Treasures from the auction.

So on Tuesday of last week I went off to an auction.

I must say I really enjoy them even if I don't buy anything.

As usual, being English, I had my flask of tea

and some fruit to eat.

Sometimes I can be there for 4 hours !

The auction house was full to overflowing but I eventually 

managed to get a seat.

The auction was from a big house in Paimpol which is on the 

north coast of Brittany.

There were many lovely things but because there were

so many dealers there from different areas

prices were high and I know my limits

unless I really fall heavily in love

with something.

The first thing I bought were five old chairs - I especially loved the first of the small
ones and was told by one of my French friends that it's in the style of
Napoleon 3rd.

I really like the old style chairs, I know plastic ones are practical but they just don't
do it for me.

On the chair below you will see a rusty old safe box which came home with me complete
with 3 beautiful keys. It wasn't the box that I wanted but what was inside ……...

Yes, these beauties were there and I don't think they'd ever been used.
The following day, with trepidation, I laid them out on the little table that I'd also
bought.

All the numbers there and I thought all the alphabet but the W is missing !
I think however that I can make a W using the V twice.

I am in love with them and am so looking forward to trying the letters out on some
lovely old linen.
As well as the letters there were quite a lot of old hand made brass nails - they are beautiful.

Then finally this large basket, I have two already.
They are lovely and I will use this one to store all the things that my two grand daughters
will want to play with when they come on holiday, much nicer than a plastic storage
box and much more exciting  to look at.

It was a long day and  I have to say I was very tired when I got home but very happy.
It was lovely on the following sunny day to set out the chairs as if we were having
a tea party. Needless to say Pie decided to try out each chair in turn.
Always the princess !!

"Emma" and I at the textile fair.

I must explain that "Emma" is my very old mannequin.

She's called Emma because I bought her in

Emmaus - a French charity shop.

I absolutely LOVE her and she normally stands

in the lounge and she occasionally gets

a change of clothes.

So below you see her in her glory at

the textile fair.

She's wearing a gorgeous indigo dyed apron

over a lovely old frilly white shirt.

Over her shoulder is one of my handmade bags.

When I could I had a walk around the fair and took some photographs.

I know many of you will enjoy looking at them.

I just loved these old pieces of quilt - the design and the colour  - but at 50€ for a small piece
they had to stay on the stand.

Above is a very old example of a man's Breton jacket.
Black and white was always the tradition.

Some lovely old French sewing magazines - again I resisted.

These little boxes of laundry labels are great but could I find my initials - no ?!
Maybe another day I'll find them.

This adorable dolls wardrobe from the 1940's is on my stand. For sale in almost perfect
order for 30€ if anyone out there wants to buy it.

A constant favourite of mine, and many others - torchons ( tea towels ) in linen.
They make lovely cushion covers and even very small curtains.

Finally some real cuteness - this is one of four tiny sewing machines that a friend of mine
was selling. Two of them even ran on electricity !

I enjoyed the fair very much, always a very long tiring day but shared with many people with
like passions.
I came home with some profit ( I'm off to an auction today !! ) - two lovely samplers, simple
alphabets stitched in red on cream linen, two rolls of very old grey ribbon and two old red and cream
quilts.

Happy, happy day.

Grand Textile Fair and my new creations.

Every May there is a big textile fair in Pontivy, a town not far from Kerjacob.

I love this fair and always look forward to it.

Before hand it means a lot of work for me but

because I love textiles its not a chore.

I've been collecting and selling vintage textiles for some 

years now.

This year I'll be selling beautiful old linens,

indigo dyed vintage clothes and my new

cushions.

When I say new cushions, they are all made from vintage textiles and all sewn by hand.
In some I've dyed the fabric and also printed onto some of them.

Yesterday as we had sunshine I did my own little photo shoot outside in
our garden.

I couldn't resist making the one above with the lovely prints of the cats.
The little cat at the bottom waiting for its milk is very like Pie .

Sometimes when I buy old linen sheets they are a bit worn but the monograms are in perfect
condition - too good not to be used.
So the two below have been dyed in indigo and stitched onto chanvre which I've also dyed.
So they'll be going off to the fair to maybe be bought by people who have those initials.

The cushion below is made of linen and chanvre.

I've printed the butterflies onto linen and then sewn them onto

individual strips of old linen.

Time consuming but made with love.

Then there are new bags.

Living here in France there are many French people who like to

buy things which are very English.

This small lined bag has an old advert printed onto it.

As usual it is embellished with some of my

large collection of old pearl buttons.

Below are the last two bags I've made.
These are lined in a lighter cream cotton and are made to be worn over the shoulder.
The one below has a sewing theme.

This one is for all you gardeners out there.

I have a few more days to make things but just now I'm going to do some gardening - the sun
is shining and I can sew in the evening .

Hope you've got sunshine today ……..