Welford Park

The end of a busy week for me and a Bank Holiday (public holiday) plus a week off work to look forward too - yippee! And of course the Vintage and Handmade fair on the 30th. The weekend looks to be just as busy but Mr. Bloom and I are taking off for a couple of days break next week, hopefully a chance to relax a little.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Pink Saturday post last week, I haven't managed any replies yet but will hopefully remedy that some time. I had some useful hints on care of the dress (which is vintage and was home-made) and also how I could to alter it to fit me, I'll have to think about that, I don't think I could bare to take scissors to it!

Last week I attended the Produce in the Park fair - in the beautiful setting of Welford House near Hungerford.

The fair itself took place on the lawns in front of the house. A great family day with local produce, crafts, dog show, fairground rides and something to do with haystacks which I didn't quite work out what it was.

Not having attended before and having read the literature I think I was expecting something a bit grander really. The craft marquee was at the far end of the lawn, if you enlarge the pic you might see the red circle which denotes where I was. There were about 10 craft stalls in the marquee plus a couple outside with their own gazebos.

My stall was at the entrance to the marquee which I was pleased about as it meant I could spread out a little.

A fair number of people came to the marquee, unfortunately they weren't buying much except home-made jams and chutneys - the stall across from me did a roaring trade all day. For the rest of us it was very slow going. I guess people hadn't come that day with the intention of buying handmade goods. I normally don't take stalls at these kind of charity events, they can be a bit hit and miss, I decided to do this one on impulse, it had sounded promising. Though I did make a profit, it wasn't enough to justify having spent a whole day on the effort. It could have been worse, my mum and dad did a table-top sale locally the same day and made £1! Ah well, c'est la vie.

Unusually for me, I didn't buy anything. I almost did but the lady whose stall it was on (selling bought-in mass-produced goods) subsequently came over to mine and made what I felt was a very rude comment about one of my items - along the lines of "do you sell a lot of those, I've seen them before but I've never really seen the point of them myself.....why would people buy them?" After that I found it very hard to see the point of her!

Anyway, hope you all have a lovely weekend, whatever you are doing.

Lucy x

Pink Saturday - A Dream of a Dress

Browsing around in a charity shop recently, not really expecting to find much, I spied it out of the corner of my eye. It was the pink that caught my attention first, then the lace. When I pulled it out of the rack I had one of those moments - one of those " I can't believe I found this" moments.

Stunning pink lace - the colour of strawberry milkshake and just as delicious. Yards and yards of it - the skirt is two full circles.

It might have been a prom dress or a bridesmaid dress, its wearer must have felt like a princess. I would love to have worn a dress like that for my prom - except I didn't have one. We had an end-of-term school disco. I can't remember what I wore but it was the 70s so I can imagine!

Whoever wore this dress had the tiniest of waists, I couldn't do it up at the back on Delphine (the mannequin). No zip, just dozens of hook-and-eyes sewn on by hand.

The pink lace is exquisite, a pink tulle underskirt and organza under that. It needs a wash and an iron but I daren't in case it disintegrates or becomes scorched.

This dress deserves to be worn - alas it won't ever be by me. Even if I could squeeze myself into it (I'd have to reduce in size by at least half), I'm past the age for such dresses.

It deserves to go to another prom, or sweet sixteen, or wedding, to receive admiring glances, to be the belle of the ball. Maybe one day it will, but for now, it's mine to enjoy - and dream...


Visit Beverly's blog for more Saturday Pinkness.

Produce in the Park

I might have bitten off more than I can chew, given I'm doing this at the end of the month, but I have booked a stall at an event called Produce in the Park. It is held annually at Welford Park near Newbury. Welford Park is probably better known in the area for it's displays of snowdrops in January and February for which it opens to the public. I haven't been there before but by all accounts the Produce in the Park fair is a huge event well worth a visit.

It takes place next Saturday 16th May from 12pm and I shall be there with lots of handmade and vintage goodies in one of the marquees.

Whilst I am hoping I do well, I also hope there is enough left to take to the V&H fair, otherwise I shall be very busy for the rest of May.

If you are free next Saturday and in the area, do pop along and say hello, directions here. I'll have my name displayed somewhere on the stall so you'll know it's me!

For the last 3 weeks I have had a mock-up of my stall set up and have been adding things as I make them. The pics are just a taster, there will be lots more. I'll be taking quite a few of these ladies with me.

I do have some to go in my shop too, but I don't think I'll have time to update it in the next week, I may just post a few pics on this blog. I don't have a mailing list at the moment, but if anyone would like me to drop them an email when I do a shop update, just email me and I'll get a list going.

Enjoy the weekend, TTFN,

Lucy x

Blossoms and Blooms

Yipee, Bank Holiday weekend, I've been looking forward to this since Easter! Mine officially started this morning when I finished work. I had a few errands to do afterwards and eek, 1/6th of it is nearly gone already.

It's nice looking out of my kithchen window at the moment because the apple tree is in bloom, sadly almost finished now, I took the pics a couple of weeks ago.

I love the blossoms before they have opened and have that lovely deep pink tinge to them.

I have some birds which permanently reside in this tree - it's quite an unusual variety - tinbird. They used to be part of a mobile hanging in the tree but I got fed up of having to untangle them every spring as the winds wound them around the branches. There were six originally but one disappeared - I wonder if a neighbourhood cat got confused and gave itself a bad tummy ache.

It's lovely to have some (free!) fresh flowers to bring indoors now - actually these lilacs were liberated from my mum's garden as mine haven't flowered yet. These are one of my favourite things about this time of the year, especially the scent.

I would love fresh flowers in the house all year round but I have neither Rosemary Verey's garden nor Elton John's budget so I have a few artificial blooms dotted around as a poor substitute - still they add some colour.

Pretty pink blossoms in the hallway.

Geraniums and roses in the kitchen.

Chrysanthamums on the landing window - actually I think these are prettier than real ones!

This basket of blooms doesn't really belong anywhere, I sometimes use is as a prop for pics of things to sell. The flowers are one of thoses candle rings and I think it works perfectly on this wirework basket as there are no stems to be seen.

I have gradually been adding more items into my online store and will continue to do so regulary (I hope). If you have a minute, pop over and take a look. I have added some fabrics (more to come) and a Shabby Chic section too. More Lillipegs hopefully next week, though there are a few currently listed on Etsy, as a trial.

Well, that would be about it for now - hope your weekend is happy and sunny, I'm off to enjoy mine before it's gone!

Lucy x