Vintage Avery Scales

Browsing through some housey magazines I noticed a few of them had the old sweet shop type scales in the kitchen's so for the past two weeks I've been on the look out for some, and I've only come up trumps!!

Have a gander at these little beauties, 

they're made by Avery and have a lovely green  button and trim and a big scoop for weighing out sweeties.

I'd browsed e bay for some but they were either too expensive or the seller wouldn't ship, then visiting a  village not far from me we were passing the Fox Almshouses, (how lovely does that sound)

 when I spied a little old shoppe across the road  that might have some lurking about, but just my luck it was closed.

So I gave Mr Fox a rat-a-ta-tat hoping there would be someone out the back, and there was!!

It turns out it was all one shop and there sitting in a corner were just the scales I was looking for so I paid my pennies and brought them home. 

Mr Lucey gave them a good clean and inside was stamped with the date = 17 FEB 1957.

So if it's a quarter of jelly babies

 a sugar mouse or two

or even a blue bag of sugar you'll know where to come!!

Lucey x

First Day Of Spring

You can't go wrong with flowers and brooches, this lovely hand crochet brooch was given to me by Sally (lavender attic blog) who's just learned to crochet,

I love the green and grey combination with a covered button.

Some daffs from my daughter, my favorite Spring time flowers, as I wasn't feeling well,

the last of the flowers on my, forgotten what it's called ?????

 oh yes, amaryllis.

I planted this bulb just after Christmas and it took a while to grow but then 4 stems shot up each bearing 4 flowers, should have taken some pics earlier, I love white flowers and they've brightened up the windowsill for weeks and weeks now.

Little bulbs I planted in a basket on the back of the bike "dancing in the breeze"

Ring a ring of "crocus "a pocket full of posies,

 the last of the snowdrops just dying off,

 a circle of seats at the end of the crocus walk in the cemetery,

and if I had these little beauties in my kitchen I could put a plant or two in the scoop....I wish!

Happy first day of Spring to you all,

Lucey x

Friends and Fabric

Yesterday I popped down to the college to a collectors fair where I  knew Julie from "The Cloth Shed" blog would be with her lovely french inspired stall.

Everything was beautifully arranged and the smell of lavender and hyacinths wafted as you walked past.

There were some lovely pink toile cushions, cake plates, glasses,

crinoline ladies, twine ans a cute card of buttons stitched into flowers.....

and Julie always has piles of beautiful linen!!

I got two pieces of Kate Forman "ophelia" in pink just enough to make into a lovely summer skirt with a pocket on the front to go with all my other skirts all patiently waiting to be ironed!!

Julie gave me a hyacinth in a beautiful peachy colour and I had just the jug for it,

a few stalls along and I got  an old peppercorn jar from F&M and a silver toast rack to hold some special letters, not quite spending £15 I think I got some bargains!!

On Friday I met up with Sally from "Lavender Attic" blog  at "Me and Mrs Fisher" for a morning of knitting, the knitting did come out of the bag but went back in again without a single stitch being done as we were far too busy chatting, drinking pots of tea and eating the best lemon drizzle cake I've ever tasted!!

I called in CK and got this lovely budgie note book that I'm going to put my knitting patterns and pictures in but more on that next time!!

Lucey x

Reclaiming The Weekend

On Saturday morning the new Counrty Living popped through the door and inside was a booklet called "Reclaim the Weekend" that gives lots of ideas for things to do,

and Sarah Moore is back this month with a feature, "Craft and Create"

where among other things she shows how to sew vintage lace onto the hems of dresses,

love those fabrics.

After a cuppa and a quick flick of the magazine I cleaned the "brasses" namely my lovely big measuring jug and two jelly moulds,

after a bit of "brasso" and a lot of elbow grease they shone like new

I filled the jug with flowers from a friend,

and made an orange jelly in the lion for tea on Sunday

"wibbly, wobbly jelly"!!

More flowers went into the green vase that usually has my vintage needles stored in,

they're much too nice to have stored away but too precious to use as they're ever so thin and bendy!!

Back in the kitchen I baked some bread to have with home made soup, I put the dough in the bread maker to knead it then I tip it out and shape it into a long sausage , this goes into my Hovis tins  to rise for half an hour

before baking  in the oven for 30 mins, there's nothing like the smell, or taste of home made bread spread with butter and jam....mmmmm

And while little dog was lounging in front of the fire I finished knitting Mr Lucey a "dut" 

He said it's nice and  warm but it needs a pom pom on top (the dut not the dog!!)

On a Thursday the local wool shop has been having a "wool taster" morning where Claire and Jo have knit swatches in lots of different wools and you can carry on knitting and try out different types  that you wouldn't normally knit with.

This  Sublime chunky merino tweed and was lovely to knit with and it only took a few hours, I've been back to buy some more in different colours and also more sock wool!!

Have you noticed how fabric conditioner comes in lovely rainbow colours? my sister has been getting a new kitchen fitted  and she's decantered all her washing products into glass bottles so I copied her but I think we need to drink some more soda as I only had two empties.

And talking of jellies I bought this wooden puzzle from ebay with the intention of making the pieces into brooches for myself, especially the jelly,

 but that's the only one damaged and when my daughter seen the puzzle she said as a child it was her favourite puzzle and that I couldn't destroy it so Alexa is now playing with it....oh well it seemed like a  good idea.....

So that was me "reclaiming the weekend" 

Lucey x