Peg Dolls, Snow and a Couple of Christmas Trees

It's official - I'm now feeling 100% Christmassy! We've (finally) finished writing our Christmas cards, wrapped all the presents and decorated the house in time for the Big Day on Saturday.

It was my friend Fi's birthday last week. As she's a fellow vintage and craft lover, we decided to get together and spend the morning creating something for the Christmas tree. Here's what we made...we call them our 'Peg Molls'! Fi's fabulously festive fairy has sparkly pipe cleaner halo and wings and I love the way her skirt is at a jaunty Marilyn Monroe-esque angle. Mine isn't quite finished yet (I think she needs some arms), but with a bit of luck will be soon!

Mr Treasure and I excitedly put our Christmas trees up at the weekend...

...with a bit of help from one of our furry friends!

I love re-discovering all our tree decorations. There are always some I've forgotten about, as well as old favourites that I look forward to finding.

Every year my parents make the Christmas card that they send to us. Here's the one for 2010, featuring printing, sweet papers and a suffolk puff...isn't it fab?!

This was the scene in our back garden yesterday. We've had about six inches of snow so far.

Having been cooped up at home for days now (flu bug followed by snow), Mr Treasure decided it was about time I ventured back into the world! So, wrapped in as many layers as we could get into and armed with wellington boots, ski socks and ski gloves, we went for a walk through the snow to buy bread and milk. This was the scene that greeted us in our local park...so pretty!

Even the ducks were out playing in the snow! Luckily, not all of their pond was frozen over so at least they could have a bit of a swim.

Here's Mr Treasure underneath a particularly wintery-looking tree. I find it really enchanting how snow makes everything so peaceful. There was hardly a sound as we walked along, except for the excited whoops coming from all the children who were sledging down one of the park's hills and the occasional slush of melted snow as the odd car drove past.

We passed this snowy letterbox on our travels. It was full to the brim!

I hope that wherever you are, the snow isn't being too disruptive and you're enjoying the run up to Christmas. Stay warm!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

With the Christmas shopping and card writing well under way, it's beginning to feel just a little bit festive in the Treasure household. We're hoping to get the tree up in the next few days too, so then we'll have officially declared it to be the festive season!

A beautifully wrapped parcel arrived from Jayne (Country Cottage Chic) on Friday. I just had to take it's picture before I opened it! "What was inside?", I hear you cry...

...this rather cheeky little vintage doll! Isn't she cute?! I spotted her in some photos I took of Jayne's stall at the Christmas Vintage & Handmade Fair and couldn't believe I'd missed her on the day! Luckily, Jayne still had her after the fair, so I thought I'd give her a new home.

Mr Treasure and I decided we'd escape to Bath on Friday, so we booked into Brooks Guesthouse (which we found on the Sawdays website), packed our bags and headed south. This was our room, tucked away at the top of the guesthouse. It was such a lovely place to stay, we'd certainly go back there.

As the evening drew in on Friday, we strolled around Bath, taking in the Christmassy atmosphere (including the rather excellent Christmas market). Just look at this toy shop...I think this must be where Father Christmas does his shopping!

On Saturday we did some more exploring. How wonderful to have this as your front door. So grand!

There are quite a few vintage shops and boutiques in Bath. I really liked this one, it was full of all sorts of beautiful things made from vintage fabric.

These two cheeky kittens were having great fun in the window of one antiques shop we passed!

This is the most amazing shop. It's an Aladdin's cave of fabrics, trimmings, samplers, bags, clothes (the list is endless) from the 17th-early 20th century. We were greeted by a lovely and very passionate german lady, who started our visit with a tour of the shop, pointing out all sorts of treasures that I think I would have otherwise missed. "I'm 84 and just the Saturday girl, I love working here", she told us!

If you're ever in Bath, do make a beeline for this shop, it's well worth a visit and you never know what you might find.

Gorgeous vintage tins, jewellery and other bits and bobs in the window of 'Sassy and Boo'.

At the end of a busy day of shopping and exploring, the only thing for it was a cup of tea.

I thought I'd end this post with a photo of a little furry someone who decided they'd 'help' me with some photography I was doing today. No Tinker, it's not a new cat house for you, it's our photography light box. You turn your back for two minutes...!

Staying in the Warm

Despite the weather forecast saying we weren't going to have any snow, everything outside is covered in the white, fluffy stuff! It's only a little dusting, but it's made everything look so pretty. Our little road looks like a scene from Narnia. Mr Treasure's particularly pleased because he absolutely loves snow!


Not really wanting to venture outside in the cold, I decided to sort out some of my fabric today and put a selection on eBay. I've been meaning to do it for a while, so I finally knuckled down and got on with it! Here's a peek at a few of the pieces I've put up for sale...



A fabulous piece of Tibor Reich fabric from 1964. It's called 'Agincourt' and was commissioned by the Shakespeare Birth Trust for Shakespeare's quatercentenary. The colours are so vibrant, with a little hint of gold here and there.


There's something about selvedges that I've always really loved (and to be honest, I can't really put my finger on what it is!) 'Agincourt' has a great selvedge...it adds so much to the story of the fabric and I love the fact even a colour palette's been included.
A fabulously vibrant piece of 1970's fabric.

More fabric from the 1970's, this time in classic golden colours with a design that's so typical of this decade.

I really like the stylised design of this fabric, which is either from the 1960's or 70's. It would make great cushions!


Classic 1970's! I can remember my parents having wallpaper similar to this in our bathroom when I was little!


Do pop over to eBay if you're in need of some fabric for a project to keep you out of the cold!

A Whole Weekend of Vintage Loveliness

The Vintage and Handmade Fairs in Chipping Sodbury are always a highlight in my calendar, with dates pencilled in months in advance so I won't miss them! As each one approaches I become like a child at Christmas, to the point where Mr Treasure is relieved when the fair days arrive so I can go wild in the vintage aisles and get it out of my system (until the next one!)

At about 7.30am yesterday morning, Mr Treasure and I headed to Chipping Sodbury, coats firmly done up and the car heating on full blast. Nope, I hadn't taken my Fair obsession to new heights and decided to huddle in a sleeping bag outside the hall to wait the fair to open...we were taking a car packed with Textile Treasure Seeker goodies and experiencing the Fair from a stallholder's point of view! Having always loved visiting the Fair, I was indeed very honoured when I was asked to be part of it!

There was a flurry of activity first thing as everyone unloaded their cars, brought in bags and boxes stuffed with vintage treasures and set up their stalls. One of the things I love most about the Vintage and Handmade Fairs (apart from all the gorgeous vintage goodies on offer) is the warm and friendly atmosphere. It's fabulous catching up with the friends I've made, as well as making new ones!

For the first time ever, I managed to set up my stall for a fair with time to spare before the doors opened! Big achievement...and also great because I could have a quick wander about to see all the other stalls (and make a few purchases along the way)! Here's a peek at some of the stalls in the main hall (unfortunately, I didn't manage to take any in the other rooms as I had to dash back to the Textile Treasure Seeker table of offerings as the fair opened).

treutmade

HenHouse

Hen makes the prettiest cushions from vintage fabric. I was particularly drawn to the bobble trim on these little gorgeous ones.

HenHouse

Lucy Bloom

There's always so much to see on Lucy's stall, I have to go back several times to see everything! I did another fair over the summer, which Lucy was also at...by the time I'd unpacked my first box, got in a complete pickle with what went where and tripped over several other boxes, Lucy and Jayne had calmly and swiftly set up their stall and were having a sit down, looking very serene. From that day on, I've always had 'unpacking stall envy' whenever I see them and dream of being as efficient and organised as them!

Charlotte Macey Textiles

There's something wonderful about vintage Christmas decorations, I just can't get enough of them. I think it's the combination of bright colours, great shapes and the feeling of nostalgia I get every time I see any. I'm definitely beginning to feel the Christmas spirit creeping up on me now!

Country Cottage Chic

Country Cottage Chic

Cowboys and Custard

Hen's Teeth

I could have happily bought everything on Viv's stall! She's so talented.

Nostalgia at the Stone House

Every time I see Niki's stall at a fair, I look longingly at the beautiful dolls she makes and vow that one day I'll give one a home. Imagine my joy yesterday when Mr Treasure said I could have one as a Christmas present! I'm supposed to be trying to forget about her so I can act all surprised on Christmas Day, but it's not working so far (only 26 days to go)!

It really was a fabulous day. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Michele and Jayne for organising yet another fabulous fair!

And there's more...

With all the excitement of yesterday, I mustn't forget to tell you about the Cotswold Vintage Fair that I was at on Saturday too. It really has been a weekend of vintage loveliness!

Here's my stall, complete with a bit of the outdoors brought in, in the form of the 'tree' that I hung my handmade decorations on (an idea I'd seen and admired in this month's Country Living magazine!)

Here are just some of my Textile Treasure Seeker originals that I took to sell at the fair. I took a few snaps of some of the other stalls and the goodies on offer at the fair too...

Kate and Lexy's Vintage

It was really lovely to meet Kate and Lexy. They've just started out selling vintage, as well as their own fabulous designs, and this was their first ever fair.

Rosablue

Hesta Nesta

Hesta Nesta

Vicky Loves Vintage

Original handmade Textile Treasure Seeker goodies coming to Blogland...

For those who couldn't make it to the vintage fairs, or for anyone looking to do a spot of Christmas shopping from the comfort of their favourite chair, I'm going to be posting some of my designs here for sale over the next week. Watch this space..!