Unfinished business...

I have edited this very old blog post for Mary so that I can say that my name is Jenny Warner and though I haven't used this blog for years I made everything and sometimes use my photos for inspiration. I hope that this helps. Shame on me - yesterday evening I completed a bag that I started making nearly a year ago to the day.  This set me on the path of wondering how many other unfinished bags were lurking around the house...

This is the one that I managed to complete -

Lined with my favourite of the moment - vintage double damask - replete with vintage Mother of Pearl button (sewn on with vintage Sylko!!), topped with some deliciouso 1940s/50s barkcloth garden fabric.  Managed to get this done so that I could watch The Apprentice (mainly for the music!). Very sad to see that by the end of the day this photo is on Pinterest and repinned (or whatever it is) many times over already.  I thought that I shared enough with my blog and flickr...

The one below remained handleless for some time - I no longer have it so must have put handles on at some stage.

I made a matching purse for this one here all finished below:

Two photos of this one - I am looking at this bag as we speak - still without its handles.  Useless on so many levels!

The pansy embroidery is/was particularly lovely - I sold it at a vintage fair to a woman from Australia (she bought a few - if you read this please drop me a line and let me know how the bags are faring!)

I have been trying to find an older photo of a bag with a marvellous embroidered cottage and garden that I finally finished last year - I put it on Etsy (the one and only thing I have have ever listed there!) for about a day then took it off again in a moment of shyness - I think that that finally went to Australia too...

Next week it will be graphic prints from the 1950s....par exemple:

This was our breakfast table about an hour ago - children think I am crazy taking photos of our food! Enough already!
PS Thank you regarding Pinterest - these last few posts have not appeared there.  Sorry again about comments - I can only edit posts by logging on in Blogger and cannot do much more than that.  All a bit odd
Thank you for asking Carolyn re: bags - sorry to reply here!  I do have another version of  the garden embroidery so when the time is right I will make another bag and let you know! On flickr I am also the custards - a bit predictable really!

Spring has indeed Sprung!

Peaking (and peeking) too soon as always - but have been desperate to get out the vintage Easter 'stuff' - what is really revealed by these photographs is the shocking amount of dust!!!

I have been sifting through all the old cardboard Easter eggs that I have and decided that I may have one or two more than I really 'need'...

These teeny, tiny cups and saucers were bought at a car boot a few years ago - together with the teapot they cost £4 and they have remained on my mantle piece ever since (they just get a seasonal addition every now and again!).  They came from Japan originally and are very, very sweeeeeet. The tin egg I bought the other day from the 'Shop that sometimes opens' (soon to be renamed the 'Shop that opens more frequently than it used to') - 20p (to be honest most things are 20p in there)

Note that the Christmas decorations are still hanging from the light - well, it will soon be that time of year again!! What goes around comes around - literally.

Every jug and pot gets a vintage egg in it...I have a few jugs and pots....Dom is still insisting that less is more....

And then there is the sorting and sifting of the vintage tins....I do like this one with the deer and bunny

I also like this 'range' - again (sadly..) there is one for every season and seasonal event so 'stock' can be carefully rotated according to the time of year.  This bunny one I have seen selling on ebay for extraordinary sums of money - it is in fact cardboard with a metal lid

I have not taken photos of all eggs and tins - that would just be crazy!

 My old china heads were dug up on our allotment - which, handily, used to be a Victorian rubbish dump - they usually live in the cups when cups not being used for seasonal items.

Cheep, cheep

Thank you again for kind comments - I am going to tackle why I cannot directly comment on my own blog today.  I have tried now on several computers!  Thank you also for not pinning my photos elsewhere - they become sad when separated from home...Must get on as proper job is bearing down on creative diversions!

Minimum expenditure - maximum returns

There is a rule that states the following:'Happiness is inversely proportional to amount of money spent' - in other words you do not need to spend a lot to feel  happy (by the way I am also aware that real happiness is derived elsewhere).  Today Bronte asked if she could come with me to the car boot -  I did warn her that I do not dilly dally on the way so no complaints about being cold and speed of walking please!
Here is our expenditure for the 30 or so minutes:
40p - entry fee (20p each)
50p - leather binocular case (minus handles)
30p - 11 metres of  binding (length as stated on the cardboard - to be used as handles for the above)
50p - Bambi tapestry - to be made into a bag for Bronte
50p - two white Saxifrage plants
20p - each for a 'range' of vintage children's games
30p - old very large tapestry of cottage by the sea
150p - a selection of Edwardian whitework embroideries - numbering about 6 pieces in total
100p - two vintage embroidered tablecloths

We were most pleased with the binocular case (minus handles) and that the stall just a few along was selling haberdashery so we were able to purchase braiding to fashion handles - Bronte is most pleased! Wish I had bought more of the old games - there were lots of them but the 'needs not wants' rule sometimes has to come into play.  Mind you that rule was dropped when I bought the tablecloths....I could of course do the usual thing where I list the things that I did not buy and chew off my knuckles thinking about it....

I remembered how many, many years ago Dom had bought my good self an old binocular case from Camden market....what goes around....

How many beautifully stitched little leather bags could you buy for that price in the shops I wonder

Bronte has always been very fond of this old straw hat!  Sometimes we decorate it for Easter!

Oh forgot that I also bought a colourful box that had old china candle holders and candles in it - 50p (I needed those - gulp)

Oh and some fabric pennants - I only bought these because we are going to Venice this year so I am going to fashion a bag and sew these on!

I had put this photo on Flickr also - as Bronte is off to Germany on Tuesday I foraged around for some suitable items - a 1950s fabric covered photo album and a 60s suitcase! Just what the modern girl around town needs...

So very little spent but good fun was had.  I hope that you had some 'good' purchases too and don't worry I will also have to be having La Grande Clearout to compensate!

PS: A strange thing has happened where I cannot reply to comments (even if I have logged myself out) and cannot access my own blog directly - I have to go round the houses and access via Blogger, I usually forget my password and have to start all over again. I am sure it will sort itself out eventually but irritating until it does!

Happy St Patrick's Day

Dom (perhaps we should use his full name - Dominic - today) is the soda bread maker in the household so guess what is for lunch! As per usual for this time of the year I use my vintage Irish dancing purse today!  Maille has kindly volunteered to don her Irish hard dance shoes and put on a little Irish dance show for me later..  No prizes for also guessing what Dom will be watching on the telly this afternoon - he is not so fond of vintage things but he is rather partial to his rugby! As we listen to RTE today via the wonders of t'internet it has been interesting to hear of Irish festivities around the world, in places I would not have thought of.  I have decided not to revisit my photograph of myself with the wonderful Ronnie Drew - it is still on flickr if you care to seek it out.  Seeing the Dubliners in Dublin many years ago was a marvellous thing - Dom's uncle knew the Dubliners when they started out so called Ronnie over...

Vintage dresses and the joy of Horrockses!

Ah the loveliness of vintage clothing - sadly 99.99% far too small for my own wobbly body but something that Bronte is now enjoying.  I think that this dress is simply edible in its loveliness.  The cardigan is one that I used to wear back in the 80s but dates from the late 50s/60s I think - Bronte wears it all the time so now is becoming a little threadbare (not that that bothers us - along with chipped and cracked china, ripped and drawn in books and holey fabrics!).  Not to worry as I have a few others - Bronte has 'gone off' the lovely beaded ones that I have....but they will return!

I may have mentioned previously my love of old hangers....

We love kaleidoscopic colours and different textures

Bronte is not soooo fond of this dress pictured above - I keep toying with the idea of snip snipping it up into something else....yikes

Old and new and clashing patterns

Another favoured dress of mine that I used to wear - always wore it back to front (buttons down the front) and always wore it with this ribbon around my waist...ribbon not quite long enough if I tried this now.  Bronte does look lovely in this though..has been mended once or twice.

No - it was not me who bought this in 1958!  This dress I have photographed before - it has the ability to stand up all by itself with its heavily interfaced skirt.

Bronte also is now the proud (?) owner of my original 60s tartan leggings that I also used to wear circa 1985 - complete with 60s M&s jumper and suede jacket!

Here is Bronte being 'forced' to model an old knitted beret...

Oh how we laughed!

And then stopped laughing...

Sadly Bronte is wearing her school uniform and nothing else is vintage in these photos!

I am now off to try on some old dresses and then weep as I realise I can no longer even get one thigh in let alone anything else...

I do like to send off a nice parcel

I very much like making things look 'nice' (an underrated word I feel) and this also relates to parcels that I may send off hither and thither.  I am sure that others of you will understand the need to wrap 'nicely' (even if the contents are a let down!!!)

I always like to add in a nice extra bit of something...

I might spend a little tooooo long finding the right things to marry up....

I also like the extra bits to be suitable for the recipient and what  I think/hope they might like...

I know, I know - yet another bit of daftness that I spend too long on...

Sifting and sorting..

The things that I make often do not take very long to do but what does take a fair chunk of time is all the sifting and sorting that goes on beforehand.  I take an age finding the right piece of fabric that will match the right piece of embroidery.  If I cannot find the right piece then away it goes until the right bit turns up - this little purse is a case in point.  I must have started this about a year ago and could not find the right fabrics to match up.....then one day it appears!

I love this 50s kitten fabric - all a little surreal really

So the front is the kitten fabric and a piece of vintage embroidery and the reverse is one of those Chinese embroideries.  I am not a huge fan of pink but I like how this turned out...finally.  I lined this with my current favourite vintage double damask from the 1930s - I think that I will do a posting in praise of damask and all its wonders!
In case this is read I will request the usual non-posting request!