Far from Bootiful

On Sunday, I dragged myself out of bed early and took Mr J and P, Little Miss and her cousin, who was sleeping over, to our first car boot of the year.  Lordy, it was dire.  It took place in a dingey barn somewhere in Essex (Noak Hill, just in case you want to avoid it).  There were a measley 10 tables in all with a sea of dvds and the odd plastic toy thrown in for good measure.  We were in and out in about 2 minutes, it was that bad, and I was in a grumpy mood for the rest of the morning.

It put me in mind of terrible jumble sales I've been to where there's so little for sale that the helpers have had the time to fold the few clothes they have and neatly place them on the tables.  Soooo disappointing.   I like 'em piled high myself  as in this pic:

What have I been buying lately?  Sewing patterns that's what I've been buying.  I'm keen to make something from the fabric I bought at a recent jumble sale. 

I'm attempting the modern top on the right for starters

Bearing in mind that I've NEVER encountered a sewing pattern before, the emphasis has got to be on EASY:

I've been reading my Newnes Complete Needlecraft book (1970 ed) and getting to grips with terms such as basting, stay stitching, yokes, notched hems and so on.  So far, I've managed to pin the pattern to the material like so:



 It almost looks like I know what I'm doing doesn't it?  Well, we shall see, dear readers.  Wish me luck.

Other items I've got recently include this classic TG Green mixing bowl for a mere 25p at a jumble sale  (I saw one in a charity shop the other day priced at a ridiculous £12.50.  How mad is that?):

Metres of a cheerful orange and yellow floral fabric for £2.59 and an 80s Habitat tin with its Habitat sticker still intact (£1):

Before I love you and leave you, I was very honoured to receive an award from the fabulous Scarlett at Scarlett Loves Elvis .  Scarlett is an insaitiable bargain huntress and hilarious with it, and if you don't know her blog, why ever not?

The Liebster Blog award is awarded to smaller scale bloggers (with less than 300 followers).  Yay, let's hear it for smaller scale bloggers!  The rules say that you should post the award on a blog post and refer back to who nominated you and then nominate your favourite smaller blogs and let them know they've been awarded.  So, here goes:

Lovely Lucy at Tete en l'Air, The Vintage Knitter and Melissa at Clothwork who are all very creative and I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem deciphering sewing patterns.  Sigh.......

Gorgeous Nici at Giddy Little Miss whose "day to day ramblings" (her words, not mine) are a pleasure to read.

Fabulous Jo at Hesta & the Pugs whose vintage finds are to die for.

Check out these blogs immediately - you don't know what you're missing!