My Special Stanley Calendar

I am afraid I have been rather absent from blogland recently but the weeks seem to fly by and I don't spend so much time at my computer in the summer months. I guess now the days are getting shorter I will be spending more cosy evenings indoors catching up with my favourite blogs.

When I was Edinburgh a few weeks ago I popped in to the gorgeous Cath Kidston shop. To my amazement I spotted this sweet dog treats tin and packs of playing cards with this lovely image of 'Stanley' on the front. Nothing unusual in that I guess you are thinking. However a couple of years ago I acquired some gorgeous 1940s ex-shop stock calendars with this lovely terrier picture on them. I sold a few through my Etsy shop and at my unit at the Brackley Antique Cellar. Of course I kept one or two aside for myself and have had one on display since I bought them. Around 18 months ago I sold one from my Etsy shop to Cath Kidston headquarters in london. I thought that one day it might pop up in a picture of a room setting in the magazine or as a display piece in a shop. Anyway I had totally forgotten about it until I walked in to the shop in Edinburgh and there it was on the shelf. It is currently on the website as one of 'Cath's Favourites'.I have to say the original image on the calendar is far lovelier than the reproduction but I couldn't resist bringing the tin home with me.

A few weeks back was the Northampton Vintage Fair which was great fun and very well attended. I treated myself to these little dogs from one of our lovely new sellers , Bryony. She will be joining us again on Saturday at Olney and at Market Harborough in November.

I couldn't resist this lovely cushion from Vicky of 'Vicky Loves Vintage' another of our regular sellers.

This pretty rose print was another recent purchase from Suzette who has a beautiful stall selling mainly her hand made items under the name of 'Hearts n Kisses'.

I have had a few lucky boot sale finds although nothing like the amount in previous years.I was really pleased with this enormous pile of vintage fabrics and curtains I found at a recent boot sale. It includes bark cloth, Sanderson linens, and lots of floral fabrics.

This is a large piece of screen printed Sanderson fabric which is beautiful and very unusual.

I love this sunflower bark cloth and pretty 50s apron.

There are three different vintage Sanderson floral linens, my favourite is the gold coloured one on the top.

These 'atomic' 50s curtains are not really my taste but still pretty amazing. I am no expert but they remind me of a lot of the Eames era designs.

And last but not least this enormous vintage Girl Guide/Scout camp blanket. The actual wool blanket has a label dating it to the 1940s. The badges sewn on to the blanket date it from the 1960s onwards. It has a hole in the middle which has been bound to create a poncho to wear whilst sitting around the camp fire. Definitely another Cath Kidston original I would say.

Saturday is the second Vintage Fair to be held in Olney and there are going to be some wonderful sellers attending. Unfortunately I will have to miss this one as I am in Leeds with my lovely girl at another Uni open day. Mr C will be there as usual, hopefully keeping everything under control without me flapping around panicking about something going wrong.

I will be back next week with news of a very special giveaway.