Choo choo's

Cool screen printed Swedish wall hanging.

Comes with the wooden hanging bits too.

Very film noir!

Frances Butler turns out to be a very interesting individual.

She was the Professor of Environmental Design at Berkley, who having been taught to sew by her mum started up her own fabric printing company, Goodstuffs Handprinted Fabrics, in 1969, with the intention of making clothes. Instead she produced wallhangings and fabric sculpture and then started up an letter press/graphic design book publishing company-her books are in the collections of the V&A and MOMA.

These days she is apparently building a massive mosaic garden in France.

Stromma Sweden have been making textile blinds and wall panels since 1832.

(Ain't google wonderful!)

Keeping it just in case (wouldn't it look cool in a little boys room?)

Also on a train theme I found this down the church fair yesterday.

Googled it too. One sold at Christies for over $500 pounds!

(Ok ok, so now I won't cut it up to make pweety butterflies!)

Share your flea market finds too, go on, we'd love to see, here

Cute stuff I found down the oppy

Sometimes it's impossible not to judge a book by it's cover.

(Hi toes, fancy seeing you here!)

The stories are just as good as the design and illustrations.

Some original, some re-workings of classic fairy stories, many New Zealand tales.

The full set of 6, published by the School Publications Branch of the NZ department of Education in 1963-1969.

Many famous NZ writers and artists started their careers in the school publications department.

There is a wonderful book by Gregory O'Brien about the artists who worked there called "A Nest of Singing Birds"

Roy Cowan, NZ mid century modernist potter and print maker, and a favourite artist of mine illustrated one of the stories, Penguin Island. While it's not in the style he later developed I love the story/illustrations as they remind me of Moeraki/Fleurs Place!

There are a couple of GREAT James K Baxter, (facinating and famous NZ writer) childrens poems.

The red flowering tree there is the Pohutakawa,  New Zealands Christmas tree.

Great condition! What a find! Overjoyed!

Op-shop Sunday

Been busy this week so I didn't get chance to go op-shopping. Also, I had no need.

Not no need of stuff. I always need stuff. It's just I have a personal shopper. A personal op-shopper.

(For this week only as he has a sore leg and can't run at lunch time).

Cool Christmas Tins

Cool paper holding desk hardware

Seriously cool 50's style cutlery set (minus one knife)

We really need this, the old one has gone bung in the dishwasher and I'll go bung if I have to hand wash dishes.

Spear & Jackson.

AND

Cool doll house.

I know!

It's like bringing a puppy home on the spur of the moment.

You know you can't keep it, you don't have the room, or the time. But it sits there looking so appealing

(you can see your face in that roof, and the rooms are, well roomy, compared with my current only dollhouse) that you almost give in and let it stay.

But no. I am hard of heart.

Bad hubby.

Anyone want this?

Ok. Wait. Maybe I'll turn it into a bookshelf for Clauds room...

Well done husband!

Sharing at Sophies

Op shop sunday

 

 I know its really spring, and nearly summer when it's French-fest.

Akaroa was where the French landed, just a few short week of the Brits who claimed NZ way back.

Overfamiliarity (we go there all the time) doesn't make it any less lovely in my eyes.

(As are the French sailors, in uniform, who sail over every year from French Polynesia for the celebrations, and drive the local teenage population wild. Mmmmm).

I wore these, one of a HUGE box of gifts I will slowly unveil, from Leonie courtesy of Cat's Tilda Christmas swap THANK YOU LEONIE!

We beachcombed and picnic-ed

And I saw somemore cool letter boxes whilst we were out there

Dolly house!

Tea and taps at The Giants House, a big mosaic garden thing, like a tacky Gaudi take-off. 

                                            This, I believe is where the Akaroa plumber resides!

                           And there was the lure of the annual bowling club fundraising book sale

This kids book is so beautiful, every page made me sigh and think it was written about Claudine.

Umm and the dirt wiped off ;)

There is both a play and a book about what might have happened to New Zealand had the French arrived first.

Nuclear power aside (and don't mention the Rainbow Warrior) it's quite an alluring what-if...

Flea Market Finds

Vintage Missoni silk shirt.

Look at those colours.

Fits like a glove. Best clothing find in AGES!

                                                         Cutesy National Trust tea mug.

                    (And a whole lot of doll house related guff you'll get to see over the next few weeks...)

                                           Sharing my flea market finds for the week over here

Op-shop Sunday

A little something for everyone in our household this week.

For me, simple placemats that remind me of the David Mellor ones I wanted but resisted last time I was in England. 10 c!

European dresses in lovely fabrics for the Claud, $2 each.

A Danish milk jug, for the hubby who's interested in this kind of stuff. 20c.

And the reason I've gone off the boil with Blogtober?

A combo of sick hubby, a sore throat and cold of my own, but mainly these

Not usual my type of reading matter, but for 20c I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about.

Hooked.

Just finished the last one and have ordered no 4 from the library.

Guess what I'm watching on DVD tonight?!!

Sharing my opshop finds with all the other op-ortunists here

Op-shop sunday

A vintage crossed stiched on linen thingy (they have a fancy name but I forgot what it is...)

with my initials!

For keeping sewing bits and bobs together.

In my case for keeping mini stitching projects together in my handbag so i can quietly craft in my car should Claud fall asleep en-route anywhere (currently op-shopped dolly clothing repairs, and an attempt to make a mini, doll house sized knitted tea cosy out of an old woolly jumper, which is not going very well).

Found in a random shop in Dunedin I noticed when looking for Modern Miss (famous in NZ retro clothes place) which I never found. It was was full of wonderful wonderful stuff (think cast-off ballet costumes and vintage haberdashery), and dirt cheap.

I forgot the name of it, but it's on Dowling St, just up and over the road from the Brett McDowell gallery, 3 flights up near the mental health foundation place, in case your ever in Duners.

Linking up with all the other clever recyclers at Sophie Isobels

Op shop find of the week

Hurray, another one for the collection!

This one contains Congac, 40% proof!

$1

A mini picture frame for the doll house do-up. Copper or brass I think.

$0.50c

Another one of the cute cross stitch Whitmans tins, the last one went to tin-swap, this one is for keeps.

This tin is a reproduction of one originally made between 1924 and the 1930's for Whitmans, and is one of a series of 5 I think. 3 of the 5 are Salmagundi tins, like the one below which i got for the bargin price of $1.50 on Trademe recently.

Isn't it gorgeous!

 Apparently Salmagundi was the woman on the front, painted by Alphonso Mucha.

Oh oh.

I can feel a collection coming on.

Far out, I just missed the end of an auction on trademe for miniatures of the sampler tin plus a mysterious heart shaped one which wasn't pictured, just now, because I got distracted typing away here and was outbid-araggggh *kicks self*

Maybe I'll stick to Eiffel towers!

Having fun showing of el-cheapo finds with everyone else over at HerLibraryAdventures

op-shop find of the week

A baby ballet cardi for Claudine; a beautifully dog-eared copy of Madeline in London for Claudine; the Observer book of freshwater fishes for the cover colour and the colour plates inside; two handmade gingham pillowcases, rik-raked by moi for Claudines bed; a colour glaze tea cup and saucer for my growing collection (I can now invite 14 people for a cup of tea, but no cake can yet be served...); a, probablyWilliam Morris fabric, pinny for Claudines further cooking adventures; and a wild horse made from real fur.

Bit of a pastel thing going on there isn't there!

Showing off my flea market finds here x

op-shop find of the week

We went to the local antique collectors club exhibition yesterday, the geeky,  old-fogey,

knowledgeable-about-old-stuff organisation my hubby's thinking of joining

(I think he thinks he might get more than a grunt and a sigh from these folks when he waxes lyrical about brown pottery!)

It was great, apart from the wailing, annoying toddler. Gosh, how are you supposed to relax?!

It was great once Claud was placated with a giant biccie and an ancient doll courtesy of an ear-sore stall holder.

I liked the teeny-tiny sewing machines

and

the TV cars

especially this one!

The best thing though was that the selling-stalls were really quite cheap. I brought home a pile of GREAT foreign maps ($2 each)

This gorgeous bottle ($10)

and

powder box ($2)

So girly!

So not strictly op-shopping, but still cheap, old and good!

Look here for more cheap, old and good stuff!