Last call for the giveaway and some little lovelies

Look at these that I purchased from the charity shop a few weeks back...

They had been sent back from one of the shops where they hadn't sold, so they were already priced, which meant I didn't feel remotely guilty about nabbing them before they got sent on to a different shop! 

They are not my usual style, but I just love them!

(They are Elizabethan 'Carnaby', in case you want to know.)

Anyway, this post is really just serving as a final reminder that a certain small Miss will be drawing names out of a hat sometime after lunchtime today!  So if you are interested but have not 'signed up' with a comment, hop along here before midday today!

The Trouble with Family Get-Togethers and how my Mum's got it all wrong...

There's a nice controversial sounding title, eh?

Sunday, we were cooking lunch for my Mum, Dad and brother (my poor sister was hard at it organising her company's annual 'do' and awards ceremony, so couldn't be with us sadly).   

Coq au Vin was on the menu, which nearly resulted in a call to the Hampshire Fire Brigade...

...when Mr U-t-B's hand 'slipped' with the brandy, before I set it alight.  Those flames kept going for a full five minutes (well, it felt like that, but may have been a wee bit shorter) whilst I looked on waiting for the cooker hood to melt! I suppose a wet tea towel at the ready might be a good idea next time!

My Mum said she'd bring a pudding, and mentioned meringues, which are Miss U-t-B's absolute favourite.  

I was going to make the 'deconstructed' (ie thrown at a plate) version of trifle that goes down very well and doesn't take too long to make, being merely sliced up Madeira cake (perhaps soused in something alcoholic, though after the brandy incident, I was definitely not going to let Mr U-t-B do that bit!), whipped cream with some lemon curd marbled through and red berries on top.  

But when I noted the bag of milk that was about to go out of date and the huge pile of oranges that had accumulated because Miss U-t-B was going through a phase of eating lots, then stopped (and much as I love them, they do me no good at all), and remembering my dad's fondness for rice pudding, I changed my mind and made 'Vanilla Chilled Risotto' and 'Oranges in Grand Marnier'.  And then because I'd bought all the berries, I tumbled them into a bit of hot syrup so people could have them either with their risotto, or with the meringues.

So, very uncontroversially, the trouble with family get-togethers is this...

Six people for lunch - six bowls of pudding!  Because my Mum, generous and lovely as she is (and a great cook to boot) brought a chocolate tart too (which was as delicious as it looks), and some Bitter Orange Ice-Cream, as well as some meringues!

We did our best, but did not manage to obliterate it all!  Everyone set forth from our house with doggie bags, and we will still be enjoying pudding for the next few days. The trials we suffer...

Here's what I made for my Mum for a present...

 A little, monogrammed lavender cushion with an old, gold brooch, bearing the word 'Mother'. 

Vintage French fabric on the back, and ric-rac edging.

But here's where my Mum got it wrong, because she brought me this...

It was Mother's Day, not daughters! 

Wasn't I lucky - a beautiful tea set for six!

It looks Edwardian to me, so perfect for our house.

Everything is such a pretty shape.

I love the bulbous bits!

The yellow and deep purpley-pink poppies are gorgeous.

Delicate little handles...

The stamp on the back says 'Caulfield &Co - Glasgow and Branches'.  The only reference I can find on the internet suggests Caulfield & Co were a retailer, rather than a manufacturer of china, and that they may have been on Jamaica Street in Glasgow.  

Did you spot the pretty tablecloth too? 

That was also from my Mum a while back.  I actually bought it in a bundle of stuff from the Maltings.  It was about three-quarters done, in the most beautiful stitching, in such vibrant colours.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it justice, finishing it off, as my embroidery of printed designs is not great.  But my Mum kindly offered to finish it off, and I really can't tell which is the original stitching, and which is hers, so she was clearly the lady for the job!

Pretty, pretty, pretty!

Just a little reminder (you know this is how it's going to be all week!) that I'm having a giveaway.  Here's one of the prizes (thanks for the complimentary comments about my little brooch!)

The Tooth Fairy is not dead...

...but alive and well and  living in the north-eastern corner of Hampshire.  She seems to have morphed into a very nice chap who looks an awful lot like my very own husband...

Look what the tooth fairy brought me...

I'd say that's a pretty fair exchange for one wisdom tooth!

The tooth fairy actually brought me this the Saturday before last, the day after the extraction, but I haven't had time to share it so far.  The 'fairy' did 'her' shopping at  The Maltings Market in Farnham, which is also an excellent hunting ground for mere mortals like ourselves.

Can't wait to put some delicate and pretty nibbles on it this weekend!

Spring Cleaning

Sometimes, no inspiration is a blessing.  

With no creative 'get-up-and-go', I have instead done some spring cleaning and sorting.  

The kitchen was awash with china that had been on top of the cupboards.  Ideally it would be in the cupboards, but there's no more room.

 Looks a bit precarious, some of that, but it was all well balanced! 

No china was harmed in the taking of this photograph!

I then had fun laying it all out to inspect.

Johnson Brothers 'Greydawn' - with two different styles of handle. 

 I love this because  it reminds me of helping with the cricket teas when I was young.  My Mum did them for a long while (her tuna and tomato sandwiches were legendary in the cricketing circuit, I believe) and then when I was about ten, and my sister eleven, we took over (but only for the second eleven!)  

On Saturday morning we'd go to the baker's and buy the bread and big boxes of assorted cakes.  There would always be some French Fancies in amongst the cakes, and we'd secretly pray that the players would not eat these, so that we might get a chance when the clearing up was being done.  But needless to say, the French Fancies always got eaten, and this left me with an (almost) insatiable appetite for them! 

(Almost, because years later at university, a friend and I decided to have what we loosely termed a picnic (as we were going to eat it on the lawn in front of our halls of residence) one miserable weekend day when most people had gone home. We went to the local shop and bought what they had that we fancied - a tin of pineapple slices, a tin of rice pudding, a bar of chocolate and a box of French Fancies.  The ensuing 'picnic' made both of feel quite ill and put me off French Fancies for years!)

A 'Gainsborough Pink' jug by Johnson Brothers and a 'Rosedawn' one (I think) plus more 'Greydawn' and a Grindley 'Peach Petal' dessert set that would be perfect for tinned pineapple and rice pudding!

These are Johnson Brothers too - I don't specifically look for it, but it sort of finds me.  They are a bit chipped, but lovely for a bowl of homemade soup (or Heinz Tomato).

This is 'Rosedawn' too, but prettily decorated instead of plain.

In amongst the china were a few old pressed glass vases and this lovely jug...

And then this set of French canisters which I got from a car boot sale last year...

 

As well as a nice old Colman's Mustard tin...

A chintz butter dish (Royal Winton) and a dish (James Kent)...

A Japanes honey pot, which I got in France last year...

And finally, a sweet little lidded pot, which is German.

It's all gone back on top of the cupboard now, but with a promise to get it all out for some slap-up tea parties this summer!

Tea Things Tuesday

...and although mugs are the order of every, ordinary day, I love an excuse to get out a teaset and do a proper high tea.  So when I saw a new stall opposite me at The Maltings on Saturday, laden with china, I was thrilled.  I had a quick peek early in the day, but always try to curb any desire to spend at that point.

But when I spotted this jug on the stall a little later...

...I had to take a closer look.  It wasn't alone - it had friends!  Namely, a sugar bowl, two sandwich plates, five side plates and five cups and saucers.

It is Phoenix Ware by Thomas Forester and Sons.  As it was cheap, I treated myself! 

Saturday's Maltings Market was a little quieter than usual, but this may have been because people were saving themselves for Sunday's 'Vintage'.  I was able to set up on Saturday evening, allowing myself a later than usual start on Sunday.

My stall was between those of 'acorn and will' and 'clothkits'.  It was hard being next to temptation all day, especially as I had been eyeing the lovely brooches Daniella has for sale online for some months.  Decisions, decisions - so many designs and such pretty colours.  In the end I plumped for this one...

Sadly, my photo does not do its apple-green, sage-y loveliness justice - you'll just have to hop over to her website instead!

And on the clothkits stall were some lovely bits of haberdashery - beautiful buttons and Liberty binding.   It would have been rude not to buy a little something...

Eight metres of Edenham binding on a lovely wooden spool, which looks perfect with my little collection of bits and pieces on the mini-drawers in my workroom.

Sunday was a lovely, buzzy day - lots of people in fabulous vintage costumes and a great atmosphere.  It was great to meet new people (both stall holders and buyers) and chat.  There is going to be another 'Vintage' later in the year, so I hope I'll be invited again!

Car booty, two questions and a rainy day giveaway!

After a busy day at Farnham Maltings on Saturday, I thought I'd reward myself and head down to our most local Car Boot Sale yesterday morning.  I went on my own two pins as I was sure I would be coming back empty handed - I've never found much there on previous occasions.  It starts at ten and I was there pretty much on the dot, though I expected that to mean it was already in full swing.  In fact, people were only just unloading, so I had to wander for a while without much to look at .

First I spotted a couple of sweet woollies that might felt up nicely.  Fingers crossed.  Forgot to take photos of those before I popped them in the washing machine!

Then came a Mason's soap dish.

Then I came across a big van being emptied of boxes and boxes of mixed up bits and pieces as well as a larger individual items.  I saw an interesting basket, but decided I couldn't [be bothered to] carry it all the way home, so  moved on to the boxes.  What I really wanted were some vintage teacups to make into teacup candles, as they were very popular on Saturday, and I'm sure they'll be even more so at the Christmas Fairs.  I spotted a couple of cups, but then delved deeper into the box.

First, came a sweet little teapot.

Then the matching milk jug and sugar bowl.

Then the sandwich plate, five tea plates, five cups and six saucers!

And such a bargain too!  

With all that in my foldaway bag, I felt it was time to head for home, but I thought I'd take another look around for lone teacups to turn into candles (the set will stay together, of course).  No such luck, though I did find a small teapot that I intend making a cosy for - nice present I thought...

By the time I walked past the stall where I had acquired the teaset, the basket I had spotted was still there, which I always take as Fate having decided it was meant to go home with me!  So it did!  After all, it would balance me up, with the teaset in one hand and the basket on the other, as I toddled home.

Here it is.

Not yet a beauty, but definite potential!

So here are the questions, which I do hope anyone out there in Blogland who is reading this will answer to help me in my dilemma.

1. Do I leave it as a picnic basket (as it has four place settings inside, all in mint condition) or transform it into a sewing basket?
2. Do I leave it natural or paint it?  (Either way the lid is begging to be lightly padded and covered with some vintage fabric.) 

And because it has been such a miserable morning, I have decided to send a little gift in the direction of one lucky person who either answers my questions in the Comments, or leaves a comment about my car boot finds or becomes a follower (my current followers will also be entered!).  I will draw a name out of a hat next Monday (that'll be the 15th).  Here's what's up for grabs...

...plus one more surprise item!