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

Lovely weekend

Friday was such a fun day. My very dear friend JJ came over from Brighton to spend the day with me. She came over in her little Snow Drop ( the dinky new car ) and she was nice and early! Early for JJ, that is. After a coffee, we set off and spent an hour at my favourite wool shop ( droooooooooooool ), and came out with one or two hanks of wool from the sale section. Lurvely yarns! No photos of the yarns yet, but I'll show you a pic of the pattern I am going to use the yarns for. It is an African Flower Hexagon Square! I am pretty useless at reading a pattern done in symbols but my wonderful friend explained it all to me and I managed to make a square with bits of left over wool from my granny square lankie, all by myself, hurrah! This is it -


Now imagine this square done in the loveliest soft colours, silver grey, the most beautiful sea green, a lovely sand and a gentle aubergine. I am so tempted to get started on it straight away, but I haven't even decided what to make with the yarns yet, lol. I think it might be an idea to sort that out first.

We also had a rather lovely lunch in a little cafe with the loveliest back garden. Goats cheese flan and salads goes so well with a good old natter. Hmm, after that, we managed to womble through a few more shops, made a few more purchases, and finally got back to my house well after 4pm! We needed serious refreshment after wombling about in the summer heat, so for a little while we just sat in the garden with a delicious ginger ale float and relaxed. Aaaaah, bliss!

After that I got my lesson in reading crochet patterns, see above, more natter of course, and, heck, I don't know what else, lol, time just flies when you have fun, and before we knew it, it was time to part again.

And so on to Saturday. My faithful companion on many boot fair trips, DS No. 3, came with me again to the lunchtime bootfair. It was rather disappointing, only about a third of the size it usually is. So, not surprisingly, this time I didn't come home with a huge trolley load, lol. Here are the few things I did find -

A small bag full of vintage trimmings in really lovely soft, muted colours, perfect for fabric collages -


and another small bag with lots of bias binding in all sorts of colours and sizes -


I have to admit that I was more excited about my next find though, lots and lots of wonderful droolworthy ephemera from the early to mid 40s. I find these things absolutely fascinating and can spend ages looking through these things -


Look at this piece, for example, just a few sentences about the lives of this couple, but my imagination goes into overdrive and a whole life story develops in my mind -


Even the next piece, this innocent looking little book, had the same effect on me. I remember many years ago, when I first came to England and had my very first own home and mortgage, the insurance man came to the home to discuss policies with you. It wasn't done on the internet in those days, and it wasn't done on the phone either (like today, when you finally get through to a real person after playing question and answer with a machine for 10 minutes ). It was still very much the personal touch. Boy, did those guys have to be clever -


I find these bits of social history ever so fascinating.

Books, aaah, books, you have probably realised by now I have a thing about books, have done ever since my grandmother taught me to read. This is such a lovely bound book of Cassell's Magazines -


Isn't this just too cute? -


And that was almost it, except for this thing, a thin book for newspaper cuttings -


The cuttings were gone -


but the paper, aaaahh, the beautifully aged paper, 60+ years old and mellowed to perfection -


so lovely for journals.

And that is all, not the best haul ever, but enough to keep me happy! My last post for two months will be tomorrow, mostly about today's boot fair finds. Until then,

Toodlepip xxx