Monday 28 May 2012

Edinburgh and Vintage

I couldn't have picked a better week to be in Edinburgh.  The weather was glorious!



Here are a few photographs of the closes on the Royal Mile - was surprised to find that some vintage signage was still visible!



Loved this building.


Top tips for shopping -

Princes Street                           Usual chain stores, street itself messy because of tram works.
George Street                          Lovely shops, but pricy!
Royal Mile                                Tartan tat!  I discovered a couple of charity shops here, but the prices were astronomical!

If you are just there for the weekend and don't have time to explore the outskirts of
Edinburgh, then Cockburn Street, just off the Royal Mile, is the best place to find
some lovely, quirky little shops. There are a few vintage shops there too.


Last Sunday I went to Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair in the HMV Picture House in
Edinburgh.  It was very busy - full of youngsters searching through the rails of vintage fashions.  The lighting inside the hall was terrible which spoiled it bit!  I bought a little vintage fabric pin badge and some homemade raspberry marshmallow - delicious!


Hope the weather is good where you are!

Love, Liz

Sunday 27 May 2012

Sweet, or what?

Sweet, or what?


I know - some of you will be finding words for the "or what" part of that question, but I think that this little vintage fawn posy dish is so cute!


Found in a local charity shop at a very reasonable price.  Have you noticed that these figures are becoming really expensive?  I've seen some which have been quite badly chipped, but still the charity shop was looking for a lot of money for them.


It is by Eastgate Pottery.  If you had told me a year ago that I'd buy something like this then I would have thought you were crazy!  But I couldn't leave him there in the charity shop for just anyone to find now, could I?


Have you missed me?
I was in Edinburgh all last week.  I'll tell you about it later.
A BIG welcome to my new followers!

 Love, Liz

Pop over to Flea Market Finds for some other great vintage treats.

Friday 18 May 2012

Pipers Come Home

A parcel arrived yesterday - all the way from the lovely Kylie in Australia!  She sent me a few wee bits and pieces that needed to come home to Scotland.


First there was this lovely little vintage Scottish piper doll.  Isn't she cute? 




Look at her lovely blue eyes and rosy cheeks - all that piping, I suppose - the cheeks, I mean, not the eyes - don't think eye colour is affected by bagpipes!!!  (Unless of course  you count bloodshot eyes!)



Kylie also sent this vintage Edinburgh Castle apron - again featuring pipers - very unusual.  Going to keep this for St Andrew's Night or Burns Night when I'm cooking haggis!


Last, but not least was this vintage postcard of Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh - love the colours and can you see the wee girl feeding the pigeons in the bottom right corner?

And funnily enough, Edinburgh is where I am heading soon.  So I really could be sending you that postcard - great timing, Kylie!

Kylie had added a wee tag to the dolly -


Some of you may remember Poor Margaret.
A post not for the faint-hearted!
Go on - read it at your peril!
You have been warned!
So, I think this wee lassie will remain safe in her lovely tartan box for the time being!

 Have a great weekend and thanks, Kylie! 

Love, Liz

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Distracted and Disorganised!

I seem to be getting increasingly unorganised - must be an age thing, or something!  Anyway usually I go charity shop trawling on a Tuesday, but I was busy yesterday so decided to go today.  The joy of being unemployed between jobs is that I can dedicate a day just for thrifting.  But today I decided to combine that with getting a few "necessaries" - like new black trousers and bread.   Even made a list - that's how organised I was at the beginning.

As the charity shops have been rubbish recently, I thought this would be dead easy!  But that wasn't to be .... every charity shop I went into had quite a few goodies on display which totally threw me and I spent ages rummaging - I got this lovely woollen tweedy fabric.


Think I will make a cushion and a bag with it - love the colour combination.


I don't drive, so everything I get I have to lug home on the bus, so I grudgingly passed over some lovely goodies, knowing that I had other stuff to get.  Black trousers - easy, right?  No - well, not for me anyway.  Forgot about them till I had already been in a couple of shops, so tried trusty M&S - straight leg, bootleg, etc - how's a girl to decide?  My mind was still on the little bits and pieces I had seen in the charity shops and I was so distracted!

Halfway round the town I couldn't find my list - must have dropped it!  When I got home  I discovered that I had got the chocolate biscuits, but no bread!  The birthday card, but no stamps!
 

I used to be so organised!  Never mind - I'll got back out tomorrow to see if any of the cs treasures I passed by today are still there.  Oh, and yes, get black trousers and bread!

Hope you are more organised than me!

Love, Liz

Sunday 13 May 2012

Empire Floral

I found this pretty little vintage Empire England china sauce boat in a local charity shop.


Actually, eagle-eyed bf noticed it first!  She's getting good!


I think it is too pretty to be a gravy boat - I can imagine it holding cream or a lovely raspberry coulis to pour over a scrummy dessert ... yum!


The little flowers are so sweet - think the blue one is a cornflower.  The dish has a lovely gilded edge, and I'm not sure if you will notice from the photographs, but there is a little raised design on the surface of the dish.


Really love this little scroll and flower detail.


Even the back stamp is lovely - do the figures 12-56 represent the month and year it was made?  Would like to know.

Love, Liz

Pop over to Flea Market Finds to see some other lovely thrifted things!

Saturday 12 May 2012

First Steps in Crochet

In amongst my knitting patterns I found this First Steps in Crochet booklet by Patons.  I think it probably dates from the 70s as the price is given both in decimal and "old" money.



 Great little booklet - with clear instructions and good advice.


Think your man would like a crochet tie?  This guy doesn't seem to impressed!


Some cute projects.


Love the sunglasses!


Most of the illustrations are in black and white, but the colours used were obviously bright and bold!


With my renewed love of crochet, this is a winner! 
Have a great weekend.

Love, Liz


Wednesday 9 May 2012

Vintage Florals - At Last!

I found this pretty little vintage floral print by P Sorel on Monday in a charity shop.


It measures 9 x 12 inches and has a really old fashioned frame.


I was going to paint the frame, but I think I'll leave it just now!


So glad to find this, as I've been looking for one of these vintage pictures for ages but there never seem to be any in the charity shops around here.


Very happy with my find!
So happy that I'm linking up with Lakota at Faith Hope and Charity Shopping for

 Love, Liz

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Oban Harbour

My favourite part of our visit to Oban yesterday was walking round the harbour area.  So much to see and photograph.
 



Oban started as a small fishing village, but the train link to Glasgow and the increase in steamer traffic and tourism in the late 19th century, saw it become the main hub between the western islands and the mainland.  It still is a popular holiday destination for those who want to explore the west of Scotland and the islands.
 


The tall ship Pelican has had an interesting history and is used, among other things as a training ship for young people.



There are some interesting buildings in Oban.  My particular favourite is this lovely red sandstone building from 1901.  I think it used to be the Royal Bank of Scotland - it is in George Street.  Love the architectural details - wonderful!



Hope you enjoyed this little trip to Oban.  Hope to go back during the summer when the sun is shining - if we ever get a summer, that is!

 Love, Liz

Monday 7 May 2012

Oban

Had a lovely day out today, Hubby and I went to Oban.


We travelled from Greenock, across the Erskine Bridge, and up round Loch Lomond to Crianlarich.


Then we travelled across to Tyndrum, and round part of Loch Awe, then on to Oban  - took about three hours - we had a coffee stop, of course!



The weather wasn't too good, but we had a lovely day.

I have never seen so many fish and chip shops in one town, so we decided that we'd have some for lunch.  Unfortunately the rain come on, so we sat in the car to eat our fish supper - yes, one between us - the portions were huge!  Look at the piece of lemon - posh or what?!?!?!?!?!


Hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend.  I'll share some more photos of Oban tomorrow.


Love, Liz