Swan Song

It's that time of year again; our annual school jumble sale was held on Saturday, and another fine event it was too.

It wouldn't be the same if we didn't dress up in vintage housecoats, pinnies and scarves, bright colours, and maybe a wig or two.

Here I am with my buddies Trace, Karen and Joanne, and Claudia too, who is a junior member of the Jumble Sisterhood. She always helps, and likes to listen to the traditional debrief held round at Karen's house afterwards, which gets louder, sillier and more scurrilous as the prosecco goes down...

We call it the PJP; Post-Jumble Piss-Up, best part of the day!

Claudia wants you to know she's not wild about Harry.

1970s Indian cotton wrap maxi skirt, shoes, necklace and bangles - charity shopped

Vest and sequin top - jumble sale

We made £1,130, and we're delighted with that.

It may well be the last jumble we organise, so it was good to go out on a high. I've been helping to plan and run fund-raising events at school for the last five years, and I think I've reached my limit.

Time to move on and leave the new members of the PTA to do things their way. 

I did buy some bits and bobs at the jumble sale, various clothes for the kids, and these for me;

1960-70s Nimbus design fabric by Osman textiles

mad-eyed Dutch souvenir dolls 

1960s pink wool blanket

1960s tapestry and vinyl shopper

1970s Sadler pot

After a full-on day yesterday, it was good to do very little today. Reading in the bath in the afternoon is one of life's small pleasures. 

So is linking up with Patti for Visible Monday - come and join us!

I hope your weekend has been successful, whatever you've been doing.

xxxx

Walking on sunshine

It's been a very busy weekend, but a good one.

The vexed (but not really) question of what to wear for our jumble sale was easily solved; I always wear red, for the brightness, the joy, and the luck.

Previous jumble outfits...

Now obviously, I am not daft enough to believe that what I wear has any impact on the outcome of a fundraising community event.

But I will take the credit for some hard work, good planning and preparation, and I am delighted to report that our jumble sale was well attended, cheerful, and successful, raising a whopping £1100.

Eldest is a chip off the old block and always helps out.

 I made cakes, lots of cakes.

And as usual, I loaned my vintage tablecloths, aprons, headscarves and crockery.

A sunny but very blustery day today has provided ideal drying conditions for all the vintage linens.

Look at my fabulous friends Trace and Joanne, wearing colourful vintage and pulling ridiculous faces. How I love those girls!

That bonkers wig looks worryingly like my hair in the 1980s...

1970s cotton dress - Vintedge (local vintage shop)

Cardigan, belt, sunglasses, bangles and tights - charity shopped

Boots - retail (sale)

Another jumble sale tradition is that once the clearing up is done, a group of us head back to Karen's (who lives the closest to school) for a count-up of the proceeds, accompanied by the odd glass or two of something fizzy.

This practice might make for some dodgy accountancy, but Eldest was there to keep us on track. She's more responsible than the rest of us put together.

Apologies for the scaffolding; my neighbour is having work done on his house, and while there is no problem with that, it makes the background of my usual photo location a little too busy. Doesn't he realise my tree is my posing spot?

  So it's been a great weekend, I'm really proud that our little group manages to organise events that make money and are fun to attend.

I bought bits and bobs for the kids, not much for myself, but I was taken with this;

an old supermarket basket that someone had brought their jumble donations in, and left behind. It took me back immediately to my childhood, so I nabbed it, and used it to cart my washing outside.

Next-door-Caspar took a shine to it too.

Reservoir Cats.

Whatever you've been up to, I hope you had a fabulous weekend.

xxxx

You light my morning sky with burning love

 

I was very touched by the thoughtful, caring and wise responses to my previous post.

I rarely hesitate in writing or publishing my blog posts, but I did wonder whether writing about my friend's death was a misstep. However, I generally write about what's is on my mind, and that was most definitely on my mind, so it ended up in a post.

Thank you for reading and commenting, and not running a mile in the opposite direction! You are a grand lot.

Yeah, yeah, the legs are out again, and wearing those boots again too.

 

I'm enjoying shorter lengths + tights + boots at the moment.

 

 

This dress...

 

Oh, I go back and forth with it. 

I like it, despite not being the biggest fan of tartan.

It's 1960s, lightweight wool, it's well-made, lined, in great condition.

 

But...

I think the colours are a little dull. And I worry that the schoolgirl/pinafore vibe is too would-be Lolita for an almost-50 year old. It's really not like me to fret about age-appropriateness, and I'm not even sure that's the most significant element of my dissatisfaction.

 

It's also a tad too big, but I just don't love the dress enough to go to the effort of taking it in.

I suspect she'll eventually make her way back to Ebay, from whence she came (for a pittance, as I recall). I've had plenty of wear out of it, so perhaps it is time for her to find another owner.

 

 

 

 

 This week has been one of sunshine, showers, and rainbows;

 

 

 

signs of Spring;

curious creatures;

 

(tiny 1960-70s glass goose - charity shopped)

 

and great big laughs with friends. 

The text exchange with Vix in which we pondered whether it was seemly to fancy the entire panel of The Voice (oh alright, that was just me) and imagined Kylie, Sir Tom Jones, Ricky Wilson and Will.i.am joining us on a blogger day out in Walsall really tickled me. 

We reckoned Tom would fit right in with the randy pensioners in Wetherspoons.

 

Connie made me guffaw out loud with her assumption that Martin (with me in the photo from 1989 in my last post) was my partner and the father of my kids. Just to clarify, in case his wife is reading; he isn't. Mate didn't mean we had mated, in this case. Just so you know. 

And I spent today with Joanne putting up posters in our local area for the upcoming school jumble sale, with a bit of chazzing and a couple of coffees thrown in, just to keep us going. Oh and we talked twerking and saucy photo shoots, sang some Elvis, pulled faces (me again) and generally mucked about. 

 

Perfect therapy.

 

 

I find old postcards hard to resist.

This made me smile too;

 

the poster (not made by me) requesting donations for our jumble sale could easily be a picture of my bedroom, complete with hanging rail, vintage finery, cats, and plenty of mess. I'd wear that orange dress and red coat in a heartbeat!

 

I've got my friend Patsy coming to stay tomorrow and we'll be out and about on Saturday, the kids have broken up for half term, and all is well.

1960s dress and 1970s blouse - Ebay

Denim jacket, scarf, beret, tights and bracelets - charity shopped

Boots - retail

 

Take care - and thanks again for being so brilliant!

xxxxx

Tapping on my roof and walls

It's been a thoroughly autumnal weekend - windy, wet, dark and chilly.

It had to happen.

What better than a bright frock to pierce the gloom?

This was from Friday.

I think it's the closest I'll ever come to neon.

New boots!

Ecco ankle boots, new-to-me via a charity shop, obviously. But actually, they look pretty new-to-anyone and unworn. 

£7; similar boots are currently retailing for around £120. 

Not exactly high fashion, but my feet are grateful nonetheless.

 1960s Davisella maxi dress - Ebay

Tie-front cardigan, ankle boots and bangles - charity shopped

Pendants - gift and flea market

The girls and I braved the all-day rain to go to a jumble sale on Saturday, but the pickings were slim.

1950s curtains

Selection of vintage children's books

Small kilner jar

Gladstone china plate

 

Lovely illustrations by Inga Borg from Parrak - The White Reindeer.

1950s cuteness from the Little Folks' Annual.

Look - there's Baby Helga and G, Fairy Krista, and Littlest and me, 50s style!

The 1958 Girl Annual advises morning stretching and cooking a nutritious lunch, and admires the equestrian talents of the young Prince Charles and Princess Anne. Who doesn't?

(I think that may be Fiona in the kitchen.)

Vix gets to wear a headscarf for an adventure in Spain - with me!

And Sarah seems to have run away to join the circus, along with sistercousinwife Helga, who is washing their smalls.

There they are in action.

This one was a big part of my childhood; I had the same 1972 edition of The Wombles (before they became TV stars). 

A quiet sort of weekend...

InWear dress, boots, bangles and beret - charity shopped

1950s back-buttoning blouse, worn as a jacket - community fair

KMK leggings - gift from Cristi

Brooch - gift from Sarah

Ha, just as I claim never to wear things upside down or back to front, here I am doing just that!

It'll be pants on my head next. I'm crazy, I tell ya.

In case anyone's wondering;

I didn't hear anything from Debenhams last week, so I rang them. 

The "Resourcing Centre" told me they did not have the information back from the store yet, and didn't know why it was taking so long.

The woman on the phone promised to chase it up.

I still haven't heard.

Sigh....

Hope you have had a rather more successful weekend than me.

Although I have taken on the ironing pile - and smoothed it into submission, hurray!

xxxxx

Life in glorious technicolour

How has your weekend been?

Good, I hope.

 

I managed to wangle a weekend featuring some of my favourite things;

 

 kids out having fun with their friends, a Chinese takeaway, wine, a jumble sale with friends, a vintage/secondhand market virtually at the end of my road, some sunshine, and the man is making tea so I can get this blog post done, hurray!

 

 

First up - some jumble joy from yesterday;

Top l-r;

padded coat-hangers (you can never have too many, can you, Clare?)

1970s St. Michael swimsuit

1970s St. Michael pink slip/nightie

huge wool blanket (instant nostalgia - reminds me so powerfully of my childhood)

Swallow print tie top

1970s leather shoulder bag

tablecloth

pomander (to add to my growing collection)

1970s curling tongs

1960s Midwinter bowls

 

 

1970 and 1973 calender tea towels.

(If these are anyone's birth years and you would like them, I'll happily wash and iron them and send them on to you!)

 

 Favourite finds of the day;

 

 

 

Groovy 1970s embroidered cat picture - weird and so wonderful.

 

Box of Tootal Chic handkerchiefs - 3 original hankies still with their stickers on, plus random others squashed inside the box too.

 

1950-60s Pixie vanity case and a wedding cake topper.

I remembered Loo's advice and took another spin past the bric-a-brac stall, checking underneath the tables, and spotted the vanity case. The man on the stall apologised for the fact there was no key - but it was hiding in the pocket all along! The case needs a good clean, but it makes up for my previous disappointment, immortalised in Melanie's Rumble in the Jumble cartoon (in my side bar.)

Is it fanciful to imagine that the wedding cake decoration and vanity case belonged to the same lady? 

 

I am no great fan of marriage, but I couldn't leave this charming couple behind, so 20p later, they were in my bag. They are sitting on a broken plastic base and I think they would originally have taken a sedate battery-operated spin around the top of the cake. 

Bruised and battered, paint peeling, but still arm in arm. I'd like to believe in the possibility of that.

Denim jacket, sequin beret, bangles and Office shoes - charity shopped

1970s maxi skirt - vintage fair

Planet t-shirt - jumble sale

Belt and necklace - retail (sale)

Brooch - flea market

So much fun - friendly chat with the stall holders, a post-jumble show-and-tell with my pals over a coffee, quirky treasures (there were also some tops for Eldest, a pair of boot stretchers, and paperbacks for the man), and all for under a tenner. 

 

That makes me happy.

Today, Littlest and I wandered back from her swimming lesson by way of a small vintage market, part of National Antiques Week. 

I loved this nest of tables, the annodised soda siphon and wooden ice bucket.

But I was very good and didn't buy anything...

...until I reached the Beads 4 Aid stall run by these two lovely ladies.

 

One of them said to me that I looked like someone who enjoys drama and colour; true enough, but only sartorially speaking!

 

They donate a percentage of their profits to a charity supporting Ugandan women who have suffered  injuries during childbirth.

Unusually for me, among all the bright colour, I chose this understated but oh-so-pretty silver and marcasite ring. It was labelled as 1980s, but I suspect it's a little earlier - maybe a 1970s homage to Thirties Art Deco style?

 

Orange and pink - Nature doesn't fear bright colours or fabulous clashing combinations, so why should I?

That's right, Charlie, I'm leaving the monochrome to you today.

 I've had a lovely weekend, I'm bright, I'm colourful, and I'm being visible over at Patti's for our usual Monday get-together!

 xxxx