VINTAGE PERPETUAL CALENDAR

A sweet, perpetual calendar from the local VdeP - €2. I saw it, left it, went back two days later and was delighted to find it still there. Birds, blue, old - what's not to love?

BLUE & WHITE CERAMICS

I love nautical things. My new toothbrush holder.
€2 in the local NCBI shop 

I can't resist willow, blue and white or Arklow. €2, local VdeP shop

SUSSEX FINDS

I'm just back from lovely Sussex in England where the availability of vintage finds is always second to none. The charity shops (we started calling them 'chazzers' on this trip) are stuffed with reasonably priced gems and there are many, many shops in every town. Not everything I buy is vintage but almost all of it comes in shades of blue. It's an addiction.

I was in England on a research trip for novel #4 (which I posted about at my writing blog here) but I was also on a mission to explore as many chazzers as possible in the small time I had. My husband is endlessly patient with this activity and my 7 yo daughter is fast becoming a chazzer enthusiast. (Chazzerist?) Anyway, let it suffice to say that I hoovered up as much blue and turquoise items as I could manage to pack in our carry-on only bags. And I left so much behind - things that were impossible to carry such as these fab chairs in the Debra shop in Crawley:

If you are a fan of mid-century modern, get yourself to that shop. Sideboards for £40.Tables for £20. Unbelievable value. They had v little bric-a-brac there but I found this Balinese frame for £1. The books - a Collins Adam Bede and a Penguin Tortilla Flat were also bought on this trip.

Willow plate - £3, St Catherine's Hospice shop
Aztec blue plate - £2.39, Sainsbury's
Spanish plate/trivet - £1.25, British Heart Foundation shop

Blue jug - £1, St C's Hospice
Floral jug - £3.50, Cancer Research UK

Clear & gold paperweight - £5, Oxfam

Teeny millefiori paperweight - £3

Sass and Belle jewelry tree - £3.50, Cancer Research

Turquoise ball vase - £3, Oxfam

Is it really YSL? Who cares at £6.99?

ATHLONE CHARITY SHOP

I know I always say it, but we have the best charity shops in the Midlands - a great variety of stuff, genuinely old and vintage and pretty objects, along with handcrafted things. And they are cheap.

If you haven't already gathered, blue, yellow and red are my favourite colours. Here are two recent blue and yellow Athlone finds:

Hand knitted tea-cosy - €2

Iceland mug - 50c

SPANISH JAR

Today's Ballinasloe charity shop find: a lidded Spanish jar for thyme (I think). Most likely nicked from a restaurant in Valencia and carefully transported to Galway only to be given to the the NCBI shop. (It says El Mussol - The Owl - on the back and the bottom sticker is for a ceramics manufacturer in Valencia.) €4.

The €4 jar, sans lid but avec des fleurs, sitting on a Portugese plate

On the sideboard, under a Pat Jourdan painting

In context :)

2016 & still buying

I try hard not to buy stuff, I really do, but it's difficult when the local charity shops are so good/ affordable and stocked with stuff I like. I walked away from two blue glass vases today. But then I came home and was reading Period Ideas and thought, Argh, why did I leave them there?! So, I hopped into the car and in jig time had them bought and home. Blue. Glass. €10 for the pair. No brainer.

We've put an extra room (sunroom/dining room) on our house so have been busily re-jigging how rooms are used. Much as I love the oasis of my bedroom as a writing room, I wanted it back as a bedroom alone. We've gained a study because of the sunroom but, with both of us working from home mostly, and me needing quiet to write, I now need to have two desks. One in the study for when Mr is away and one in the sitting room for the rest of the time.

So I went to Lynn Antiques in Athlone hoping to find a nice bureau but got this oak desk instead for €150. Great price, great desk. I love the lions! You put your hand in the lower one's mouth to pull open the drawer.

And finally not vintage but whimsical, a €5 brontosaurus planter from Tiger:

XMAS TABLE 2015

We have a new dining space - a sunroom extension built onto our kitchen. It's light and bright and we loved eating our dinner there today, it gave a new dimension to the festivities. I couldn't resist blue, white and silver again this year, but with a touch of yellow and brass.

My blue is a chinoiserie tablecloth I bought in Boston in April as well as some Carrigaline striped plates and saucers bought in the local charity shops here in Ballinasloe. The brass napkin rings were six for €3 in the VdeP this week, the napkins are from Aldi (or Lidl?) and the cocktail peacocks are from Penneys. The glass candle holders on the saucers were €1 each in Angie's Attic.

Placeholders were a Christmas pressie today from my big sis, Maeve - perfect!

THIS YEAR'S XMAS TABLE

I did a post on eight years of Xmas tables in November when trying to decide on this year's look. I went with the blue and white in the end, as you can see. I bought some new blue tealight holders in Dunnes Stores, Penneys and the Euro 2 shop; I used two old blue Mason jars I already own. Some fake snow, pine cones and a new runner with bird embroidery from TK Maxx. I have the EPNS tray yonks. The huge plates were a great Athlone charity shop purchase some years ago. I was happy with how it all turned out.

I HAVE THE BLUES

I keep meaning to do a blue and white post. I am obsessed with blue and white china, porcelain, pottery and glass. I will pretty much hoover up anything that is blue and white. This is a long-standing love inspired by my parents who have always collected blue and white, especially Cornishware and its Irish sister, Carrigaline.

To be honest there needs to be no white involved for me to buy something. If it's not red in my house, it is generally blue.

I've said before about the monster bargains to be had in the charity shops where I live. I got the Wade Irish Porcelain jug and sugar bowl (jug pictured left) for 50 cent each today. The blue plate they are standing on cost €1 (English Petal Ware) - also found today. It goes nicely with the Johnson Bros jug and bowl bought previously. The gold rimmed jug is Polish and I picked it up in a charity shop in Westmeath ages ago. The blue Mason jar behind was a swap with my mother - she gave me two jars for a vase I had. The advantage of being related to collectors...

Every so often I say, 'Enough is enough!' - the walls are closing in here - but then I get back out there and start buying again. Like I say, obsessed. I blame the parents.