A new quilt and other knick-knacks

I have been looking for a handmade quilt for the bed for a while now but they seem to be few and far between, I would love to be able to make one but they are far beyond my basic sewing skills. Well last week I found one in our local hospice charity shop.

I'm not the only one who loves it though!

I also picked up a couple of sheets, not sure if there's any age to them (I don't really know a lot about vintage sheets) but I really liked the patterns and they'll eventually be cut up and made into one of the many ideas floating round in my head.

The purchase I'm most excited about recently is my dresser, yes I have finally found one! After buying all my knick-knacks and never having anywhere to put them I can now have them all out on display. But not quite yet, at the moment the dresser is in several pieces being sanded, stained and painted to within an inch of it's life.

Here'e a before shot and hopefully next week I can show you it finished.

After finding out I'd bought a dresser my mum went digging in the back of her wardrobe of pulled out.....

                                   
                                                                 Not one Sylvac bunny



                                                                   But two Sylvac bunnies!!

She asked me if I wanted them to put in my dresser, as you can guess my answer was a big fat YES. 
Aren't they cute? 

Yesterday I also picked up a little tea set. Now I was originally only going to collect local china made in Stoke on Trent. I liked the idea of having some local history in my home and researching about all the little pot banks that were once around my area. But the one I picked up yesterday is Royal Tara from Ireland, it was too pretty not to have.

I'll do another post later and show you some more pictures of the other pieces, I'd love to find out some more about it too.


Just wanted to say hi and thank you to those who have chose to follow my blog. xx

The latest treasures

I've been meaning to post pics for a while now of some of my charity shop finds from last week but with it being half term and my eldest having his tonsils out last friday it's been a bit busy here. But better late than never right? So here are my finds from last week.

My favourite has to be this tea cup and saucer, the mark at the bottom says Gladstone bone china.

This Royal Grafton coffee cup had no saucer but I thought it was pretty.

I liked the simplicity of the pattern on this cake plate and sugar bowl.

And I just had to have this sweet little bowl because it's never to early to Christmas bits and bobs, is it?

Just a little thank you to everyone so far who has taken the time to read my posts and left comments xx

What's in the box?

I saw this little box in a charity shop, now I don't know if you're like me but when I see a box I always have to take a peek inside to see what treasures it may contain.

Well this little box did not disappoint. Any ideas yet what was inside? Do you want a peek?

What do you think? I love these little shot glasses. At least I think they're shot glasses. Any glass collectors out there feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Now I'm not normally attracted to glass ware but I fell in love with these, they're so dainty.

And the gold stars are so pretty on them.

For now they're to be safely packed away until they day I manage to find a dresser I like to display all my little knick-knacks on. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and please feel free to comment.

Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend so far and that this weather lasts through the bank holiday. 

Buttons!

Recently I came across some buttons in a charity shop. It looked like someone had cleared out their sewing box and had donated lots of little bags of buttons, I don't think they're particularly old or vintage but there were some nice ones among them. These are the ones I chose.

                         And some cute modern ones I purchased this week from my local market.

 

Just some fabric

Well today the charity shops were a disappointment, there was nothing even worth a second glance.

So instead I bought some fabric, I've been looking around the charity shops for a while as I wanted something to recycle as cushions for the sofas but nothing ever caught my eye. I popped into the local fabric shop and found some which I liked, I think they have a vintage feel to them what do you think?

Hopefully it won't take me to long to get around to making them. I'll put some pictures up once they are done, don't expect anything too fancy though my sewing skills are as yet basic but I've managed to make some envelope style cushion covers in the past so hopefully these will turn out OK.

Finished.......finally!

Several months ago I saw this canter-lever sewing box sitting in a charity shop. It was in quite a sorry state, screws were missing, hinges broken and it was a horrid orange pine colour. So I bought it and thought it would be an ideal candidate for my first shabby chic project.

                               Here it is in it's original sorry state being modelled by my eldest.

                                                                And here it is painted.

And lined with some of my favourite scrapbook paper.

Now it just needs to be filled with sewing supplies.

(Oh and I need to find some where to put it!)

A few recent finds

I don't necessarily buy something from a charity shop/boot sale because it's something I need, it's more a case of 'ooooo that's pretty I must have it!', whether there is a space in the house for it or not (much to my husbands despair). I do have to restrain myself sometimes especially on pieces of furniture, as there really is no room in the house for any more large pieces so I have to try and keep it small scale. I thought I'd start by showing some of my recent purchases (I apologise in advance for the pictures I took them with my iPhone)

I saw this little red box in my local hospice shop tucked away behind lots of bric-a-brac and knew straight away that I wanted it, the box is in such good condition and the contents look hardly touched.

Whether it will ever get played with by us I have no idea (the boys are already sniffing around it) but it was so lovely I couldn't leave it on the shelf especially when it was only £1.

Next is my favourite find so far...........

A Tuscan China tea set, consisting of 6 cups, saucers and side plates, a milk jug, sugar bowl and a larger plate which I assume is a cake/sandwich plate.

Unfortunately at the moment it is safely packed away as I have no where to display it (told you I buy things I don't necessarily have space for, you'll see it a lot!)

I would love a china cabinet but first I need to create space for one, I'm hoping to get rid of the huge unit in the living room which houses the overflow of the boys toys.

Sticking with the theme of things I buy but have no clue where to put them/what to do with them (in a future post I'll show you the mirror fronted cabinet that fits in this category) here is a pair of wall sconce's I fell in love with but have just been sitting gathering dust since. I'm sure I'll find somewhere to put them eventually.

And last but not least a few table cloths, these are an attempt to try and add some colour to the house. I've always been afraid of colour and the house is various neutral shades, I am now bored with this and have decided I want colour so I am slowly but surely working on this.

 

   I love this table runner but I think it is maybe more for the autumn.
   I've just realised how awfully creased these all look! I do iron them, honest.

                                                                    My lovely bright pinny.

Hope that wasn't a too long or boring post. :)