E is for..........................

EKCO

I live with a vintage wireless enthusiast.  Wireless is completely the wrong word, because you have to plug it in!  So Radio enthusiast!  I thought I would have a guest writer - my husband!

Hi from the Husband. I have had a lifelong fondness for Ekco radios as my first job when leaving school in 1962 was on the assembly lines at their Southend-on-Sea factory. Rumours that this ultimately led to the closure of said factory in 1966, remain unsubstantiated! You can imagine however how good for quality control it was to have a line of workers comprised mostly of 15 year olds straight from School!

Ekco in its heyday of the 1930's was one of the major players in the manufacture and sale of Radio Sets and now commands some of the highest prices in the collecting field for its "round " or circular sets, the perennial favourite being the A22 of 1946 costing you around £700 for a nice example.

Read more about EKCO here

Linking with alphabet blogging with 

Just a blog post..........

Well hope everyone had a good Easter, and I would like to say hello to my new followers. 

We didn't do much over Easter, just went to see the grandchildren (see previous post).  That was an absolutely lovely day.  We love going to see them.  Saturday we were going to do a boot fair, but all of a sudden the weather was

against it turned quite cold and we didn't fancy standing in a field freezing, so we abandoned the idea.  It turned out to have been quite a fruitful afternoon and we missed it!  The first bootfair of the season and apparently every space was taken in the field and they opened another field too.  The buyers were queuing quite a while to get in too.

But............  

green bakelite sock darner bought for 50p

...........they had another one yesterday, but this time only a quarter of the field was taken up, and there was more buyers than sellers.  I am actually trying to wean myself off of boot fairs too much stuff needs to go!  I have actually stopped going into charity shops now but Alex wanted to go so we went and I picked up a green bakelite sock darner.  The top unskrews for you to keep needles and darning wool inside.  I already have my mums one which is brown and also unskrews.

The last of my birthday flowers.  The two little vases are from here

and my 50p flowers from yesterday from Morrisons!

R is for............................

RADIOS!

There is an awful lot in our house!

Some in bits or being repaired

Some go for sale usually here  which is open to the public

Some decorate the house like this one.  This one has its own stand which is rare.

At the moment the stand is housing my vintage needlework magazines, well its an ideal safe place!

Linking with alphabet blogging here 

U is for...........

UMBRELLA

Which we have needed a lot recently!

I am linking with Alphabet blogging here

His Masters Voice!

I made this for a bit of fun!  

People who know us, knows my husband collects and restores Vintage Radios and Record Players.  

This is  my take on Nipper the dog and his masters voice.  

You can read about Nipper here.  

Advent Calendar - door 13 and Fair

13 December

Tomorrow at the fair we are selling

Handmade

pre-loved

and restored and the tea trolly!

Advent Calendar - door 12 and a Fair

12 December

We will be at The Memorial Hall at Trull Taunton Somerset on Saturday 14th December if you can get along.....

Well that's September!

Does anyone know what happened to September?  I haven't been round blogland much.  I haven't really been making - in fact I really haven't done much.  I have sorted loads of old magazines some pre-dating the year 2000.  They were all cross-stitch magazines, I put about twenty bags of magazines and another load with hardback cross-stitching books on our local freecycle.  They were snapped up, I think because the people collecting them thought they were getting a bargain!  Well they were, but you cannot sell cross-stitch books at the local bootfair for even 20p here so I decided just to give them away!  They have gone and I feel better for it - it is amazing how I felt so much better for getting rid of things - it did actually feel like a weight had lifted - so more stuff is going to go!

Now I wonder................ no I best not if I want to stay happily married!  They are the collection of 78 rpm records, there is even two piles behind the Iceland carrier, In the Iceland carrier are the Christmas 78 rpm.  I cleared out the cupboard where I kept the magazines, guess where these have gone......!   Nothing stays empty for long in this house!

It was wet, dull and dismal yesterday, so yesterday afternoon I made Peggoty.  She is a dolly-peg (clothes spin)  Dressed in white, with a light green shawl.  She will be put in my shop soon, when I have finished a sister or two.

I made pie.

Apple and Blackberry.
We still have Blackberries at the bottom of the garden

I am still stitching

Still knitting

Mr Robin has been sitting on  the tree branch singing for a mate - nice to see him back in the garden.

Storm Clouds, Steam, and Flowers

The clouds over my house on Friday evening, we had a thunderstorm, it didn't last long, we have actually seen and heard better ones, but this one was directly over our house at one point.  

Saturday morning, we awoke after the storm to a sunny morning, but with black clouds in the distance.  Right to where we were going!  We went the the West Somerset Steam Fayre at Norton Fitzwarren.  

We drove to Bishop Lydyeard Station and had a free train ride to the Norton Fitzwarren siding for the steam fayre.     

This train was actually going to Minehead!

We saw tiny steam

Mini traction engines

Proper size traction engines, think my favourite of all the 'steam'.  Think I prefer these to engines - don't know why.........

The 'road gang' display

They had an armoured vehicle display too including this famous ambulance......

This ambulance appeared in the film Ice Cold in Alex with John Mills and Sylvia Symms

We saw the Starlight Pullman Car.  The name because it has windows along the top of the roof.

There was a craft tent too. But I was actually very disappointed.  Forty percent of the stalls were hand made cards, and forty percent were jewellery, made from glass beads, bracelets and necklaces.  The other twenty percent were other things like the barge painter, and the giant cookie counter.  

Whilst we were there, there was a very heavy downpour where everyone scurried to the nearest tent, we ended up in the model boat tent!

Now my flowers 

Before the rain

and after the rain!

Finished.......and Friday!

I have finished my embroidery - the pattern is on my Pinterest board.  I also have another very similar in one of  my vintage magazines which I will also do as a companion piece.

  

I then did this! Gasp - Shock - Horror  please don't be afraid........................  This time it was washed at 95 degrees!

so that is phase one - I will being doing phase two in the week and phase three when it stops raining and the sun is out again.............funny how you miss opportunities to do something........... perhaps I just wasn't meant to do the phase three job then........

Lytes Cary Manor courtyard

Friday we decided to go out for the day, we went to Lytes Cary

Detail of a stump work mirror.  The stitches are so small and delicate!

Detail of a quilt. .Click on photo and have a closer look, the hexagon shapes are actually one piece and not pieces joined together - an idea and patience needed, but I will have a go!

Teasels in flower, a delicate mauve/lavender colour.  I have only ever seen these flowers dried and on seats in some National Trust properties to stop people sitting on the chairs on show.

Then we went on to East Somerset Railway

The little blue engine took us for a thirty minute ride up the track and back again.  We got off at the engine sheds and walked back to the station.

This vintage phone box is at the station is very interesting, not just a phone box but sold stamps too!

This photo was taken in the car of Minehead in the distance at St Audries.  There was nowhere to stop to take photo.  I wasn't driving by-the-way!