Ruby's Button Tin

Bargains galore

I've had some great luck lately with charity shop finds.  My most amazing buy today was something I haven't taken a photo of, a gorgeous fake fur coat (or should I be fashionable and say faux fur?).  It was a bargain at £9.00 and is good as new, looks never worn.  The coat's a size 8 so I thought it might be tight on my size 12 self, but it's so roomy, I love it!  The fur (I could never wear the real thing - too gory!) is dark chocolate brown and it's by Alexon, a very classy label.  So I'm a happy bunny.  There were other good finds too. 

This white handbag was a fiver, and apart from a few little scratches and a bit of glue needed on the handle it's in good condition for a vintage bag.  I think it's probably 1950s or '60s.  The tiny evening bag is vintage looking but actually is a modern purse from Next.  It's sparkly and pristine clean, just £2.50.   Propped up behind is a virtually new copy of A S Byatt's new novel 'The Children's Book' which I had on a two for the price of one offer, just £2.50 along with Agatha Christie's 'Five Little Pigs'.  As if that wasn't enough thrifty goodness, I also picked up a couple of unused tea towels for just 79 pence each.  

The one with the funky '70s style colour scheme features jars of herbs, while the other blue and white one has a map of the British Isles and emblazoned with Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fisherman around the outside.  Finally, I picked up a kitsch Queen's Silver Jubilee mug, £2.99 which is probably more than it cost new! But the money went to the PDSA so goes to help animals in need, a worthy cause. Second hand shopping is so much more fun than buying new, isn't it?

 

Books and quilts and my new fridge freezer

Honestly, you can tell you're getting old when you get excited by a new fridge freezer being delivered, but it's here and new and shiny and ... okay, enough already.  Apart from buying too much vintage china lately - plus a lovely 1930s/40s black handbag from ebay - I've bought yet more books to add to my pile of 'things to read'.  Isabel Colegate 'The Shooting Party', Susan Hill 'A Change for the Better', a lovely bottle green Virago 'My Brilliant Career' by Miles Franklin.  Plus this great childrens book.

I had to buy it because the cover's so lovely.  It's sitting on one of my favourite pieces of patchwork, a lap quilt I made and actually got around to quilting, as opposed to it lying around half finished for months on end.  I don't know how some crafty types get to complete as much as they do.  Where do the hours come from?  There are never enough in my day ...

 

Too much china, too little shelf space

I bought yet more china the other day.  I know!  I really don't need another coffee set but this Johnson Bros china was too nice to ignore.  It was £6.00 in a charity shop - a slender coffee pot in a beautiful taupe colour, four cups and saucers, a little sugar bowl and milk jug.  Two of the cups have chips on the rims, but apart from that they're fine. 

As a lot of the stuff I've bought is tucked away in cupboards I've been trying to sort out some display space.  I can't afford to buy any shelves or cabinet at the moment, so I've been 'customizing' the kitchen.  The built-in cupboards I've got in the kitchen are incredibly old and not very interesting, so I've taken off the doors and got as far as painting one of the insides in off-white.  Add a few cup hooks and it's starting to take shape.  I wouldn't mind buying a roll of floral wallpaper and papering the back of the cupboard to give it further interest.  

At least this way I can see and appreciate what I've bought.  There's no point in hiding things away, is there? 

This picture shows the cupboard on the far right still waiting to be painted.  So, that's something to occupy me on a rainy afternoon. 
  

 

Pretty pictures and a doll WIP

I don't know about you, but the novelty of this snowy weather has worn off with me.  It was great for the first day, but after that - well, I don't like to moan, but trudging along icy pavements to and from work isn't much fun.  So here's a couple of pretty pictures for no other reason than I like 'em and they might bring a smile to your face too.  Plus a doll I'm in the middle of making. 

How gorgeous are these greens and blues?.  If I ever get to visit Loop I'll be taking an extra big shopping bag and my flexible plastic friend, Mr Credit Card.  

Now ... want to see some sheep wearing jumpers?

They were featured in Nov/Dec 07's edition of Selvedge.  Don't they look ridiculously cute?!  I want to be Bo Peep and play shepherdess to my own flock.  

Okay, what's next?  

This is a doll I'm making.  Having seen Mimi K's photos on Flickr and having had the urge for ages to make a doll but struggling to figure out what kind of doll I could sew, this is a felt one I'm halfway through.  It's gradually coming together, and is sitting on a piece of patchwork that's another WIP.  So many unfinished projects, must work harder!!
 
 
 

Old London

These images are taken from a book whose title and author I've temporarily mislaid (doh!) but I'm pretty certain it was called 'Lost London'.  It's a photographic record of London as it was, a city blasted by second world war bombs and much of its glorious architecture destroyed.  If the Luftwaffe didn't get it then narrow minded 20th century city planners did.  Just imagine what the city would've been like had glories like this fantastic gateway survived? 

Mary Plain, does anyone else remember her?

When I was a young 'un I used to love Gwynedd Rae's books about a bear called Mary Plain, but I haven't come across anyone else who remembers this small bear from Berne who has fantastic adventures and becomes famous. 

 

It's amazing what a lasting impression the books we read as children have.  I know they're politically incorrect in lots of ways but I still think Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Secret Seven books were terrific stories, real 'ripping yarns'! 

On a completely different topic - and more craft related - this is just a very basic collage of images that appealed to me. 

 
I find tearing these sort of images out of magazines and just putting them together on a sheet of paper or card is good for helping inspire sewing projects.  You see colour combinations or patterns, and they can spark off needlepoint designs or quilt ideas.  I love that little image of spices on sale in a market - the mix of pale blue containers and warm earthy spicy shades.  Lovely. 
 

Fashion, books and inspiring photos

A mixture of things today ... I thought I'd start with a couple of gorgeous fashion pages ripped from a recent Sunday supplement.  I love the layed look of this first picture, and the dramatic colouring.  That scarf is amazing.  I'm not usually a fan of grey, but these muted shades look great with that berry coloured chunky cardie.  I also love the skirt in this next image, those floaty feathers.  Also the sheer incongruity of high fashion in the veggie patch!  
Next up - we're moving on to literature.  Yes, it's a highbrow post today!  I've over halfway through the mighty Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, and still loving it.  The way the writer conveys that world of Henry VIII and his court, it's stunning, the power of her imagination is so deep and the story compelling.  I hope if there's a TV adaptation it manages to strikes the right note, I'd hate it to be a disappointment.  

Still on books, I bought Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, having not read that particular Dickens yet and having loved the Andrew Davies BBC adaptation on a year or two ago.  He's an author who suits winter afternoons and evenings.  There are some books that are definately winter reads, aren't there?
Finally, still on the subject of writing, I used to do a lot of 'creative writing', mainly short stories, but that kind of stopped when I got so into crafting.  But I want to get back to it, and pictures are often a good way of generating story ideas or characters.  I found this intriguing picture of a girl writing a letter at the Sphinx by the river Thames.  What's she writing?  A love letter?  To whom?  There's a melancholy air to the picture, you get the feeling things aren't going to have a happy ending.  

 

Window shopping

Yesterday, like many people I felt I needed a Boxing Day constitutional.  After Christmas Day I think we all get a bit of cabin fever and need to walk off some calories and breathe some lungfuls of fresh air.  I took my camera as there were a couple of shops I'd noticed and wanted to take a few sneaky pictures. 

This is a shop selling prints and cards, but what I really love is the painted wall.  The fireplace isn't 3 dimensional, it's purely a paint effect.  How fab is that?!  If I was skilful enough I'd do the same in my bedroom.  I love the quirkiness of it and the impact it makes.  

This is another lovely shop, full of handmade items - ceramics, softies, brooches and that very enticing cake stand.  I love the mix of things and the artful way they're displayed, and have a hankering after a shop of my own.  I'd sell craft supplies - luscious hanks of wool, lengths of patchwork fabric, needlepoint kits, that kind of thing.  But at the moment it seems an impossible dream, the stumbling point being money and my complete lack of any retail experience.  That doesn't stop me looking at other peoples shops for inspiration though.  

 
 

Cut out and keep

I've always liked cutting out images that catch my eye, and have a couple of spiral bound notebooks I keep them in.  They're great for leafing through when inspiration has run dry.  You can always find a colour scheme that will kickstart a needlepoint design or something that compels you to pick up a sewing needle or knitting pin.  Here are a few pages from one of my notebooks. 

 

 

 

Anything there catch your eye too? 

Veggie dish and hexagons

I found this fab veggie dish and lid in a charity (thrift) shop for the bargain price of £4.99.  There were 3 dishes the same, and I could happily have bought all 3 but I decided to leave the other 2 for fellow bargain-hunters. 
I do love kitchen dishes that are either decorated with fruits & veg or shaped like them.  It's the daft, kitschness of them (if that's how you spell it) that amuses me.  I think these marrows would make great needlepoint patterns or maybe could be used for embroidery.  On the crafty front - in between reading 'Wolf Hall' (wonderful) and Christmas shopping (not so wonderful) I've been at the patchwork again, patiently piecing together hexagons.  I think I'll have to make a New Year resolution not to buy any more fabric (unless it's something truly irresistable!) as I really ought to use up the stash I've got.  But then again, buying crafty supplies - gorgeous fabric, lush yarns - is one of life's small pleasures, isn't it?