Fab Fair!

Well, what a fabulous & thoroughly vintage day it was yesterday! I have just about got my breath back as it was another early start this morning as Miss Cottage was taking Dylan to a horse show so it was up with the larks for the second day in a row!

We arrived at the hall at about 8.00am to start setting up & it was lovely to meet up with our fellow bloggers & stallholders again. There was a frantic flurry of activity & it was very quiet too, as everyone concentrated on setting up their charming stalls. The wealth of goodies on offer was just amazing.

The cakes that everyone contributed were wonderful & made our Vintage Tearoom a great hit too.

When I opened the doors at 10 am there was a queue down the road of eager shoppers waiting to come in & it didn't stop all day as floods of lovely ladies (many decked out in lovely vintage style dresses) & a few gentlemen escorts, enjoyed a leisurely browse & shop. The hall was full & had such a friendly atmosphere.

I was so pleased to finally meet so many blog friends all in one place & everyone I spoke to thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Miss Cottage & her Beau were rushed off their feet serving tea, coffee & cakes, while all the stallholders were busy all day with lovely goodies just flying off the tables into capacious Cath Kidston bags!!

Mr Cottage was our photographer for the day (as well as stand-in dishwasher when things got frantic!). He took quite a lot of photos which he uploaded to Flickr as I couldn't put them all here.

I have included a few photos of my stall in this post but to see all the pictures please have a look here: PHOTOS







I'd just like to thank all the stallholders & all of you lovely bloggers for coming & making it such a fantastic & memorable day. Also to Miss Cottage & her Beau for working like Trojans, Mr Cottage & Mr Custard for their help & support & of course my partner in crime, Michele!
So M, are you ready for the next one? ;-)

If you want to read more then visit the V&H Blog where I am accumulating links to posts about the fair.

Sweet Treats

Today Miss Cottage & I have been immersed in flour & sugar, butter & eggs, chocolate & icing sugar as we prepare baked goods for the Vintage Tearoom at the Vintage & Handmade Fair tomorrow.
We made the cup cakes above (iced by Miss C)

Tiffin

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Scones, which will be served with jam & cream

All our stall holders are probably in the same state today so we can offer you oodles of delectable treats to eat along with a cup of tea or coffee.
My lovely daughter & her beau are giving up their Saturdaay to take charge of the kitchen & will be at your service tomorrow serving teas & cakes.

I know many of you won't be able to come & will miss all the fun, but I do have a little treat for you too - Mr Cottage has agreed to be our "official" photographer, so will be taking photos during the day. He has promised to pop home now & again & post some photos on the V&H blog so you can perhaps imagine you are there & see all the lovely stalls & goodies on offer. So, if you'd like to join us in spirit do check on the blog during the day.

I'm sure everyone will blog about it afterwards too.

So, we still have the car to pack & that's about it - pizza for supper tonight I think!
I'm so looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

More Yummy Goodies

Today Miss Cottage & I have been sorting out & washing dozens of vintage cups, saucers, tea plates, cake plates, milk jugs, sugar bowls & teapots to use for the teas on Saturday, so you can rest assured they are clean & plentiful!

During the past two weeks Miss C has been industriously sewing some very pretty things which will appear on my table. She really enjoys sewing & is particularly good at machine applique & embroidery (which is why she will be studying Textile Art at uni come September!)

As you can see, she has made some lovely bags & tea cosies as well as adorable embroidered covered buttons & badges (made up courtesy of Michele's trusty badge machine!)



I think this tea cosy has to be my favourite - it took her ages to sew all the strips on to form the Union Jack!


Tomorrow is baking day - don't forget you'll be able to try out lots of delicious cakes at the fair too!

Sneak Peek

Today I have been rounding up things that I am taking to the V&H Fair on Saturday - I seem to have things in every room of the house that I have collected together for the fair, so it was time to gather them together in one place & pack them up! So, I thought I'd snap a few photos (bear in mind that I also have a lot more already packed & ready to go!)

My theme for the fair is "Summer Holiday" & this includes picnic, seaside & garden party ideas....think of a vintage holiday by the sea with buckets & spades, books to read & games to play, vintage china for afternoon teas, picnic hampers for country picnics & pretty souvenirs to take home.....

A vintage eiderdown, Ladybird, Enid Blyton & Beatrix Potter books for relaxing & reading in the garden...




My handmade recycled envelopes to send a letter home...don't you just love those retro owls?




A selection of ephemera - child education pictures & posters from the 30's. 40's & 50's to decorate the walls & scrapbooks.....




A box full of goodies including a Chad Valley bear, a Pedigree pony & a charming thatched cottage print...




Nelly the Elephant & Molly the Dog...



Added to this small selection I have tins, cups & saucers, vases, tea pots, plates, jugs, glasses, vintage scraps, sewing supplies, tea cosies, aprons, picnic hampers, vintage toys, games & much more!

I'm beginning to think that I won't have enough space for everything!

PS: In answer to Josie's question - the red polka dot things are gorgeously retro windmills to adorn your sand castles!

A Warning, Gardening & A Sad Day for Toby!

As you know, my blog has been beset by Gremlins & I have found it impossible to contact anyone at Blogger for help - it's like phoning one of those help lines where you constantly press buttons but never get to speak to an actual person, so it seems my old blog is gone forever.

Anyhow, my 15 year old Boy Genius has been investigating & he says that the counter I had on my blog was the culprit. Apparently the counter site was hacked & infected which then caused anyone who was using the counter to be suspected of being a spam site which is why Blogger removed them (I am not the only one this has happened to). So, I want to give you a word of warning to have as few "extras" on your blog as possible.
Also, I didn't know this but Mr Snippets told me that you can back up your blog & save it on your own computer - you can find this by clicking on "settings" & then "export blog". This means that if for any reason your blog disappears you can then import it back into Blogger & you won't have lost everything like I did.



On a more pleasant note, this weekend we have been working on expanding our vegetable garden. Besides the poly tunnel we have a raised bed, but once we have planted it up there isn't a lot of space so I bought a nice new raised bed kit & this weekend we constructed it. There was quite a bit of grass to dig up & we made a gravelled path between the old & new beds & gravelled around the edges of the bed too. This area of the garden is not the prettiest as the oil tank is there but it gets lots of sun & is sheltered by the side of the house & the garage so it's a good spot for vegetable growing. We have planted a row of sunflowers in front of the oil tank to screen it a bit.




We already have strawberries, courgettes, peas & beans growing in the old bed which will probably need replacing next year as the wood is rotten (we made it from an old pergola that fell down!).




My collection of watering cans - there are another 3 or 4 in other places in the garden.




On Saturday night I helped out at the annual village party for local senior citizens & after supper we played Bingo! I got a full house so I won a tray of flowers - they smell wonderful so I've potted them up on the patio.



It was a sad day for Toby yesterday as the Aga has been switched off for the summer - just look at that reproachful expression as he snuggled his bum up to a cold range!!

New Home

I'd like to invite you in to the new home of Country Cottage Chic.
I was rather abruptly evicted from my old home by Blogger with no explanation so I've had to hastily set up a new home - if you have me bookmarked or listed on your blog just add a "2" after countrycottagechic in the URL & you have my new address.
http://countrycottagechic2.blogspot.com

As with any new home there are things to be rearranged, decorating to be done & new neighbours to meet.

I'll have to have a housewarming party & you're all invited!

:-)
Jayne