All The Leaves Are Brown....

Paisley Print Maxi (Scope £5.95) 1970's shirred sleeve blouse (Car Boot 10p) Black suede ankle boots (Car Boot sale 50p) Vintage scarf (The lovely Alex)

...and the sky isn't grey, but rather chilly round these parts and feeling distinctly Autumnal so the long sleeves have made an early appearance.

Our blackberries are ripe and ready for the picking and Jacob's starting to sleep a lot more.

My pet tortoise, Jacob, now in his 34th year.

I'm hoping for an Indian Summer so we can use our latest acquistion for some countryside picnics.

We bought this fab Fortnum & Mason wicker hamper £2 from a car boot sale on Saturday morning

This vintage pendant has been waiting for an Autumnal outing

Going, Going, Gone!

1970's California Maxi (£5 from a Mind Charity Shop), 1950's navy raffia handbag (50p from Saturday's Church Jumble sale), Earrings (Pressie from Cheryl)

This was last night's outfit. Our friends, Liz and Al, were holding their annual Elderflower Champagne soirée at their beautifully restored toll keeper's cottage and we stood by the fire pit under the stars, shivering until the early hours with a banging rock soundtrack and delicious platters of homemade vegetable curry. Needless to say neither of us were up for Bank Holiday car boot sale antics this morning.

Whilst perusing the local paper over elevenses I spotted an advert for a Bank Holiday charity auction at a nearby church hall and as viewing didn't start until 1pm we decided to go and take a look. 

We paid 30p for a programme, inspected the goods on display in the auction room and marked off the lots we were interested in. Bidding kicked off at 2pm, Jon took charge of waving his arm at the auctioneer and here's what we snaffled:

A Venus dressmaker's dummy for £1. Can you spot the film we're watching on the TV this afternoon?

Four pieces of 1960's Hornsea pottery £3. I'm loving The Partridge in a Pear Tree butter dish.

A 1950's Crinoline lady chromed cake stand for £1. I'm going to use this as a display piece on my dressing table.

Four vintage clocks, all in perfect working order for £1

My favourite piece has to be this gorgeous 1950's Terence Conran for Midwinter vegetable dish. Plant Life is a rare and desirable pattern and usually sells for around £85.

How much? A bargainous £3.

(We also bought a Flymo garden vacuum for £3 but didn't think it worthy of a photograph.)

Hope your Monday was equally productive.

Don't Be Sizeist

I've been very naughty this weekend, in addition to a jumble sale and a car boot sale yesterday I also squeezed in a quick trawl of the local charity shops on the way back from the council swimming baths on Friday morning. Here's what I got: 

A 1960's Lime and turquoise glazed cotton shift dress for £4.20 from the British Heart Foundation and a vintage pink wool cardi for £1.95 from the local Children's Hospice shop.

Here's living proof that you should disregard any sizing labels on old clothing. I'm a UK size 8 and these vintage size 16's probably fit me better than a lot of modern stuff.

Aren't vintage clothing labels just gorgeous? Empire Made?  I wonder which corner of the British Empire this cardi was made in.

This dress is pristine with the cardboard factory tag still attached to the inside seam. Short fitting? I'm just under 5 foot 5" and it looks fine to me.

A lot of people will only consider clothes with their size printed on the label. Think outside the box and try everything on.

Vix vs The High Street

Waiting for a friend in the town centre a couple of weeks ago I spotted this dress reduced to £5 in a small boutique window. After going in to inspect it I had a mini argument with myself:

Head: Do I really need another maxi dress? 

Heart: Of course you do, you wear one nearly every day of your life.

Head: It's modern, everyone and their mother's going to have one

Heart: It's stylish, have you seen anyone else wearing it?

Head: It's going to be acrylic and feel cheap and nasty...........

Heart: No, it's actually 65% cotton

Head: Black makes me look like a goth.

Heart:You don't know what you'll look like till you've tried it on

Head: Actually it does look surprisingly nice.............

Result! A £5 frock that got lots of compliments when I wore it to town today. Have I seen anyone else in the same dress? No. Note to self, stop being such a snob.

We've got a cheapo night in this evening, home-made spicy beanburgers and Cuba Libres made from the last of Jon's birthday rum. There's a few films we've recorded from the TV so we'll watch one later. 

Black maxi dress (Local boutique £5), Vintage 1960's leopard waistcoat (Inherited from my mum), Fob watch pendant (Salvation Army 99p) Bangles (India) Rings (India and Tel Aviv)

Have fun whatever you're up to.

The Prints & The Pauper

Cheesecloth blouse (Courtesy of the fabulous Jem), Vintage flares (£1 from a Car boot sale), Tooled leather belt (50p from Help The Aged), 1970's Macrame Pendant (A gift from the wonderful Helga), Silver bangles and rings (India and inherited)

Want to see another glorious 1970's print? My vintage cheesecloth blouse was one of the fabulous treats in the parcel my immensely generous and gorgeous friend Jem sent me last week.

Anyone living in the UK for the last seven days will appreciate the somewhat apt design.

With a succession of summer festivals and mid-week nights out the old finances have taken a bit of a battering and we haven't been on a proper food shop for ages. 

I've had to be creative with this evening's meal, it's a vegetable quiche made from hand-made olive oil pastry and filled with home-grown herbs, peppers and onions, an ancient tin of sweetcorn, a couple of eggs and some scraps of unidentifiable cheese found lurking in the depths of the fridge. I've braved the rain to forrage through the vegetable patch and found some broad beans and peas to accompany it. It doesn't look too bad does it?

The groovy vintage oven mitt was 10p from a jumble sale

It's far too wet to venture outside for photographs so we're inside today. The Belfast sink unit was a bargainacious £150 from eBay a couple of years ago. The black ceramic knobs, wooden drainer and brass mixer tap were all car boot sale finds. The wine rack and vegetable storage were also booty bargains. The house was built in 1750 and I've no idea how old the ceramic tiling on the floor is but we know it's been there since at least 1948.

Where Did You Get That Hat?

From yesterday's mammoth charity shop spree, of course!

Here's a few of my latest second-hand shop finds:

1970's wrap-around midi skirt £1

Maxi Dress (Present from Cheryl), Harriet of London Waistcoat (eBay), Country Casuals belt ,Vintage boots & 1970's Felt Hat (All found in Charity Shops)

Far Too Much Excitement For One Day

After a gargantuan eight-hour chazzing adventure with my gorgeous friend Cheryl, I'm well and truly exhausted.

1970's Vintage Wrap (£1.25 Salvation Army), Guardian (£1, Co-operative)

With nothing on the box this evening it's the night for catching up with my blogging pals and reading the Guardian from cover to cover.

Ooops, nearly forgot to mention that my little hobby has gone and made it to the Top 10 UK Vintage Clothing Blogs! I'm highly honoured to share chart success with some of my very favourite bloggers. Thanks, Cision.

A Wet Weekend In Wales

We're back!! The Green Man was a blast, folk, prog rock and psychedelia in the beautiful Brecon Beacons. It started to rain the minute we pulled up in Gilbert and continued more or less for the entire weekend, with a brief respite on Sunday afternoon, but armed with waterproofs and wellies and a generous amount of pear cider it was a perfect weekend and we'll definately be going back next year.

With a capacity of just 12,000 the festival is tiny by normal standards.

There's no backstage passes or VIP areas, performers have to camp and queue for the loos with the rest of the hoi-polloi.

The main stage on Friday lunchtime.

My vintage polka dot raincoat accessorised by a handmade floral headband and some false lashes.

The magnificent Black Mountains. We spotted bats, owls and even a Peregrine Falcon.

My favourite acts of the weekend were Doves, Billy Bragg and the awesome Flaming Lips.

Mud-fest

Rain cloud approaching...

The weekend in a nutshell - booze, boots and mud.

Drying off in the awning

Mud glorious mud!

Random art

Waiting for Avi Buffalo in the Far-Out Tent.

With a backdrop of amazing pyrotechnics this huge Green Man was set alight at midnight to mark the end of the festival.