Fiddling and fardledardling

I wanted to make a little fabric collage wallhanging, but of course the usual thing happened, I fardledardled about with lace and fabrics, and fondled and dreamed........ I did get some supplies together, look -

Haven't made any progress beyond that though, lol, but I have the bestest intentions for tomorrow. But, whilst I was looking for some small pieces of ticking fabric and bits, it occurred to me that I could list some of the ticking fabrics in the blogshop. So I did! A couple of my most beautiful antique French ticking fabric packs and a few sets of this fabulous old French parcel carry handles from big French stores -


I know I haven't made much lately, I have been crocheting again, but I did make a couple of tags


I'll crack on with the fabric collage hanging tomorrow, hopefully, and take some pics of the crochet WIP as well.

Wow, short post, lol, great, uh? Lets hope we all have great weekends! Toodlepip, Liz xxx

The Most Wonderful Morning

Yesterday morning really was quite special. It all started out normal, doggies waking us up at 6, my DH taking them for their walk and then bringing me up a cup of tea. Me reading for a while and enjoying the tea, getting up etc etc, and then I turned on my computer to check emails. And that was when I had the bestest start to the day anybody could have, a really lovely email from a bloggy friend who had made a purchase from me. The email really did make my day, it was that wonderful! And that was only the start. Couple of hours later, there was a knock on the door, and a friendly smiley postman handed over two packages. TWO packages! Both from the States. Oh my. I got quite nervous actually, lol. You know what it is like when you are trying to open a package and you are so excited, your fingers just don't want to do what you want them to do? That was me.

You all know by now how much I love vintage stuff, ephemera is my current love, and fabrics. And guess what I received in the mail??? Well I gave you a big clue there, lol. Let me explain. A couple of weeks ago I won a giveaway from Rhonda at the A Little Bit French blog. This girl is amazing, she really is so generous. EVERY week she posts a giveaway of one of her beautiful French inspired creations, and I had been trying to win one for what seemed like forever! I was the lucky person to win Miss Libby! She arrived beautifully wrapped -


Miss Libby graces the front cover of a fantastic journal full of gorgeous ephemera bits. See for yourself, I'll just let you flick through some of the pages -


Am I a lucky girl, or what? If you haven't been to Rhonda's blog before, do go and have a look, she creates the loveliest French treasures. She also has a great etsy shop where she sells all those gorgeous goodies. I bet you are going to love them.

Now that would surely be enough for anybody to have the most fabulous day, right? But it seems all good things really do come in threes, because as well as the email which so touched my heart, and the beautiful giveaway win, I also received a package from another blogger friend, Diane. I betcha most of you will already know her, but just in case you are one of the few who haven't come across her blog yet, just take a look at her blog Diane Knotts Musings. You'll be amazed at what you'll find there. She is a renowned fabric designer whose designs sell all over the world, and are so much loved by quilters and fabricoholics everywhere, and guess what? She sent me a huge stack of her fabrics! OMG, it was absolute heaven for a fabric lover like me. And you know what the theme of this particular series of fabrics is? TEA!!! I am a confirmed tea drinker, never touch coffee, so she really couldn't have chosen better. It was bliss unfolding them and putting them together in different ways and getting all sorts of ideas running through my head. Apart from being a wonderful artist, who paints and designs fabrics, she also is an absolute whizz at making the most distinctive cards and tags, and I received another one of her tags to join my growing collection, woohoo. Ok, ok, enough writing, you need pics, of course you do.

Diane always add such lovely little touches to everything, just look at the parcel, and the sweet little address labels -

The softest dress making pattern paper spilled out of the box when I opened it -

and underneath was this, the sweetest little stand up bag filled with lavender and soap, the loveliest tag and a wrapped package, soft and squeezable and full of promise -


OMG, a stack of fabrics!!! -


Anyone for tea?

All those wonderful fabrics designed by Diane, what an amazing talent. Her etsy shop is full of the most beautiful creations as well, pillows and sachets, scarves and totes.

You won't be surprised when I tell you that I had the grinniest grin on my face all day long. A huge hug and the biggest thank you to both Rhonda and Diane for making my day so very special.

Toodlepip xxx

Vintage Alphabet Party - Letters S,T and U

It is such a shame that I only came across the Etsy Cottage Style blog and their Vintage Alphabet Party a little while ago. I missed out on so much! As you can see, there are not many letters left, more is the pity. But I am really pleased that I can at least post a couple of times.

So, without further ado, on to the letter S. Oh the possibilities! I could have picked saucy cards, or shaving mugs, sachets filled with lavender, song sheets to name but a few, but in the end I went with these -

In France you often find these little Salt and pepper glass dishes on the dinner table, rather then salt and pepper shakers or grinders. I have a collection of them in France, but only a couple of them here in England.

I had intended to decoupage these vintage Shoe Trees and make them all pretty and pink and froofrooed, but in the end decided I loved the old green and gold colouring too much to cover it up -

Silk ribbons. I picked these beautiful old French Silk ribbons because they are so very tactile -


This next one is a really quite bizarre thing, a SIMPLEX nasal douche! And no, I haven't tried it out yet, and I don't think I am going to either, lol -

Better get on to the next letter quickly, lol, the letter T. I contemplated tablecloths, tools, toys, treen, teacups, but ended up with this, a rather weird and wonderful Thermometer -


I love collecting Tins, and have way too many, enough to fill half a dozen posts at least. So I just picked one which was staring me in the face as I looked at the shelves, a beautiful round Tin from Lourdes -


Probably the most popular French image at the moment, the TOUR EIFFEL, to give it its proper French name -

And something very dear to my fabric loving heart, antique and vintage French Ticking fabric -

And last but not least under the letter T, this totally crazy, funky, ridiculous, but somehow strangely adorable Teacozy -

Awww, it even has a little tail -

And just look at that expression on its cute little face, can you resist that? I couldn't, lol -

The letter U proved a wee bit difficult, but I managed to find a couple of things. Firstly, there is my much loved vintage Burberry of London Umbrella. The wooden handle is gorgeously tactile -

And what else could I find for the letter U? A bit of ooh la la of course, lol. UNDERWEAR!

I find the Undies from the 1940s and 1950s absolutely fascinating and occasionally I find some lovely, totally unused pieces in France, like these for example -

Can you imagine wearing that last one, the chest flattener from the 20s? Shudder. And all that just to suit the dress style of the day.

Thats it for the letters S, T and U. I am already looking forward to the next lot, although that could turn out to be quite a challenge. In the meantime, follow me over to the Etsy Cottage Style blog and check out all the other Vintage Alphabet posts!

Toodlepip xxx