Well the long weekend has been and gone. One minute it was nice and quiet, peaceful and relaxing...the next, crazy and slightly manic! On Sunday our faithful hound Jed, was stung by a bee and had a serious anaphylactic reaction. It was very scary and let's just say there wasn't much wow  left in our little Chihuahua by the time we got to the vet! Thankfully all it took was a quick jab of adrenalin for him to recover (and to return to his normal size which had almost doubled!)

Anyway despite that drama I still had plenty of time to hunt for treasure, one of the things I found was this book

It's full of beautiful things made by Australian women, often with very little money or resources. Like...

This was knitted by Mrs Gertrude Pepperell from odd balls of wool when she was in her eighties! She was almost blind but kept up the tradition of never being idle! Amazing!

When I saw this picture I thought how lovely it would be to have a blanket like this, and then by chance (no lie!) I found one. Slightly wonky and a little bit crooked but to me still beautiful. Have a look...

Not a patch on Mrs Pepperell's! But mine has doilies AND granny squares!!!

I also found some very pretty old tablecloths and a pile of unused tea towels (including a Rodriquez)

This mirror and china lady vase



And this too

It's a writing set. Made in Italy. Love that scarf and red bikini!

I think that's enough show and tell for today-I'll show you more tomorrow. Before today's tea towel a quick memo...If you are crafty (or more like me, a crafty wannabe!)have a look here http://sarahhodgsonblog.blogspot.com/ to find out more about a brand new

charter Sarah and Megan are starting in Perth. You can also learn more about Brown Owls here  http://brownowls-members.blogspot.com/ Should be lots of fun and the more the merrier!

And without further adieu the tea towel

One of my favourites!



As I mentioned yesterday, after we finished being arty-farty at Cottesloe we found time to stop at a little op-shop that we'd noticed on our way. It was having a Summer Clearance Sale so we had no choice, we HAD to stop! Have a look at what we found...

I love this old print. It may strike you as being a bit strange that the same girl who loves those flower paintings can love something like this just as much, but I do. Here's some detail

 I love the colours, the texture, everything!

What do you think they are?  Bottles?

Then hiding behind it was

It's a piece of an old (the movie was released in 1940) movie poster! You can still see the signwriters pencil guide marks! I think it's very special even though it's only a sliver of the whole. Love the red letters, and the purple ones for that matter.

We also found...

This one is made of cotton instead of wool.

(I'm sending it to you Galit!)

And this



A breakfast tray cloth. I've got a bit of a thing for Tex-Mex things...anyone for tequila?

And (even though my husband strongly advised me NOT to buy this!!!)

I couldn't leave him behind? There must be hundreds of paintings of this old man floating around...he comes from one of those teach yourself oil painting books so popular in the 60's and 70's. I know because my mother-in-law has her very own version (much better than this one!)

The last treasure we found is alot prettier than the others...

Yes. It's another tablecloth.

And following on from that here's today's tea towel

What were you doing in 1975?



I popped into a couple of op-shops this morning while I was was out and about and this is what I bought...

The colours in the stripey crochet blanket are much prettier and brighter in real life. Crochet is the "in" crafty thing at the moment so I find it slightly bemusing that all of the op-shops I go to have heaps of these (some I think, quite sweetly less perfect than others but all involving lots of work by their makers)  and they are always dirt cheap.  This one cost two dollars and it covers the top of our queen sized bed! Admittedly the Salvo's were having a half priced sale on linen, but come on...Anyway for me this is a good thing as I've tried to crochet and I suck at it!

Sometimes the labels on things you buy are more interesting than the thing itself...

Isn't this one great. I love the artist's easel and the font and I also love the phrase "pictures of distinction" It also tells me that the print of the little girl and kitten is called Innocence by an artist called Moter. I'm sure I've seen the same print but in blues instead of pinks have you?

I haven't been able to find any info on Moter, if you have any please let me know.

During my attempted research on Moter I came across two fantastic web sites on Big Eye Art. Prints I've never seen before. I know alot of you love Big Eye pics so here you are:   

http://bigeyedmasters.tripod.com/BIGEYEDMASTERS.html

http://besmirched.tripod.com/eyes.html

I also bought this for my daughter who likes Chinese Checkers. One dollar. No missing pieces. And in a neat little wooden box too.

And here's a close-up of the little shoe lasts. You can't really see them in the top pic. Purely decorative but too pretty to leave and they were only ninety nine cents!

Alot of words today. I hope you don't mind...

Here is today's tea towel

Speaking of tea towels, my husband is in Melbourne at the moment,today he went to Chappel Street Bazaar and saw vintage linen tea towels for sale for sixty dollars!!! Wow! I may never have to work again!

And now I'll end with one more pic of our front garden which I took this morning...