A Bristol break..........

We've just been away to Bristol for a couple of days. I love Bristol - wish I lived there in many ways - it's such an attractive, vibrant place.  Today it looked lovely in the Autumn sunshine -

We went to the St Nicholas Markets area - some great stalls and shops -

Vintage clothes! -

The interior of the hall is ornately decorated - 

Check out the door knocker! -

Lovely handmade things -

Cool aprons!? -

An exotic cafe -

And a lovely flower shop -

The Banksy street art / graffiti on Park St has had paint splatted on it :( - (is that despoiling, if its graffiti to start with?)  -

AND I got some new shoes!   Plain DMs - to wear with coloured tights? -

And then -

:)



'Into' vintage? How much into it?

Do you like the occasional vintage item - or is your house totally vintage?  Are you 'hardcore' vintage, or do you like 'vintage-inspired'?

Does it have to be 'the real thing' for you -

 - or do you like new, vintage style? -

 

New? -  

or old? - 

Just interested, really.  I like a mixture myself - and indeed I really like very contemporary design.

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Got some sweet Christmas decorations today, that I think I'll have another use for on my cakestands! -

Cute, aren't they? -

 

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Got some second-hand treasures too, today. A lovely crochet blanket -

A pretty little trinket pot - 

  

A lovely old plate -  

and a pretty cardboard box -
 

:-)



My Darling Nell......................

When we had some building work done on our house a few months ago, the builders found a little folded note in amongst the joists of the (lath and plaster) hall ceiling when they took it down.  On the outside, in lovely copperplate handwriting, it says 'Nell' and 'Private' -

Once opened (to our delight! ) - 

It's difficult to decipher some of the words, but it seems to read -

"My own darling Nell,

I certainly should have gone to church yesterday but for my cold, so you must excuse me this once ducky. What do you think of the (?) old letter place? Nell my pet  ? ? ? I meet you at Shrewsbury I shall be half wild. I do so long for it you cannot tell its the one bright star left now with the exception of ? ? ? to long for and look forward to. Why do I not say Bless you my Nell?  If I did not say it, I meant it and with best love.  

(Signature -  hard to read - ?Maureen   ?Maurice )

Bless you my little pet"

Isn't it sweet?  I wonder who they were?

Maybe this girl -

Or this one? - 

Have you found treasures in your house?

 

Sew Hip! - so hip!

Bought Sew Hip! magazine for the first time recently - some nice, simple, projects in it -

like these cute egg cosies - 

(I've cut my materials out for these, but not sewn them yet - the house is in such chaos from building work) -

Cute little holdalls - 

and a pencil case - 

There's also an interesting article on 'the power of textile arts to change the world through peaceful and creative protesting' -

This is a project by Lise Bjorne Linnert, a Norwegian, started after she learned of atrocities perpetrated against women in Juarez, Mexico  http://lisebjorne.blogspot.com/ Members of the public are asked to embroider names, taken from a list of victims from Juarez, onto white cloth labels (Juarez is home to many clothing manufacturers, hence the link) - these are then collated to form part of an ever-growing installation.  The installation was displayed in England (Chichester) recently.

If you subscribe to Sew Hip! you get a free 'bunting bag' kit -

End of ad for mag! 

Well, I have a stall at the 2 day Antiques /Flea Market at Ludlow College at the weekend organised by The Wear House - http://zaniswearhouse.com/, so I'd better get some sorting out done!

Well, after a glass of wine!......

Oh, yes, and after another admiring glance at my charity shop find of a Boden (!!!!) velvet jacket - 

Cheers!

Abergavenny.....to market, to market, jiggety jig....

Went to Abergavenny today, in Monmouthshire.   Lovely area -

The Market Hall in Abergavenny has wonderful huge papier mache creatures and flowers hanging from the roof

It was livestock market day too -

And I got lots of treasures!  Some lovely plates - 

And a pretty trio -

And a giant cup - not vintage, but very pretty - a keeper!

Several other lovely things too - but uploading seems to be on strike!

Hope you had a good day!

And now a glass of wine and Grand Designs to look forward to :)