Ten things...

I mentioned a few posts ago that I'm participating in this course, and that therefore some of my posts may become a little more personal, rather than just about what I'm making and doing. I'm very much still feeling my way through blogging, as, given that my blog is linked with my business, it's not easy to decide how much I should share of myself.

Ultimately, I don't want to use my blog to portray a picture of myself that doesn't really reflect me and my life, so I'm not going to necessarily always write jolly, happy posts because (as those who know me best will know) that's not really what I'm like. I'm happy sometimes, and can be jolly sometimes, but I do have a marked tendency to grumpiness from time to time....

So to start off this new phase of my blog, I'm going to share a few things about myself that you may not know, some of which are things that in other circumstances I might not want to you know.... (inspired by the course, and in particular by Elizabeth's post 'The Un-Love List' and Leigh's list here).

1. My business really came out of a difficult time last year, following two miscarriages. After the second one, I really needed to throw myself into creating something new, and I found that the best way to get through it was by throwing myself into making....so, out of a difficult period, something really fantastic and extremely fulfilling has grown.

2. I used to be a solicitor. Please don't judge me.

3. (As indicated above) I'm often prone to grumpiness. And every time I succumb to it, I always feel like I've let myself down.

4. I love Poirot and Columbo. Columbo is my number one favourite thing to snooze in front of - I've never actually watched a whole episode fully conscious.

5. Despite a major battle with this, I still find that I have an inexplicable crush on Simon Cowell. (Shameful.)

6. I have three sewing machines. For some reason, I feel slightly ashamed of this. Two machines feels like it would be reasonable. Three just feels wrong. Does it make it any better that one is now with my mother? Actually, if you count my gran's old Singer sewing machine, I actually own four...

7. I am by nature an introvert, who has battled against this tendency for much of my life (because I thought that it was wrong to feel a bit awkward, and to feel more energised by having time on my own, than in a group of people). I still often find myself trying to be chatty and sociable when that's not how I'm really feeling.

8. I often cry when watching TV. I cried the other night when watching Mary Portas's programme about manufacturing knickers. (The bit that set me off was all about a rather awkward young man who was desperately trying to make his life better to provide a good example to his son...and when he got on to a sewing machine and proved to be a natural at sewing, of course that just set me off again.)

9. I never really got into Mad Men. I really tried, but it just never happened.

10. I used to own this:

I owned it while I was still a solicitor...I think that clients who saw me in it thought I was a bit odd.

Thanks for reading, and (hopefully) for understanding - especially about point (5).

If you're reading this, and you feel so inclined, please do feel free to share your own secrets/shameful admissions. I think there's something quite liberating about it. I've tried to do this in quite a low-key and half-humorous way but I have to say that there is something really quite scary about sharing some of the stuff that you don't completely accept about yourself, so I hope you haven't found the contents of this post entirely off-putting....

Vanessa x

Oh - and here's number (11) - I've also got a crush on Jeremy Paxman.

Altrincham Vintage and Craft Market

As always, I had a brilliant time at Altrincham Magpies Vintage and Craft Market at the weekend. The sun shone pretty much all day, and I had a great spot in the lower market, which was a very pleasant place to be on such a spring-like day. It's a really great market - a lovely mix of vintage, crafts, and food and drink, a little pop up tea room and good music.

As they always are, the customers were absolutely lovely, and so were the other stall holders. It's a market with such a good atmosphere - it's a real pleasure to have a stall there.

Here are a few photos of my stall this time round:

I didn't get much of a chance to wander round the market but did manage to pop along to see the lovely Ooooh Betty's stall and buy this mighty beast from her:

Isn't it a beauty? 

It was lovely to be visited by family and friends (hello Peggy, Jane, Clare, Sarah,  David, Patsy, Sam, Neil, Sue - thanks for popping along to say hello) and, as well as my own things, good to sell a few pieces of the lovely Jo (Fauxtique)'s jewellery from my stall. I LOVE my Fauxtique necklace...

(and hopefully here is the link to the story behind it).

The next market is on Sunday 15 April (which unfortunately I'm not going to be able to attend as a stallholder as I'll be on my way back from Edinburgh that morning but I'm hoping to be able to squeeze in a visit purely as a customer) from 11-3.30.

Vanessa x

Edinburgh Vintage Marvels Part II

Although it's now been a little while since our Edinburgh trip, it still merits a post. The revelation of the weekend was the excellent charity shops in Edinburgh, and in particular, this one:

The charity, St Columba's, has a few shops throughout Edinburgh, and I managed to visit a couple of them over the weekend. The one pictured above was an absolute beauty, and I picked up some fantastic vintage fabrics, and a beautiful Meakin platter from there (and a lovely Picquot Ware teaset from the other one I visited) . Just up the road was another marvellous charity shop find, selling lots of Pyrex pieces (a current minor obsession).

Pyrex and Meakin

Fabrics

Picquot Ware

 On the Saturday so I had the chance for some more focused pottering, which involved visiting the modern art gallery - I love the message on the front...

...then visiting a few more charity shops, vintage shops and gorgeous little art/craft shops, including the famous Armstrongs, stationery porn in Paper Tiger, the Red Door Gallery (my favourite shop in Edinburgh - I've never walked out without having bought something) and a few other great little art/design type places including Analogue Books, Black Box, and Hannah Zakari - I didn't buy much that wasn't second hand, but there was loads in these shops to inspire me.

Right at the end of my wander I discovered a little antique shop on St Mary's Street just off Canongate (no link - the guy who runs it has no website and no business cards and only opens up one day a week in the summer when he told me he goes off to Spain to work as a drag act - I told him if I lived in Edinburgh I'd be in there demanding to run his shop for him when he's off having fun in Spain - I don't think he minded...), and sitting outside, just waiting for me, was this beauty...

You can see the insert which is inside the case and in beautiful condition, and the case came with its keys which still work. I love it - it made a star appearance on my next stall at Altrincham Vintage and Craft market on Sunday (though it wasn't for sale). (Incredibly, during my most recent visit to the fantastic Treacle Market in Macclesfield, a man sold me a little briefcase which matched the trunk.)

Here are pics of the other things I picked up...

A vintage dress which should fit my little girl in a year or so (whether she'll agree to wear it is a discussion for another day)...

A vintage style childs sewing/knitting/crocheting kit...you can't start them too early...

And a beautifully kitsch magazine rack which we're using as a gramophone record rack.

Phew. Our next visit to Edinburgh is on the 13th April so I'm saving up already.

Vanessa x

Manchester Makers

I'll soon be posting again here, but just for now I wanted to mention a recently formed group, Manchester Makers, which is a group open to anyone interested in creating.... You can find the group on Facebook here so if the description sounds like something you would be interested in joining, all you need to do is to send a request to join.

Vanessa x

Edinburgh - vintage marvels Part I

How has this happened?! I edited my post slightly and now the whole thing has disappeared. Oops!

My den

Today I thought I'd share a few photos of corners of my den. I do most of my work in our cellar, which is fortunately big enough for me to have a space down there for my sewing machine and all my materials. It's not quite geared up for the winter months but with a couple of heaters, an extra jumper and a hot water bottle, I'm pretty comfortable down there, and it really is the kind of den I dreamed of when I was a little girl, so I do feel really lucky to have it.

Here's my sewing table with my (newly purchased) pride and joy....I'm hoping that in 30 years time it'll still be going strong and I'll have forgotten about delving into the overdraft to pay for it.

Here's some of my fabric (not normally this neat)...

...my craft books and magazines...

...a little corner near my machine (you can see the walls aren't exactly perfectly plastered)...

...record player and globe light (it's in a bit of a state but gives off a lovely glow)...

...doily stash... oh how I love doilies...

...and one or two other corners of my space...

You can see that it's not really a spick and span space (you might have spotted a few gaps in the plaster and trailing wires), but it's all I need (and probably more than I deserve).

Vanessa x

A minor confession

I find blogging a bit wierd. It doesn't come naturally to me. I love reading other people's blogs. I discovered a few blogs about 5 or 6 years ago (in particular Soulemama, Susannah Conway and Dottie Angel), and I've followed these blogs over the years, and loved the insight they give into the lives of others - brilliant for a nosy parker like me. I've realised from reading various blogs over the years that people tend to develop their 'blogging style' over a period of time, so it's perhaps natural that blogging feels a bit awkward right now. But I've been pondering on what/who I'm blogging for. It seems that when developing a business, even if it's just a mini business like mine, that blogging can be an important part of it.

Some people develop a blogging persona, some people share everything that's going on in their lives and their heads, and some people simply blog about their business, without sharing anything of their personal lives.  I've enjoyed blogs that fall into all of these categories but I've realised that I think I'll feel most comfortable just being myself (as far as it's possible using the written word).

So with that in mind I recently signed up to this online course with Susannah which starts at the end of February and which might result in a few more personal blog posts from me.

Vanessa x