Collectors' Lot

As April stepped aside for May, the world kept holding its breath for what this month's got in store. 

Weather-wise, Spring had temporarily packed up its bags and left us, turning down the thermostat several degrees and, while we were still treated to the odd sunny spell, intermittent showers were the order of the day. And while these might have put a damper on things for us, they were no doubt welcomed with open arms by our thirsty gardens. 

The cooler temperatures meant that I was back in the opaques I thought I'd left behind until October, choosing a green pair to match the leaves in my black frock printed with poppy-esque flowers.

Even with its three quarter sleeves, it was still far too chilly to go it alone, so that I added a green cardi when I stepped outside between showers.

A green beaded necklace, embroidered flower brooch and hessian belt were my accessories on that first day of May.

Before another shower drove us back indoors, I removed the spent flowers from the tête-à-tête daffs and put the bulbs with their foliage in an out-of-the-way corner, to die down and absorb its nutrients for next year. I'm determined to plant them out in the garden come Autumn.

In the space they'd vacated, I temporarily plonked down some of the plants we'd acquired at the garden centre, to be potted up properly once the weather improves.  

Browsing the 7000 square metre garden centre, we were seduced into buying a strawberry plant in a hanging bucket. They are of a repeat fruiting variety and, although we don't expect to be getting masses of fruit from it, we are looking forward to adding some homegrown strawberries to our breakfast fruit salad now and then.

Just before sundown, a heavy but sunlit shower prompted me to take out my camera for some parting shots. No need to get out the watering can that evening!

Showers became even more prolific on Saturday and it was only by late afternoon that there was a break long enough to allow us to take some outfit photos.

It had been another long-sleeve day, on which I opted for a skirt and blouse, both having have made previous appearances in different guises on the blog. Both with my trademark floral prints, the skirt was a charity shop find, while I picked up the blouse at Think Twice in Bruges while on a day trip last September. A red vinyl belt and red beaded necklace completed my outfit. 

The sun did her best to bleach out any colour and make my face look pale as a ghost's, so we moved to a shadier spot in the garden. By that time, I'd added a hat to tame my unruly hair and a charity shopped King Louie cardigan, to which I pinned a butterfly brooch.

Lots of real butterflies - mainly cabbage whites - seem to be flitting around in our garden, as do different varieties of dragonflies and damselflies. I even had to rescue a poor damselfly which had got itself into a pickle in a cobweb under the awning. I had to rescue a bumblebee which had ended up on its back that very same day.

That day's rainy weather prompted a continuation of Operation Kitchen Cleaning, which has now been going on (and off) for several weeks. It's slow going, mainly because of my procrastination habits, in their turn caused by the fact that we have so much stuff! There, I've said it. I wouldn't want to have it any other way, I should add.

The next area on the agenda was the set of shallow shelves to the right of our big kitchen cupboard and it was my plan to not only clean them but rearrange them in the process. First, I freed up some space by moving the coffee pots on the top shelf to the dresser in the dining room.

The shelves themselves are collector's items in their own right. They are by Tomado, a Dutch kitchenware company founded in 1923. Dating from the 1950s, Tomado's lacquered metal shelves, often painted in the red-yellow-blue colours associated with the Dutch De Stijl movement, have become highly collectable.

The two shallow sets we have in our kitchen are so-called mini Tomado shelves and are even more sought after.

A view of the top three shelves after they were cleaned and re-organized. 

The top shelf now features a Lurpak toast rack (bottom left), which was a local flea market find, and a creamer (bottom right), bought in an antique shop in Cardigan. The set of 1930s swallow decorated canisters on the third shelf were a flea market find from this time last year. I do miss our monthly flea market trawls very much!

Proceeding to the bottom three shelves, where some new introductions include the Devon Blue Ware jug and teapot, which previously lived behind the glass doors of the central display part in the big cupboard. The eagle eyed among you may spot them in there in the picture of the original arrangement with the coffee pots.

The wooden beehives at the back are two piggy banks. Although neither of them is the original, there used to be a similar one at my paternal grandparents' house. The beehive at the front is a ceramic honey pot.

Here are some more close-ups for you to enjoy. The pale green tea set is vintage Fire King and the boxed egg wedger is part of our Tala kitchenware collection.

The beehives are joined by several chocolate moulds, one of them Bakelite, while the only remaining two of the seven dwarfs are part of a ceramic set belonging to my paternal grandparents. I loved playing with them when I was a child, which is why the rest of them died an untimely death!

The lower shelf holds a collection of Melitta coffee filter holders, the two regular sized ones on the left actually being used at Dove Cottage!

Hanging from tiny hooks from the side of the shelves is a small collection of 1970s keyrings. Again, they are not the originals I collected as a young girl, but picked up at flea markets in recent years.

Encouraged by my Dad, who custom made a rack for them, they were my very first collection in the early 1970s, when during a short period of time they were a craze and given as freebies with many products.

How cute is the tiny Samo crisps packet (Samo was a popular Belgian brand of crisps, or chips, at the time) and the diminutive bar of Lux soap!

I took the opportunity of the weather's continuing fickleness on Sunday by undertaking yet another kitchen project, which I'll tell you all about it in my next post.

But before I go, here's what I wore that day.

Yet another dress that has remained unworn for years is this vintage burgundy number from the Swedish Aspens label.

It has alternating bands of light and dark burgundy sprinkled with a squiggly print, which is denser on the darker bands. 

To accompany it, I chose an elastic woven belt with a round buckle, a long glass beaded necklace and a multicoloured stone brooch. The latter two were both holiday souvenirs, the necklace bought retail from a shop in Wantage, Oxfordshire in 2006 or 2007, while the brooch came from Carmarthen Flea Market, when we visited it back in 2015. Happy times!

Finally, here's another of my #coronahair solutions, a slightly stretchy scarf (they seem to work best) with a hair flower clipped to it.

That's it for now, do stay safe and sane, my friends!

Everything but the kitchen sink

Throughout my two years and a bit of blogging, I have regularly shown you some of the kitchenalia we are collecting.

Some of you have asked to show a bit more of my kitchen, so by popular request, here's a little peek into what must be Dove Cottage's most colourful room.

This post will only give you a general idea as it is barely scratching the surface of our collection, which was begun even before we moved to Dove Cottage!

You'll probably recognize the frock I'm wearing from my previous post, as we took most of these photos on the same day.

For good measure, I have added one of my vintage aprons. These can generally be picked up at charity shops and flea market for next to nothing, often proudly displaying their wear and tear, as well as the odd faded cooking stain.

The one I'm wearing is one of my favourites (well, you know, it's green!) and in perfect condition.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise that Dove Cottage doesn't have a classic, fitted kitchen. It is, in fact, a mix and match affair, which we have added to over the years.

Pride of place is taken by this vintage kitchen cupboard, which was already in situ, and one of the original features which sold Dove Cottage to us.

Not only does it have oodles of storage space, it has the added bonus of a glass fronted display cabinet.

This is, of course, the perfect place for showcasing our ever growing collection of smaller kitchenalia as well as some other odds and ends.

There's a whole section dedicated to soaps and washing powders, while the rest is a jumble of baking paraphernalia, small gadgets and other curiosities, mugs and glasses, vintage Tupperware, and a small selection of family heirlooms. 

It is becoming ever more of a challenge to fit it all in, yet still we keep adding things. In fact, we have added another treasure since these photos were taken.

Standing in the doorway between our dining room and kitchen, this is the view towards the back door and garden.

On the left, just visible behind the kitchen table, which doubles as a work space, are our fridge and cooker, with a small run of traditional kitchen cabinets, and a sink unit beyond.

The units were already there when we bought Dove Cottage, and although they are a little tired looking, not to mention a bit boring, we have yet to replace them, which I guess we will do at some point, together with the very impractical white glazed floor tiles.

On the right is a charity shopped vintage cabinet, again featuring glass sliding doors, above which three long shelves have been put up for displaying even more of our vintage kitchenalia.

This is the view in the other direction, taken from the back door. The top of the cabinet has some kitchen essentials: scales, an enamel jug full of utensils and a tray containing condiments as well as our kitchen timer.

The traditional kitchen scales aren't vintage but rather bought new in a kitchen shop in Lyme Regis back in 1997, before we moved to Dove Cottage. Earlier during that same holiday, we'd seen lovely vintage kitchen scales in an antique shop in Exeter, but didn't buy it as according to Jos we had nowhere to put it. As it goes, we regretted it almost instantly, so we settled for this new one instead.

At the far end is yet another charity shopped cabinet - again featuring glass sliding doors - which holds most of our Boch crockery. 

On top is our treasured Teasmade, a French coffee pot, a Wedgwood butter dish found in an antiques centre in Wales and a battered Wright's Biscuits tray, a lucky find at a local flea market many years ago.

I don't remember where the copper jelly mould came from.

The hanging plate rack was one of the first items we added to Dove Cottage's kitchen. It has a shallow shelf below the rack itself, as well as some handy hooks, but we still ran out of space, so that there are now Thermos flasks, a ceramic poodle decanter with four tiny cups (see here), as well as some other bits and bobs, living on top of it.

We've made use of  the mantlepiece on the left too, which contains our collection of coffee grinders. These two Bakelite ones, in green as well as the usual reddish brown, are the rarest.

Crammed between the mantlepiece and the cupboard are yet more shelves! These are shallow Tomado shelves, a rarity in itself, picked up at Blender Vintage Shop when they were still trading.

They contain coffee pots and filters as well as some odd pieces of crockery. 

The vintage creamer (top left) and Tala Cook's Measure both came from Cardigan Antique Centre.

Returning to the shelves above the cabinet, let's have a look at the stuff which is crammed on them.

The top shelf has a set of vintage ceramic canisters. The larger ones were a consignment shop find which we brought home about twenty years ago. They have a sailing boat design and proclaim their contents in French.

The smaller set, with their contents written in Flemish, were a recent gift from my friend Inez, and they match a salt cellar and tea canister we already owned.

The middle shelf holds vintage tins in all shapes and sizes. 

One of my favourites is the Smith's potato crisps tin, which we unearthed in an Alladin's cave of a shop in Leominster, Herefordshire, called Utter Clutter! I'm sure the same could be said of Dove Cottage by now ...

The jelly moulds and pastry cutters, both from Tala, were found in a delightful antique centre in  Newcastle Emlyn, Wales.

Another favourite is this colourful and fabulously illustrated tin, probably dating from the late 1950s, which used to contain Brinta, a Dutch brand of porridge.

The bottom shelf, like the top one, has a blue and white theme.  You can see part of the shelf in the bottom right photo of the next collage.

Centre stage is taken by our small collection of T.G. Green items, a Cornishware bowl and salt shaker and an orphan crockery set in Blue Domino. This set was bought in the village of Lower Solva, Pembrokeshire, back in 2011.

The bread bin came from a shop specializing in kitchenalia in Rye, East Sussex. The "family scale", its twin recently spotted in the 1910's episode of Back in Time for Dinner, holds my collection of vintage aprons.

The French fries potato cutter (again, it should be Belgian fries, as it weren't the French who invented them) came from a small shop in Wells, Somerset, on a visit in the early noughties.

1960s and 1970s kitsch, clockwise from top left: a small boxed hand blender, Emsa serving bowl and dishes, atomic Tupperware salt and pepper set and Emsa cheese dish.

The orange enamel colander and utensil holder both came from the Expo 58 shop, while the glass light fixture was picked up in the aftermath of a charity shop retro event, when it was reduced to half price.

Even the gingham curtains were charity shopped. If I remember correctly, we paid € 5 for the pair!

Finally, these wooden signs, although not old, nor kitchenalia, are testimony to a very important member of the Dove Cottage household: Phoebe!

That's all I have time for now, but I promise to show you more of our kitchen treasures in another post!

And when it rains all day ...

Last weekend was a quiet one and, apart from a visit to my friend Inez, involving coffee and apple pie, we hadn't anything planned at all.

We couldn't even go charity shopping on Saturday as all the shops were closed: November 11, Armistice Day, is a public holiday here in Belgium!

By a stroke of luck, though, the weekly market in our village was trading so, still on the lookout for the elusive burnt orange tights, I ventured outside. The rain we'd woken up to had diminished to a light but persistent drizzle by then, but it was still wet enough to warrant carrying an umbrella.

Sadly, the hosiery stall is discontinuing my favourite range of coloured tights and they only had some leftovers from previous years. But, hurray: they still had some burnt orange ones (actually called caramel) in my size, and I stocked up on a couple of pairs in rust, moss green and olive as well!

I'd been waiting to wear the striking aubergine blouse sprinkled with colourful spots for quite a while, but didn't hit on the right skirt to combine it with until I started pulling out my Winter skirts and found this one, in beige and brown polyester. Not really my colours and frankly speaking a bit boring: I'd actually forgotten about this skirt completely!

Once I had the skirt on, accessorizing was easy. I started by adding a brown belt with a round tortoiseshell buckle, and chose olive green tights and ditto cardigan.

The first of my brooches, a cameo, was pinned to my blouse, then a cream and brown plastic brooch, one of last week's finds, went on the cardigan. I also wore orange beads and a green plastic ring.

I have dozens of these plastic rings in different colours, picking them up whenever I find them, so they are a mix of high street and flea market finds. I store them in this 1970s orange party set, next to my collection of necklaces, so that they are within easy reach when I'm dressing.

On went the boots I can't say goodbye to and which I'll probably wear until they fall apart completely.

I wore the jacket I bought for € 2 at last week's flea market. It's dark brown with small multicoloured bobbles, which makes it less stark. I felt it needed a belt and added a dark ochre one.

My final brooch, a gold tone starburst with a large pearl at its centre, was pinned to the jacket.

I completed my outerwear with my yellow crushed velvet scarf and a red beret. If there's one thing I like about the colder weather, it's the fact that I can wear my berets and woolly hats. I've vowed that I'm not going to lose one this year, so I'm being extra careful with them!

The weather continued to be fickle on Saturday but at least the soggy periods were interrupted with a couple of dry ones, with the sun making a shy appearance now and then, especially at the end of the day.

One thing is certain: sunsets can be quite dramatic this time of year!

Sunday was a total washout, with the rain beating against our windows, daring us to go outside.

In the end, we only briefly went into the garden for these outfit photos. It started to rain again while we were taking them. I was shivering, although it was one of the rare occasions when I was wearing a jumper.

I picked up the woollen skirt for € 2 at one of the last Think Twice sales but again it took me a while to find a suitable companion. As it was cold enough to warrant a jumper, I decided on the lightweight yellow one. It was bought new in the sales a a couple of years ago, and I love its pattern and the little bow.

The blue from the skirt was repeated in my tights and accessories: belt, beads, brooch and ring, and I couldn't resist wearing the yellow beret.

Although I'm quite happy with how it turned out in the photographs, I somehow didn't feel great in this outfit, finding it too bulky on my hips, which are not really my favourite feature at the moment.

The rest of Sunday was spent pottering inside Dove Cottage, one of the other things I like about this season.

I was disenchanted with the shelves of Lourdes memorabilia in our bedroom and whittled them down to just the upper shelf, which is now crammed absolutely full of the kitschy stuff.

The other two shelves now contain a mix of old favourites and more recent finds. You might recognize the two tins bought at last weekend's flea market.

I also rearranged the mantelpiece in the spare room to make space for the latest "head" to join the collection, charity shopped for just € 1 a couple of weeks ago.

Nameless for the time being, she's already looking quite at home at Dove Cottage!

Once again, I'm taking my outfit to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style.

Fell in love with a dress

In my previous post, I hinted at the fact that there was something going on at the charity shops on Saturday before last.

Yes, it was time again for that yearly event to promote their shops, the notorious Day of the Charity Shops (Dag van de Kringwinkel in Flemish)!

It's an event which is loved and hated in equal measure by any vintage aficionado, as much of the interesting stuff is being kept behind especially for this day, while on the day itself the shops are full of fabulous, yet often overpriced, goodies.

The diehards take up their posts at the shop's entrance well before opening time, pushing and shoving their way into the shop once the doors are opened, in order to get first dibs at the goods on offer.

Not us! No, obviously we are far too civilized and laid back for such behaviour!
Although I have to admit that, once inside the shop, all manners can be thrown overboard if anyone even dares going near the object(s) of my desire!

So, we walked in at leisure one hour later, past table after table groaning under the weight of vintage crockery, casting a cursory glance, then went down to the textiles department in the basement.

There, we were halted in our tracks by the display on the half landing. That dress! Minutes later, the mannequin wearing it was left bare, and I was on my way to the fitting rooms ...

I could have hit myself for not taking a before photo, but apparently the charity shop people did and posted it on their Facebook page, so this photo is courtesy of them.

The dress is just a tiny bit too wide on me, but there was no way I was leaving it behind. Surely, that's what belts were invented for?

I had the perfect boots to wear with it as well. And no, I am not trying to walk like an Egyptian: I was telling Jos I could feel the first drops of rain ...

From the same shop came these two vintage handbags.

At first, the black bag with the tortoise shell ring got us stumped, as we couldn't seem to open it. Then Jos noticed this hidden lever, which releases the opening mechanism, and hey presto!

It had to come home with me, even if for the unusual catch alone, as this is exactly the kind of quirky thing that I love, justifying why I've just bought another black handbag ...

For good measure, here's a closer look at the small but sturdy and surprisingly roomy tan leather handbag.

Jos bought this revolving device containing a barometer, thermometer and a hygrometer, for his small collection.

After our walk in the park, we drove down to a shop we only visit once or twice a year. By then, afternoon was well on its way, and we expected it to be stripped bare. Not so! Here too, there were endless shelves of vintage china, even more than at the first shop.

We noted there were hardly any gaps in the shelves, so we don't think much of it was sold. Serves them right, they should put  these things out into their shops all year round!

Jos browsed the cartons of vinyl, but didn't find anything he liked.

He then settled for a vintage portable record player. Not that we didn't have one yet ... This one will need some TLC.

After a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie, we made a final round, and I found this vintage St. Michaels melamine tray.

Sunday was all work and no play. Oh, OK, just a little bit of play then: I had the day earmarked for the continuation of my wardrobe switch-over.

Dressed in this stretchy retro frock by Zoë Loveborn, I matched our Emsa kitchenware perfectly!

Here are my Summer frocks ready to be put into vacuum bags. I am only keeping out the ones which are tricky to iron.

Then came the fun bit, as one by one my long-sleeved dresses were taken out of the bags they've been in since late Spring.

As usual, there were the old favourites as well as one or two surprises I'd completely forgotten about!

I also took the opportunity to have a cull and fill a bag full of clothes to sell on.

There, don't they look nice hanging ready to wear in my wardrobe?