Wet Wet Wet

Not in a Marti Pellow stylie sadly (phwoar!).
Piddling down, weather here in the UK in general is dire, lots of flooding, a lightening strike this side of the country and gales. Not good. Lashed it down all yesterday and all night, looks a touch better today so far but still very windy.

So perfect knitty weather!

The pink beady shawl is almost finished, am aiming to get that done by tonight - I repeated the middle section and maybe didn't need to, it is looking quite large! Piccies to come when the world brightens up a bit.

The living room revamp is moving on - at the moment it is in the 'almost finished' chaotic state.

Posh eh.
This set needs selling asap, have had some interest but no response to my reply yet. As my new old table (makes sense to me) came last night I really need to sell this lot quickly, it is looking a bit like Steptoe's yard at the moment.
The little set of drawers is painted and painted and painted, and ready to be titivated:

Nicely naff and bland at the moment but I have ideas (has had another coat of paint since this was taken). They involve my printer which is out of ink, so please hurry up Mr Postie and deliver the new ink! The tall cabinet behind this one is next in line but a much bigger job, I plan to cover the bottom door with vintage photos.

My sense of style is very muddled lately - once upon a time I had a fairly clear idea of what I liked Then I maybe grew up a bit and it all become so much more complicated!
I like neutrals very much, these sorts of things:

Neutrals with pinks, bliss. But thanks to my landlord and his absolute lack of taste I have this godawful carpet to live with. Yuk. One day I will invest in something better, even if it's a huge rug over as much as possible.
But as well as neutrally I also like this sort of thing:

Gorgeous.
So I am half plannning to have white painted dining chairs with patchwork seats. Maybe.
Things I do like and that are achievable are these:

Easy. Painted bottles and jars, similar coloured blooms. I really like this.
And this:

Apparently these are cheap artificial flowers in water - I suppose it would also work in a gel of some sort.
(All piccies taken at random from my piccy folders, sorry there are no credits).

Right, my knitting is calling me softly - be right with you my dear!

Enjoy the weekend.
Toodles.

And now for something (slightly) different ...

1) excuse the ever changing layout, I have the fidgets.

2) yes I do seem to be on blogging / photography overdrive.

3) here, have some rather nice things to look at. Skip this post if you aren't interested in antiques or clothing!

Not many people know that I have always had a bit of a thing for vintage clothing - by vintage I don't mean 60s and 70s crimpelene and Primarni type static attacks, but more antique.
Where I used to live there was one tiny antique shop, perfectly set inside a very old end building - the clothes were upstairs and it was great not to have to duck like anyone else to avoid very low ceilings! This is going back to my yoof, so I certainly didn't have much money and would rummage to find anything I could afford - I suspect it was usually birthday or Chrimbo money.

Anyway, I still have a few of my beloved antiques and dug them out of hiding the other day - I plan on framing them all, ideally in box frames so they don't get too squished. It's a shame to have them out of sight but I don't want them in the air as they will just get damaged or scoffed by moths.

So here is one of my beauties - an Edwardian jacket. I had the skirt too but no idea what became of that sadly.

'Scuse the piccies / background, I will have to get some better photos before I frame this.

From around 1901.

I love this - it is totally handsewn except for the longer side and sleeve seams - by hand sewn I don't mean on a hand cranked machine but stitched with a needle and thread. It's very small (maybe a UK size 8) with a larger bust, very much the silhouette of its time.

The material feels like a lightweight wool, in a deep blue, with what feels like silk for the cream piece at the neck. The entire jacket has an underlayer, also handsewn with tiny hooks and eyes to fasten as has the jacket outer.

There is a small area of patching which was done before I bought it - I must have had this for around 30 years. The lining itself feels and looks like a soft cotton.
The embroidery sections are heavy and intricate - I am sure they have specific names but I don't pretend to be anything near an expert! If anyone knows more please do shout out, I would love to know.

The jacket is boned inside, again by hand - it certainly isn't the neatest or tiniest stitching around but this would have been everyday wear rather than something spectacular for evenings. Tis maybe the equivalent of me throwing something together for myself on my machine ... The larger hooks were to fasten the matching skirt so that it hung like a dress.

I love the detailing on the back, again stitched by hand - tiny pleats.

The sleeves are very full and taper to slim fitting cuffs which also fasten with hooks and eyes.

Amazingly there is very real damage to it - it has literally been 'stored' in a carrier bag. There is some fraying on one of the front edges

and the aforementioned patching inside.

There.

One of the few things I own that is of any monetary worth, but very precious in terms of personal interest.

I suspect this post will have been utterly boring for those looking for SCKC gossip ;-)

(pee ess - is this layout and font bearable?)