Another buttony day

Good evening

Well I had a buttony day in September and you all approved - so today is also buttony. Firstly because my button swap parcel came yesterday from Ali @ Magic Making Hands and today I got to open it and take photos;

 Lots of pretty parcels wrapped up in pink tissue

Inside were;

 A sewing kit - the pin/needle case is gorgeous and so beautifully made.

 A corsage & button badge, a notebook and pencil - I had to hide these from my young niece today - she tried hard to persuade me that her need was greater than mine!!

 Magnetic pegs - ideal for keeping all those letters from school organised.

 A gorgeous little bucket of buttons - a really lovely rainbow mix of colours.

 A heart shaped lavender bag and of course what swap is complete without chocolate?

Here's what I sent to Ali - buttons in her favourite pink/green colours plus some handmade ones I bought at the weekend, a box for keeping things safe, a button corsage, a Russian doll lavender bag, chocolate buttons and an upcycled vintage linen cloth made into a button bag - complete with my own embroidery! All packed into a gorgeous box covered in pictures of vintage crockery;

Thought it looks like it just say button in the other photo - here's a pic to prove I can spell!

Thank you to Lemonade Kitty for organising this swap and to Ali for being a great swap partner - how clever were we to get our parcels to arrive the same day !

More buttony things to show you now - firstly the dress I made for a party this weekend;

Complete with button detail around the neckline;

As I mentioned earlier, I've had my young niece & nephew here for the day whilst my sister was at work. Apart from charging around outside with the boys and playing a complicated game of garden badminton/tennis my niece also did me a huge favour. My button tin has got rather full and every time I make something I have to empty it to find the right colour button - not now. She spent ages sorting them all out and putting them into jars - and she kindly wrote the labels too;

Lastly for today, I mentioned in my post on Monday about a striking gold in a charity shop over the weekend - well it wasn't anything to exciting to some but it was something I've wanted for ages. I found a vintage scrabble set - I have been after a set of tiles for ages as I fancied making some rings and earrings which I think will be popular when I do stalls at school fairs. Here's a ring I made for myself - have already had a few requests from friends for ones for them;

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Photo Scavenger Hunt 2011 - May

Hello again

The last day of the month can only now mean one thing - time for more photos. As usual some were easy to find whilst others proved trickier and some clever thinking was needed;

 A bicycle - definately not a difficult one for me!

 A black & white portrait - me

 Something blue - the sky at the beginning of the month

 An interesting building - this little house is on the seafront in Aldeburgh - it looks like a slightly oversized play house. It is now a holiday let - but probably only for small people!!

 A butterfly - on the side of my new sunglasses.

 A cartoon character - a knitted Spongebob toy that belongs to little son.

 An emergency vehicle - the landrover belonging to the Lifeboat crew in Aldeburgh

 A red door - on a beach hut in Southwold

 Sign of the zodiac - Libra - ok not the right sort of scales but the best I could muster!!

 A streetlight - this was tricky - we have one in our lane and it is not working (again) at the moment. This light is in my neighbours garden - I keep expecting to see Mr Tumnus beside it!!

 Texture - buttons in my tin 

Lastly - think vintage - part of our stall at the Vintage Fair - complete with vintage teacups, suitcase and vintage embroidered tablecloth.

One busy weekend.......

Good evening

How has your bank holiday weekend been? Good I hope.

We managed to get the right person to the right place at the right time - quite an achievement - think I've earnt another Pimms later ;)

The weekend started rather well - with a thud, thud, thud, thud on the doormat Friday morning when it seemed that the postie was emptying his entire sack into our letterbox. Not one but 4 lovely parcels - all for me :) My friend was running late so it gave me a chance to open them and photograph all the lovely contents;

Firstly a parcel from the lovely Felt Fairy Annie - I was one of the lucky winners of her recent giveaway. She'd matched all the winners with pressies she thought suitable. She's a regular reader and had noticed my comments in my sidebar about my habit of avoiding housework - hopefully my list pad might just help me see what needs doing and I shall take satisfaction in ticking the chores off the list. My toes will be a fetching shade of purple when I next paint them and my little lavender mouse & wax melt shall hopefully help lift the smell of teenage male which sometimes wafts through the house!!

Now it seemed I was the only blogger who'd yet to find a copy of this new magazine - I'd tried shops in town and they'd not even heard of it. A lovely friend in another part of the country took pity on me and found me a copy. Well  it was so worth the wait - this is such a lovely magazine - really full of things to read/make/drool over. I've taken a subscription out - it starts from Issue 3 - so there's just a matter of locating Issue 2 when it comes out next week!!

The final two thuds were ebay buys. I use pretty vintage playing cards to make labels for my makes. I've started to run low and managed to find two pretty sets for reasonable prices;

Friday evening saw us dispatch Big Son to a huge Explorer camp in deepest Essex - my favourite part of these camps is a quick game of Explorer Buckaroo - amazing how much more he can carry these days with falling over. When he first started going camping when he was 8 - it was as much as he could do to life his rucksack!

Saturday meant another brass engagement for MrVV & Little Son - leading a parade to mark the 70th birthday of the Air Cadet movement;

Whilst they were marching through the town in Woodbridge - I nipped into the charity shops - I found something I've been after for ages - for a bargain price too - more on that another time.

After a very late night on Saturday (1am - we'd been to see Ken Dodd - a 5 hour show!), I was up early to get sorted for the Vintage Soul fair in Southwold. We managed easily to fill the stall between the two of us;

We had a reasonably good day - when we added up the sales at the end of the day the split was almost 50/50 which was rather good. Thanks to those who came and said Hello :) I really must work this week on getting some things into my Folksy shop - its been on my to-do list for rather a long whilst!!

Today has been a much quieter - little son has earnt a rest after another day of banding yesterday and MrVV has been rather busy putting together a programme for a huge brass concert his band are doing this summer. This meant I've had plenty of time to do some sewing for me :) I've managed to alter another skirt;

And mostly importantly, I've almost finished making a dress for a big family party next weekend - I just need to put the finishing touches to that and then I can show you

Big son is back from his weekend away - he's had a great time.  He's been rafting/canoeing/ice-skating and so much more. Last night it was rather warm so they slept under the stars.

I'd best say goodbye now - thanks for reading :) Off now to sort my photos for the Scavenger Hunt - I think I've got them all but just need to check. Oh and I must get my Button Swap parcel wrapped too.

See you tomorrow

xxx Vicki xxx

Mainly flowers

Good evening

Am so glad the week is drawing to a close - it means my to-do list and who is where at what time & with what stuff list is starting to shrink too. I have a heap of camping gear in the hallway as big son is off with the explorers for a weekend camp. The spare room has a pile of boxes & bags with things ready for the fair on Sunday and there are enough clean shirts for my brass players for this weekends engagements too.

In fact don't tell anyone but tomorrow is a day off for me ;) My oldest friend is coming for a coffee and a natter and after that I shall be attaching myself to my sewing machine. I discovered in the back of my wardrobe 4 skirts I made for myself about 6 or 7 years ago - the style now is too long for me so I've started altering them into shorter versions which suit my lifestyle now more. One is done and the plan is to get the another 2 done tomorrow. I also found a length of fabric I bought over a year ago to make some for me with - well it is going to be a dress for me, hopefully by the end of the weekend. We have a family party next weekend and I need something new too wear!

So today there are no photos of makes - instead before the storm this afternoon I was wandering around the garden, taking pics of some of the flowers that are brightening up the borders;

 Things looked even better after the downpour, the first decent rain we've had here since February. You could almost hear the flowers cheering, see the grass going greener and the weeds growing!

One small downside - little son was supposed to go sailing with the school tonight but instead they've been racing up and down the river in speedboats - they even let the children drive. Apparently it was great fun and the sailing lessons will start after the hols when hopefully the weather will be calmer.

I hope everyone has a fab bank holiday weekend whatever you are doing.

I'll be back after the weekend with photos of ours.

xxx Vicki xxx

Pirates, Punks and almost a Prince!

Good evening

Thanks for the lovely comments on my last post - yep migraines are horrid and I am lucky that they don't happen too often.

The raggies have all been labelled and are now packed away ready for the fair this weekend. Am just 2 strings of bunting away from being finished! Might get those done tonight if my sewing machine has finished sulking - it decided to stop working earlier until I'd given it a thorough clean, oil and pampering! Seem to remember it did this last year when I was preparing for this fair - perhaps its hinting it needs TLC more often!!

Anyhow, I managed to finish raggies No7 & 8 - a pirate and a punky one;

 I can't remember if I told you but when MIL was clearing out for her move, she put an old leather suitcase in the chucking out pile which I promptly rescued;

With some help from MrVV, I've added some straps to keep it open and some padding and I shall be using it for displaying my brooches, hair clips and earrings at the Fair;

Saturday night was a rare night out with just MrVV. We headed into Ipswich to the Corn Exchange to enjoy a concert by Ade Edmonson and the Bad Shepherds - if you've never heard these before then you're missing a treat - classic punk hits done in a folk style - absolutely brilliant. I didn't take my camera with me on Saturday but found an old pic on my computer from a festival we went too a few years ago;

Now as its springtime it must mean that almost every weekend there's a band engagement of some sort for Little Son & MrVV. This one was special as it was the first time I've watched Little Son play AND march - something that's taking lots of practise - thank goodness for lovely neighbours!! Just a short march from the Moot Hall in Aldeburgh up the hill to the church;

 

The band then wander off for coffee before meeting the rest of the parade out of church and marching back down the hill. After a few speeches, the band then play for a little while whilst the Mayor holds a reception for local dignitaries etc;

Every year a local forces squadron takes part too - this year was the turn of 653 Squadron of the Army Air Corps based at Wattisham - yep the one Prince Harry is part of at the moment. Sadly he wasn't there - day off! However his colleagues were wonderful and some of them treated the crowds to a fabulous display in their Apache helicopters;

I thought last week was a busy one - this week seems to be much the same. The list of who is supposed to where at any one time is increasing - here's hoping we get the right person to the right place with the right equipment!!

Off now to wrap my latest birthday swap parcel and also check what else I need to do for my button swap one - think apart from the edible I'm almost there.

See you later in the week.

xxx Vicki xxx

Ladies who lounge around in the sun!!

Good evening

How's your week been? Mine went downhill after Monday - Tuesday night I started with a migraine which really took hold. Couldn't shift it yesterday so I spent that mainly asleep, only waking to go to big son's parents evening at school. Finally after a dose of  the strong tablets I have I slept it off last night and woke this morning feeling much better. It means I am behind with my making schedule - is looking like I'll finish 8 raggies by the weekend rather than my original plan of 10. I'll share them between the shop and my stall. That leaves next week as final making week - really only a few bits left to get sorted and then the fun task of labelling begins.

Anyhow - less waffle and more pics. I treated my girls to something comfy to sit on - a vintage Sindy sofa set via ebay - they seemed to like it this afternoon when we were out in the sunshine;

Nos 2-6

My little sofa set - the boys think I've finally lost it buying these - have given up trying to explain they are for display purposes only!

When I've had a break from sewing this week, I've been engrossed in this book I borrowed from a friend - it is really a good read and even better lots of it is set on my part of the Suffolk coast so I can recognise the locations and dream of owning my own gypsy wagon.

Lastly for tonight, what would blogland be without a swap or two going on. I've already signed up for and am well on the way with the button swap. I saw this one on a favourite blog this morning and couldn't resist it - I mean who can resist the lure of a charity shop or two?

Right back to more raggy sewing - am working on Nos 7 & 8 at the moment - hopefully they'll be ready for photographing and sharing with you soon.

Until the next time.

xxx Vicki xxx