Apron LoVe....

Hello, lovely to see you here again!

I hope you all enjoyed a nice....restful...fun....weekend. 

 For me it has been fun....fun and more fun filled but definitely not a restful weekend.  

....Twelve ? lady’s ?....

....lots of drink of the alcoholic variety....

.....a 40th birthday girl that thinks she is no day older than 20....

....sin filled places....

you can use your imagination to fill in the blanks only to say 

it was all legal but the city of Hamburg is not going to forget us in a hurry.
On Sunday afternoon it was back to the real world, 

Mr Mc and I got all the Vintage china from the cellar. 

It needed a wash after nearly a year down there 

and because of the gold decoration on them I like to wash them by hand.  

It was so lovely to see all the pretty china and cutlery again 

it got me very excited for next weekend.  

We also got the tablecloths and aprons up to wash.

I started making them last year only knowing I wanted them all to be different 

not just the fabric but also the style.  

I always fully line my aprons and darts help to give them a better fit. 

For this one I only had tiny bits of the flower fabric left 

so it was a real struggle to make it work,

 I had to piece three small bits together to make the frill. 

 I wore this one last year

....LOVE....LOVE....LOVE....the strawberry fabric with the red polka dot 

and the gingham fabric and it perfectly matched my red polka dot dress I was wearing.

For the waitresses I made these half aprons
Sharon’s teen Paperdoll and mine did the job of waitressing for most of the day 

and they did it fabulously.  

Keeping calm and carrying on even when it was overwhelmingly busy. 

They smiled through it all.  

Amazing really as neither of them had done any waitressing before especially on this scale. 

 And I’m so glad to say we have both of them back this year as well as Sharon!!!       
Whilst we where looking at teen Paperdoll’s aprons 

I noticed that it was not going to look nice 

with the dress we bought for her for that day in the sale a couple of weeks ago.
 

So on Sunday night I started making a new one for teen Paperdoll 

only problem I had there was only snippets of the pretty cup fabric left. 

 It took me longer to work out how to use the fabric to get the best effect, then making it.  

When I showed teen Paperdoll the finished apron she was thrilled.  

Love when that happens!!     

And as I wasn't already busy enough this week 

with all the minute stuff that can not be done before.  

I had to make it even busier on Monday by making a new apron for me to wear. 

I made Sharon the same one with a different flower fabric last year.

I am so excited this morning I am off to the flower market 

hopefully picking up flowers for Saturday, 

I have never been in one before, can’t wait to see all the beautiful blossoms. 

Last year Brenda the fairy godmother of flowers in our neighborhood,

 did the flowers for the Vintage Tearoom, 

and they looked so beautiful. 

 
Unfortunately Brenda moved recently so its left to me to trying 

and make something looking like a posy in a teacup.  

However Brenda was so kind to give me a quick master class 

and leave me some very helpful tools before she leaved.  

Here is hoping I learned something.    
I better dash now. Have a lovely sun filled day.      

Mirror....Mirror....

 Good Morning to you all!!
The 1st of June already, crazy really, 6 months into 2013 

but to me it feels like only yesterday  we celebrated Christmas 2012.

  Even more crazy that one of my friends informs me 

she has already bought the first couple of this years Christmas presents, 

that puts a whole new meaning into prepared.  

I can barely plan till the end of the month at the moment,
never mind Christmas.  

Nevertheless I’m prepared for next weeks Vintage Tearoom

....mmmmm....well I am....no really I am....

but there always seems to be last minute extras to make or revamp.  

Probably not helped by the fact
I’m still looking in charity shops and on Flea markets.  

 

On such a last minute search,
last weekend I found this rather tired looking mirror, 

perhaps the mirror had told an owner in the past 

 “You are the fairest here but but there is someone else
thousand times more beautiful than you” not the mirrors fault really
but no one likes to hear or more to the point 

see that in the mirrors reflection and 

so it was put up a loft neglected and forgotten about.
The dust & damp had not been very kind to it. 

The lady selling it wanted a crazy price and 

I was ready to walk away when I witnessed what can only be described as 

the most ruthless but VeEeEeRy charming hackling by teen Paperdoll 

....my Dad would have been so proud....

I think the lady didn't know what hit her nor did I really 

before I or the lady knew it teen Paperdoll had hackled her down 

so much so I only paid less then a third from what she originally wanted. 

....Absolute BARGAIN....
On Thursday afternoon the Paperdolls and I set up in the garden
to experiment with gold leaf.  

It’s not as easy as I thought, we all had a go but by the end of it 

there was more gold on us then the frame.  

Lucky for us we wanted a rather uneven look
so it would still have the feeling of old, 

with us being complete novices at gold leafing we got exactly that. 

So another piece of trash returned to it’s former glory, a real treasure now. 

....Mirror,Mirror,on the wall you are the fairest of them all....

I better run now,
I am off on a overnight 40 Birthday party, 

not mine I hastened to add.

With my packing only half done, I better get to it.  

Hope you enjoyed this little up date. 

Have a great weekend!!

xxxx

Hello There....

 yes I am still here, but life remains for now on fast forward
with no pause button in sight.
I’ve be so busy with the every day mundanity’s of life,
a bit of domestic “delights”  also know as
....cleaning....washing....and my personal favorite....ironing....
especially Mr. Mc’s uniform....

then throw in a large measure of hay fever and all that entails

....non stop sneezing - itchy eyes - runny nose....
feeling drained before the day has even started....

plus a room full of hormones and testosterone
better known as a teen birthday party 

and finally an emotional farewell to a lovely friend that moved away

 and you have my last couple of weeks in one!              

The little time I had left was spend on my new drug of choice Pinterest.  

Ohhhhhhh.... BOY isn't it addictive.   I’m hooked!!  

But somewhere in all of that I also managed to squeeze in 

a little treasure hunting, sewing & painting for the 

faster & faster approaching Vintage Tearoom. 

These are some of my most recent treasures. 

I love them all, in their own way, but the trolly must be my favorite piece.
It was in the back of a charity shop when I first saw it,
with the manager not in on that day, 

no-one wanted to sell it to me as they didn’t have an idea of price.  

A whole weekend I had to wait,
having decided on a maximum price I was willing to pay,
I was thrilled when I returned on Monday
and they only wanted half of what I was prepared to pay!  

I was one very happy bunny!! 
It’s missing the glass on the top and as I discovered
having glass cut to size is not cheap,
so in the mean time I will be taking the glass from the bottom.  

I also love the frames, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with them 

but there kitschy look makes them perfect for the Vintage Tearoom.   

Last year I had been looking for kitschy flower artwork
to hang on the walls of the marquee and couldn't find anything
I liked or could afford and so instead,
was thinking about sewing quotes about tea in fabric,
but with so many other things to make & sew I just ran out of time. 

So this year, with the frames empty
and me still fond of the idea of making the quote in fabric I got started.

One of my favourite tea saying must be....
“Love & Scandal are the best sweeteners of tea”.  

I find it to be so very true.  

Nothing better then to get together with some girlfriends for a cup of tea or 

in my case coffee and a great big yummy slice of cake,

hearing of the “scandalous” goings-on in the neighbourhood.  

I am always amazed to hear, what is happening around me
and I am so oblivious to it all.  

Back to my sewing....
fitting the quote into the small space was not easy and 

sewing over such small and curvy letters created all its own problems.
But I was so happy with the end result, I just had to make another one.

Another wise saying about tea....

     I had to amended this quote a little
as it was impossible to fit it all in otherwise.  

I thing I have managed to retain the  essence of the quote though.
I LoVe the finished pieces....  

I really get so very exited, like a little kid on Christmas,
 jumping up and down when something 

I daydream about for weeks works out so beautifully!  

That doesn't happen very often because I always find fault with my creations, 

much to the annoyance of my family & friends. 

 “You are way to critical with your self” they tell me all the time.  

With most of the sewing complete for now, 

I turned to the problem of how to display the prices for the cakes.  

Last years price tickets were made on the computer and looked very pretty 

but with every little gust of wind, they were all over the place.  

So this time round I liked the idea of mini chalkboards but looking all over the web 

I fell in love with surprise, surprise, the most expensive ones a 

lot more than I could justify really as we need quite a few.  

So when I was out for that famous “Love and Scandal” tea 

with two very good friends of mine and 

saw these rather horrid looking but cheap mini trays,

 the idea was born to turn them into chalkboards.  

Love....Love....Love them but honestly by the time the chalk paint was bought
and the amount of paint coats they needed I am not sure if I saved that much! 
But well worth it

 Oh..........goodness is that the time already, I have been going on a bit and 

the domestic delights are waiting for me again, so I better sign off for tonight!!

 Have a great week and thank you so much for popping by 

it is always nice to have your company!  

xxxx