Forties Fun

Oh the weekend, didn't that pass by in a flash?  It's not to say it wasn't one to remember, however.  It certainly had a 1940's theme which is always a good place to start in my book.

Saturday saw an early start, packing up my wares and heading to Stag and Bow (fast feeling like my second home!) to welcome those eager to make felt posies, just as they did back in the '40s.   I took many of both my vintage and my own handmade items to hopefully inspire those attending.

I can't really think of a nicer to way to while away a Saturday morning!

I think the lovely ladies certainly got the hang of it.

Sunday saw us as a family getting ready for a bit of a jolly.  Off into the Sussex countryside we went.  It was a bit of a mixed day and we were glad of the good sunny spells which broke through.  The Bluebell Railway is set deep in the countryside and the drive through the winding lanes is rather beautiful at this time of year.

We arrived to find the station bustling with activity.  The ladies had been busy baking and brewing up and Mr HenHouse thought he'd better make the most of it with a cup of rosy lee.

Many people had got into the spirit of the era, whether in military or civilian clothing.  It always makes for a good atmosphere.

Horsted Keynes is a particularly well preserved station and has featured in many well known films and television programmes.  It makes a stunning backdrop to this event and the railway also used period correct engines and coaches.

This lady looked rather splendid in the jumper she had hand knitted from a vintage pattern.

The station is home to a fabulous collection of enamelled signs and poster art.

On the platforms, there were some interesting and informative displays.  You often see them at the various 1940's events but this was a new one to us and this lady from the WVS was suggesting ways to save fuel at home, particularly in the kitchen.  She showed us how to cook one pot meals and even how to keep food warm in front of the coal fire in a warmer made from an old biscuit tin.  Here, she is showing how you could keep a "carried meal" (a packed lunch) warm by placing it in a pot in a gas mask box (once the threat of gas attacks had passed), surrounded with hay and with a pillow of rags on top.

She had come in her vintage car which dates to 1936 and I do love it when people bring along ephemera from the era.

The Munchkin was drawn to this noisy piece of equipment!

Next door, we could see the sort of conditions of the time people would have experienced when the air raid warning siren did go off.  (Nice eidys!)  I love all the original bits and pieces you can see in these displays.

One element of this event which could be improved is the lack of vintage merchandise for sale.  There is virtually none of this which is a shame as the railway frequently holds toy and train collector fairs.  For folks like us, the chance to browse and maybe buy vintage treasures is a big part of the day.  Come on Bluebell Railway!

We took a picnic with us, in our vintage picnic hamper, and after a few obligatory sandwiches, out came the cream tea.  Yummy!  (Very good scones, using Paul Hollywood's recipe from the BBC Good Food website, for the first time.)

We had a rest and did a spot of vintage reading.  My wartime sewing book extolled the virtues of patchwork...

...and Mr HenHouse had his own reading matter. (I'm not convinced he'd necessarily agree with the sentiment!)

Master Munchkin seemed to turn into a 1940's Dr Dolittle.  First he found the station cat...

...then it was the spaniels (he loves this breed of dog).

We listened awhile to the entertainment.

But they couldn't hope to compete with the spectacle of the Spitfire overhead (though it wasn't actually one from the Second World War).

Phew, it was a lovely day but it's always nice to head for home, don't you agree?  Especially in style. 

My love affair with the fabulous Forties continued when the postie rang the bell this morning, (he was not wearing a period correct brown jacket and tie, I'm sorry to say,) and delivered my latest find. A most treasured original 1940's posy necklace.

LOVE.

Have a super week. XXX

Busy Bee

Hello readers.  I hope you enjoyed a restful/fun filled/generally brilliant weekend.  So great to see the sunshine appear here in Blighty!  Well, I don't know about you, but for me it's been a busy old week.  Some of you asked to see my quilts on display in the window of Stag and Bow, so here you go.  So nice for me to see them there!  I think they look good with the new lettering on the window and have apparently attracted a lot of attention.

Tuesday night was week one of my Patchwork and Quilting course.  5 lovely ladies arrived at Stag and Bow to learn P&Q from scratch.

They are a lovely lot and all seemed keen and enjoyed themselves, starting on their own quilt.

We selected fabrics and laid them out, learned how to organise our rows and finally, start chain-piecing them, before pressing.

I can't wait for next week, here's hoping they feel the same, when my ladies start learning to make a sandwich, of the quilty variety, and make a start on quilting.

We nipped off to the West Country on Saturday morning, just in time to catch the brass band playing and have a good mooch round the shops.  A visit to Girl's Own Store was a must, of course.

On Sunday, we had a fabby time at the giant flea market at Shepton Mallet.  We arrived early and were rewarded with lots of treasures.  We rewarded ourselves with a cream tea back at the cottage in the afternoon.  The drinking glasses, large plate and book were all very cheap loot found this weekend, easily costing less than a fiver for the lot.  I love thrifting!

Talking of cake, I whipped up a giant sponge for crafty Wednesday morning at Stag and Bow yesterday.  My waistline is not going to forgive me all these indulgences, I fear.  (I found the green fabrics at Sunday's flea market so wasted no time incorporating them into my hexy patchwork.)

I grabbed up my ever-increasing hexy project to work on.  I started this intending it to be a sewing machine cover but have since decided I don't want to use it for that after all (what would happen when I bought a new machine and it needed a new cover?  All that work wasted.)  So, I'm just carrying on.  So far, I have managed to keep all the hexagons different and they are all vintage fabric, mainly 1930-1950.  As I get new ones, I add a hexy to my pile to incorporate into what I suppose is becoming a small quilt or throw.  I will just keep going and work on it every now and then when I have the time or the urge.  I love that it's a sort of archive of my vintage fabrics.

A few new (old) fabrics arrived yesterday, and the sunshine and emerging flowers outdoors, prompted me to have a little rearrangement of my Bagpuss table to inspire my Spring-time making.

Talking of making, last week was spent concentrating on these...

Yes, it was back to posies, lots of them, 1940's style.  These were so popular during the Second World War because real flowers were not readily available and equally, it was very difficult to buy jewellery as metals were being used in the war effort.  Enterprising ladies, with the help of the magazines of the day, were encouraged to make these posy brooches using felt, which was unrationed, to cheer up their outfits, which were becoming somewhat jaded with the clothes rationing in place.  I worked on some new designs, working to original patterns or drafting my own patterns based on original posy brooches in my collection.  Sometimes, I tweak the patterns as some of them make up into huge-sized posies, and the felt we have available today is nowhere near as thick as that used in wartime, so the flowers often need extra help to keep their shape.

 
I trundled off to Stag and Bow to take my wares for a window display.

I think they look cute on this gorgeous green knitted top. The shop sells yarn and knitted this one up as a sample.

This frame was from the £1 shop and I painted it green, as you can see, and inserted a padded, vintage fabric covered board to allow me to pin my brooches to it.  An easy and cheap make over which looks a million times better than the tacky original!

So, this Saturday is the first posy-making workshop at Stag and Bow.  Do you fancy it?  Stag and Bow is a gorgeous shop with lovely owners (you can read about it in a past blog post here), located in Forest Hill which is less than a 15 minute rail journey from London and then literally a two minute walk across the road from the station.  We'd love to see you there, there are a couple of spaces left, starting at 9am (until 12) on Saturday, the workshop costs a bargainous £38 (all materials provided).  The tea and biscuits will be out so we'll have a good old natter and of course, you'll be able to go away with your own posies and some new skills.  Just ring the shop if you are interested.

Enjoy the rest of the week... Xxx

Catching Up

Hello readers, and how are things with you today?  Let's be English, and discuss the weather.  It's improved, hasn't it?  I for one, am very glad for that.  It's been good to be able to step out in skirts and pumps.  Today, I'm sharing (mainly) recent Instagram shots for all you non-IG'ers out there.

  

So it's been off with all the woollies and getting reacquainted with all those pretty Summery frocks, instead.

I missed three weeks of crafty Wednesday mornings whilst I was away so off I trotted on Wednesday, eager to catch up on all the news.  I wasn't very organised so I grabbed my trusty hexys to take.  It is really growing now, I say "it" because I'm not sure what I'm really making.  I think I will just keep going, it can be a long-term project.  So far, I've managed to keep all the hexys different and every time I get new vintage fabric, I chop a bit off for the hexy pile.

Stag and Bow ,where the open crafty morning is held, was looking lovely as always, and I was really pleased to see the new workshop timetable in print, with one of my 1940's style posies on the front cover.  Bookings are now being taken for all workshops, including those I'm teaching (which are Patchwork and Quilting, 1940's Posies and English Paper Piecing).  Come, come do, we'll have the best time together; crafting, munching and nattering!

Pascale always comes up with lovely window displays and I was particularly taken with this one, with its 1940's CC41 chair and giant biscuit cushions.  I think I'd be forever hungry!

In preparation for my posies course, I'm working hard on reproducing lots of 1940's posy designs, whether from original patterns or original pieces in my collection.  Last week, harebells.

Taking it rather more easy, have been the furry friends.  Charlie Boy is not yet too bothered by the increase in temperature and his new favourite spot is the thrifty vintage hearth rug.

Jacky Ginge has wanted company and squeezed himself onto the chair in my Den.

Oh yes, I sorted out my stack of English paper pieced star blocks and added those which I made on holiday.  This is a hand sewing project so I tend only to work on it when we're away.  As such, it's very slow progress.  I think I now have over twenty blocks.  Each one takes a day to make from start to finish.  Ooh, I do love a bit of fussy cutting.

It hasn't all been hard crafty slog (it's a hard job but somebody's got to do it!), there has been cake making (and eating) and lots of reading.

Cherry Menlove's new book is an absolute delight.

As is Sarah Moore's.  Serious eye candy.

I started re-reading through lots of my vintage magazines, too.  Mr HenHouse picked these up for me at a flea market.  Oh, weren't those ladies of 1944 so very glamorous, despite the hard times they were living through?  (A fave CC41 pinny in the background.)

One very exciting thing was the start of the car boot sale season, yipeeeee!  We didn't manage to get up very early (I blame jet lag) but there were still the odd thrifty treasures to be found.  Can't wait to make over this one, though I've given the paintwork a good clean and will be keeping the delightful primrose paint and cute transfers.  I can concentrate on the bedding, my favourite bit.

More china and bakelite.  How could I leave them behind?  The pink bakelite pot with the crinoline lady lid came full of the cutest pink and blue hair curlers.  All for £1.  I think my favourite find was the dinky green floral-painted egg cup, though.

On Friday, I had the arduous task of considering which of my quilts Pascale might like to borrow to go into the window at Stag and Bow to promote the upcoming Patchwork and Quilting course.  Hmmm...

I finally finished the scrappy tripalong by sewing on its name patch at crafty social Friday night (another fab free event at Stag and Bow).

And finally, the sun shone on Saturday, making the decision as regards what to wear for our outing, all the more difficult.  Vintage it needed to be...

We left the car at home and let the train take the strain as we headed for Brighton and a fair dedicated to these beauties...

We didn't need another jukebox but they were fabulous to look at.  We could, of course, consider all the other vintage delights on offer, from homewares to clothes to records.

Me?  I came home with a 1930's green biscuit barrel and a 1950's frock with blue roses and a fabby spiky neckline!  It is dead stock, I can't believe I am the first person to wear this beauty, sixty years on.  

After a few glasses of wine, the twirling commenced (I'm wearing a vintage '50s net petticoat underneath).  They don't make 'em like they used to!

Here's to another good week for one and all.  Xxx