Vintage Finds From The Fair

Last Saturday was the day of the 5th Northampton Vintage Fair and we had a lovely day. I have spent the last few days recovering and trying to put stock away. Of course I didn't come home empty handed. The four pretty glasses have already been put to good use, I found them on Lesley's stall. Lesley is also the lady who makes the famous lemon drizzle cake and runs the tea room. I always use vintage glasses at home because they are usually prettier and more delicate than modern ones and I just enjoy using them.

This is a gorgeous piece of bark cloth I spotted on Jen's lovely stall.

Mr C found us this lovely floral Vernon Ward to add to our collection. This came from Wend of Ticking Stripes.

Sorry about the camera flash on this one. The picture came from Vicki of Ticklepenny Vintage. Mr C has just re-painted the frame in a chalk white Annie Sloan paint.

As usual there were a wonderful array of stalls with many of our regular and popular sellers. Return visitors included Karen of Tilly Rose, Jo from Hesta Nesta, Sharon of Shabby Polka Dots, Debbie from Lalabibaby, Wend of Ticking Stripes, Amy from Blighty Boutique, Deb of Vintage Wants as well as other more local and new sellers.

I will let the pictures do the talking.

You will find more on the Northampton Vintage Fair blog, as well as on other lovely blogs such as Karen's of Tilly Rose.

As well as being surrounded by vintage lovelies the best thing for me about the fair is the friendliness of sellers and customers alike. It is lovely to catch up and chat with people who have now become friends.

We now have to start preparing for the next fair which we are holding in a new venue for us in the pretty town of Olney on 9th July. Hopefully some of you will pop along then to say hello.

Northampton Vintage Fair 21st May

Saturday is fast approaching and last minute preparations are being made. Life is pretty hectic at the moment and finding time to even sort out stock to take to the fair has been tricky. However it is starting to come together with a little pile of sorted and priced stock forming on my landing. I am really looking forward to catching up with everyone again sellers and customers alike. Hopefully the rain will stay away although it's pretty miserable looking out of the window at the moment.

Mr C has been busy transforming this mannequin we found at the tip shop some months ago. He started by painting the base and top in Farrow and Ball paint.

He has then covered it in pieces of vintage adverts taken from 1940s copies of Punch magazine. I bought a job lot some time ago and they are full of great adverts. It has been a long and painstaking process but the end result is really good. I am trying to convince him that as he has made such a good job of this one he should make a start on the female mannequin we bought at the same time. This chap will be coming with us to the fair on Saturday.

Mr C found me a pile of blue utility ware this week. I found a box full of green Beryl Woods Ware in a charity shop a few weeks ago too. This is just some of it as there is still more of the green in the dishwasher as I am writing this.

I will be sorting this in to sets and bringing some along to the fair on Saturday.

Anyway if you are not too far from Northampton , please pop along to the fair on saturday, we would love to see you.

The Winslow Handmade and Vintage Fair

On Sunday we were up early and packed the car to go to The Winslow Handmade and Vintage Fair. After a very wet night we weren't sure what the weather had in store for us, but apart from some strong gusts of wind the rain stayed away.The fair was held on the pretty market square and had a lovely vibrant atmosphere. Hayley from Vintage Scoops in her vintage ice cream van did a roaring trade. The Sasparillas entertained us with some great 1940s tunes.

All of the lovely little shops around the market square were open for business. This one seemed particularly popular with young and old alike.

Our stall was on on the corner of the market right next to the musicians which was great.

Our new vintage bunting got it's first public airing.

Mr C and I had a lovely day and met lots of nice people. It was great to catch up with Sharon from Clover Cottage who was having a day out as well as Lindsey from Elsie Sparrow who was selling two stalls along from us. There were yummy cup cakes on offer as well as some very nice alcoholic ginger beer that went down a treat in the sunshine.

Lisa from Polka Dot Gallery along with her friends did a great job of organising a really enjoyable event.

Last week I found this really pretty vintage Suffolk Puff or Yo Yo bedspread.

I am guessing it may date to the 1930s and is made from beautiful pastel coloured rayon type fabric.

It is a very large single and backed on to pink fabric.

It is in amazing condition and must have taken hours to make. Sadly I really can't keep it as I have an ever growing collection of eiderdowns and bedspreads so I think it will be destined for our little area at Brackley Antiques Cellar.

Cambridge From The River

At the weekend I had a wonderful day out to Cambridge with my mum and my lovely girl. The weather was just perfect and Cambridge looked beautiful. We decided to take a tour of the college backs on a punt on the River Cam. This the famous Bridge of Sighs.

This is the historic St John's College which was used for famous scenes in the Harry Potter films.

Clematis and roses tumbled over many of the historic walls.

The views of the colleges are really breathtaking from the river. Drifting along in the sunshine in a punt is just the perfect way to sight see.

The colleges are grand and imposing and each have their own distinct character.

We also explored on foot and enjoyed a pitcher of Pimms in the famous and ancient Eagle pub.

We went in to Queens College and admired the varied range of architectural styles.

Inside the Old Hall there were magnificent stained glass windows and vibrant Arts and Crafts painted walls and ceiling. The tiles around the fireplace are by Morris,Marshall,Faulkner and Co. and Ford Maddox Brown.

The reds and greens were beautiful and impossible to capture properly on a photo.

Kings College is magnificent especially with a bright blue sky as a back drop.

We had a wonderful day and of course managed to fit in a little bit of shopping too. Cambridge has a lively market and great shops including a large Cath Kidston where we had a little browse.