MIAM

MIAM

Monday 23 June 2014

Bargains and St. Botolph's

The last seven days have been busy ones.  There's been successful chazzing,  a few purchases made at the Ardingly Antiques Fair and a lovely day out on the other side of West Sussex with a friend.  I know you want to see my charity shop buys.... so wait no longer.


 I scored this gorgeous PVC jacket, Boden no less, although I didn't buy it for the label.  The colour is sensational and an instant spirit lifter.... if spirits happened to be low that is.  It has a bit of 60's vibe going on.  Instead of posing by the shabby shed, shouldn't I be in Carnaby St ?



I wore it to the antiques fair at Ardingly last week as the sky looked decidedly black when we left and no sooner had we arrived when a male stall holder complimented me on it.  No doubt he was buttering me up so I'd buy his £65 vase, but even so I felt chuffed.... this is how Vix must feel every day!



   Another stall holder spied me eyeing this basket with interest and offered it to me for a fiver.  I've no idea what I'll do with it yet but I couldn't leave it behind at that price.  There was all manner of vintage gorgeousness at Ardingly but although I took my camera I was so engrossed in the stalls I completely forgot to take any snaps.

And how about these shoes I scored at the Cats Protection chazza?


Oh yes I'm very pleased with these.  Not only do they accommodate my bunions but they are Kennel Und Schmenger...no, I was none the wiser either.   They looked expensive to me so I googled their website and discovered that even their sale items were retailing at £130...I paid £2.49.  


The weather has been glorious lately, us Brits are always surprised by this so take full advantage of sunny skies to spend time outdoors.   I've been planting annuals and generally titivating the garden in hope of an impromptu al fresco soiree this summer.   Poor old Prue doesn't know what to do with herself except find a nice shady spot amongst my gladi's, which have now been flattened.  

Today was another sunshiney day, perfect for a day out with a friend and a pub lunch.


Afterward we visited a couple of junk shops but delights eluded us, so we returned to R's house and walked down his lane to the local church, St Botolph's.

   It's thought that this ancient church was built around 1050.  There are several Roman sites nearby and Roman tiles and bricks were re-used in the walls.  Inside the church is one of the finest series of wall paintings in the county which were painted in the 1100's.


I was amazed to find the church door open and viewed this with ambivalence.  I felt privileged to be able to experience these ancient works but also felt anxious that unprotected, they could be desecrated.  God forbid though that they should become some dreadful commercialised tourist attraction which Stone Henge, seen on TV this week, now is.



So that was my week, how was yours?
Anyone else having trouble with Blogger?

Linking to Sir Thrift a Lot.

Sunday 15 June 2014

Off The Edge Flowers

I'm on a day off today and as it is virtually impossible to go out due to the annual London to Brighton bike ride which comes through our village, I decided to stay home and potter.  I've planted some French marigolds, nasties and lobelia....let's hope the sodding snails don't get them, I  mosied down to the main road to take a few snaps of the cyclists, rather them than me but jolly good on them....and I've made a few cards. I made this one for this week's LIM challenge - One Layer Off The Edge, can you spot the mistake?


 Grrr, how bloody annoying.  How many times have I done this now? In future maybe the LIM ladies can make the words One Layer flash on/off for idiots like myself ??  Never mind, I know I'm not the only one to have made this mistake.  Fortunately I also made it for  Sweet Stampin - Say It With Flowers and Time Out challenges - Summer/Flowers  The image is an old one by Penny Black which I coloured with watercolour pencils, the sentiment is also by PB.  I added a soupcon of glitter (anyone know how to add a cedilla?) and a few blue gems.  The card featured in my last post was a winner at Creative Inspirations, so thanks ladies you cheered me up after a shitty week at work.  

Thanks also to those of you who left comments and advice about my sewing machine dilemma.  I have managed to track down a machine repair shop and intend to have them take a look to establish if it's terminal or not. Fingers crossed my skirt will get finished soon. 

I wonder where the last bike rider is right now?


I'm off now to tackle a mountain of ironing, have a good week all.

Sunday 8 June 2014

Handknitted by Jean Price

It's been a busy old week what with work and then days off which have been even busier.  On Thursday I cut out my skirt fabric, pattern here, as Friday was the long awaited making day.  I wish I had a finished garment to show you, but it was all a bit of a disaster.....  I arrived at the sewing venue raring to go, with five other ladies from my Knit and Natter group who were also keen to give this sewing lark a try.  Machines were whirring at full pelt when I asked our tutor a question which required her to look at my ancient machine.  Well apparently it didn't pass muster, my needle was off centre (I had no idea where it was supposed to be!) and pronounced not fit for skirt making.


To cut a long story short I used a spare machine, but of course by the time I had threaded it up and worked out how to use it I was miles behind the others and ran out of time, therefore my skirt is unfinished. Major disappointment! To cheer myself up yesterday I went to a jumble sale.  We had to queue for half an hour before opening, fortunately after the deluge earlier, it was surprisingly warm and dry.  Here's what I bought.

 
Denby jug, two seventies coffee cups, Faience design tin tray, Wealden district guide, small Pyrex dish and a beautifully hand knitted wool sweater...I'm thinking ahead to winter already. All this is worth £2.30 of anyone's money I reckon.
  
Still in the making mood, last night I knocked up a few cards.  This is one of them which I'm entering in the following challenges.
Stampin For The Weekend-Anything Goes 


 I used:  Scalloped Circle nesties
die-cut flowers-Memory Box
flourish stamp-My Paper World
sentiment-Penny Black
A cream and red colour combination was used to comply with the brief at LIM and I followed Creative Inspirations sketch 10.  

Thanks for all your recent comments and for those who were interested in the 'sleb' who was up themself, I can reveal that none of you guessed correctly!  I'll be back later to catch up with you all but for now I'm off to do battle with Dad's garden. 
 Enjoy your week.