What a week already

It may only be halfway through the week but I've having a pretty good one already. I became a year older on Tuesday, that's not the interesting part, the interesting part is that hubbie and I spent the day in Lewes, Sussex.

I've fancied visiting Lewes for a while as I had heard that it has a quirky bohemian vibe with lots of interesting shops to browse around. The rumours were right! Following recommendations from some lovely people on twitter we visited The Needlemakers – the home of several independent artisans and sellers. One particular shop, Revive All, is an absolute treasure trove of all things vintage and ancient. Every inch of floor, wall and breathing space is taken up with vintage clothes, books, maps, jewellery, ration books, just everything old you can think of. Marvellous.

 
The Needlemakers

And then we just kept coming across antique shop after antique shop. And they were proper junky, bits and bobs types of antique shops rather than the ones where you need to take out a mortage to buy a serious-looking cut glass bowl.Restraint was exercised and I walked away with only a pure wool blanket, made in Northern Ireland and bearing a sewn-in name tape declaring it was once the property of a P. Cummings…

A lovely day was had by me and my patient hubbie and I can heartily recommend Lewes for a wonderful day out. (By the way, have you spotted my flourishing salad leaves in the background? Ignore the unhappy rain-starved lawn.)

So then on Wednesday life got even more interesting.

I attended my first auction. And I bid on the one lot I wanted. And I won it! Or whatever is the appropriate term for successfully bidding on a lot. I did go a smidgen over my planned limit but I still nabbed a bargain. Here are a few of the bundles of matching silver cutlery, there are more than 60 pieces in the set.
These won't be put in a cupboard to save for best, this is now our everyday cutlery (I don't believe in keeping things for best, shouldn't every day be the best?). Although there is one bundle of small oddly-shaped spoons whose use baffles me.

Following this success I decided to make my first envelope cushion cover! (Of course, how else does one follow a trip to the auction house?) I've made other styles of cushion cover but not envelope. I had an urge to make a linen cushion so I did, with a couple of strips of ribbon sewn on too. What do you think?

And then to top it all off, I got the news that the green gables product pages are live on notonthehighstreet.com! So, as well as my shop on etsy, for those who'd rather spend in sterling than dollars, you can also find my handmade pieces for sale here too.

So, all in all, a pretty good week. And the rest of it is promising to be just as good with our wedding anniversary on Friday (yep, birthday and wedding anniversary within three days of each other, not the best planning) and a few friends are coming over on Saturday for a little garden party, keep your fingers and toes crossed for good weather.

How's your week shaping up?

PS (I know I'm not writing you a letter but this is still a post script) There's a dinky little interview with me here on Popular Crafts' website, if you fancy reading it…

Comments

[amy t schubert]

all good things!

[scentedsweetpeas]

What a fab week, loving the cutlery - gorgeous!

[Kirsty]

Aw - such a lovely, happy and productive week. I want one!

And hurrah for NOTHS, too - am I allowed to be proud of how hard you've worked on that, as well as impressed by it? It only deserves to be a huge success.

x