Only 4 more sleeps......

This Saturday sees our third Vintage Bazaar in Frome, Somerset. There will be tons of dealers selling quality vintage and designers who use vintage fabrics to create stunning items. You can buy the most wonderful and unique Christmas presents and of course its chic recycling! The doors open at 9am and Lizzie and I have been planning for this event for the last 5 months so it promises to be fab. I really hope that you can all come along but if you cant please follow us on our blog http://www.thevintagebazaar.blogspot.com/ 'like' our FB page http://https//www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Vintage-Bazaar/168134483206175 and follow our tweets under VintageBazaar1

Hope to see you all there x

Thanks

The Original Vintage and Handmade Fair

.....is on in Chipping Sodbury tomorrow, Sat 1st October please pop along to see all the wonderful stalls

Celebrations and new arrivals

There has been a new arrival this week at The Darling household, a small, brown eyed Arthur rabbit came to live with us much to the delight of the children (and resigned sign from Mr D!). So far they have been very good and stayed true to their promises of cleaning and pettting duties but I realise it has just been a week and things may change as the weather becomes colder! As well as a new arrival we have had my mums 70th birthday tea party. Is was a super turn out with over 70 family and friends coming from Switzerland, Ireland and the Isle of Man to raise a glass at the village hall (bedecked with 100m of handmade bunting....needless to say me and my sewing machine never want to see bunting again!!). Another exciting event was seeing my embroidered bunnies in 'Handmade Living' magazine which had a wonderful article on The Original Vintage and Handmade Fair and lastly Mr Darling and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary so all in all its been a busy couple of weeks. The summer holidays are well and truly here and its been great to really enjoy being together as a family and remember what life should be like when you're not up till the wee hours planning and marking I've even started on a few new projects based around the theme of Thumbelina using canvas, embroidery and vintage bits. Liz and I are also busy preparing for the next 'Vintage Bazaar' on 29th Oct and we are planning something exciting for next year...more of that another time.........

This Week (couple of months!) I 'Ave Been Mostly.....

...continuing my obsession with feedsack fabrics and patchwork,

having a go at making a quilt for little ones birthday with the help of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbTHlGGKMPM,

drinking tea with my 'grown-up' girl, being a proud mum at my 'grown-up' girl's cushion making here http://milliemoonshop.co.uk/,

making a dress for little one, going to the fairground at Nanny's

and lastly ( but not leastly! ) attending the wonderful Vintage Fashion and Textile Fair in Chipping Sodbury (pictures to follow....)

oh and yet again managing to mess up the spacings in my blog posting!!

What a Day!

Thank you so much to all our lovely stallholders who put on the most delectable show so far! The Cheese and Grain was transformed on Saturday thanks to everyones hard work and preparation. A really special 'thanks' goes to Michael who helped out on the front desk while Mr D was wrestling a small child! and to Trixie who rented him out to us!! Do look at our dedicated blog http://www.thevintagebazaar.blogspot.com/ for more details and pictures. If you didn't make it this time the next date for your diaries is Sat 29th Oct....I'll leave you with some pictures to drool over.

ooooh! I say look whats coming to the fair!

'The Vintage Bazaar' is fast approaching so here is a naughty peep at some of the delights that will be on my stall! Hope to see you all there this Saturday from 9-3pm at The Cheese and Grain in Frome where there will be a hall full of wonderful vintage yumminess!

This weekend has been wonderful. Yesterday I had my stall at the original vintage and handmade fair in Chipping Sodbury and got to see lots of my lovely and talented friends. The day started with the usual panic about what I'd brought and what I'd left behind and trying to arrange the table. I had done a test run at home this time as I had more stock and photographed it but when I got there I couldn't quite get it right! My eldest was a big help carrying things in from the car and helping to set up...I may have to start paying her before too long! I even left her in charge (much to her delight!) while I nipped to get some much needed caffeine from the kitchen only to come back and find her selling a hat! Jayne And Michele did a wonderful job and there were plenty of delightful things for sale from everyone. It's always such a great day because not only do I get to make some pocket money but I get to see and chat to some fab people who are interested and excited by all the same things I am! There are just too many highlights so I'll let the pictures do the talking ( some thanks to the loveeerrly Woo).

Step Back in Time

This weekend we ventured down to Ilminster in Somerset for the Talent for Textiles event. We haven't been there before despite hearing very good things about it so we thought we'd make a day of it. The fair itself was superb with a select number of quality stalls inside the Arts Centre. There were some familiar names there like my partner in crime Liz with her wonderful fabrics and clothes plus the lovely Donna and her glamorous mum with their tempting fat quarters, ribbons and fabric. Before I arrived Liz and Donna had found some fabulous finds including some curtain panels designed by Hockney for Celia Birtwell! I found a stunning dark teal 20's dress in wonderful condition which I'll be taking to the Vintage Bazaar. After the fun of the fair we walked down into the town and visited the toy shop and sweet shop much to the delight of the little 'Darlings'. The town is a real step back in time with 'real' shops..the butcher, the bookshop,the sweet shop but best of all was when we saw R.A Dyers a traditional drapers complete with the best examples of shop fittings I have ever seen! They have recently launced a website so do have a peep! http://www.dyersofilminster.com/history.html I have to admit to being quite overwhelmed by it all and asked the manageress if I could take some pictures, she was very sweet and said I could. The place was crammed with history and I imagine that it must have been very similar to the shop my Nana and Grandpa owned many years ago. Mr D also saw a bookshop up for sale so we both dreamt about moving there..me running the gorgeous Dyers and Mr D becoming a bit like Bernard from 'Black Books' drinking too much wine and being abusive to the customers!!

Smile!

This weekend we all went to Frome to heavily publicise 'The Vintage Bazaar' by putting our lovely postcards in numerous shops and cafes. Whenever we're there we make a beeline for the shops on Catherine Hill and today was no exception, popping into Marmalade Yarns to see Maxine http://www.marmaladeyarns.co.uk/, Poot (obviously) and Millie Moon http://milliemoonshop.co.uk/ to drop off plenty of flyers. It was lovely to hear that last time the Bazaar was on the shops up Catherine hill were really busy with new customers. Its so important that these sort of independant shops thrive in todays society where we tend to favour the 'big' names! While we were there there we also visited a wonderful exhibition called 'Smile' at The Black Swan Gallery ( http://www.blackswan.org.uk/exhibitions_black_swan_arts_Detail.php?SMILE-16) where we were lucky enough to see work by several artists including the wonderful Julie Arkell. One of my favourites was poor Stanley and his rabbit girls, i dont know what hes done but they're clearly not happy with him!! It is a touring exhibition and features some truly inspiring work so if it comes to a town near you..........