Bits and Pieces

On Saturday Christine Book did a workshop at  The Home Patch in town.  What a fun day.  Christine is a scream.  She warned that we probably wouldn’t achieve a great deal of stitching….and she was right.  The theme for the day was “Tea Party”.  When we arrived these were on the table.  Isn’t that the cutest cupcake ever, complete with cupcake button! It holds 8 fat sixteenths of scrummy fabric.

There were lots of designs to choose from.  I have started a table runner and will use the fabrics in my cupcake.  It should be really pretty.

I’ve also been using some more of my op shop linen skirt and fat quarters. (They nearly match my cupcake!)  This is the fabric I had left to work with. I was determined to use the zip for something.

This is the result.  It is just big enough for a credit card or Drivers Licence. I looked at a few tutorials and then just played.  I’m not real happy with the top corners, but they all seem to have the same finish if the purse is lined.

Being an ex bankie, I’m a bit anal about putting coins next to credit cards, so I then fiddled and made two sections inside.  None of the tutorials had this feature, so I was happy with how it turned out and how easy it was in the end.

There is still a tiny bit left and the button, although there is none of the bright pink left now.

Then…… after I’d finished, I found that I still have the two inset back pockets…. and….. I’ve thought of a way to use them….. but that will have to wait until later.

My other little bit of sewing has been the little corner blocks of Verandah Views. 

This now completes the embroidery for the top.  I’ll just plod with embroidering the lovely, detailed label during my afternoons at the craft group.

Now I’ll have to play in my stash to find some fabrics to piece the top.  This is one of those projects that I’m enjoying working on, with no pressure and not getting bored with.

I really wanted to have a go at Jenny’s binding scraps challenge for February, but have just run out of time, so we’ll have to see what she has in store for us in March.

Also, on the weekend I hope to meet a couple of fellow bloggers, which will be really exciting.  I’ll share more later.

Flea Market Finds

We’ve had the most glorious wet week.  In town they have had quite a bit more rain than us, but we are still really happy with what we have received.

This is what the driveway has been like for the last few days.

As a consequence, we abandoned the idea of having a stall at the Newbridge Swap Meet today. Unfortunately, they were as good as washed out because it rained nearly all last night.

We had a bit of a sleep in this morning, and when it stopped raining decided to go out for the drive anyway.  At least that way they would get some money on the gate and sell an egg and bacon roll and coffee.  There were only a handful of stalls, but still a few people having a wander around.  There was a good representation from our Historic Car Club which was good to see.  Most of us seemed to bring something home. It remained dry for the time we were there.

Mick found two intriguing things and when he showed me he announced “Blogerize That”!  Therefore, here are Mick’s purchases.

Do you have any idea what they are?  I’ll explain shortly.

I made two little purchases as well.

There was just this one pattern.  “Misses Centennial Costume with Pantalets”.  It is quite old as the price is 9/6.  It says it is a size Medium 14-16.  A size 16 has a 28 inch waist.  I’m a size 12 and my waist is definitely larger than that!  Therefore, I don’t think I’ll be making it for me.

This little 54 piece jigsaw is of a Cezanne painting from the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.  It is a nice little reminder of the paintings we saw in Canberra, all from the Musee d’Orsay including several Cezanne's.  We had 50c worth of fun putting it together.

Back to Mick’s purchases.  We knew what the first one was as Mick bought another one out there a couple of years ago.  It is a big safety pin that was used many years ago to temporarily close wheat bags before they were sewn up by hand.  Mick’s Dad can remember his father using them.  We reckon that would be a good mystery object on “The Collectors” TV show. 

The other is this:

A little folding music stand.  But I will use in in the kitchen.

Here it is holding my old cook book that I’ve had since primary school.  I think it will be a great recipe book holder, even if it looks well worn.

This afternoon, as it has been bleak, I got out my gem irons again and made some gem scones.

The recipe comes from the good old Commonsense Cookery book that we used in home science at school.  Mine is starting to fall apart, but it is still the best reference for the basics and those old fashioned recipes.  Mick and I enjoyed them at the kitchen table with a nice cuppa while listening to the rain.  You can’t get much better than that.  

Pop over to here to see what other lovelies people have found this week in Flea Market Finds.

Swap Meet Over – We Were Blessed

The Swap Meet is over for another year.  This was the weather yesterday morning.

We had good rain on Friday night, but it stopped yesterday.  Well, it did here……on the Blue Mountains and the coast it was bucketing down.  Poor Mick had over 100 phone calls yesterday wanting to know what the weather was doing and if the Swap Meet was still on.  We had no rain at all yesterday.  The number of sellers setting up yesterday were down a bit, but there was still a great roll up.

We had some more light rain last night, but it stopped just before 5am, which was good, as that is when we start manning the gate.  The rain held off, so lots more sellers arrived and the people looking and buying just kept on coming.  Last year was so very hot, that many stayed away or left quite early.  This year the food van ran out of food, I had to do a mercy trip for the coffee van, as he had run out of milk (most important that the coffee van was up and running)and lots of really good junk was bought and sold.

We were so lucky with the weather.  It was cool, but dry.  Heaps of locals came down for a look.  We would have had about 3,000 people through the gates, which was excellent as so many wouldn’t have come from Sydney due to the weather. 

After doing our stint on the gate Mick and I got to have a good look around. We didn’t bring very much home at all.  We could have bought a Porche of $1000??

Well, maybe not!!

Things were just starting to slow down a bit at about 12.30 when the heavens opened!  Unfortunately there was no warning before it started, so some stalls got a bit wet.  Therefore, instead of a gentle winding up, everything came to a very quick end.

All I bought was an interesting cast iron cooking thingy.  The gem scone iron on the right is my old faithful that I’ve had for many years.  It makes the best gem scones.  Today I bought the smaller one.  I suppose it is just for smaller gem scones?  Does anyone know what else it would be for? It is a “Simpson” brand.  I’ll have to do a Google search and see what I come up with.

Have you ever made gem scones?  They are easy to make and yummy on a cold day.

I then found another piece of green depression glass that is a bit unusual.  I have several pieces with the scalloped pattern, but the oblong vase is one I haven’t seen before.

This is my little scalloped collection. The other bits and pieces in the photo are also rather special to me.  The radio was my grandparents’.  It was purchased in 1942 in anticipation of the power being connected.  Unfortunately it doesn’t work at the moment, but it looks good.

 

The apples sign is from my grandparents’ and uncle’s orchard.  I remember when I was little they made up the timber cases, added this label to the case of apples and then sent them to Sydney on the train.  That was in the late 60’s.  If you go  back a bit further (the late 20’s) a case of my Grandfather’s apples won at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and were then shipped to England and presented to the King.  As an Englishman who had immigrated to Australia it was a very proud moment for him.

The kero lamp at the front was found at Vinnies many years ago.  It is made from a Bushells coffee jar.  These two lamps are regularly used, as being out of town our power supply is somewhat vulnerable in stormy weather.  When Mick recently went to refill the coffee jar lamp, it cracked.  What could have been a disaster was saved as I was sure Mum had one of those jars at home.  After a pleading phone call, she very kindly sacrificed her “String Jar” to me.  I have kept the jar lid as well and it is in the “Kitchenalia” collection.  We were so relieved to have our lamp back, as it works really well.

Mick bought a few bike magazines and came home with another motorcycle! A mate who has a stall gave him a little plastic black BMW model.  He was chuffed.

I think this year would be the least that we’ve ever bought at the Swap Meet.  We usually bring home lots, but we have nearly got to saturation point.  There was very little sewing and craft stuff.  I did not see one doiley, which is really unusual.  There were a few nice toy sewing machines, one in particular was immaculate in its box, but I already have one the same, albeit without the box, so left it for someone else.  There was lots of green glass, but not much that interested me.

So, although not a lot of treasure came home, the weekend was really successful.  Now we don’t have to think about it for a few months, then the planning starts all over again.

Next Sunday is the Newbridge Swap Meet, about half an hour from home.  It is quite small and friendly.  We might try to organise ourselves to have a stall out there and get rid of a bit of excess “stuff”.

Tea Cosy Treasure

I have this suitcase full of old doileys and hand towels that I have collected over the years.  Some get used, but most just sit there.  I can’t pass the lovely workmanship (or should that be workwomanship?) that has gone into them, only to be discarded.  Often I tell myself I’ll do something with some of them, particularly those that are damaged or stained, but until now I never have.

Remember I showed you my recent purchases here.  Well, tonight I found some cream homespun and sewed this shape.

Then I found some stuffing and made this.

For this finished product.  A lovely squishy little cushion for our lounge chair.  The colours are perfect.

The tea cosy would have just languished in the suitcase, never to be seen again.  I marvel at tea cosies that aren’t padded.  What was the point of them? This one has seen much use and the embroidery and crochet edge is quite worn on the reverse side.  It was so very quick and easy to make.  The crochet along the bottom edge had a row of eyelets which were perfect for sewing it together inconspicuously.

A finish for the month and I also used what I had.  Bonus.

By the way, I can’t wait till Sunday.  The Historic Car Club is hosting the Bathurst Swap Meet.  It is one of the biggest and best Swap Meets in the state (not that we are biased) so there is a huge variety of bric-a-brac and car and bike related stuff.

We will be down there all weekend setting up and doing our bit to help.  That will also include having a good look at all the stalls. We had planned on having a stall ourselves to declutter a bit, but that hasn’t eventuated, so we will probably just bring more stuff home.