Forthcoming Attractions: Late April 2015

'Forthcoming Attractions' blog post banner

vintage collectables shortly to be listed in the H is for Home webshop

We’re not great fans of getting up early, but if you want to find good shop stock you just have to make the effort sometimes. In the depths of winter it’s just tooooo painful!! But something felt like it was the right time to hit the markets & car-boots again this weekend – like hedgehogs emerging after hibernation from their pile of leaves! We dusted off the alarm clock and got going at 5am on Saturday morning. Here are some Forthcoming Attractions from the week’s search for vintage collectables.

vintage Chad Valley clock tin shortly to be listed in the H is for Home webshop

The early bird might indeed catch the worm, but we caught some birds of our own. This gorgeous 1960s egg cosy set comprises two teak egg cups and linen cosies with wonderful chicken decoration – what a cheery way to start the day. We also picked up a lovely Lord Nelson Pottery rolling pin from the classic ‘Gaytime’ range with its psychedelic flower and bird design.

vintage egg cosy set shortly to be listed in the H is for Home webshop

More fauna with this cute little Chad Valley savings tin featuring the nursery rhyme ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’. The lid has a clock face with movable hands. Kids can learn a nursery rhyme, how to tell the time – and the value of saving the pennies!

vintage orange daisy enamelware shortly to be listed in the H is for Home webshop

We were actually talking about this range of enamelware the day before we went to Saturday’s market – ironically saying that we didn’t come across it as often as we used to! Lo & behold, we find a coffee pot and a kettle. They date from the 1960s/70s and were produced in the former Yugoslavia. We love the simple daisy pattern.

vintage rattan basket enamelware shortly to be listed in the H is for Home webshop

And how about this gorgeous repeating apple design? This vintage basket has its fabulous original cotton liner and waterproof/stain-proof cover. A real favourite find this one!

vintage replacement deck chair slings shortly to be listed in the H is for Home webshop

Summer must be just around the corner if we’re picking up garden accessories. These vintage replacement deckchair covers might be just the thing if your outdoor seating needs sprucing up.

vintage paper ephemera shortly to be listed in the H is for Home webshop

Last but not least, is the striking Blackpool Illuminations brochure featured in the main photo. Amazingly, it’s from 1930, so not far off being a hundred years old! It’s part of a wonderful collection of ephemera we bought last week. It all dates from the 1920s to the 1950s. We’ve just started sorting through it, but there are all kinds of fabulous brochures, magazines and advertisements from this early to mid twentieth century period. The photo above is just a small sample, so we think we’ll have to return to it in more detail in a future post.

E is for… Egg

"E is for egg" banner

eggs in shadow

With Easter just around the corner, ‘E’ just had to be for egg. We’ve had a quick trawl through our photos looking for some eggy paraphernalia.

vintage stainless steel egg cup with egg and pile of salt

vintage stainless steel egg cup on stand with matching spoon

We’ll start with a few egg cups…

vintage Figgjo Flint 'Turi' pottery egg cup

vintage plastic egg cup set in original packaging

set of vintage teak egg cups

set of vintage pottery egg cups

set of vintage orange and brown melamine egg cups

set of vintage Hornsea 'Bronte' egg cups on teak under tray

…and how about an egg cosy to keep the chill off?

pair of yellow handknitted egg cosies

Storage solutions…

eggs in a vintage wire egg basket, vintage Cathrineholm 'Lotus' enamel bowl and antique wooden egg tray
…whisks…

vintage egg beater

…and spatulas.

vintage orange omlette making set in original packaging

No matter how many people there are in your household, or how many you like at a time, there’s an egg poacher for you!

vintage one egg aluminium poacher

vintage aluminium four egg poacher

For the complete boiled egg experience, you can’t beat this lovely bright orange set!

vintage orange plastic boiled egg set comprising timer, egg cups and salt & pepper shakers

And finally, we couldn’t do an egg blog without mentioning the most famous egg of all- Humpty Dumpty of course. We picked up some vintage nursery rhyme records recently, and Humpty was amongst them.

vintage 1970s childs Humpty Dumpty 45rpm recordvintage 1970s childs 45rpm Humpty Dumpty record

Granny Glittens and Her Amazing Mittens!

'The Tall Book of Christmas' book cover illustrated by Gertrude E. Espenscheid

We hope everyone out there had a lovely Christmas.

Now that the festivities are over, we can concentrate on the H is for Home shop website launch.

We’ve spent the last few weeks tying up loose ends – we’re very happy with the site design and the database bit functions so smoothly even Justin can operate it! Thanks again to our web builder Mike and design company Sputnik.

The short delay in launching has given our army of knitters (all one of her!) some extra time to produce some great stuff for the shop.

We’re always very excited on our frequent trips to see Shirley, our amazing craft knitter and very own Granny Glittens. We share tea, home-made cakes and a natter. For anyone who’s not familiar with Granny Glittens, she’s to be found in The Tall Book of Christmas available at Amazon, a charming 1950s collection of children’s stories, one of which is entitled Granny Glittens and Her Amazing Mittens.

The Tall Book of Christmas book cover Granny Glittens and her Amazing Mittens story in the Tall Book of Christmas

Shirley’s always got a box of treats waiting for us to collect. We supply the wool, old buttons & vintage fabric sourced from charity shops, markets etc; she supplies the skill, time & love that go into making these wonderful goodies.

She hand knits, crochets & sews all kinds of things – from pan grabs to cushions – they combine beauty with functionality. Below we’ve got a sneak preview of some of the most recent things Granny Glittens has conjured up!

The website’s coming soon (promise!!)
Adelle & Justin

hand-knitted collage
this week’s haul!

hand-knitted pan grabs
pan grabs – no more burnt fingers!

hand-knitted hot water bottles
hot water bottle covers

collection of hand=knitted teapot cosies
collective noun for teapots?