Getting clogged up

I don't why, but just lately I can't seem to go out of the house without returning with a souvenir clog or two.
And when I say something like that, I know the vintage thing is possibly... getting out of hand?

But new obsessions keep gripping me. Right now, it's what I'm calling 'Chalet Chic' - a particular kind of folk art style that encompasses clogs, cuckoo clocks, Russian dolls, gingham aprons, Heidi and reindeer. And in this particular photo, a llama.

The llama is typical of the way that things have a habit of creeping into the house unexpectedly. I didn't know I wanted a souvenir llama until I saw his little furry face winking up at me from a box under someone's stall on Saturday. In fact, all these little knick-knacks I got at car boot sales over the weekend were unexpectedly essential to buy.

I suppose some foolish people might think that going to five carboot sales on Saturday is asking for trouble (oh, and there was another one on Sunday....). But quite frankly these people are poor misguided souls who have no appreciation of the finer things in life.

I grant you, buying more vintage buttons might, on the face of it, seem a tad bonkers, but really you only have to look at how lovely they are to know that I'm perfectly justified in buying them and the lovely fabric they're sitting on. The fact that a lot of this stuff is still cluttering up the living room floor until I find a place for it, isn't a problem, surely? Just step over it, can't you?

Folk House Flea Market tomorrow

Just a quick post at the last minute to remind anyone in the Bristol area that the Folk House Flea Market is being held tomorrow. It generally has a bit of everything, vintage, handmade, new and old. If you've never discovered the Folk House, it is something of a hidden treasure. The entrance is on Park Street, a busy shopping street in the centre of Bristol. It looks very unprepossessing, but when you walk down the little alleyway/corridor, you come out into a sunny little courtyard, where you can sit and have a cup of tea, with the entrance to the Folk House behind. It's main purpose is for adult education, and they have a great range of art and craft evening classes and workshops. 

If you can make it, please come and say hello, as I will have a stall there. I can recommend the cafe too!

Must dash and finish packing my boxes!

Catching Worms?

Why do car boot sales start so early in the morning? At 7am, for pete's sake! I'm not a morning person. More one of 'the children of the night', to be honest. So it was a huge effort to get up on Sunday morning to get to a car boot sale even by 8am. But the lure of a field full of kitsch tat managed to get me out of bed. And despite having told myself I mustn't fill the house with more rubbish, I managed to buy rather a lot. 

The miniatures in the first picture still have their contents. Anyone for a 40 year-old Chianti?

'Specially for little girls'... and big ones too! If you're as old as me, you might remember Twinkle comic. I remember it first coming out and having a free gift of a charm bracelet. So I had to get these old annuals. Not sure if I have any excuse for the china....

Ahoy me hearties! Some nautical needlepoint, and and a flower loom for 'casting off my craft' (do you see what I did there?).

Toro! How could anyone not want a plastic Spanish bull's head on their wall? I think it looks rather fine with our Day of the Dead collection and matador tambourine. 

Well, I think it was all worth getting up for!