In which I spend £1.20 and skip off into the sunset

Imagine my crushed and disappointed little face when I pulled up outside this on Saturday afternoon:

All my hopes of jumble sale largesse cruelly dashed.

Rewind to a few weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon (when the sun shone and the temperature was in double figures) and I persuaded Mr and Little Miss J and P that they'd like to go for a walk in the wilds of Hertfordshire.  As luck would have it *cough* what would we chance upon but a jumble sale at this very same place.  How fortuitious! *cough*.

So, what did I get?  Well, I got this little lot for whole one pound.

A pair of fabulous polyester brown curtains with orange and yellow flowers:

A pristine towel:

Some yummy fabric:



A funky NEXT bag:



Have you noticed how I've taken to draping my buys over my latest freebie? Yes!  I spotted this little Ikea rocking chair outside the house of a near neighbour and when I asked him if I could take it off his hands, he was more than happy.  Whoop whoop!

Anyway, where was I?

An apron which looks remarkably like one of my vintage pillow cases.  Which is a good thing in my book.



There was nothing much doing on the bric-a-brac stall but I did manage to find this cute little print for 20p:

It's by Archie Dickens



Total spend - £1.20.  Jumble sales, don't you just love 'em?  Where else could you spend £1.20 and come away away with such random tat and then toddle off for a lovely walk in the countryside *sigh*.

Jumble Spoils

It seems an aaaage since I banged on about my luvverly jumble sale buys.  Brace yourselves, dear readers, it's going to be long one.

These embroidered pillow cases were in pristine nick:

50p the lot

Sheet (left) and pillow cases (right) atop yet another candy stripe sheet.

I have plans for the sheets I've been collecting.  I'm going to shamelessly copy Kylie's fabulous idea for a vintage sheet quilt and attempt to make a duvet cover.  Eek!  I'll keep you posted.

Kylie's magnificent quilt cover

Not one flowerytastic handmade tea towel completely unused:

but four of the gorgeous little buggers.  All for a quid.

OMG, look at this profusion of flowers and colours all on ONE tea towel (also handmade):

More unrestrained floral goodness on this unused towel:

Complete with its original sticker:

Four of these embroidered thingamajigs that go on the backs of chairs.

I'm collecting these embroidered thingies as well as tray towels and the like as I'd really like to make this patchwork cushion cover:

Gorgeous innit?  From the CK book "Patch".

Lordy, more flowers in the shape of these Portmeirion Botanic Garden jars circa 1972:

I need jars like I need a hole in the head but, at 25p each, they were crying out for me.

A kitschy black swan vase for 30p:

Yay for more wooden handled kitchen utensils.  As some of you may know, this is yet another one of my collections.  The red handled objet is a knife sharpener - that I know for sure.  The blue looks to me to be measuring spoons - the teaspoon on the left and tablespoon on the right:

But why do these spoons have a hole in them?  Pray tell me do:

A Toni Raymond pickled onion pot for 50p for my friend who collects those beetroot pots and celery pots of a similar ilk:

Seeing as someone, who shall remain nameless, broke one of my prize vases recently, this Trentham jug (30p) has come in handy:

Look!  Look!  Can you tell that I'm virtually hysterical?  I've got my very own printer's tray:

A mere quid!

The printer's tray caused mass excitement among the oldsters as I hauled it around the jumble sale.  They kept stopping me and  a) asking me if I knew what it was, b) telling me what it was  and c) asking me what I was going to do with it.  All of which was a little annoying as all I wanted to do was to carrying on rummaging for booty.  Well really!

So, what AM I going to do with it?  I love that Lakota transformed  hers into an earring storage unit here.  Unfortunately, I don't wear earrings anymore (I know, I'm a shocking dullard) but I do have a little collection, that I haven't told you about, which is currently gathering dust on a window sill.  It could gather dust in the  printer's tray instead!  Genius!  I'll let you know.......

Good grief, I'd forgotten about these.  More embroidered doodahs and stripey sheets:

And finally, (sighs of relief all round) an egg cup to add to my collection of egg cups.  (Do you know, I honestly didn't realise that I had quite so many collections on the go!).  This one isn't vintage at all.  Made by the Italian design company, Alessi, this little fella currently retails for a tenner.  Mine was 20p!

You may be wondering why he has a little peaked cap.... why, to store the salt, of course:

Excitement is reaching fever pitch here at J and P Towers because this weekend is the St Mary's Xmas Bazaar.  Whoop Whoop!    Little Miss J and P is excited because she and her fellow little Girl Guide mates are helping out and that means that little old moi will need to take her along early so that they can  set up the stalls which means that I'll be eyeing up the booty before everyone else!!  Huzzah!  Oh the heady world that is my life.......

Wishing you all an equally exciting weekend.  xx

One out of Three aint bad.

Last Saturday, I went to three jumble sales - an unheard of phenomenon around our parts. 

A sneaky preview of my spoils cosying up with my previous buys namely the F&M hamper (£6.99)
and cute basket (60p)

I was up at the crack of dawn as the first one started at 10 am and I had to make my own way there by tube because Mr J and P was using the car to deposit Little Miss J and P at her first social engagement of the day.  Damn children and their active social lives!

I arrived at the venue (an old people's home) half an hour early and they just let me in.  No queue, nothing!  Well, dear readers, there was barely anything on offer.  The clothes table, for instance, consisted of 4 baseball caps and a handful of neatly folded jumpers and that was your lot!  I was in and out in 30 seconds and on the phone to Mr J and P to whisk me away to the next jumble at 11 am.

Good old Mr J and P did a marvellous job getting us to the next venue before 11 even when I directed him to Hazelwood ROAD in Bushey Hill when the jumble was actually at Hazelwood LANE in Palmers Green.  Oops!  Luckily, they weren't too far away from each other.

Dear readers,  I've been jumbling for a fair few years, as you know, and this jumble sale had to be one of the biggest I've ever been too.  Soooo big, in fact, that it never felt unbearably busy even though there were crowds of people.  The school hall was massive and outside, in the playground, was the bric a brac stall, toys and games and furniture and big items.  Yowser!  Jumble Sale Heaven without a doubt.  They even had tables of vintage clothes.  Very savvy of them.  Mind you, by the time I got to those tables there was a preponderence of shrunken jumpers, many with indelible stains!

The third jumble sale, in the afternoon, was just down the road from where the first one had been.  Lordy, it wasn't good.  The pricing policy was odd to say the least.  Some old codger was very miffed when told by one of the volunteers that a dress he wanted to buy for his two year old grand-daughter was £3!  At a jumble sale!  After causing a fuss (with me egging him on) a 3 items for £1 policy was put in place, which was more like it although they insisted that a pair of pyjamas I'd picked out for Little Miss J and P was 2 items, even though you wouldn't want to buy one without the other, would you?

Well, you've been very patient, dear readers, so I'll stop my wittering tout de suite and show you my spoils.
Let the good times roll........

When I was little I always wanted a set of Russian dolls.  Yay, at last, all the way from the USSR:

Only the other week I was drooling rather disgustingly over Lynda at Hooking with LaaLaa's most gorgeous crocheted pot holders here.  Huzzah, I've found my very own:

Here they are on display in the kitchen:

Another close-up:

Oh dear, I think another obsession may be coming on: tins:


A "silver rose" tin

   Perfect for my collection of buttons.  And talking of buttons:



 
A Rowntree Mackintosh tin which says on it "Buttons by kind permission of "The Button Queen", London. Not sure what this is about but I do know that "The Button Queen" is a shop in Marylebone, London which sells nothing but BUTTONS. Blimey, the very thought of it is making me perspire with excitement.

A highly useful (er hem) blow-up plastic cushion:

A cutesy bunny tablecloth:

This has to be one of the star buys:  a fabulous piece of Australiana.  Get a load of this tablecloth:

This towel (in perfect nick) has made me come over all nautical:

Dreamy isn't it?

In our bathroom:

Well ,dear readers, that's all for now.  I'll be stringing out my buys over two posts because there's nothing like ramping up the suspense factor, is there?

Before I go, "three" is most certainly my lucky number because I've won THREE giveaways recently!

Thank you Justine @ Emmabearforever

Thank you Claire @beautifulthingsbyclairehttp://www.beautifulthingsbyclaire.blogspot.com/



Thank you Susan @ teadiary

I'm a lucky duckie aren't I?  Well here's wishing you all good luck for your bargain hunting this week, and if you believe in lucky charms, take note:  "Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit." (quote from RE Shay whoever he may be).

Linking with:

flea market finds

thrift share Monday

Magpie Monday