A flea, some blocking and a battle!

This is a combined/random type of blog post as I've failed totally to manage to post them separately over the last few weeks.

First of all I've discovered a rather lovely, and very cheap, flea market near where my parents live.  We went to it a few weeks ago and I bought all of this:

There are 3 lovely 1950s Midwinter Cassandra dinner plates (I paid £8.00 for the three and they retail at about £20 each online).   The jug is holkham pottery and the Mrs Tiggly Winkle dish is wedgwood.
The bottle says King's Lynn Soda Water on it

All together I paid £30 for all the goodies in the photo (apart from the cat, she was just being nosey!).

Next, several people have asked my about why I block knitting.  Blocking turns a crumpled piece of finished knitting like this

into a defined, uncrumpled item.  I soak mine in water, roll it in a towel to dry it and them use wires and pins to pull it to the shape and size detailed in the pattern.

When it's dry it holds its shape and, it this case, retains the detail of the lace pattern.

This Henslowe shawl has turned out well, its a wool and silk mix yarn from Skein Queen.

Finally I went with Celia to a battle.  A reconstruction of the Battle of Assandun, between the Anglo Saxons led by Edmund Ironside and the Vikings led by Canute.

There was lots of charging about and a commentary telling the story (which was hard to hear), but it was fun and we had tea and cake too.

I'm off to London this weekend to see Kenneth Branagh in The Entertainer - can't wait!

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King's Lynn Treasures

Yesterday, Mum, Dad and I had a little trip out into King's Lynn.  It's their local town and one that I went to secondary school in.  I know lots of people aren't fond of the place, but it's very close to my heart.

We parked in Tuesday Market Place.  It's changed a little since I was last there, with some pedestrian areas and tables and chairs outside of cafes, which I imagine would be lovely in the summer.

I did my driving test round this market place, in the snow with the mart (annual funfair) on it!

The reason for our trip was to visit the flea market in the Corn Exchange and we had a good wander round and I bought a few treasures, but before I show you what I bought let me show you some of the treasures of King's Lynn.

This is King Street, I went to secondary school in King Street, yesterday we had a coffee in the building just along from my old school.

This is my old school, now rather expensive apartments.

It has a blue plaque on it saying that it was once the home of the King's Lynn and West Norfolk High School for Girls.  I'd love to go inside and have a look round it now.

This is the Custom House and the statue of Captain George Vancouver  - he was born in King's Lynn and in April 1792 sailed to America and declared the land as British Columbia.

This is Queen Street - see the dutch influence in the gables? That's due to the influence on architecture from the town being part of the Hanseatic league  - a commercial group of merchant guilds and towns in northern Europe from the 14th to 19th century.

photo courtesy of Flickriver

And this is the Guildhall - a pretty spectacular building.

photo courtesy of Lynn News

If you're ever in North Norfolk I do recommend that you pay a visit to King's Lynn - don't be put off by the modern shopping centre, go and find the old part, you won't be disappointed.

What did I buy at the flea market? These 4 treasures:

a glass bottle complete with its marble, a crown derby jug, a 1950's dish and the hand embroidered cloth they're standing on.  Total cost £19 - bargain :-)

A 24p Bag

I needed a new bag. Not just any old new bag but a bag that both fullfilled the size requirements for the '2nd small hand luggage bag' of a certain low cost airline and one that I could fit my ipad in.  I have loads of bags but would you believe it, not a single one that met both of these criteria.  So I decided to make one.

I rooted around and found some lovely striped fabric lurking on a shelf, some shot silk taffeta that would do for lining and a strap that was from my broken laptop bag. 

Not having a pattern I based it on an existing bag, used some wadding left over from something else to pad it and basically made it up as I went along.

It was finished but slightly boring so I had another rummage ('helped' by a feline assistant!) and

the old silk curtain from the lounge and a red resin rose became a flower brooch,

which when fastened onto the front flap livened it up nicely.

And the 24p?  That's what it cost me to buy the 2 D rings to attach the handle to the bag. 

It'll do the job nicely :-)

I Do Like A Bargain!

My father used to say (maybe he still does) that "a bargain is only a bargain if you needed it in the first place".  Well I did need this!  I'd been looking for a candlestick for my dining table for ages, but my dining table is round and most of the candlesticks I'd seen were either rectangluar or very expensive, so when I spotted this I knew I had to have it.

Before

It was £12.50 in one of the barns at Risby Barns Antiques Centre near Bury St Edmunds.  I spent a morning outside clearning it up with kitchen grease cleaner, a brio pad and a heat gun to melt the years of wax.  I mixed up some paint from old Farrow and Ball matchpots and leftover satinwood paint from the radiators, added some gold wax and crystals and voila, here it is now:

After

Now I just need some nice white candles to go in it, if anyone knows where I can get some (as opposed to cream) I'd be really grateful to know.

Also on the subject of bargains, Sudbury Garden Centre were selling packets of seeds for 50p each yesterday, how could I resist?!  I bought these18 packets, mainly veg for next year and sweetpeas, for just £9 as opposed to over £46 if I'd bought them full price.

Now all I have to do is not lose them before next year!

My Bargain

Last week I was at a meeting at a local conference venue where there was a garden show taking place in the grounds (you can probably guess which of the two I really wanted to go to).  At the end of the meeting they announced that as we were already on the site that we could have free access into the show.  I have to admit that the plants weren't anything spectacular, but I was so pleased when I spied this obelisk.

I wanted one to go in the space where the pittosporum used to be, but couldn't find one that was small and delicate enough for the tiny clematis aromatica that would grow up it.  It was priced at £8, but I only had £6 in cash and they didn't take credit cards.  I've never before haggled for anything  but I decided to ask if they'd take £6.  You can see that they did!  I was going to rub it down and paint it cream, but at the moment I quite like its mix of rust and shine so I might just leave it as it is.  What do you think? (If you click on the picture you can see it in more detail).