Finally, some nice Vintage Retro Shopping for Myself

On the weekend granddaughter LJ, and I decided to pop into the Waverley Antique Bazaar for a bit of a look around.  They seem to attract the kind of sellers I like, lots of Retro, lots of quirky, unusual bits and pieces.   My regular readers from last year will know I moved from a large house to a small unit and de-cluttered in a big way.  Well I am finding the black and white of the new kitchen a bit too stark and boring so I had decided to jazz it up a bit with some green and aqua colours.

I had a few pieces here, and at Waverley I found a lovely little piece of retro fabric to put into a frame to hang on the wall and a couple of jars and some sweet Czechoslovakian green glass bowls with gold trim (with original stickers underneath)

As we were about to leave, there was an announcement that one of the Stalls was closing down, that day, and for the last hour of the day everything was $1 a piece.  LJ and I went to look and found that large jar, the green bowls and amazingly, THREE Margaret Preston prints.  Last week Helen, at Objects of Whimsy  had mentioned Margaret Preston and I commented how much I loved her work, now I have 3 framed prints on the wall for a total price of $3.

amazing!

That was a successful end to LJ's Melbourne holiday, and she helped me choose where in the  room to place them.

After that, there was only an exciting Sunday to spend in Melbourne before she flew home again.

Later in the week I'll update my other blog with news of what Yarn Bombing exploits we got up to on Sunday, but as I haven't put anything up on that blog for a long time, I'll have to do some catch up first.

Oppy -- -- -- my one and only Doll

This is Oppy, she is the only Doll I own, but when I read Clare's blog and saw some of the Dolls others had, I knew I just had to share Oppy with you.

My dear daughter-in-law from Sydney was visiting Melbourne one weekend in 2009 and we tripped around a few Op shops looking for fabrics and vintage goodies.  At the time Emily was making lots of these cute Softies, and this one, (supposedly a Giraffe) arrived in my mailbox a few weeks later.  She has a tag on her arm stating that her name is Oppy.  I was immediately smitten.  She lives in my bedroom, close to my vintage suitcase collection.

Pop over to Clare's blog if you would like to see more well loved dolls, and maybe you'd like to share your favourites too.

Paparazzi ..

On Friday my granddaughter, LJ and I took the tram into Melbourne so she could try out some cityscape photos with her new camera lens.  Quite fittingly at Federation Square was an art installation of Paparazzi Dogs,  so I took the opportunity to catch her using her camera.

We were just about to catch the tram home when who did I spy but one of my favourite TV Panelists Russel Howcroft from Gruen Planet
So I became the paparazzi and snapped him.  He did smile and wave to us when I recognized him and said it was OK to photograph him, which LJ did, but he just continued with his phonecall.

This is my pic.
LJ thinks it is hilarious that I would even want to photograph a celebrity, hard to explain to her what a groovy granny I really am!

Not a lot of shopping on Friday, but a lovely afternoon out with Gina. We had lunch, sat and chatted and she was telling me about this lovely little Gallery in Eltham (unfortunately closed in January), and the cute tea rooms attached to it (OPEN in January).  Gina will be doing some workshops and art classes there later this year.

So we took a drive around to THE LIGHT FACTORY GALLERY, what a delightful little tea room, lots to see, all tea served in china teapots and mixed floral teacups. I didn't have a camera so I'll have to let you imagine the pretty pink roses on my cup and saucer.

I will not be doing any art classes there, but I will definitely be back for a pot of tea.

The light factory is at 21 Brougham St Eltham Open Wed to Sunday from 11 to 4.30 and yes they have a website too.

Thanks for introducing me to this lovely tea room Gina.

On the way home I picked up some new [old] knitting patterns at the little op shop in Macedon Square.

Stash Busting .. the easy way

A few days ago Nicole posted about joining the Stash Busting Challenge  Now even tho I do have a lot of yarn, I am not ready to de-stash it.  Most of the Yarn I use up in my Yarn Bombing exploits with the Yarn Corner Group.
However .. .. ..  I do have a lot of embroidery threads, and I no longer embroider

so to prove to Nicole that I could de-stash something, I took the whole box along to our Craft Group on Wednesday night, and now I have about 1/3rd of a box LESS.  

So, next time I see a lonely bag of embroidery threads at an Op Shop I wont feel so guilty about bringing them home.

The Aim of the Stash Busting Challenge is to show what you did with your stash so as I only did give-aways I can't really join in.
However, I am knitting frantically for the huge Yarn Corner covers City Square Project (Swanston St, Melbourne) on January 27th.  28 Trees will be decorated in the colours of the rainbow for all to see for a whole month !

2013 already .. and back into Op Shopping

For several months now I've not been doing much Op Shopping, and no shopping for my eBay Store. Now that Vic is settled in his new home and I have so much more time on my hands, I thought it was time to get back to my old eBay Store.  I usually specialize in Vintage and Retro Knitting and Crochet patterns, and some vintage linens and other bits and pieces.    My stock of pattern books is rapidly depleating and I've not found many new additions for ages. 
There were not a lot of Op Shops open this week, but today I did manage to visit a few, with minimal success.  However, as I was looking thru some pattern books at a local shop, one of the volunteers came out with this stash of vintage cotton seersucker in the prettiest of patterns.
I've not measured the pieces yet, but each one is certainly more than a yard long, and I just adore the patterns

Trellis with pretty pink flowers

big bold purple (passionfruit?) flowers

funky 1970s flowers on a pale blue background

or just some pretty stripes.

All of these would make great aprons, or little girl dresses, and seersucker is just perfect for nighties in summer.

So now that I have had one 'find', I'm even keener to get going with lots more shopping.