No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better...

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

A day of plenty

Hello there,

Firstly, thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post.  In the (too long) break from blogging, I pretty much stopped taking photos at all, but in coming back to the fold I realise just how much I enjoy it, and how important a part of blogging it is for me.  Taking photographs makes me really see things and I love it.

Secondly, welcome, welcome to my new followers.  It's lovely to have you here.

So, today, I have lots more photos of a market.  Because finally, I have uploaded my images of the vintage market I went to recently in Woodbridge.  Oh, my!  You know there are some days when you visit a flea market or vintage fair, when you traipse around scanning ahead from stall to stall and reach the end and wish you hadn't bothered?  Well, this was the exact opposite of all that.
  
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It fell on a crisp clear day a couple of weeks ago and wandering around felt like being in the South of France.  Yes, really.

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And even as I look through these photos, I see all sorts of things that I somehow missed ,and want to go back to.  But before you feel too sorry for the opportunity lost, let me show you what I DID buy....

I started slowly with this sweet little dish, made of Welsh pottery.  Love the flowers.  Love the dots.  Love everything about it really.  (And it didn't cost a lot.)

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Then I spied these two lurking in the shadows.  No House by the Sea should be without them.

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Then I happened upon a stall selling tiles made locally in the 1950s in my favourite colour of the moment.  (Can't seem to get enough of mustard...). 

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By this point I was giving myself a stern talking to about the Age of Austerity ruling in the House of NKK etc, but the woman in the bird's nest hat simply smiled.

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And that was my final purchase.  Final final.  Until I saw this.

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Really, I shouldn't be let out.  Clearly, I cannot be trusted.  But in my defence, I defy any of you to have walked away without this beautiful blanket.  I know I should just have gone home and whipped one up myself.  But we all know how long that's going to take...  And this is made of pure wool.  And in such lovely colours.  And I couldn't buy more than a few of balls of yarn for the price I paid for it.  So really, it absolutely had to come home with me.  Don't you think?


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So, now I need some advice, please.  As you can see, it's a little too small for our stupidly big bed (for which, I have Mr. P to thank).  And I am wondering about the best way to add to it.  I know I could just add to the border.  Or I could make granny squares in a single colour (probably either red or navy to tie the room together (in a non matchy match way, hopefully) and sew these in a sort of mega border around the outside, expanding the blanket by a granny square width all around, which I think might do the trick.  

What do you think?

C.x

PS the lovely Rebecca from Posh Yarn was there and I chatted briefly but then ran away in a fit of shyness (more of that another day).  Sorry.

23 comments:

  1. What a wonderful market, so many treasures!
    You found some great finds Claire, but your granny square blanket is the best!
    Wonderful colours! If you didn't want to have to do anything to it, you could maybe try just turning it round and having it draped across the lower end of the bed and showing off your pretty pillows and bedlinen at the top.
    Or maybe adding more thicker bands of colour around the edge?
    So many possibilities, I'm sure whatever you choose will look good, its such a gorgeous blanket.
    Gill xx

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  2. I think that it is lovely as is - I have never found a granny blanket bigger than a cot quilt - you are so lucky! Looking at the pictures, I think you were very restrained - so much temptation there.

    Pomona x

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  3. ooh that blanket is lovely, and I think gorgeous as it is! we have a ridiculous sized bed too, it is a nightmare buying sheets and I have 3 sets of pillows to avoid sleeping in the gap......

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  4. I agree that blanket had to come home with you.

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  5. Your new blanket is lovely ... the hours of work that went into it must have been huge ... definitely worth more than a few balls of wool ... I'm doing a large granny square blanket for my little girl and it's a lot of work ... your blanket looks great on the bed as is ... but maybe you could do few more rounds of the existing border ... whatever you do will be pretty ... Bee xx

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  6. Wonderful purchases! And don't feel guilty about the blanket - it would have been irresponsible to leave it there to fall into the wrong hands. I think you should treat yourself for doing the right thing... a plum muffin perhaps?

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  7. Now that was a good market! There was so much just from your photos that I fear I would've succumbed to buying!

    The blanket is a gem. I made a ripple blanket for my mahoosive bed and it is a tad smaller than the actual duvet size, but I really don't mind it at all now and it just adds to the feel of something being handmade. Perhaps you can learn to love yours too!

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  8. Love you granny blanket... oh and the cruet set. Somehow, without realising it, I have started a collection of cruet sets... hard to believe I know! Back to the granny, I would extend the border with treble clusters so there would be a lovely big border to it. Looking at the photo, you may want to unravel the final row and then continue with treble clusters... or you could add a pom pom border. I've seen this in a 1960s crochet book and loved it. You can buy ready made pom poms and there is also a pom pom maker by Clover, but I have not used it. Then there is a method of making mini poms using a fork, but that might take you a year to complete!

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  9. Oh I just love markets like this where you go a little bit crazy. But you did so well. Everything is lovely. Especially the blanket.

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  10. Pop over to the bed post.... I've added the base!! Do you think I have stumbled across my epitaph "why have beige when you can have hot pink?"

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  11. Wow, next time I'm in Suffolk I'm going to have look out for that fair! A friend from Ipswich is always telling me how nice Woodbridge is but I haven't been yet. I think taking out the last row of the blanket and continuing the border would work best, that way it won't be at all obvious that you've added to it, if you match your colours well.

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  12. I love your blog name. There is an old joke here in Scotland about Mama's sending their children into the North Sea in knitted bathing suits because its cold lol. It reminded me of that.
    Val

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  13. Hi Claire, Sitting here with our gorgeous baby grand-daughter, admiring your blog for the first time. Just call me neanderthal in the computer department. Love the beautiful crocheted blanket and all your beautiful photos, they are inspirational and make me want to dash out and see things through new eyes. I have just begun a quilting class and am realising that I am somewhat colour challenged. I have also been knitting. All this cottage industry is courtesy of our new bundle. All love please keep posting - Caro

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  14. I agree with Gill,just turn it around. I've done that with my quilt because I had the same problem and as I have a sheet under the duvet I just turn the sheet back over the quilt. Why do I have a sheet under the duvet? Because my husband insisted on a larger bed and it's such a nightmare to change the duvet cover that I put a sheet under it so I change the sheet every week and the duvet cover less frequently.Wish I could find a blanket like that in a sale; what a find.

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  15. What a great market, the muffins look delicious, yum yum... I love the idea of a pom pom boarder for the blanket, but i think it just appeals to the outlandish in me. Maybe a nice big chunky one colour boarder to make it larger, like a big frame. No wait, pom poms, mini pom poms brilliant. - Annie

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  16. Lucky you, some beautiful finds - not least the blanket - I wouldn't touch it - as it is is perfect, it doesn't need anything doing but if you felt you had to, I would mount it on a thick navy blanket that is bigger so it is backed, even warmer and heavier and doesn't detract from all the fabulous work.

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  17. Hello Claire, what a great looking market and I love the old building in your first pic. You were absolutely right to come home with the blanket, wool is so expensive now! I am inclined to agree with Gill that you could just turn the blanket around and not cover the bed entirely. I was drooling at the picture of the plum muffins, they look gooooood.

    Many thanks for your visit and telling me of the robin. I am sorry about your gran, it is so sad when people are phsically with you but not mentally. My mum-in-law has dementia, and is slowly getting worse, so sad.
    I left my daughter to school this morning, we walked and on the way home I saw my little blackbird, he stayed on the fence until I went passed and then he followed me up the street, eventually disappearing into a whole in a hedge. It's all rather lovely.
    Much love to you, Linda x

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  18. Hi, I've just found your blog - having a lovely time browsing but have to tear myself away to do the usual breakfast jobs!
    I'll be back : )
    I love your photos of the market, so tempting and you bought lovely things : )

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  19. That blanket is completely delightful - such lovely colours, I quite see why you couldn't resist!

    I love Woodbridge, I used to visit often when I lived in the East coast, it's a bit far from the Bristol area though!

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  20. I really wanted to go to that fayre but it was the day of my parents' golden wedding do so I couldn't. just as well I think else I'd have bought loads and possibly been fighting you for the blanket!!!

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  21. Hi, Have only just read this! We're the organisers of the market and thanks so much for such a lovely write-up and some really vibrant images. Glad to hear you had such a nice time. We've got two Christmas markets coming up, so check out our website www.debenevents.com for more info to come! Thanks again!

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  22. I just found your blog. I visited and wrote about this market on my blog too!!

    What a great day and another fab market in Suffolk.

    I love the fishes! The blanket is gorgeous.

    Katy
    lovelemon1.blogspot.co.uk

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