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?



Today I'm going to show you some more of the treasure we discovered on our great op-shopping adventure last Friday. Let's start with something pretty...

I love old tablecloths almost as much as old tea towels and for the same reasons.

See.

And not just Australian ones although they are probably my most favourite. How gorgeous is that wattle! (it smells delicious too-a bit like honey) I like the way the map of Australia looks like it comes from the pages of a child's colouring-in book.

I might as well stick with the touristy theme...

I have never been to Exmouth, it's a l-o-n-g way from Perth and I've only driven through Geraldton. Exmouth is obviously a good place for a spot of fishing and one of Geraldton's main attractions is the Windswept Tree!

We also found  a few trays with more of an international flavour...

These were all one dollar each AND we left a pile behind for the next lucky person!

Now perhaps you can help me with the next thing?

My poor old camera (and lack of skill) is clearly evident in these snaps! Sorry. On the back of this little scoop(?) it says Denmark and there is a picture of what I'd describe as a hill with three rings around it. It also has the monogram Mj and a funny N-shape with a line through the middle. 2900 of these were made and ours is number 147 so I suppose it's not worth terribly much but I'd just like to know something about it. Please drop me a line if you do. (And thanks for reading through this) 

Now, one more thing found on Friday

It's a bread slicer. This one is made in Germany but they were also made in Ireland too. Love the colour. Love the word Toledo. Hate my kitchen bench top!!!

More of our finds tomorrow. I hope you found some lovely treasure on the week-end. 

Here is today's tea towel...

   

I went to the Belmont swap meet yesterday, it was a very quick trip as I only had 25 minutes to spare between dropping one daughter off at the airport and picking the other up from a sleep-over. Not necessarily a bad thing though as this swap meet is not as good as it once was (too much rubbish imported from Asia these days) which is a shame because I used to find some real treasure there. On occasion I still do like...

I was thrilled to find this tablecloth and paid only two dollars fifty for it. It's special and not just for obvious reasons but also because this wonderful stadium (where I went to Little Athletics for years and where my school athletic carnivals were also held!) has been demolished.

Here it is in 1962 in all it's modernist glory and here it is in a terrible state of disrepair before it was demolished

Perry Lakes Stadium

Sadly it is now a residential site so to me the little old tablecloth is definetely treasure!

Note:the pics of Perry lakes Stadium are from a great Perth architecture blog http://perthsbest.wordpress.com/

As far as tablecloths are concerned I also bought this

and this

Then as I was racing around I spotted  this

Look inside

And here it is all laid out neatly

Amongst all this prettiness, at the very bottom I found this

Real treasure!

(or maybe not...)

Can I be boring and show you the label inside the old beauty case? It's just so lovely

From the same lady I also bought...



And

The little birds are inside old Fowlers preserving jars. Not really my style but for two dollars how could I leave them behind?

Lastly, here's today's tea towel

Don't think I spend my whole life in op-shops, because I don't. Really. Truly. Having said this, if I'm driving past one and I've got some time up my sleeves and cash in my wallet I generally pop in and have a look.
And that's just what I did today. Have a look at what I bought...

"Portable" clothesline. four dollars. Belmont Anglicare.

Coaster set. Stamped "made in U.S.-Zone Germany. six dollars. Belmont Good Sammy's.

Curtains. Swiss maid from uro collection by Kornblums. six dollars. Belmont Anglicare.

Sweet little girl print to add to my collection. three dollars. St. Vinnies Belmont.

Placemats/serviettes. Love the colour. three dollars. Salvo's Belmont.

Pussy cat clothes brush.  Western Germany sticker on back. two dollars. St.Vinnies Belmont.

Folk dancer hand towel. Present for my mum. two dollars.As above.  

And lastly a tablecloth I forgot to include yesterday...