My new favourite hat

 

I totally forgot I had this hat until I unpacked one of my boxes today.  It was a Christmas present from one of my  best friends.  It is a leopard print, angora beret and I love love LOVE it!  Unfortunately it is scorching hot here at the moment so I'm going to have to wait a few more months before I can actually wear it. 

In other news, I am being ruthless and selling a whole lot of my vintage/ antique furniture.  It absolutely kills me to have to do it but we just don't have room for it and I'm a terrible hoarder.

Here is what I am parting with.

 

 

I can only hope that they all go to good homes.  *sob sob*

x

From my grandmothers linen closet...

When it came to craft my grandmother was the queen!  I mean there was nothing this lady couldn't do.  She had her own sheep from which she would collect the wool, spin it, dye it and knit it into beautiful jumpers and blankets.  She also had a giant loom set up where she would make rugs and carpets.  She sewed most of her own clothing in later years and she would embroider her own table cloths. This afternoon while I was sorting out a cupboard at my mums house I found bags upon bags beautiful brightly coloured linens that were once hers.

 

x

From my grandmothers closet PART THREE

I have talked about my grandmother and her amazing clothes collection before (you can check them out here. 
And here ).  She had an absolutely stunning collection of hand made, off the runway designer threads from all over Europe.  She gave me a lot of clothes before she died (almost 10 years ago now) but they were mostly crazy bright coloured things from the 60's and 70's.  We thought that she had given everything away but recently while me brother was in Germany he stumbled across a box of her clothes hidden away in the basement.  They are absolutely to DIE for and most look like they have never been worn before!  My grandfather said that she had them all especially made by famous tailor in Switzerland. When my uncle came to visit a few weeks ago he managed to bring a few pieces with him (although he said it is only a fraction of what is there), and as luck would have it I am exactly the same size as my grandmother was so they fit me perfectly!  I am planning a trip to Germany now in July to pick all the other items up.. I am absolutely terrified that somebody might take them or give them away!  Anyway enough talking... here are some of the stunning pieces my uncle bought over (please excuse how wrinkled they are, who knows how long they have spent in storage!).

 

Treasures and resolutions

Oh boy I just had to use this as another excuse to take a break from packing and cleaning.  It is SO warm here at the moment and the last thing you feel like doing is moving!
Anyway I thought I would just show you some new finds and share some resolutions for the new year.
The treasures:

The resolutions:
1.  My biggest goal for the year is the shop I go on and on and on about.  I have been waiting for the right time to finally do this and in the past few weeks everything has been suddenly pushing me in the right direction... so no more excuses!

2. Make use of my degree. Hard to believe that I studied for 5 years and am actually a qualified translator now.  It's time to make use of that and stop working these silly dead end jobs because I'm scared of the responsibility that goes with them!

3.  Be more patient and less stubborn.  Okay I have to admit I am not always the easiest person in the world.  I always 'know best', I need for everything to happen immediately, and need for them to happen exactly that way I want them!  My bad moods are frequent but short. Sometimes I wonder how my boyfriend puts up living with me!

4. Get off my bum and exercise!  I have never been a fan of physical exercise nor have I ever put much thought into doing it.  I am one of those weird people that eats constantly and hardly ever gains any weight, in fact I have spent most of my life trying to put on any weight I can!  But now that I am getting older I am starting to find that my bum wobbles more than I would prefer, I see little love handles bulging over my jeans, and in general I just feel a little blah.  So it's time to get moving!

5.  Be more social.  I confess, I am both shy and a snob!  I love my friends to bits but I don't particularly enjoy meeting new people (except online of course, but that's different isn't).  I absolutely hate going to house parties, I find it a chore to make small talk with people and now that I hardly drink any more I am bored out of my brains at most social occasions.  Sad isn't it!  I got to thinking recently that for every 10 boring people I am avoiding, I probably miss out on several interesting ones.

6.  Stick to my challenge of not buying any 'new' clothing for a year.

7.  Continue to grow my hair.  It always reaches a certain point before I get impatient or bored and chop it off again.

8.  Make my blog better and post more often!

9.  Get more sleep!

10.  Throw more dinner parties.

11.  Find the time to read.  I have a degree in English literature and have only managed to read one full book in the entire last year!

12.  Keep my hoarding under control.  Remember to collect quality over quantity!

13.  Do the Tongariro crossing.  This is an intense days hike up a volcanic mountain that I have always wanted to do.  It is covered in snow in winter so really needs to be done in spring or autumn.

14.  Have more patients for sewing.

15.  Make my plans for Europe and Morocco this year come true!

Yup I think that just about covers it.  What about you guys?  Do you make goals for the new year?
x

Helloooo 2011!

I have such a good feeling about 2011 that I couldn't wait to jump out of bed this morning and make the most of the first day!  We ended up having a very low key New Years eve.  After cooking a nice dinner we got straight back into packing boxes and listing things to sell on Trade Me (whilst drinking a bottle of wine of course).  Then shortly before midnight we wandered half way into town to stand on a big bridge and watch a very impressive firework display off the sky tower.  At the stroke of midnight everybody on the motorway stopped and got out of their cars to watch!  That sure was a weird sight!  After that we took the long way home to wander through town and watch all the drunk people stumbling about (made us feel pretty thankful that it wasn't us!) and then off home to bed.  Unfortunately silly me forgot to put the card back in my camera so ended up with no photo's at all.  What did you all do for New Years?

Oh and on a different note, I picked up a new mannequin yesterday afternoon that I am very pleased with!  I bought it from a guy who actually makes them by hand in his garage.  It even came with hand drawn instructions on how to assemble it!

Here are some of my new finds for the day, can you spot my new model?...

 

I hope you all have a fantastic and safe new year!

x

Sweet summer lovin'

After a week of heavy rain and very humid weather we are finally back to sunshine!
You have been so very very patient with me as I go on and on about this 'shop' I'm supposedly going to open one day.  It has been delayed once again by the fact that we suddenly have to move house in a weeks time!  I know that most of you are battling snow storms and blizzards over on the other side of the world but here are some new summer treasures to wet your appetite.

 

 

 

Everything will be available very very soon so stay tuned.
Right I'm off to the beach.
xx

Any given Saturday

Every second Saturday I get up at 6:30am and drive half way across town to get to a Hospice garage sale.  It's sort of a weird drive because you first head through the part of town with some of the most expensive real estate in the country... only to then find yourself in a creepy industrial area lined with warehouses.

But step inside the usually abandoned warehouse and the hours fly by as you dig for treasures!

I actually hardly ever visit second hand stores anymore because I find everything I need here!  Today wasn't as good as usual but there were a lot more people due to Christmas.  A lot of pacific island people come here to buy clothes to take back to their families who rely on them as there aren't any clothing stores on many of the islands.  Luckily we are usually looking for different things!  Here is the best of what I did manage to dig out today though;

A 70's lavender dress with lots of buttons!

A maroon blazer

A plain but cute 100%silk scarf

A yellow 70's blouse

A 1960's woolen suit made in England. It's hard to tell but the jacket buttons are actually big cream flowers.

The treasure hunter

Wow today summer has really kicked in and I couldn't be happier!  I'm not made for cold soggy weather so when the sun comes out I feel like I'm coming back to life!  I took a few days off this week just to relax and do two of my favourite things... eat good food and hang out with my two favourite guys in the whole world!

 

 

I also got some great little scores this week which I am quite chuffed about.  here are my favourites of the week (please excuse the fact that nothing has been ironed yet)...

A bizarre little 1960's handmade dress with a little J stitched into the back.

The most fantastic little blue hat that came complete with the original tissue paper to keep it in shape. 

A plastic woven bag that would be fantastic for the beach.

This beautiful raw silk 1950's dress.

A 70's sift dress with so many cute buttons down the front.

I love the buttons on this skirt, I'm sure that once it as been ironed it will look even more amazing.

This is by far my favourite find of the week, in fact I think I may just hold onto it.  I can't quite tell whether it is from the 50's or 60's.

Well this isn't a summer coat that's for sure, but I think it's beautiful all the same.

Then on our way home from a sale on Saturday we stopped by a garage sale where I picked up this sweetie for $1.  It matches my table cloth perfectly so I just had to get it!

Oh and lastly because summer is nearly here I decided it was time to treat myself to a new bikini.  It's not vintage... but it's sort of vintage inspired and that mint green makes me look like I already have an incredible tan!

Right well I better go and make dinner (falafel, salad, and apple cider).

x