Giveaway#5 Ribbon Bliss winner annoucement..

And the winner is... commentator 24.

Congratulations to Bethany Roberts who requested the Dachshund ribbon.

Thankyou to everyone who commented. Tomorrow I will have a new giveaway so stay tuned!

A beachy Saturday evening at Somerton Park, SA - the best beaches are here..

I don't usually "do" the beach during the day, no matter how hot it is. In fact, the hotter it is, the less likely I will be there during the day as we all have delicate English skin that burns to a crisp despite rashies, boardies and gallons of suncream. Evenings however are another matter. 6 of the 10 kids decided they wanted to go to the beach and they took some initiative and were ready by 3pm. Yes, I endured three hours of asking "when are we leaving". We set off at about 6pm to our local beach, less than 10 minutes away, Somerton Park, South Australia.   It might have been mighty hot inland, but it was beautiful on the beach. (This shot was taken later)

There was lots of splashing and wading, with Pearl floating about like a little mermaid. I swear her legs lost the capacity to walk once they hit the water, she just wanted to be held floating and pulled through the water. Then they were ready to play on the beach.

This little feller of mine has been scared to enter the water on his own up until now.

He looks like a little beach comber in his surfboard shirt and straw hat. His favourite beach activity is throwing pebbles into the water.
Start collecting pebbles..

Until you have a handful..

Wade into the water (he used to stand out of reach of the waves)..

Throw them one by one to see a splash and hear a satisfying "plop".

Who is that under that big straw hat?

Here he is!

 Jeri's just chillin' in the shallows.

While Pearl and Beccy make sand pools and draw in the sand.

Ben and Jeri decide to build a sand castle that turned into a backrest while they built merman tails.

They enlisted Sarah's help

All finished

The sun starts setting so it's back in the water for a final dip and a pose or three.

Time to go.

Goodbye beach, time for icecream!

Another feteful day! #2

What a day of goodies galore!
I'll start going backwards, with a very reasonable selection of binding and buttons from the second church fete I visited.



























I also picked up a vintage green and timber card table and pianola stool. Funny story, I saw a woman right in front of me admire the stool and pick it up. I noticed it was split at the bottom though it had been repaired and I wondered if she knew what it was. I approached her and asked if she had noticed the crack. she got all defensive and huffy, especially when I asked nicely if she was taking it. "I've got my hand on it haven't I" she said. "Do you know what it is?" I said. I figured I could live without it but she might be interested to know. "A stool" she said. "Yes, it is a stool for playing the pianola or pedal organ. It is made higher than a regular stool and the seat slopes a bit so that you can comfortably pedal. She was quite interested and friendly then and thanked me for the info. Honestly I wasn't hounding her to get the stool, but I wondered if she knew what she had. Meanwhile I bought the card table and noticed her trying the stool out. A bit later, I realised she had left it. I think she dicovered that it isn't that comfortable for regular sitting. So I then bought the stool for $7 myself. :) I was very happy as I have an antique pedal organ and no stool.
Button closeups.It is surprisingly hard to find pink vintage buttons and the yellow buttons are beautiful.

I also found these old squeaky toys. We had a poodle just like that one when we were growing up. Do you remember when squeaky vinyl toys were for babies, not dogs? The smell, chewiness and taste of them is embedded into my childhood memories. I'm not sure I would be handing these out as toys to babies to chew, who knows how safe the chemicals in them actually are but my kids have had a ball with these since I brought them home. The squeakers all work well. I mean REALLY well. My ears are still ringing lol. I will pop them up on a shelf somewhere later. I particularly love the elephant and the little boy.

I had to show those first as they are dwarfed by the first find of the day. Another old church fete.
This string bag is stretched to the max!

I selected just a few pretties from the bulging fabric boxes. Yes, I think I have more than enough fabric. Or more than enough for my storage space but here were a few I couldn't resist. Like 80s Laura Ashley chintz and samples.

And there were these strange stacks of triangular shaped fabric patches pinned together in layers. Some of the layers were such pretty old flannels. On the top was one of these quilted shapes made up. I asked the ladies what they were for. Apparently,  a little old lady brought all these things in and said that they were for making your shoes smell sweet. You would sprinkle lavender oil on them and pop them into your shoes to deodorise them. "For the person that had everything" one of the stall ladies quipped.

And a few bits that just jumped into the bag. I love the lillies of the valley scrap.

And then there were the embroidery threads. I only have a very humble selection. Or at least I USED to have a very humble selection.I need a way to organise all this flossy goodness. Many of them are on handmade repurposed cards. Two on the left are from invitations to the "1962 Debutantes and Belle of the year Ball" as well as another made with an invitation to "His Excellency Governer....". Such interesting provenance. (Learned that word on Antiques Roadshow ;) hahaha )

Then there's the bag full of bias binding, pretty braid, ribbons and lace.

More ricrac than you can poke a stick at:

And last but not least, laces and pompoms. Mostly garden variety but including some gems. The embroidered pompom braid is lovely.

I also picked up some clothing, near new $1 silver sandals for Sarah which were urgently needed and bags, tray, towel rack and mirror for my market stall, odds and ends and a few sweet vintage books.

I nearly forgot these pretty bits and pieces for some upcycled crafting from the make an offer basket. My favourite is the vintage floral deco plastic buckle.

Oh, and a $4 ORANGE CAKE can't wait to try it! (Just had some, it is delicious! Just as I'd hoped)

Phew!   That's all.