Show & Tell .... from the Vintage Bazaar in Frome.

Happiness is not something ready made.
 It comes from  your own actions,

The love of my husband and family

and in my case treasure hunting at vintage fairs too!!

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Well what can I say, the treasures that I picked up at the VB on Saturday made me very happy indeed.  I was so very pleased at what I had found and what pre orders I had put in that were found for me as well.

Let me start with my beautiful baskets that I got from Elaine of Ted & Bunny, they are fabulous and of course the little bundle of paisley fabric that Elaine had kindly hunted down for me.

Look at those two beauties.  A tiny bit of mend on the green and red striped one and that is it.  Both such different shapes.  The red and green strip basket is a box shape and is perfect for taking with me to fairs to carry vintage finds.  Then there is the oval shape one with just red stripes and I am going to make an oval shape cover for the inner bottom of this basket from a vintage  piece of quilted patchwork.  I will cut it out and stitch around the edge on the machine for strength and then blanket stitch it in red thread for extra strength and beauty.  I thought these were unusual with beauty and purpose .. and you can get a lot in them ( I know this now!)  Then of course the paisley bundle of two different colours and patterns.  I was so happy to be adding to my paisley drawer as I use some practically daily so it is nice to have a war chest of it.....

There are several pieces of each one of varying sizes and are now tucked up safely with the rest of the stash.  I know this week at some point I need to get some out and then I will be able to have a stroke of it again .... Happiness you see.








Then I would like to show you my gift from Belinda of Ginger & Rose, you will remember from Tuesdays blog that Belinda insisted I take it as a gift and I was delighted.  It is a really good size piece and of paisley origin as well in the most stunning of reds and blues.  I do not know as yet what design to put this in, but believe me it will feature heavily in one of them.  Thank you again Belinda you are so very kind lovely lady! x





From Jo of Hesta Nesta I picked up some delightful fabrics one is like a patchwork of patterns and is actually a little fabric draw string bag that has no drawstring any more but which I will cut up and stitch into my designs and then there is the palest of lavender colour eiderdown fabric that I have ever seen and so delicate with tiny detail - perfect for appliqué work. Both pieces are  wonderful.  Then the most stunning of needle cases made out of silk.  I have to do some mending but this is totally worth it.  You have to undo a tiny button from a silk thread loop.  It then unrolls to reveal the most gorgeous and delicate of embroideries which ends in a hidden tiny pin cushion which is made and stitched into it. There is a delicate weeny bead border all the way around and I am in love!  Take a look.

I know I know some of you are wondering what my order was from Sue of Vintage to Victorian.  Well this is for our house move home and they are antique letter stamps made of wood and of course were covered in ink.  Well not any more, Sue carefully cleaned and polished them to what you will see now ... deep breath because it will be love at first sight here.

They spell out VINTAGE HOME!  they are of course reversed letters because of the matter of them being printing blocks and I did have a huge laugh with Sue after I got home and tried to arrange them PROPERLY .. I got some upside down (the letter E) and the H and the A wrong because I failed in the fact that the H is in lower case but to her mirth and some others I am sure on FB I managed in the end and treated myself to a well earned gin!  Here on the other photo is some close ups of some letters as well.

Look at the detail on the E and I had it facing the right way ( so the other way round which of course looks the proper way to have it, unless, of you see it is a printing block .....  The exclamation mark was a gift from Sue as well .. So thank you Sue for all your very hard work and for your patience and council as to how they should look if done properly .. including the O having the more wood at the bottom rather than the top. (
see I did listen!) ha ha.  Also I





 bought some most beautiful patchwork panels.  Three with a star pattern and six were in log cabin.  The log cabin ones are in reds and blues with floral and stripe fabrics, they are so lovely and I think it would be criminal to cut them up so  I am going to frame all of them as pictures .. The star ones will not be used in my work either  but instead will be going to the framers as well be put behind glass for me to hang on the walls to look and wonder at. They are all pastel colours and equally as beautiful, I am so pleased with them all.  Until my visit to the framers next week they have been wrapped in tissue to transport them there with details of how I would like them framed.

The my next show and tell is from The Swagman's Daughter and if you remember she had a huge haberdashery stall with French letter ribbon and vintage iron on transfers for embroidery as well as a huge selection of buttons and other delights.  So this is what I picked up from here.

You will see that I bought some mother of pearl buttons still on their original cards and some great iron on transfers with A, S and H along with a long pattern transfer and some S and H initials French ribbon, of which I had two meters of each one .... Get them when you see them or they are gone.  They were £1 a metre so it had to be done!


Then I picked up a slightly worse for ware vintage eiderdown form Clare of Daisy Darling and this is to wash, unpick, get rid of all the feathers and wash and iron the fabric because it is gorgeous.  That said I was talking to a few of my lovely vintage friends and stall holders there that said it is a job and a half... That they did not envy me at all.  This will be the first time I would have tackled it but I am not going to show you yet because I am going to do a blog on it with do's and don'ts and take photos along the way later next month.  It will be my first attempt and I will show you the results and all the fun ( tongue in cheek here) of doing it BUT that said the fruits of my labour will be rewarded with some incredible fabric ... some to keep and some to sell so watch this space.




Then my final purchase of the day was from Suitably Vintage and I bought a huge vintage reel with red painted ends, some cotton reels and some mother of pearl buckles for a project in my design book that I really must get on with soon.

There was lots of beautiful pieces of patchwork quilts but I was a good girl because I had most of the patterns at home in my sewing room in a huge box so until my supply goes down OR there is a particular rare piece I refrained from being naughty ..... Left some there for other magpies like me!  you will see there is a JP Coates spool there .. that I could not leave behind!

Well that was me done .. or was it.  My lovely husband had spotted a pack of wonderful vintage carved mother of pearl buttons with a buckle in on Vintage to Victorian stall and had bought them for me from Sue.  What a lovely extra in my vintage treasure hunt .... Take a look at them are they not stunning!  I am a lucky lady.



Well that is it ladies and gents this was my plunder and I hope that you all enjoyed the show and tell from the Vintage Bazaar in Frome.

Take care and have a great day, I am off to my stitchery room to continue with my design made of patches and I will be back here tomorrow so please come back and see what I have been up to.

Happy Stitching!