Yesterday I found:

a treasure chest

so pretty...

I wonder what GBC stands for?

Do tell if you know...

and some treasure to keep inside it



there's more. Look...

Wow!

I wonder who she is, this lady with the pretty smile?

What's her story and how did her cameo end up in an op-shop? (this  completely freaked-out my daughters when I showed them and I can't bring myself to wear it either!)

I also found a bag of old postcards

snow capped montains...a girl can dream!

it's been so hot here!

I thought I might turn them into Christmas cards..

I also found an old leather handbag

and lastly a fifty cent t.shirt which I just couldn't resist...

(DON'T look if you're offended by any of the "B" words)

I will never leave the house in this, but if you live in W.A. or have ever holidayed here, I think you will probably understand why I had to buy it (even though I don't drink Chardonnay)

No prizes for guessing what comes next...

Margaret River is just down the road... 

Yesterday I received a Liebster Blog Award from Scarlett of Scarlett Loves Elvis fame.
How lovely is that...thank you Scarlett x
This award is for bloggers with less than 300 followers (which makes me the perfect candidate! Ha!)

The aim of the L.B.A. is to spread the word about wonderful but currently lesser known blogs, and as a new blogger I think this can only be a good thing.

Here are my nominations - all Australian and all beautiful in slightly quirky ways. They are inspiring, interesting and a little bit different...
Please have a look at them BUT be warned, you'll be hooked once you start!

My nominations are...

kit and nancy        http://kitandnancy.blogspot.com/

curbside style       http://curbsidestyle.blogspot.com/

green tea and red nails http://greenteaandrednails.blogspot.com/

ask alice stationery
http://askalicestationery.blogspot.com/

I'm just going to sneak this one in too  http://slownoodle.blogspot.com/ while I don't think it fits the criteria it's a lovely blog and definetely worth checking out.

With the tragedy unfolding in Japan at the moment blogging does seem rather insignificant... mother nature has been extremely cruel lately and it is very sad to see so many people suffering. I do think however, that the connection that blogging allows us to make with people all over the world is very important.

    tiny peace crane made by my daughter...

Over the wintry

forest,winds howl in rage

with no leaves to blow.

Soseki Natsume

Enough pontificating from me. On to happier news...my vintage Pierucci dress has a new owner! It's Vildes Verden from Norway! Please email me your details Vildes so that I can post your new dress to you. I hope you get lots of lovely compliments when you wear it. To the girls who missed out - stay tuned, I'll have more giveaways down the track...

To end, the tea towel

it really is "the lucky country"

A short post today, but (hopefully) for one of you it will be a good one... 
Is there anybody out there who would like this vintage Pierucci dress???

Pierucci is a high end Australian fashion label that has been designing and manufacturing beautiful clothing since 1988. Have a look here pierucci.com.au/ to see their more recent collections.

I bought this dress new in the very early 90's and have worn it only once. It has been hanging forlornly in my wardrobe since then and I would love to give it to someone who will wear it. It is an Australian size eight.

(it doesn't fit my friends/family and I can't bring myself to donate it to the local op-shop. don't know why, just can't...)

It has a 1940ish shape and is quite fitted around the hips and bottom, blousier on top. It has shoulder pads but these are easily removed.  It shows quite a bit of leg when you walk as it doesn't button all the way down and it is much nicer in real life. Look at the beautiful fabric...

 If you would like this dress (or perhaps it would be perfect for one of your friend's etc...) please let me know by commenting. I was going to say first in best dressed, but have decided that's a bit unfair, so if more than one of you would like it I will draw a name out of a "hat" first thing Monday morning. Of course, if you're the one and only, well then it's all yours!

p.s. I am happy to post this ANYWHERE in the world!!! 

After all that reading and lack of pretty pictures here's some happy music. Turn up the volume and start dancing!

 

Paul Weller or Curtis Mayfield?

I'm ending as usual with

Gorgeous lacy edging but I didn't really like this one until I noticed the lovely grey silhouette in the background...

My collection of Religionalia seems to be growing lately... I'm not sure why I like it so much because I'm not very religious (despite attending Catholic schools for almost twelve years!) Perhaps its kitschiness appeals to me, that and the feelings of nostalgia they seem to evoke when I look at them...
I've scattered examples throughout my blog but today I thought I'd show you some more of them. I think you either like this stuff or hate it (like my husband!) Have a look and see what you think...

 I bought these from a local swap meet but I think they originally come from an old Sunday School. My plan was to hang one above each of my daughters beds but they refused to let me, so now they sit covered in dust in our shed! A great shame I think.

Here are a few pictures that I haven't shown you yet...I seem to have lots of these and I remember having similar ones in my bedroom when I was a child.

Look at Mary's beautifully serene face.

 Apologies for the glare - they are all covered in some kind of plastic which doesn't photograph too well (or at least not with my camera!)

These next two are my pride and joy...they are kitschy with a capital K and extremely OTT! I love them and even my husband thinks these are o.k. because they are just so wrong they are almost right!

And look at the back...

 This hung above Dora and Pasquale's bed for sixty four years. Real treasure. It also says Ricordo di Egiolio -please tell me if you know what it means.

This is from Dora and Pasquale's home too

Another beautiful Mary AND she lights up...

See.

I nearly bought some more of these on the weekend...Oh how I wish I had...

All of this religion has reminded me of when I was seven. My brother and sisters and I went to a fancy dress party... my brother went dressed-up as a policeman, one sister a ballerina, the other a Hawaiian girl and I went as the SINGING NUN! What was I thinking? Apparently it was all MY idea too, but I'm not sure if I believe my Mum about that! The Flying Nun would have been way cooler! I'm going to see if I can find a pic to show you. Hilarious!

Well that's enough religion for one day. God bless and here's the tea towel

Greetings from Darwin.

Isn't it wonderful! They must have a lot of b.b.q's there!



Hooray! Finally my Tretchikoff has a home! Have a look, doesn't she look lovely!

Chinese Girl Yellow Jacket. Tretchikoff. 1950.

 I received her for my birthday four years ago and she hasn't had a proper home till now. It's not a great pic because the sun really streams through that window but I am thrilled with how wonderful she looks against the Harlequin wallpaper. What do you think?

While I am at it here's another view of our t.v. room... 

A closer look at the print above the buffet

Martiques.

This print hung on the wall in my husband's Grandparents home for as long as he can remember. When Lucy Violet (his Nan) died (she was ninety eight!) it came to us.

We know it's a bit like the Tretchikoff and probably hung in hundreds of lounge rooms around the world but we can't read the artist's name and would love to know who he was. Please drop me a line if you can help.

Our t.v. room was like the "black hole of Calcutta" when we bought this house...rising damp, a huge hole in the floor where previous owners had ripped out the fireplace, it really was horrible! It's a big achievement for us to see it like this, nearly finished-only the curtains to go now (I've chosen the fabric-just need to get them made up)

Before I show you the rest of my weekend treasures I'm going to make you hugely jealous! I just can't resist telling you that I found the cow-hide you see in the pics on THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!  Can you believe that someone would put that out on the verge for council clean-up? You should have seen me slam on the brakes when I drove past and saw it sitting there!!!

The buffet is also a freebie - my husband came home one night with it tied to the roof of our car! I am always amazed at the things people throw out, aren't you?

Here are the other things I found on the weekend...

Paint by Numbers. I would never have the patience for this!

Another (very scary) religious picture...Hansel and Gretel meet??? This would've given me nightmares as a child. But then thankfully I found this and I felt better...

1970's Prayer book.

  

We also found this sketch in an op-shop, my husband really liked it and it was only two dollars



 I can't read the artist's name, but on the back it says framed in Tokoroa which is in central New Zealand on the North Island (not far from Rotarua) if anyone from N.Z. can explain its significance I would appreciate it.

Now something sweet and pretty...

And a pretty tea towel to end too

Pink, grey and yellow, how lovely. Look at that vase and those flowers! Gorgeous!  

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?