Settled in

My new home feels just right.....I hope to be here a long time.......On the mantelpiece in my bedroom sits this beautifully hand-made doll which I purchased from Christine of Gentlework at The Cotswolds Vintage Fair last summer. I love the Liberty fabric bodice of her dress.

I am still living without phone or internet access.....and I hadn't realised just how much I would miss that regular contact with friends through email, and being able to keep up to date with blogs and what's going on in the Vintage world. I confess I've been going slightly potty! I also love to listen to radio programmes on iplayer, and without that on tap I've pretty much exhausted my cd collection. How much longer I'm going to have to wait I just don't know......

On my dressing table are 'Nod, Wilfred and Bun', purchased from Jane a couple of summers ago....Nod is always 'nodding' off to sleep, so he lies in his little wooden bed whilst Wilfred and Bun regale him with tales of when they were young and carefree. I found the delightful black and white photograph in an antique shop in Falmouth.....I used to wear my hair in little bunches like that! 

There have been nights when the lashing rain and howling winds have kept me from my sleep; my home is quite high up and exposed to the elements. Many days the weather has been too awful to even contemplate venturing out of doors. Storm damage is evident everywhere you go....footpaths washed away, trees newly cut where they have fallen across roads, landslips at the base of cliffs and all the sand disappeared from Towan beach...... but we are very fortunate not to have suffered the awful flooding. 

On my wardrobe hangs this hand-stitched dress made by the lovely Teresa Dunne; she and I were selling at several of the same fairs last year. On it are stitched the words, 'she followed the path down to the sea', just appropriate for me I thought.

Over the stair bannister hangs a pre-1900 American quilt recently purchased on ebay. A simple design of strips of little triangles, all in beautifully faded shades of blue, beige, brown and pink, with the occasional red accent. Someone had stitched (quite crudely) newer patches over the top of the more worn-out triangles, but I unpicked them all to reveal the original patches beneath. 

Lots of new cushions and cards have been made during the enforced  'indoor' time, ready for forthcoming fairs over Easter and beyond. In early May I am venturing further than I have ever ventured before, and have booked to exhibit at the Weald and Downland Spring Countryside Show (Sussex), followed by the Decorative Living Fair at Eridge Park (Kent). I am really looking forward to seeing a part of the country I have only explored briefly before, and Kent not at all. My trusty van and I will spend a couple of weeks on the road, (hopefully in the sunshine!) seeing lots of nice gardens and villages. It's a real pity Ardingly Antiques Fair doesn't happen in May, as I am longing to go to it.......I shall have to make do with the next Shepton Mallet Fair in March.....can't wait to do some serious rummaging! x