Turquoise pyrex, vintage wallpaper and collaborative embroidery

There has not been much op shopping action around here of late. Decluttering will do that to a girl, but I must say I was missing having a good ferret. There is nothing better than stumbling across a bundle of Little Golden books that are all new to me, titles I have never found before. Only to be topped by four rolls of this amazing blue vintage wallpaper and some turquoise pyrex. Oh happy days.

Behind the scenes there has been some crafty action happening at school in preparation for the school fete. A call out for vintage doilies and embroidery talents. This amazing masterpiece is on show in the school foyer ( way beyond my talents I might add but oh so inspiring).

Having never embroidered before I was determined to have a go and trotted out a few simple ones (no I absolutely did not do those incredible birds, just the words). It is actually quite an addictive past time once you get started, I think I managed five in total. They are all going towards some master plan that a bunch of uber creative mums at school are hatching. I for one cannot wait to see the end results on display at the fete, even the junior school are involved with those amazing stitched hearts above.

And look what just appeared on the oval, now we have the doily tree sharing company with  the crochet tree  from last year. And it is so exciting to rock up to school and see all the new creative contributions being deposited daily at the office.

Goodness, I think Fete fever is starting to take hold. Now I just need to try and behave myself at the Trash and Treasure....

Friends in Far Flung places

I think I have mentioned before that there is nothing like a good declutter to bring out the forces of goodness and goodies. And there has been some serious sorting and selling going on over here, even a few vintage sheets have been sent on their way. Months ago I fell in love with  some retro inspired goodies created by Handmade by Alice Apple and soon after, that cute little sausage dog arrived along side a little shopping bag of goods for miss Liongirl to stock in her cafe.

Recently, Alice had a giveaway and I was lucky enough to be the winner. How exciting to have that pink stripy parcel turn up at Betsy's front door last week. And inside,  these marvellous postcard creations that she has just released. If you haven't been over to her Shop , take a peek, I for one am now seriously coveting those fridge magnets.

And because it was a week of parcels arriving, a very thoughtful package arrived for Roboboy as well. Lovely Kylie from Lucy Violet Vintage sent him some wonderful bird tea towels tucked inside this super cute tea towel bag which I have completely snaffled.

The tea towels were right up his alley too, birds and rain forests, how did you know Kylie?

And obviously because we have been taking bags of stuff away  for the school fete, it would then be the trifecta of goodies coming our way. So, remember recently when I lamented the lack of turquoise pyrex around the traps? Specifically, that missing little turquoise ramekin? Well, would you believe that lovely  Karlyn from Rosa's Room had that exact turquoise ramekin, all by itself, with no friends? And she, like me, really wanted it to be united with the rest of its family.

Sigh. Can you see how happy it is now? Perhaps that's just me, as I get to gaze on this glorious colour combo all day. So, on that lovely note, I thought I would ask you all, what is your turquoise ramekin? What lovely vintage item are you missing from your collection, what would you break into a sweat for if you spotted it in someone else's hand at the oppie? Do share, and you never know, I might have one to send your way as the big cleanout continues over here. Or perhaps someone else reading may have that elusive piece of pyrex or milk glass you are after. ( I'm envisioning little parcels of coveted goodies zooming all over the place). Anyway, I'm off to do some more packing, and sorting and packing......

Frock up Brisbane Fair

What a splendid thing it is to discover that not only has the sun finally decided to shine after weeks of rain, but there is a vintage fair on this weekend. I had missed this fair the last time it was in town, this time I was determined to go and have a poke around. And my goodness, I was not disappointed.

There were vintage frocks galore and  beautiful hand made bags,

lovely piles of vintage sheets and fabric,

some wonderful kitchenalia, and something very special, can you see it hiding at the back?

Yes, that would be a box set of 1971 Richard Scarry books,

four gorgeous hardcover books,

yep, they absolutely came home to our place. So many new stories to choose from at bedtime.

and these lovely pyrex ramekins came home too ( well the bottom four as I had the top two already). Now just to find the ever elusive turquoise one..... is it just me or is turquoise pyrex as rare as hens teeth?

So while we spend the rest of the weekend choosing our favourite stories, feel free to head over and enjoy the final day of the fair tomorrow. It's called the "Way We Wear Fair" and it's on at the Mt Gravatt Showground from 10-3 or head over to Frock up Brisbane  if you want to know more.

Two more sleeps

It finally feels like Christmas over here at Betsy's. The last of the party parephenalia has been packed away and the ornaments box has been cleaned out and displayed. Christmas styling at our place seems to  involve covering every available horizontal surface with an ever expanding collection of crafted and collected festive goodies.

The Christmas books have been rounded up and read, and re read. I cannot find the vintage prize Christmas themed book recently brought home from the oppie, no doubt stashed somewhere that I thought I would remember.

 The tree is up, every last scratchy frond unfurled and  laden down with ornaments. The kids are too big now for Legoman to lift them both up to do the star, it was Roboboy's turn this year.

I have packed away most of my milk glass now with a renovation looming in the new year, but these new finds were small enough to escape. The little bowl is not like any I  have seen before and another two more of the tiny vases/candle holders to add to my collection. Further proof that Betsy and I do not subscribe to the less is more decorating ethos.

I have hardly been to the oppie in weeks but I can never walk past a lovely old tin (for $1) or vintage pyrex for about the same.

And in an amazing organisational feat, we even made it into town for the lighting of the second largest solar powered tree in the world. One advantage it seems to celebrating without snow and in sweltering humid summer weather.

Now all we have to do is visit Santa, ride the Christmas train, buy a couple of last minute prezzies, and squeeze in some Christmas lights if we have time. And why are we leaving all this to the last minute? Because this week we've all been taking turns surfing the gastro wave instead. Hopefully, with two more sleeps under our belts, we'll be all sorted by the big day.

Gadding About and some Goodies

Well, there has been a bit of a bloggy break over here at Betsy's but it's just because we have been gadding about all over the place. More on that later but first I had to pop back and share my goodies from the Toowoomba opping adventure. This little pile came to the princely sum of $2, a pink pillowcase for Liongirl and a little collection of colourful plastic trays for her to serve up her cakes and cups of tea.

And a few wonderful vintage sheets of course. Mostly from a little oppie that was not on my map. We had just left a fancy Lifeline Emporium with the most amazing range of vintage frocks and we were a little lost and there it was, with a few baskets stuffed full of vintage sheets and some gorgeous vintage baby clothes, must find those to share as well.

The top one is my favourite, who knew that butter yellow, apple green and turquoise were so complimentary?  The pink one is actually  a massive matronly housecoat nightie number but is destined for the chop for miss Liongirl. And the towel at the bottom has already been snaffled  up and hung on the bathroom hook in her spot of course.

Other than that it was a few other fabric finds, some barkcloth,

some Richard Scarry fabric,

and a vintage pillowcase that not long after I found it, was reunited with the matching doona cover from another oppie around the corner. Bizarre. It is a heavy thick cotton, almost like linen, if only I had the sewing skills to turn this into a dress for myself.

And lastly a solitary piece of pyrex, a very unusual limey olive green with a matching lid. Not sure if this is really my colour but it was in perfect condition.

So, how is that for a burst of spring colour? Back soon with the rest of our adventures.

A spot of colour

Well, thank goodness those school holidays have finally arrived. The end of term had left me with a tired,cranky six year old, a  witchy three year old and me, well, I have been alternating between tetchy and snippy with a good deal of meh on the side. This little pile of goodies did slightly improve my mood, pyrex with sunshine yellow spots is just perfection in my mind. And the kids are swooning over those parfait cups with matching dangling spoons. They are now locked in battle over whether to go back to the oppie and get the green one that was missing the spoon, Liongirl is against, Roboboy just wants the full set, spoon optional.
He almost can't sleep at night knowing there is another little dish out there somewhere.

So while I was floundering around feeling tired and cranky, I was trying to think of a pick me up, something to get my mojo back. And then I remembered that a little white wall painting usually helped my mood enormously, and there was certainly still quite a bit of custard to be dealt with. Especially the wall that mocks me while I sit in my white lounge room.

Did I mention that I was tired and cranky? The only downside of painting in this state of mind is that you are highly likely to step into your sugar soap bucket as you come down a ladder to get more paint. As I am prone to leaving full buckets of paint on top of ladders, I just figure it could always have been much worse.

I tend to paint in small sections and do all four coats to completion before I move onto the next area. This allows me to work at night while the kids are asleep and not create too much havoc in the house. Can I just say that while I am sitting on my lounge that wall is no longer mocking me, but it was too dark to take any decent photos. It did however not prevent me from moving everything back and creating a wonderful new spot for our Little Golden book collection.

Not sure when I will be back as we are off on a few little holiday adventures, but I can confirm there will be white wall pics, some gorgeous scenery, flowers galore and hopefully some country op shopping.

Whooping it up in the winter sun

We have been whooping it up over here at Betsy's in the gorgeous winter sunshine. Now that both kids have their Micro scooters we are unstoppable, it has really increased the distances we can travel. Roboboy has not had the balance needed to ride a two wheel scooter but is now just like all his mates. I would highly recommend these scooters to anyone who has a child with coordination or balance issues and even two year olds can ride them. Amazingly, even the wearing of long rainbow skirts  and one armed lamb clutching does not hinder fast scootering either.

Given that the school holidays were a cesspit of disease, the kids have been very busy making up for lost time. There have been intensive collage sessions,

Building of turkey traps that require intensive testing on the unsuspecting toy lambs of little sisters,

and even one afternoon where both kids worked together in a highly unusual display of unified solidarity so as to open their own library. Complete with both fiction and non fiction sections, personalized library cards, scanner, returns chute and borrowing limits. Both the cat and I were entitled to 8 items each and hefty fines were in place for late returns.

Meanwhile I have been finding some sunny sunshine pyrex. I found two of these sunflowery pyrex lids that the kids have pinched and are using as plates,

And to top off the week a pyrex flower pie dish as well.

Despite record cold overnight temperatures of 3 degrees! (this is Brisbane folks, with no heaters or even carpet in our houses it is seriously freezing), that daily dose of sunshine is just perking us all up enormously.

Thrifting with friends

I have managed to convert a few friends to the joys of op shopping and this week, we were out with a map and a plan.  One friend has a very specific list of items she needs for her house, the other seems to have a knack for fossicking out amazing outfits. Neither of them have any interest in pyrex, vintage sheets, milkglass or kitsch salt and pepper shakes but I am training them up in case they go somewhere very adventurous on a day that I am at work.

While my head is in the mode of designing a new kitchen, I could not leave this little hen and chicks salt and pepper set behind. I am very much in love with this fabric too, it came in a scraps pack from the op shop a while back. I think this week would have to be one of my best for finds. For a start there was the vintage duck egg blue chenille.

Backed with a vintage sheet that had unfortunately been used as a painting dropsheet. The horror!. I will unpick this I think and then use this glorious fringed colour on our bed.

I think there were squeals and bouncing up and down when I stumbled across this little beauty. A gorgeous pristine never used brown floral Sheriden vintage sheet set. Amazingly, Zara seemed to find the exact same sheet in the purple tones and in equally pristine condition. Go the synchronized thrifting.

And I couldn't leave this one behind either, although slightly faded it was so so soft, and pink which is vintage sheet gold.

And on my personal wishlist, finally after all this time, some turquoise pyrex. And a set of two nesting bowls at that. These were from my local oppie and I am sure the karmic reward for the two full bags of kids books and clothes that I was dropping off.

There is some more of this wonderfulness but I am falling asleep while I type. Back soon with more goodies, creative kids, accessories for Betsy and a very happy Legoman.

Linking with Sophie for more vintage goodies.