffel Tower, woohoo! I know I have another one somewhere, with a thermometer, which is quite fab, but I have no idea where it is, lol.

These door finger plates caught my eye straight away, they are so pretty and my first thought was, doors or window shutters in a mixed media collage ( something I would love to get into )

Of course they would look darned good used as door plates, lol.

I adore the deep blue colour of these old French house number plates, aren't they just fab? I particularly like the one with the rounded corners -

I really love those tiny little religious medals. They are beautiful just on their own, to wear or just to have in your jewellery box, but they also make such lovely additions to collages and little pillows/sachets -

If you know me just a little, then you will know how much I love wood, especially old turned wooden handles on old tools, they are so smooth and tactile. Just give me any kind of old wood really, lol, and I am happy. Look at these old lace bobbins, I know I am somewhat eccentric, lol, but I had to fondle them for a little while when I bought them. Standing at the stall at the vide greniers. Probably drawing some very odd glances. Who cares, lol.

See? Here is another piece of wood which I just had to get, a little pediment, perhaps the top of an old mirror, or a little sideboard, or even the back of a chair. I have no idea, but I love it, it is so beautifully smooth -

Errr, I also love tins, tins of every description. Aren't these beautifully shaped and decorated tins just gorgeous? And having a matching pair is such a bonus -

Another tin, which goes really well with the above two -

Also in the smaller of the boxes were a few pretty 60s trims -

and, ooh, look, a few buttons as well! Why oh why can I never resist buttons?
Lovely orange buttons, perfect for halloween projects -

And mother of pearl buttons, who doesn't love those -

Books tomorrow I think, and then I'll unpack the larger box. Would you believe me if I said that I can't exactly remember whats in it? I know there are a few gorgeous linen pieces and a bit of lace, but what else?? Sometimes its quite good fun having a bad memory, lol, hopefully I'll get a nice surprise when I open the box.

Have a lovely day/evening, wherever you are. Toodlepip xxx