oh dear

I want to put these tiles in the caravan.

I have gone a bit flamingo-ey with the caravan - putting real vintage flamingo paper in the cupboard and a Cole and Son print on the door.


I don't seem to have posted on here for ages. It has been busy though - with a diddyvan with a specially customised roofrack (see above) making it's way to Guernsey, Another one has gone to Whitstable to become a holiday hire. I hope it will enjoy the oyster festival. It leaves us with one little Woody trailer to sell whilst Nige gets on with making lots more Diddyvans - although first he is completing our 60's Sprite400 caravan - it has been restored back to it's regular seating pattern - the bench seats had gone, replaced by a bed which meant it really wasn't as versatile. New bright red lino has been fitted and I will be getting busy with cushions shortly. Can't wait to get it back all done.

vintage galore

It seems there is a real mainstream feel to the term vintage nowadays - i am sure those of us who have been collecting what was regarded as junk or old tat for years, find it amusing that we now are the proud owners of "vintage" items. Vintage caravans, vintage style clothing at Primark and vintage street parties encouraged for the recent Royal wedding.

It is great that crafts such as sewing and knitting are no longer seen as the perogative of the penniless or the granny. Sometimes i do regret that there are no longer many old junk shops to trawl through anymore - the ones where in amongst the real rubbish you might glimpse the edge of an eames recliner or a vase, that turns out to be by keith murray, stuffed with plastic flowers. You really felt you had earnt those treasures after cumulative hours of trawling fruitlessly through old copies of mills and boon and chipped teapots.

I love all the vintage community blogs and have recently subscribed to Vintage Life magazine, http://www.vintagelifemagazine.com/ as an online subscription (seems a little odd that my first "futuristic" online subscription is to a magazine promoting all things vintage). There is also a network of like minded vintage people. http://vintagenetwork.ning.com/


I was disappointed at the recent boot sale i attended as there was not much of note - something i am finding more and more as people either hike up their prices as "it's vintage you know" or they cut out the car boot altogether and sell on ebay so that sometimes all you get at a car boot appears to be what people couldn't sell on ebay.
I suppose that makes any great find even more special nowadays as it is much more infrequent. It is not about making a fortune though really as let's face it, most people might still call it old tat. Well, some of the stuff I collect they might (ask my partner as he puts up with another bambi related ornament appearing on the shelf). It is about finding what you love and also about giving something a chance to be loved again. Long live vintage.

some of my old tat is pictured above - how about you? Have you found a special vintage rummaging place? will you let us into your secret?

puppies and pics

We now have three lovely little chihuahua pups born safely 2 weeks ago. They are sleeping mostly now but i am sure that won't last and they will be into everything shortly.

I have been playing with picnik editing again and adapted some photographs i took earlier.

It's official!

We took Chi-chi our chihuahua to the vets today for a scan. Since her dalliance with a little long haired chihuahua friend, that we set up for her on Valentine's Day, she has been getting bigger and today, the vet confirmed that there were at least three little pups in there. We are now getting very excited. Chi-chi is demanding to be carried everywhere now and lets out a little sigh when you pick her up as if to say "Be careful, i am delicate you know".
I have posted a pic of her as a puppy (she is two now) so you can get an idea of what we have to look forward to.

We spent the rest of the day working on our garden - the ponds are now shaping up nicely and full of frogs and newts - i am battling to keep them as wildlife ponds whilst Nige keeps eyeing up koi carp in every garden centre we visit.

vintage style in stamford, lincolnshire

We are so bored of shopping in Peterborough - a copy and paste centre with some of the good shops sadly "unpasted" - we often wander to Cambridge for a better variety of shop and a trip to Jamie's Italian, but today it was late afternoon so we decided to go to Stamford instead.
Not having paid a visit there for a while i was surprised by two great little vintage shops, http://www.themissingcurtain.com/
and
http://www.thatindielook.com/

The missing curtain is a treasure trove of goodies - all the things i love, kitsch ornaments and retro fabrics, baskets and toys.
My daughter and i couldn't resist a star wars atat toy - measuring two foot high and larger than my dog. Then of course we had to lug it around town - not helped by the fact that i had already bought a large picture in a charity shop by then. I always seem to pick the largest things to carry - i did it in a charity shop in Knightsbridge once and was stuck carrying a large picture frame round all day, but i couldn't leave it as i had been looking for ages for the right one and that one was "it".
Anyway we shall pay the missing curtain another visit no doubt, not least because i really would like the kitsch poodles in there.
That Indie Look was another little gem - full to the brim of vintage clothing, shoes and bags. I only wish i was a few pounds lighter (the subsequent visit to Pizza Express did nothing to help there) - both my daughter and i are committed vegetarians but even we were half tempted by the fur coats but decided against it - though they might have come in handy as the weather had turned cold all of a sudden.
A nice little trip out combined with charity shopping and to be recommended.