Knock on Wood

I've never been known to do anything by halves hence the reason that my first pair of Lotta from Stockholm clogs quickly grew into a collection. What with travelling light and seemingly endless rain at home, over the last year they've not been having the attention they deserve so I'm determined to wear every pair I own whatever the weather chucks at us.

Lotta's are handmade in Sweden by a family business who have been making clogs for over one hundred years. Worried that my hip couldn't take the higher wood heel, the first pair I bought, back in 2015, were the turquoise low woods but, after trying out the high woods, it turned out that they were just as comfy as their little sisters and now I've got 10 pairs of high woods and just one of the low. Five of my pairs were bought direct from Lotta and the rest via eBay. Despite people having worn clogs for hundreds of years, my Lotta's get lots of attention & positive comments whenever I wear them. I've tried the other well known Swedish clogs plus a couple of UK-made brands but Lotta's are definitely the best. This isn't an advert, I genuinely love them!

On Tuesday for swimming, Spoons and charity shopping I wore a vintage Anokhi maxi skirt and a Bhanuni by Jyoti X Anthropologie blouse (second hand). As usual, I left the house wearing a jacket but walked back with it stuffed in my bag, despite the torrential rain. I've got a new swimming cap especially made for long, thick hair - it works brilliantly but leaves me with a mark across my forehead that makes me look like I've been lobotomised, hence the reason why my hair's obscuring my face!

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On my feet I wore my taupe high woods (via eBay).

'Spoons have a few new items on their menu including this - the Fiesta Brunch - I'm salivating just looking at the photo. Avocado, Pico de Gallo, grilled Haloumi, a poached egg, fresh coriander and the most divine chilli tomato dressing served on a slice of toasted bloomer. Worth every one of those 50 lengths!

On Wednesday, a couple of women abandoned their god-bothering leaflet stand to rush over & tell me how lovely I looked (thankfully without trying to recruit me into their weird church).

This 1970s printed cotton West German maxi was a recent find. I wore my yellow peep toe Lotta's which despite having owned for six years still look as good as new.

On Thursday, I walked down to the baths in this Mono Indian block printed midi dress I found on Vinted a few weeks ago.

I bought the orange nubuck peep toes from a Lotta of Stockholm flash sale during lockdown. They're an unsuccessful prototype so only a handful were ever made.

Excuse the state of my hair, I'd just oiled it! 

On the way back from the baths we popped into Lidl to pick up a £1.50 Waste Not box as I've not shared the contents for ages, here's last week's, too. 

This morning (Friday) we popped over to one of our favourite Black Country towns for a look around the charity shops. Stupidly, I actually believed the BBC's weather forecast which had promised heat and sunshine and was freezing my t*ts off in my flimsy cheesecloth frock.

I bought this vintage 1970s embroidered maxi when we visited Puerto de la Cruz last December. I'm not sure what I loved about Tenerife the most, the architecture, the lush landscape, the weather, the food, the Agatha Christie connection or the amazing charity shop where I scored this dress for €7. Whatever the reason, I really want to go back!

Today was the turn of these red high woods which I bought back in 2017. The heels need sandpapering after I wore them to trudge up the garden and empty the compost bin earlier!

 Someone recently asked me if it was getting harder to hand pick stock and the answer is a resounding no, in fact when we're in the midst of festival prop I'm even more focussed than usual with my vintage hunting. To be honest, if we had to buy our stock from wholesalers (or those horribly depressing kilo sales) I'd have to rethink my business. 

A few recent finds, clockwise from top left - 1960s Champs Elysees, Paris psych top; 1970s unbranded ruffle sleeve maxi; 1960s California Ranch Wear leather jacket; Contemporary & Sons worker jacket (which currently retails at £160); 1970s Wallis rainbow trimmed cotton co-ord; 1970s Indonesian batik dressing gown; 2 groovy 1960s maxi dresses by Dollyrockers & Cresta Couture; 1970s leather cowboy hat; 1980s Jelli, London jumpsuit; 1970s Indian cheesecloth tie-front, dagger collar shirt; 1980s acid wash denim shirt; 1960s Mona of Italy feather-trimmed plush hat. It's still out there, kids!

And while it might be difficult to find fabulous quality XS clothes in charity shops, online it's a completely different matter! This pretty 1970s printed cotton maxi skirt, groovy psychedelic 60s Dori of London skirt, the dress I wore on Wednesday, a sublime Furstenberg all-wool bell sleeve maxi and the beautiful scarf dress which was handmade by the seller's mother in the 1970s are all recent additions to my ever evolving wardrobe and the combined cost of all five was cheaper than buying a brand new dress from Marks and Spencer. 

For my fellow music lovers (especially Stephanie), here's our latest vinyl finds. Albums by Luther Vandross, Diana Ross & The Supremes and Neil Diamond and 12" singles by Boris Gardiner, The Jungle Brothers, Dynamix and the massive 1983 club hit, Kiss Me by Tin Tin (was it just huge around here or does anyone outside the West Midlands know it?)

And, finally the absolute classic, Funky Cold Medina by Tone Loc. Your weekend earworm! 

Thanks for reading. Have a fabulous weekend, see you on the other side!

I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right

People often think it's easy to find clothes in smaller sizes in charity shops...wrong! Yes, there's masses of XS dresses on the rails but they're mostly of the modern let it all hang out variety, micro minis or bodycon styles in nasty stretchy synthetics. Beautifully made vintage clothes that flatter rather than flaunt are few and far between so this Quad green velvet maxi we found in a charity shop last week is definitely a keeper. 

I wore it on Saturday night - minus the matching cape - along with the Thomas Fattorini & Sons Egyptian Revival necklace & bracelet Jon bought me for my 50th - and my super comfy Clarks platform boots.

We met up with Tony in The Black Country Arms for a couple of pints of Orbital pale ale before catching a taxi up to the Walsall Arena for a fantastic evening with national treasure, John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols). My dress got loads of love and, even more exciting, we bumped into several people we'd not been out with since the last century.

John was exactly as we'd hoped, a brilliant raconteur and wonderfully witty. As I'm sure you already know, he lost Nora, his beloved wife of 44 years, last year and spoke of how, on a couple of occasions, he'd been close to ending it all but he's since come to the conclusion that life is worth living (although he still sleeps with her ashes on the bedside table.)  Love you, John!

With a bag of donations to drop of, we popped down to the clearance charity shop on Sunday morning. Whilst I found a couple of cool things for the rails (a 1980s jumpsuit & a handkerchief hem hippy dress), Jon added to his own wardrobe with five fabulous retro print shirts....I think we need to book another holiday so he can wear them!

Several people complimented me on my dress which is actually two Indian block printed separates. I bought the skirt from Kharibu last spring and spotted the M.A.B.E. Athena blouse on Vinted for £12 last month (it's still on the website and priced at £95). 

 Our local Banardos had a cabinet full of Mango jewellery at a third of the retail price, here's just one of the pairs of earrings I snaffled.

Amazing, considering it's been a Bank Holiday weekend, the weather hasn't been half bad. Apart from a torrential downpour this afternoon, I was able to spend the last three days outside...hooray!

I've been more than warm enough in my off-the-shoulder top (old charity shop find) and 1970s India Imports of Rhode Island maxi skirt today and I kicked off my sandals and let the mud squelch between my toes. I love being barefoot!

I finally dragged Lord Jon away from the decorating to help price the menswear in the Kinky tent. It's starting to look good although it'll be much better once the floorings down and we've draped the sides and roof with fabric, I hate that horribly clinical expanse of white.

Last week we binged on Tokyo Vice (season 2) and Rebus....both gloriously dark, violent and scary. I'm not sure what's next..possibly Blue Lights, the first series scared us to death!

Thanks for reading, see you soon. 

PS - I promise to answer your comments & emails tomorrow, they're always very much appreciated!!

Buying, Wearing, Doing

Hello! Hope all's good in your world.

On Tuesday, for swimming, a 'Spoons breakfast and a quick whizz around the town centre chazzas I wore a Seventies Soul Indian block printed maxi dress with a vintage Indian woolwork waistcoat and my Teva flatforms. The Evil Eye bronze and enamel earrings I bought from a swanky artisan boutique in Athens got lots of love.

About to leave one of the charity shops Jon spotted one of the volunteers carrying something out of the stockroom and sent me over to have a look.....

Be still my beating heart! A green cotton velvet maxi dress with Mediaeval sleeves to die for from the iconic British Boutique label, Quad, who created dreamy dresses inspired by history in the late 1960s. As always, I asked the volunteer if it had just been donated and if so, was there anything else from the same source, to my absolute joy the answer was yes....a matching maxi length hooded cloak, also from Quad. The cloak was draped in cobwebs, it's probably been in someone's attic for 55 years!

By the way, the chazza concerned was the £2.99 or less shop so the combined cost was £5.98! 

When we got home Jon cracked on with the decorating while I flitted between the Kinky Shed & the festival tent, filling the rails with stock. When Jon called me in for tea I discovered that I'd been walking back and forth for over four and a half hours and had worn a patch in the lawn... I slept rather well that night!

After almost a week of sunshine and heat, the weather reverted to type on Tuesday night and rained incessantly for the next 24 hours. I spent Wednesday morning ironing the festival stock. My mum, who was even less domesticated than me, enjoyed ironing and I do, too - which is just as well as, by lunchtime, I'd ironed over 200 garments! 

I spotted these Levi's "Premium Denim" Mile High Super Skinny jeans in Banardo's last week. Back in the early noughties I lived in my TopShop Baxter low rise skinnies which looked great but, not having much in the way of hips, I was forever having to hoist the damn things up. These ultra high waisted jeans fit like a dream and are absurdly comfy - they're currently £110 on the Levi's website, I paid a tenner. The Free People "Regina" Indian cotton bodysuit was a £15 Vinted find and originally retailed at $168! Free People can be very hit and miss, some of their stuff is amazing quality (like this top) while some of it is made in China and horribly synthetic, a case of style over substance. The vintage olive green velvet waistcoat & the handmade cowboy boots were also Vinted finds.

 William was due his boosters on Wednesday afternoon, something we were absolutely dreading. At home, he's the world's most chilled out cat, adores fuss and will chat to anyone listening but get him in a car and the poor lad turns into a nervous wreck, panting, drooling, wailing, throwing up and - not to beat about the bush - sh*tting himself. The staff at the vets know what to expect, on arrival we hand him straight over and they take him in the back, clean him up, check him over, jab him and hand him back as quickly and calmly as is humanly possible. The whole palaver from door to door takes just under an hour but man, it feels so much longer! Thank goodness it's just once a year.

Anyway, all's good. He weighs in at 5.6kg (almost double what he was when he adopted us last year) and the minute he was back home he'd completely forgotten the trauma, polishing off two saucers of chicken, a sachet of Felix and a handful of Dreamies before retreating to his catio.

The rain had finally fizzled out when I got up on Thursday morning and I dressed like it was summer despite it only being a feeble 13°C. I did wear my denim jacket over this poplin 1970s maxi dress but after swimming 50 lengths in just under 40 minutes I was glowing and stuffed it in my bag for breakfast at Spoons and the subsequent walk home. 

A permanent fixture in my wardrobe for the last five years, my vintage maxi dress didn't see the light of day last summer. Arpeja's Young Innocent was an affordable California label established in 1963 and popular with the young and hip throughout the sixties and early 1970s.

Whilst Jon continued with the decorating, Liz popped over on Thursday and Friday morning to help me crack on with pricing the stock and, needless to stay, she managed to bag some choice vintage clobber !

Although the rain's not made a reappearance, the temperatures have plummeted and it was back to layers on Friday morning. I'm wearing a vintage 1960s Ayesha Davar embroidered cheesecloth maxi with the embroidered £100 Free People linen jacket I scored from the Air Ambulance charity shop a few weeks ago for £3. 

This pleasingly massive glass pendant, priced at £2 caught my eye in a charity shop a couple of days before we went to Kefalonia. After some internet research when I got home I discovered that it's Murano and would have been quite pricey.

Although you can't see them under my dress, I've been road testing these leather Muck Boots today in preparation for Glastonbury. Endorsed by the RHS and worn by outdoorsy folk like Kate Humble, the British business is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary. Their boots are guaranteed 100% muck proof, exceptionally comfy and totally waterproof. After this week's deluge, our lawn is a quagmire but my feet have stayed dry and wonderfully comfy all day. I'm amazed the charity shop only priced them at £3, they're £££s to buy new! 

It's a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK although I suspect most of ours will be spent on festival prep and decorating. We are out on Saturday night though, spending an evening in the company of this fine fellow! 

 See you on the other side!

Back To The Garden

Hello! A couple of days after getting back from Kefalonia Jon & I met up with Claire and Gareth for what's becoming an annual event, an afternoon at Gifford's Circus in my favourite part of the UK, the glorious Cotswolds. I'd kill for an hour in this truck. 

This year's event was held at Sudeley Castle, best known as the final resting place for Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife, and the theme was Avalon, hence Claire & I's nod to Medieval style with our vintage maxi dresses. Our photos of the circus performances weren't a patch on Claire's so do check out her post HERE.  

With the weather being mostly glorious Jon & I have spent almost every waking hour outdoors trying to tame the garden which, with festival life returning to normal, we'd neglected for the last couple of summers. 

During lockdown we'd attempted to grow more edibles but with limited success (there's just too many trees!) and with us being away a lot during the summer it's hardly fair to expect our friends to water the garden and be on pest control so it's back to the basics; apples, raspberries, redcurrants, rhubarb, blackberries, gooseberries, pots of cut and come again salad leaves and hopefully more figs from the tree we planted last year.

Apart from a £5 Clematis Montana rescued from the clearance shelf in B&Q, we've not bought anything for the garden this year. With the abundance of ferns, cranesbill, fleabane, sempervivum, London's Pride, Euphorbia and crocosmia, all we've done is divide the clumps we already have and replanted them elsewhere.

The rose arch was an online lockdown buy from the much-missed high street shop, Wilko. Eventually my new Clematis should scramble up it but, in the meantime I've splashed out £6 on some B&M solar fairy lights and threaded them through the arch to add a bit of interest. It doesn't look much in the photo but it looks absolutely magical after dark (or that could have been the rum we'd consumed!)

Although the house is due to be painted during the Summer I couldn't not plant up my window boxes - always with geraniums so I can pretend I'm in Greece. 

These Oriental poppies are always a joy when they flower, it's hard to resist the temptation of peeling off their furry jackets and helping them on their way.

Our boys are loving the warm weather almost as much as we are. The first night we were home William spent it cuddled up in bed with us, reluctant to leave our sides, since then he's been sleeping outside in his catio or keeping Jacob company.

I don't know about you but I'm beyond excited for the new series of The Great British Sewing Bee which starts on BBC1 tomorrow (Tuesday) night. I was thrilled to spot this whopper of a book in a charity shop on the way home from the baths last week. I don't think it's ever been used, all the patterns are pristine. Not bad for £3!

 In honour of The Bee I'm wearing one of my me-made dresses. Originally a set of curtains I spotted at a car boot sale, the vintage fabric, featuring Grace Sullivan's iconic Tree Tops screen print, sold at hip London store Heal's in 1971 and commands silly money online (I paid £2!) 

The pattern is by Kenzo and dates from 1970. 

When I checked through the archives I discovered it was ten years ago yesterday when I first shared this dress on my blog (HERE)!!! A whole decade gone in the blink of an eye.

These gorgeous tribal bangles were awaiting me when I got home from Greece. A wonderfully kind blog reader, Marjorie, bought them from a market in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1982 and thought I might like them. Like them? I absolutely love them! And yes, Marjorie, I'll definitely keep up with the exercise, you're so right about it - and a positive attitude - keeping us young!

Talking of kind gestures, Claire gave me a bag of goodies when we met up at Gifford's including some marvellously kitsch vintage vinyl. I remember dancing to Paloma Blanca at the Blue Coat Junior School Leavers Disco in July, 1978. I can even remember what I wore, a black floral off-the-shoulder cotton maxi dress from Van Allan and some black wedge sandals (I was a very sophisticated 11 year old with a very cool mum!) The gorgeous little cat was handmade in Prague, a groovy mermaid makeup mirror and two books. 

Andy, one of our swimming buddies, went to Thailand for a month and promised to bring me back an elephant... he bought me two (and a fridge magnet). With his travel tales and the current series of Race Across The World, I really fancying a trip to Thailand. In the meantime I might reread The Beach for the millionth time. 

This week we'll mainly be found in here....it's almost festival time...yippee! 

Thanks for reading, see you soon!