I believe in Miracle(s)

As November has drawn to a close, I'm briefly interrupting my travelogue for a catch-up on what else I've been up to and to show you some of the outfits I've been wearing.

On the Sunday before our little trip, there was another edition of our favourite flea market, but we were so caught up with our travel preparations that I completely forgot to give you a round-up of our finds.

We didn't even take any outfit photos that day, except for these, taken in front of the flea market venue for the purpose of showing off the new-to-me hat I'd just found.

I thought its rich aubergine colour went rather well with what I was wearing, in particular my beloved bottle green velvet jacket and my opaques in a colour labelled as curry on the packing.

This wasn't the only hat I found that day, as I also picked up this deadstock, marled green fuzzy hat from one of our favourite stalls. These are the same style as the hats I bought from there last year.

One of the stall's owners had brought along this booklet especially for me. It extols the merits of various synthetic fabrics and was aimed at sales persons in order to better inform their clients about these. My guess is that it dates from the late 1950s, early 1960s. 

The two brooches on the top right came from Lieve, the friend whom she is running the stall with, and who lives in our village, while the striking mother-of-pearl pendant was found later on at another stall ...

... which also yielded this vintage inkwell and pen holder stand in a rather gorgeous shade of aqua.

Our best finds often happen in the last aisles, and this time was no exception. Apart from the hat at the top of this post, there was this heavy, Celtic inspired brooch with mottled olive green stones. I wasn't surprised to see the Miracle mark at the back, having just read up on Miracle after Sheila found a fabulous pendant by the same maker a couple of weeks ago.

Apparently, Miracle is the trade name of A. Hill & Company Ltd. of Birmingham, England, which started manufacturing jewellery in 1946 and, although they have since moved to Cornwall, is still in business today.

My final buy of the day were these deadstock red leather shoes for € 3. I love how they contrast with the curry opaques.

Fast forward one week. Temperatures had plummeted several degrees on they day we returned from our holiday. On top of that, I came down with a cold. Nothing too serious, just a scratchy throat and runny nose, but enough to make me feel a bit under the weather. As a consequence, I couldn't seem to get warm.

There was some improvement by the end of the week. I'd taken Friday afternoon off, so that it was still light enough outside for taking outfit photos when I got home.

I was wearing a just-above-the-knee long-sleeved black shift dress, in black with a glorious floral print in purple and green. Oh, and there's some beige hiding in there as well.

A purple cardigan went on top, with a mother-of-pearl and gold tone flower brooch pinned to it, and I was wearing matching purple opaques. I also wore a green beaded necklace, bought retail many years ago before I became a second hand girl.

I thought this was the perfect frock to showcase my kinky new-to-me red boots, but then I got photobombed by a certain furry someone. Look at those flashing eyes, which mean danger!

We made a detour to a charity shop on our way home, but almost literally made a U-turn when we noticed they were in the process of turning the shop into a gigantic Christmas market, which would take place on Saturday.

Still, I was able to grab a handful of jewellery from the stand near the exit. And guess what, they cost us nothing whatsoever, as we were able to spend what we'd saved on our loyalty card. A present from the charity shopping gods perhaps?

Saturday was another dismal day, which I guess will be very much our lot for the next couple of months. So, once again, it was down to me to provide some colour, even if I got a little bit of help from the Cotoneaster berries behind me, which are still going strong.

I built this outfit around a skirt and cardigan I'd bought from Think Twice earlier that week for € 4 each. The cardigan has a Dralon label, while the skirt, which is vintage C&A, is made from a suede-like polyester. Initially, its colour, somewhere between camel and ochre, was what grabbed my attention, but then I felt its totally tactile fabric and saw the row of decorative buttons down the front. Not to mention the brown belt with tortoise shell buckle it came with.

All other items were already in my wardrobe: the long-sleeved blouse printed with chocolate brown polka dots and squares and sprinkled with green and turquoise flowers, the ochre necklace and the burnt orange beret.

Funny how these boots, which in real life are a very dark burgundy to my eyes, always turn out a deep shade of purple when photographed.

As you can see, tidy gardeners we're not!

In order to combat the cold, I added a green plaid cape with asymmetrical closing and collar, picked up at Think Twice last Winter, my burnt orange scarf and a pair of ochre leather gloves.

This green floral skirt, in a lightweight corduroy, was another of my Think Twice finds that week.

I went a bit wild with patterns here, as I added a red and white geometrical print pussy bow blouse, topped with a plaid print King Louie cardigan in dark red, blue and green.

I kept the pussy bow in check with a scarf clip featuring a glamorous lady wearing a gigantic feather hat, added my Miracle brooch to my cardie and wore a hot pink ring.

This would be my outfit for Monday, but I road tested it on Sunday, which resulted in these outfit photos.

In fact, I liked it so much that I'm linking it to Nancy's Fancy Friday linkup. Do check out that fabulous pre-loved houndstooth (known as pied-de-poule in these parts) suit she is wearing!