Vintage wares summary

It has been just over a month since I started my retail venture at Jane's lovely vintage store.  My vintage.destash.recycled.new section has gone quite slowly, despite making a number of sales.  At least I have sold something, rather than nothing. The messages are that recycling and vintage are popular with a niche, but perhaps handmade goods and vintage haberdashery are not really appealing to the mainstream shoppper. Questioning whether we should continue to purchase mass produced products has perhaps not reached everyone's thinking just yet.  There is a campaign going right now to ask Mary Portas to get the message to the mainstream public and I hope this will be a success.

In the meantime I looke forward to continuing to trade at Jane's vintage store and will keep on searching for those vintage finds.  As a customer I am always guaranteed to find items of clothing at a really good price.

 

Winter

First of December and first day of Winter.  We still have snow and ice and although it is slightly warmer, everywhere is still slippery under foot.  Glad that I don't have to go to work today and can stay at home with the crafting.

Toy making

 This is a 1970s book I found recently and its contents show how to make toys from different types of materials, such as wood, paper and cloth.

Someone had spilled a cup of tea over the edge of the book so the pages were stuck together, but once I prised them apart, it was still readable and just a little unsavoury in appearance.

The instructions for hinged paper or cardboard figures are just the thing to make for next Christmas, as tree decorations perhaps, so off I go again with my forward planning.

 Strange how in the 1970s there is a suggestion for making a spaceman (spaceperson), but that is how we thought about life in those days; our view on technology.

What would be influencing our designs now?   A celebrity, owl or cupcake (not a figure but you could still do a hinged decoration)......

Fabric finds

Last week I found these pieces of fabric and at such a good price that I thought there must be some mistake.  The black and white country scene is a French linen fabric; I know this for sure as the printing on the side border said it was so.  There were 4 metres of yellow flowered  Laura Ashley cotton fabric and this is currently for sale in the vintage shop. 

 The linen country fabric is going to be made in to a tablecloth, for use on the dining table.

Snow arrives!

It is November and we have seen our first snow!  This is unusual and unwelcome as it is so disruptive.  The main roads are usually gritted and cleared but our side roads are not and it is most difficult getting out of our country lanes.

Last night I went out with the shop girls for tea at a local pub and we came out to hailstone storm as we left tthe pub to go home.

Will be spending today looking at the snow from the warmth of the conservatory and doing some knitting, drinking hot chocolate and eating ginger cake.

This weather might be with us for the next 10 days.  Oh dear.

Birthday week



 Some of the birthday cake we had this week.

 This week there was a birthday to celebrate so we had cake and wine, as you do.  Some of you might not have the wine, just tea or coffee, of course. 

The cake was plain, with pink icing and 100s and 1000s sprinkled on top.

We also went to Cardiff for the day to do some Christmas shopping, but I prefer independent shops these days, rather than large corporate organisations.  I am not that keen on buying items mass produced in China either, so purchasing becomes limited. 

Our lovely meat man delivered organic lamb this week, so we have a freezer full of lamb to enjoy.  Yum Yum.

The vintage shop had a charity day in support of Children in Need and was selling scrumptious cupcakes.  The shop was very busy, which was pleasing, and I bought a  soft blue velvet jacket, just a little small for me but I don't mind looking a little squashed!

Making Christmas decorations

This ribbon is going to be used on Christmas decorations I am planning to make this week-end.  In my fabric box I have lots of sparkly bits and pieces to make into hearts, birds and round shapes, which will then be used to dangle from lengths of driftwood, with the decorations finally ending up in some of the windows of the house.  It would be nice if I could purchase all my Christmas presents from independent shops, such as Folksy and Etsy, but I have also decided to venture to Cardiff this week for a look at the retail stores there.  It is always such an effort to leave Pembrokeshire as everywhere else is so far away, but there we are.