Friday 26 May 2017

Tat or Treasure

My favourite shops are the ones that sell old things. I love secondhand bookshops, charity shops and Antique Centres. You never know what you're going to find. In the last few days I've bought this little collection.


I've been looking for an old portable typewriter for ages but it had to be just right. I wanted one in good condition, at a reasonable price and it had to be a pretty colour. This one ticked all the boxes. It's an Imperial 200, made in 1973 and is in perfect condition. It even came with its original instructions and, as you can see, it's a lovely colour. You can still buy typewriter ribbons so I look forward to using it. Having trained myself to type gently on a keyboard, I shall now have to revert to my original heavy handed typing.

I didn't buy all those tablecloths in the picture yesterday, just the one on top but I thought they looked nice together. They're seersucker and I always seem to find them for £4. Actually, I often buy them from the same stall at Brackley Antique Centre so that would explain it. I love all the bright colours and use these cloths a lot.

The little toast rack came from Brackley too. It's Branksome China, one of the many types of china I'm partial to and I was particularly pleased to find this as it matches the cup, saucer and tea plate that I found in a charity shop last year. I love that combination of deep red and grey and the shapes are pleasing too, a bit like some Poole Pottery from the 1950s.

See those wooden things at the front of the picture? They're bag handles (the sort you use to make work bags with - or you do if you're still living in the 1940s as some say I do) and I found them in a 50p basket in one of the charity shops in town. The lady on the till wanted to take 50p for all four but I haggled her up to £2. It's quite hard to find proper wooden handles like this now as they seem to have been replaced by plastic pretending to be wood. I shall enjoy making them into bags.

I love finding old things like this. If you're interested, I could show you some of my other collections - tin postboxes, Isle of Wight studio pottery, posy brooches. And that's before I get started on the books ...


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