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

Tag Tuesday Challenge- Bingo!

I like making tags. You might have noticed, lol. And I love looking at other people's tags. I have often looked at all the gorgeous tags these crafty ladies produce week after week for the Tag Tuesday Challenge over at Kard Krazy. It was only when I was looking at some blogs this morning though, that I realised the theme last week was Bingo! And I had just been messing around with some old French Bingo cards. So, I decided to give it a go, why the heck not?

It is such a shame that so many Bingo halls have now closed down, because smoking is banned ( and people do like to have a smoke and a drink when playing ), and there are so many online Bingo places now. End of an era, really. I have only played Bingo twice in my whole life, once in Australia, oh, probably 27 years ago, and once when friends of ours opened another Bingo palace a few years ago, and we went to the opening evening. It was fun, I have to admit. The best thing about Bingo though is the hilarious way Bingo callers used to shout out the numbers here in the UK, you know, things like - 11, legs eleven, 83, time for tea, 55, snakes alive, 78, heaven's gate......... I have no idea whether they do that in other countries as well. Hmm. Do tell me if you know.

Anyway, enough chat, here is the Bingo! tag I made for my first Tag Tuesday, with my favourite Bingo Call, 88, Two Fat Ladies!!! You can see why its called two fat ladies, can't you?


And just in case you don't know the UK Bingo calls of old, here is the complete list of them -


And now for something completely different. We went to the one and only indoor car boot fair in our area yesterday morning, and thankfully, it wasn't a complete waste of time. I did find a few things, I'll post about them tomorrow.

Toodlepip for now, xx

Free Images and new Blogshop Listings

I haven't really created anything in the last week or so. I've just been mulling over a few things, planning things ( great at planning, I am, not so good at actually doing ), and buying a few bits and pieces for the mulled over projects, lol. I so want to make a couple of the things the lovely Karla and Beth have come up with so far in the Romantic White Christmas workshop, especially a really gorgeous and dead simple Christmas Tree ornament, which I want to make into a garland for the fireplace. If you haven't heard about this online workshop yet, have a look HERE. You can still join in.

Well, the long and short of it is, I haven't really got much to show, so I have scanned in a few more images for you. The first three images are late Victorian Christmas cards, they came out of a Victorian scrap book. Rather unusual in that they don't show Nativity scenes, Santas, snowy scenes, angels, or Christmas trees with heaps of presents, but I love them -


This gorgeous writing is from a very old German postcard -


And two beautiful young French ladies -


When I took the last one out of the scanner, I realised how very pretty the writing on the back of the card was. So I scanned that in as well. I think it will make a great background -


There you go. I hope you can use some of the images in your projects.

I have also listed some more antique French ticking fabric packs in the blogshop, as well as some nice fat ephemera packs -

I have 4 packs of the fabulous 'neutrals', shades of creams, white and grey -


and these vintage ephemera packs, a mixture of French and English pieces -


If you fancy a look, you can find the blogshop HERE.

I am off to print out the template for the Christmas Tree garland which I determined to make over the weekend and get everything ready for an early start tomorrow. Thats hopeful thinking, lol. Ah well, we'll see how it goes.

Until the next time, toodlepip xxx

Oh yes, I can show you now!

You all know that I got a little bit excited about the swap I was doing with Alexandra ( well, it was more a case of totally bonkers, over the top excited, lol ). We both sent our parcels off on Tuesday, and mine landed on her door step on Saturday, yay, yippee, woohoo! I am always nervous when I am sending things, afraid of them getting lost in the post, you know. So I was delighted when she sent me the loveliest email telling me it had arrived. Now what happened to the legendary German efficiency, eh? Alexandra's package hasn't arrived yet, but I am keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow.

But it means that I can finally show you the things I sent her in our French themed swap. We had decided that we would make a bag and fill it with bits and pieces. Ah. Me making a bag? I had made a bag once with my grandmother when I was about 14 years old, that would be about 40 years ago, lol. I didn't have a clue how to make a lined bag. I just couldn't get my head around it. I learn much better by watching then by reading, so I decided to try youtube videos. I found one, in about 14 1 1/2 minute installments, all over the place and in no particular order, rofl, so it took me all day to watch the instructions a couple of times. It didn't help that my computer is upstairs and my sewing machine downstairs, lol, I must have traipsed up and down the stairs 50 times. But a bag I did make in the end -


I made it with a beautiful old French damask ticking fabric, and lined with another striped ticking fabric -

I scanned this postcard of a beautiful French lady (from my collection), it even has a French stamp on it!

For me, that was the scariest part over and done with, I breathed such a sigh of relief. Next came the really pleasurable part, filling the bag with French themed goodies. Now, I have always admired tussie mussies, and I really wanted to have a go at making one. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for. Here is my French themed Tussie Mussie -

Another first, I finally got to use my German glass glitter, which I had ordered from the States! I filled the little cone with some vintage French ticking fabric and the cutest little sewing thread spool -

I wanted to make her a card as well, of course. I used an image from one of my beloved old books, which was perfect for the occasion I thought -


Had to include some French lace of course, some wound onto perfumed old dolly pegs and some onto French themed little tags

I had fun making a few small little envelopes, and filling them with tiny little treasures -

I decorated two little match boxes and filled them with buttons and little trimmings -

Whats next? This little pin cushion, made with one of those little baking forms I brought back from France in the summer -

A little cushion with a lovely French graphic, which came from a magazine the very lovely Floss gifted me last year -

A plain little heart, made with one of my favourite antique French ticking fabrics, ahh, those red stripes -

And then I chose some little French bits and pieces, which I had picked up at French vide greniers. An old religious book, with beautifully aged pages -

A Limoges cup -

Some vintage French ephemera -

And that pretty much filled the bag! I had so much fun and excitement, getting everything together for this swap and I can't thank Alexandra enough for suggesting it. Do have a look at her two blogs, her taste is exquisite and she produces the most beautiful treasures -
http://cottage-dreams.blogspot.com/ and http://xelasart.blogspot.com/

Of course I will you show you Alexandra's swap package to me as soon as it arrives!

Toodlepip xxx

Some more images for you

I have been so caught up in the swap I am doing with Alexandra in Germany, quite often just daydreaming, lol, thinking about what I could put into my little swap package. That didn't leave much room for anything else, reading your blogs of course, cooking dinners, doing the laundry etc., but nothing much crafting wise. There were no boot fairs on the weekend in our area either, so nothing to report there.

Instead, I am going to post a few more pics of lovely old cards I found recently, and a couple of other bits. Hopefully, you'll be able to use them in one of your projects.




This plan of the Louvre is from a 1922 Blue Guide, Muirhead's Paris -



My DH and DS3 have deserted me and gone to the cottage in France to get it ready for the winter, you know, cutting the grass one last time, pruning bushes and trees etc., so I had time to list a few more things in the blogshop. BUTTONS! Vintage French buttons on their original cards :-)

Thats all folks, toodlepip xxx