vintage fabric heaven and Caravan...

i must confess to being distracted over the past few days by my little office space.

no longer Our #1's bedroom,

no longer a catch-all for my crappity crap

no longer with mauve walls to do my head in.

things are coming along a peachy treat and as i tippity type this little post in the corner of my new office space (gosh that does sound terribly businessy busy like doesn't it!) i am looking at freshly painted walls, old frames spiffied up, a nicely made bed in one corner for when Our #1 visits and in t'other corner, a place to house all my collection of lovely things to do with dottie angel stuff.

i will be sure to show you more but first shall we carry on with the thrilling adventures of Tif, Debbie, Lou Dearie and Our #1 in the big smoke? after all it is a day which will be forever etched on my little brain...

after our pottle around Spitalfields Market, Lou Dearie took us to 'vintage fabric heaven'.

now perhaps i need to tell a little tale within this tale for you to truly appreciate this moment. when the lovely Lou turned up in Seattle last September, she bought with her a suitcase full of vintage and retro fabric goodness, the likes of which i have never set eyes upon before. when she opened the lid to her case i can only liken it to the moment a lid is lifted off hidden buried treasure and a glorious light shines from within and angels chorus all around. well that was Lou's suitcase and as she lifted out the most wonderful bark cloth curtain with perfectly peachy rose clusters upon it, 13 dearies and myself gasped 'thee gasp'. after which Lou told me of a place, a place so splendid in it's retro vintage glory fabric goodness that she just knew i would think it was the closest thing to fabric heaven this side of the pearly gates.

roll on several months and here i was in London with my lovely day trip companions and embarking on what was to become one of my top ten all time besty best days ever. first Spitalfields Market and now a trip to vintage fabric heaven.

i have no idea where vintage fabric heaven is, Debbie and I dutifully followed Lou Dearie as she weaved through the side streets of London, Our #1 choosing to catch up with us later as she wished to check out the vintage stores along the way.

what can i say dearest readers, Lou did not disappoint. vintage fabric heaven was in a little side street, in a little shop crammed to the ceiling with piles of secondhand fabrics. all clean and folded and treated as they should be. sorted into piles of 'likeness'...

drawers overspilling with doilies and lace, granny blankets in a rainbow of colors, retro curtains and bark cloth yardage, all of which brought tears to my eyes.

we left vintage heaven with my purse a lot lighter and our hands a lot fuller...

feeling a little faint from two peachy ports of call and knowing we still had one port left to go, we found a lovely cafe to recharge our batteries and for me to yabber on and on about what we had seen and done whilst everyone else ate their lunch.

after which Lou had to leave, so we said our 'fare thee wells' and the three of us continued on our journey. our final port of call being the world of Emily Chalmers, Caravan. stepping off the street into Emily's shop was like stepping into a little imaginary world, Emily's lovely world. if you ever get a chance to visit then do so, for it is beautiful and interesting and quirky, just like Emily herself.

Emily was waiting for us, looking perfectly peachy whilst we looked windswept and bedraggled from our day out in blustery London, but such details did not matter, no sirree, what mattered was the wonderful couple of hours spent sitting and nattering over a cup of tea in Emily's room above the shop, marvelling over my vintage fabric haul, 'ooohing and ahhhing' over Emily's lovely collections and spending quality time together.

before we left the wonderful world of Caravan, Emily and myself had our photo taken by Leonard and he did a pretty good job considering the awe of the moment he needed to record. you will be able to see the results of the photo in my 'dottie angel' book alongside of Emily's lovely foreword she so kindly wrote for me.

and then we were on our way, off to catch a late train home to the suburbs. as we sat amongst other train travellers eating our M&S sandwiches and munching our crisps, i could but only marvel at how fortunate i was to be able to share this incredible day in my life with my soul sister and my eldest daughter.

knowing when i am old and grey, with perhaps a few marbles missing, i will be sure to tell the tale of this day to any passing random strangers who happen to pass by my granny chair in my old folks home. recalling the day i got to visit SpitalFields Market, Vintage Fabric Heaven and Emily Chalmer's peachy Caravan World many many moons ago. and when those passerbys doubt my 'tale' i will merely nod in the direction of the granny chair next to me and say

"if you do not believe me, then ask my soul sister, for she was there too..."

and we will smile the knowing smile that only soul sisters can smile who share a lifetime of memories

she is happily playing with her little forsaken souls and hopes to have results of said playing in the shop soon ~ Tif

footynote: upon my return to the shed i have noted gremlins are playing around with my shiny place, hence the lovely wide spacing between the sentences and other such mischief :)

be still my beating heart...

one peachy fine morning, Debbie, Our #1 and moi took a train to London to meet up with Lou Dearie. you know Lou, for she was the lovely dearie whom flew across the pond so she may beaver away with like minded souls last september in seattle.

well lovely Lou kindly offered to show us a little bit of vintage London and i can tell you dearest readers, she did not disappoint. our first port of call was Old Spitalfields Market on a thursday because that is vintage day! we spent many a peachy moment in vintage granny goodness heaven. actually just recalling Spitalfield Market with Lou has me overcome with giddiness, not to mention all the forsaken souls which whispered in my ear as i pottled around the stalls. words really cannot do the vintage goodness on display justice and so i think i will let Leonard and his Lens do the talking for today and i will be back with our second and third port of call on our spiffy day out to London, tomorrow...

she is wielding her paint brush in her new office space upstairs and things are beginning to look mighty fine ~ Tif

home again, jiggy jig and a jig, 'cause how nice to do an extra jig...

gosh, how odd. i am a little nervous at being here, what is that all about then? have i been gone so long, is it nerves of excitement or fretting, i do not know. all i know is i have missed you dearest readers and despite my shakes, i am most delighted to be back in my shiny place :)

actually now i think about it, perhaps i forgot to have my orange juice this morning, yes that is it, nothing to do with being here but more to do with being forgetful.

my trip to old blighty was perhaps one of my top ever trips in the past 10 years of tripping over the pond. Leonard and his trusty lens did not let me down. he did a fine and dandy job of snapping shots here and there. i now see it is not him but me who is not allowing our relationship to move on, after spending days of carrying him around and whipping him out to record a moment or two, i still do not love him. however sometimes it takes time to fall in love doesn't it and so i will continue to nurture our little bit of friendship as he deserves so much more than i am giving him.

since arriving home stateside i have holed up in my little shed and pottled, shuffled and shifted until i can pottle, shuffle and shift no more. that is the peachy thing about going away, the fog clears and you can see a solution where once you only saw a problemo. so upon returning i set about working on my solution, and the solution to my problemo is shifting Colin the Computer upstairs into a little corner of Our #1's old bedroom. which actually is no longer her bedroom but a useful room full of things i have accumulated from years of thrift store frequenting and now of course Our Colin.

i am most delighted, for downstairs in the heart of the shed is still my little studio, with Miss Ethel waiting patiently for me and cupboards full of linens and a large sofa under the window. forsaken souls dotted around, smiling at me and it now feels like the creative space it once was when we first moved to Mossy Shed... a space to beaver away in without Colin distracting me and on some days 'playing heavy' on my mind, watching me, never letting me switch off.

and so it is with great delight on monday i will be dealing with my 'itching to be stitching' mood which has been inside of me forever and a day. do you like that? i do too, 'itching to be stitching', surely that would be perfect on a wall hanging above a little trusty sewing machine who waits patiently for the moments she gets to beaver with her owner.

next week in between my stitchery ways i would be happy to share a few of Leonard's snap shots and a few tales of what i got up to if you like. today you can see a little sprinkling of Leonard's capturing moments in blustery old London. i happened across some bunnies to love, i seem to be finding bunnies all over the place but these ones had me overcome with bunny lust. what i really wanted to do was take them home and place them on an acre of moss and crochet them all lovely little bunny ear warmers in happy bunny ear warming colors. when i whispered this thought in their lovely bunny ears they seemed quite keen and started talking amongst themselves as to what colors would suit their lovely ears best...

she has bunnies on the brain alongside her 'itching' mode, oh yes her crafting cogs are turning ~ Tif