Two things - Michelle Palmer and Sunday's boot fair

I am sure most of you know Michelle Palmer, she creates THE sweetest, most gorgeous drawings on fabric, and I have admired them for a very long time. When she started her Christmas drawings, I couldn't resist any longer, I had a real good excuse for going ahead and ordering some of her delightful drawings. I wanted to use them on little stockings for my two granddaughters and one other little darling girl dear to my heart. So I emailed Michelle and asked her whether she would create 3 little drawings for me, all similar but with little differences to they could tell them apart.

They arrived yesterday, and I am absolutely thrilled to bits with them. They are whimsical, delightful, the sweetest little drawings and I am so looking forward to making three stockings with them. I am going to use some of my antique French hand loomed linen to make the stockings with. Have a look for yourselves, aren't they the cutest?



They arrived with a lovely letter from Michelle ( you have no idea how I envy her handwriting, it is beautiful ) and three of the sweetest smelling little tags -


And now to Sunday's Indoor boot fair, the one and only winter boot fair in our area. As I said in the last post, it wasn't a complete waste of time, I did find a few pretty little treasures amongst the 99.9% modern tat, baby toys, clothes, cds and books. Where is all the lovely old junk gone?


The glass flowers I really do like an awful lot, I think they are charming -

Poils, well, a girl can never go wrong with poils, can she? Especially when they are beautifully shiny shimmery faultless poils -

Tin, I really needed another tin like I needed a hole in the head, but when it is this pretty, how can one resist?

This brooch with millions of dangly bits took my fancy, mostly because of the lovely crystals at the ends of the danglies

Little jugs/pitchers are irresistible, this one is dainty and so sweetly decorated

And I found another piece of Carnival glass. I am not normally I big fan of orange, but the orange Carnival glass shimmers so beautifully with those oil slick colours, and that I adore

And then there was that box. A smallish box, barely open, by the side of a table. I cannot pass closed boxes without having a look inside, lol. Ever. When I folded the top back properly, I saw linens, what looked like doilies, table runners etc. I asked her to give me a price for the whole box, as I really didn't feel like taking everything out, and having vultures ( other lovely ladies wanting a piece of the action ) trying to get at the best bits, lol, while I was still rooting through the box. That does happen, you know! They pull the bits out of your hands if you aren't careful. Anyways, I got the box full of stuff, took it home and then started taking out the bits one by one.
There were damask serviettes, doilies, table runners, odd bits and pieces, and some stunning tablecloths. Yep, beautiful whitework embroidery, gorgeous deep crochet lace trims, it was such a pleasure unpacking this little box. Here goes, have a look -


Two dinky little pillow cases, probably for a child's bed, so so pretty-


Some colourful 1950s embroideries on tablecloths, tea cosies ( outers only )


and this darling nightdress case. Know anybody with those initials? What a pretty Christmas present that would make for a vintage lover

Another tablecloth with beautiful whitework embroidery

And look at these gorgeous crochet borders, aren't they fabulous?


And now I am off to make something else from the Romantic White Christmas workshop.

Toodlepip xxx

A few boot fair finds

The boot fair season is almost over, what am I going to do over the winter??? I guess I'll snuggle down with crocheting and crafting and thinking back fondly to the summer vide greniers and the boot fairs here in the UK.

I have only been to a couple of boot fairs here in the UK since returning from France, so I haven't got a huge haul to show you. These days I seem to buy mostly fiction books to read, there hasn't been much else. But hey, as long as I don't come home with a completely empty trolley, I am ok, after all, a womble in the fresh air on a Sunday morning has got to be good for ya, right?

You all know by now that I love paper stuff, ephemera, books, especially old ones with nice illustrations, so I'll start by showing you some paper goodies. These plates are Gorgeous with a capital G! I can't scan them in unfortunately, because they are too big for my scanner, so I had to photograph them. But just look at all the fabulous details! Can I show you all the plates I bought? I love them so much, I can't pick just a couple to show you. Do scroll past if its too much for you -


I could look at them for hours! Ahem, there are just a few more.......


A few postcards, some lovely ones of Paris, dated between 1906 and 1915 -


And this wildlife book. The illustrations really grabbed me, they are so colourful -


A few bits of music, very tatty, so I won't mind taking them apart and using them for tags and collages etc -

And last but not least, this sweet little Alice in Wonderland book. The illustrations look quite chunky, woodcuts perhaps -

One of the things I would love to find is a hat with lovely old millinery flowers. Sigh, hasn't happened yet, and probably never will either, they seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth. But what I did find, and just couldn't resist because it is such a fun shape, is this pink concoction. Oh my, did I look a sight when I tried it on ( fortunately by myself, at home, with no witnesses, lol ). But you gotta admit, its a great shade of pink, it such a great shape, and it is in pristine condition, I love it! -



Aren't buttons getting scarce? I thought myself very lucky to find a small tin of buttons on Sunday, doesn't happen very often anymore. Most of the buttons really were very vintage indeed, some lovely mother-of-pearl buttons, some 1920/30s art deco buttons, and some tiny tiny Victorian silk buttons and boot buttons. AND a couple of really beautiful Victorian jet buttons, so precious. There were a couple of other things, like wooden cotton reels, in the shoe box the tin was in, so I ended up with that as well, arrgghh, some of those things I really really didn't want, lol. But the two little glass shells are quite pretty -


I found this little box on Sunday, but haven't cleaned it yet. I hope you can see how pretty is under all that dirt. The top is silverplate, I think, such a lovely floral design, and the glass itself has such a sweet little pattern as well -


Anything with roses is just irresistible, and the design on this bowl is so pretty -

Ah, errm, yes, I also have a thing for gloves, so I couldn't leave these behind -

Milk glass is beautiful, don't you think?

I may have mentioned once or twice that I love wood, especially old tools etc, because the handles are so tactile. This isn't exactly an old tool, but an old butter mould. Tactile it is, though. See how it is waisted so that you can hold it comfortably? Love it! -

This beautiful thing is damaged unfortunately. One of the handles had been broken and has been glued together again, but what a botch job, grrr. Still, that green is so delicious and the flowers so pretty, I can overlook the botched handle -

Now unless you are into mixed media/fabric collages or any kind of crafting, you'd think me totally bonkers when you see this -

yep, a huge roll of hessian/burlap, meant for use in upholstery, but gosh, so many possibilities for crafting with.

Almost at the end now, are you still with me, lol?

Just a sweet little shaker with a silverplate top, and POILS, goils! These are in fantastic condition, they are heavy and have the most amazing shimmer. I wore them yesterday and it felt really good -

Oops, almost overlooked this last item, although how anybody could overlook a 7lb !!! tin is beyond me, lol. 7 lbs of sweeties.... long gone now, sadly -

I have no idea whether there will be another boot fair on the weekend, or even this year. Somehow I am almost hoping there won't be, lol, so that I can get on with other things, hmm.....
We'll see.

Toodlepip for now, xxx