Friday morning new listings.

Here is just a sample of the 24 new items I will be listing tomorrow morning at 7.30am BST

I am sorry that I have not had the time to do a block picture of more of the items. Today has been another busy day working on correcting the website.
The great news it that it is fully automated now, thank goodness. When a payment is made by paypal, the items are put on hold immediately and your invoice shows up in your account. This means I will have more time to prepare new items and find them for you.
What a relief.
If you do have a problem please let me know as soon as possible so that I can get it corrected.
Thank you for your patience.

What a busy day I've had. Up at 5am to go to an auction, returned home and listed many items for tomorrows listing, in between testing the sites automation system for hours.
So now I am ready to list lots of lovely items tomorrow at 7.30am BST

A PREVIEW OF SOME OF THURSDAY LISTINGS

Sorry no listings tomorrow. Two reasons, the first is my memory or rather lack of it as I had forgotten that I am at auction all day tomorrow. As you probably know I have had great difficulties with my site with regard to placing sold items as 'sold' and therefore I don't want to risk someone paying again for an item which has already been sold whilst I am away from the computer.
The second reason is that we have been testing the new logic on on the site today and the first part is successful when ordering by cheque although we haven't put it into operation at the moment because we want to get the paypal side tested.

The good news is that I have been taking many photo's today and the photo's above show some of the new items that will appear on the website on Thursday morning. I'm not sure at what time but I will give an update tomorrow evening on this blog.

I've had another piece of absolutely brilliant news today, totally unrelated to Rag Rescue but I'm bursting to tell you all.
A few years ago my mother had ovarian cancer a huge one, the size of a rugger ball. She had this removed and amazingly ,as she was 80 years old, she survived but of course as is usual, there is always the doubt that it would return. Three weeks ago the doctor did some tests on her pancreas as she had been unwell and lost yet more weight. We were all concerned that the cancer had returned BUT today she was given the all clear. It was just the pancreatitus again, not just but you know I mean. Phew! we can all relax again.

I think I good stiff drink is called for.

LISTING NEW ITEMS BEGINS TOMORROW

I'm starting this weeks listings with Vintage Fabrics. I've bought so many fabrics lately that I thought it best to reduce some of my stock. I know that scrapbags and squares are many of your favourites, so I'm starting tomorrow with a selection of these.
Listing will be at 7am BST
Don't forget that I put a preview of some of the listings here on this blog on the eve of listing day.

Busy preparing for more listings.

The fairs were very busy, I've never seen so many people visiting them. I'm not sure what happened to the recession, it certainly seem to be around last week.I did however manage to find time to go out buying and found some wonderful old fabrics which are now drying ready for ironing and being organised into scrapbags, squares and stash bags. I also came across two boxes of haberdashery hidden amongst a pile of furniture. It contained loads of tassels and packets of old sequins amongst other odds and ends. I also found some more old lace, collectors will be pleased to hear. All will be revealed in due course.

The other interesting thing was that I spotted a furniture dealers van from Scotland. I recognised the the name as we had seen the advert for them at the side of the road on our holiday last October. My husband spoke to the owners as we had spotted outside their stall, a wonderful carved wooden bear stool. Unfortunately we didn't buy the bear as he was over a thousand pounds but we did find out something interesting. During the course of the conversation my husband told them that we were looking for old fabrics and to our delight he said he had cases of old fabrics stored away. A trip to Scotland is now on our list of things to do very soon, I can't wait to rescue these fabrics from their storage. Fingers crossed that they are just wonderful and still usable.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS AGAIN.

Ludo is glad to be back home again. He will probably sleep for the next week and hardly eat anything as he is so spoilt at the fairs. His favourite American lady bought him his usual bag of goodies and treats and he was petted and stroked to almost oblivion by his new friends from Prague. Ludo is well known at the fairs and everyone knows his name even if they don't know ours.

The fairs were great this time and I've never seen them so full of people, buying, buying and buying. The weather was kinder also so I was able to go out hunting for goodies for the website and for those items that my customers asked me to find.

I think I've managed to cross off all of the Rag Rescue sales so
THE
WEBSITE
IS NOW
OPEN AGAIN.

I am hoping that we will be fully automated sometime this week so if you have difficulty at any point this week getting on to the website, please email me as we may be testing.
When this is all completed I will be listing more items once again.

Thank you for you patience during the closure time.

It is fair time again - Temporary website closure.

Well it is that time again when we pack up all of our stock and transport it to the Antique and Home fairs at Swinderby and Newark.

Rag Rescue website is now temporarily closed.
PLEASE DO NOT PAY FOR ITEMS BY PAYPAL AS THEY MAY BE SOLD AT THE FAIRS.

Ifyou wish to purchase items whilst I am away please state that you will pay by CHEQUE. That way I will be able to check if your items are still available, and will email you on my return home.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Preparing for the fairs.

I've been busy this last week making new scrap bags from some lovely fabrics that I have recently salvaged. The one on the far left are wonderful flowery lilac florals in a lilac colour all French fabrics. The centre one is Summer flowers, poppies and tulips and the right hand one is wonderful Victorian fabrics salvaged from Victorian quilts.
I will taking all of these and many more to the Antique and Home shows at Swinderby and Newark fairs next week. Why not spend a day out at these amazing fairs. Browse thousands of stall selling everything you can imagine. More information coming soon.

DID YOU KNOW? - No. 2 - Beetle wing embroidery

There was an amazing number of embroidery materials available in the 19th century. Amongst the wide variety were fish scales, feathers, beads, dried husks of larva cases and my favourite, iridescent beetle wings from India.

Over the past fifteen years of trading I have sold a number of pieces of fish scale embroidery and a couple of beetle wing embroideries. I had never before found any old unused beetle wings, until a couple of days ago. They are amazing. Very brittle and a dark brown on the reverse side. They were sold as above and the embroiderer pierces stitching holes in them with a hot needle.

I suppose some would say that they not PC these days and Jui Gabriel in his book on 'Victoriana' describes this kind of embroidery unsophisticated but I would disagree.

See this site for very impressive work -
Oakenking

DID YOU KNOW? - No.1 - Ayreshire work

As I am not listing new items on the website at the moment I thought I would start a
'DID YOU KNOW?' section here on the blog.

Ayrshire white work.

Ayrshire work is one of the most beautiful of embroideries bequeathed by the 18th century. It originated from Ayrshire, also the west coast of Scotland and from Ireland. Its heyday lasted from about 1795 to the late 1850's.
The patterns were often floral and enhanced many christening gowns and bonnets.

Unfortunately blindness in women increased dramatically when Ayrshire white work was being embroidered. In Ayrshire and Western Scotland agents travelled around cottages where the women and daughters were only to pleased to take in needlework to eke out their menfolk's meagre wages. The embroidery was so fine and was executed by candlelight. In Winter they used to work in the cow sheds to keep warm from the heat of the cows. As they were so poor they needed to work very long hours working on the embroidery and when they got tired they bathed their eyes with whisky to give them a few more hours clearer vision. Eventually they went blind.

Last listing day until April

Here is a preview of SOME of the items I am listing in the morning at 10am
Thank you to the people who emailed me with their requests. I will be listing Antique and vintage lace white and cream, faded linen and vintage silk embroidery threads as requested.

I have not been feeling well today and so have been working very slowly I'm afraid. Although I intended to list items every day until the middle of next week I have made a decision to make tomorrow my last day of listing until I return from the fairs at the beginning of April. This does not mean that the website is closed it is just that I won't be putting anything else on until April. Please keep your orders coming.

I have been buying a lot recently especially the antiques and before they go out to the fair, they all have to be cleaned, polished and labelled, packed up carefully etc etc. On top of all that I have to get my records up to date, for when I return from the fairs it will be the end of the financial year.

Having said all that I have to prepare many of the new Rag Rescue items ready to take, ensuring that they are all cross referenced to the website so that I can recognise what has been sold.

SO if you have been pondering about buying an item on the site, please don't hesitate as the site will be closing temporarily on Friday evening the 27th March until Sunday the 7th April.

April is our busiest fair of the year with more foreigners visiting than at any other time of the year especially this year with the state of the GB pound. I sell numerous items of Rag Rescue
at the fairs so I'd hate you to be disappointed.

What would you like listed on Sunday

New listings on Rag Rescue tomorrow

Above are some of the items being listed tomorrow at 10am as I have to go to the post office, where is my man when I need him.

Sunday is YOUR day.

Tell me what you would like me to list, perhaps something you can't find elsewhere or more of the same but different if you know what I mean. Perhaps you would like to see more Victorian scrapbags, fabrics, lace or haberdashery items. The choice is yours.

Please email me before tomorrow morning so I can start snapping and listing.
You can contact me by going to 'MY PROFILE' on the right hand side, just scroll down to find it.

BEAT THE FRIDAY 13TH SUPERSTITIONS. - BE HAPPY LOOKING AT RAG RESCUE

Recycle with Rag Rescue
Have a smile on your face 0n FRIDAY 13TH
See 46 new items
of

Luscious lace,
Fine fabrics,
Splendiferous squares,
Resplendent ribbons,
and

Blissful buttons.
listing at 7am UK time.

No Listing today but tomorrow -

I'm really sorry but I'm not listing today BUT tomorrow morning - Friday. I'm really running behind at the moment. However I will be listing 46 items tomorrow morning at
7am - promise. Lots of lace, fabrics, buttons, ribbons and squares.

SORRY NO LISTING TOMORROW

I am really sorry to have to say that there will not be a listing of new items tomorrow. I'm afraid I have to go to an auction. This auction was not supposed to be taking place as it was not listed on my original list. However after taking a phone call from my friend who we share travelling with, this morning, apparently they have changed their minds. My husband unfortunately cannot go as he is preparing to go to an Antique fair on Thursday.

Hopefully I will manage to buy some more great items to show you.

My next listing will be on Thursday of this week and I will list in the late afternoon as I have to go to the dentist aaaarhhhh!

Antique and vintage lace, scrapbags and squares

I'm starting this weeks listing with some wonderful antique and vintage lace, French fabric scrapbags and a variety of Victorian and vintage squares of fabric.

Listing tomorrow, Tuesday 10th March at 7am UK time.

Click below to go straight to the 'New Listing' page tomorrow morning.

New listings - 10th March

Wonderful feedback for the Rag Rescue website

I was clearing out my email inbox yesterday and found some of the wonderful feedback that customers had left after receiving goods they had bought from the
RAG RESCUE WEBSITE

I thought I would share them with you all.


***
What a lovely surprise this grey and rainy morning... the parcel just arrived safe and sure with all these lovely treasures... all items are definitely a wonderful treat!!! (fabric 574 indeed reminds me of my grandma's living room!!! Thank You.

***

Thank you for saving me added postage. you have a very friendly website and one doesn't see that very often.
You go the extra mile!

***
Just to confirm that my order arrived today, and that I am very happy with it.
Thanks for such quick service!

***
I was so thrilled with my last order. It arrived in no time and everything was even nicer than it looked on the website. I just love the colours of the old fabrics. I was really delighted with the substitute beads and waistcoat pieces. Thank you so much.
I'm sure I'll be shopping with you again very soon.

***
Your packet arrived safe and sound today. Thanks so much for everything,
including your fast, efficient service and those extras! - really kind of
you. The quilt pieces will work perfectly for little pin cushions - I can't
wait to get started!

***
Thank you so much for the lovely parcel which arrived today! It was so beautifully wrapped it felt like a present! I will definitely add your website to my favourites.
Thanks again and keep searching for all those interesting scraps.

***
I received your parcel a couple days ago and just wanted to let you know that I'm thoroughly delighted with the fabrics! ?And it's very kind of you to send the lovely gold thread piece as well (much appreciated and I will certainly put it to use ? I'm even tempted to get a couple more of these from your website...).

***
Thank you so much. I recieved my order beautifully packaged as always. Thank you. I am sure i will be ordering from you again soon.

***
Just a quick email to say that the package arrived safely today. That was fast wasn't it all the way done here! Thanks so much. The things are lovely.

***
Thank you for the always lovely item.
I am all glad at a great item.

***
My order arrived today,and I have to say that I am delighted with it! Beautifully packaged and wonderful items. Thank you so much.

***
The commodity reached.
It very liked "Rag Rescue items". Could you introduce rosy fabrics?

***
All packages from the first series arrived, the last one last saturday. And from the second series arrived B and C with again such lovely "stuff", thank you! But the best of all -hehehe- is the pink bag *g*... I like it very much and my friend too! Brightens up a rainy day!

Life is good. Lace is better.

"I consider lace to be one of the prettiest imitations ever made of the fantasy of nature; lace always evokes for me those incomparable designs which the branches and leaves of trees embroider across the sky, and I do not think that any invention of the human spirit could have a more graceful or precise origin."
Coco Chanel, April 29, 1939

Listing more lace tomorrow

Monday 2nd March at 7am

Don't miss out.

If you want to find out more about antique lace
visit 'The Lace fairy' website

A day at the auction.

Just arrived back from the auction, I'm afraid there was nothing special I bought on the Rag Rescue front, although I bought some antique sewing tools and a lovely, well once lovely, Victorian quilt which due to its damage I should be able to get some pieces of lovely Victorian fabric from.
I just love this particular auction because the drive to it is so spectacular even though today the mountains were shrouded with low cloud. However it does mean a very early start and combining that with my late night last night celebrating my husbands birthday it has resulted in me being incapable of listing any items today ready for tomorrow. So my apologies.
I have been asked whether or not I have already listed all of the lace I bought on Wednesday especially the pink lace (see above). the answer to the question is a definite no, I still have loads to list and I will photograph and measure some more tomorrow with the aim of listing on Monday morning, I promise. I will put a preview of the lace on this blog tomorrow afternoon for you all to get a taster.
I'm going to sign off now and sit and relax by embroidering my felt picture I'm working on. Hubby is preparing the evening meal so I can have some 'me time'.

Lots and lots of vintage fabrics, haberdashery and embellishments on the website.
Click HERE to be whisked away to a cavern of recycled heaven.

Antique lace, haberdashery and embellishments

See all new listing for today HERE

Sorry this a little late. After working long hours yesterday to get these items listed, in the evening I had to prepare for my husbands birthday which is today. The big 60. We actually celebrate next weekend at a party being thrown for him by some wonderful dealer friends of ours, but I had to complete my felted card and get all of the presents wrapped and prepared for when he woke up. The poor darling has to go to the dentist today to have his stitches out, not something I would enjoy on my birthday, still he doesn't seem to mind.

Anyway take a look around at the site, you might find something that will inspire you to be creative.

42 items being listed tomorrow including Antique lace

My apologises for not doing a preview of all 42 items being listed tomorrow morning. I am shattered as I've been photographing and listing since 7am and I think 12 hours around and on the computer is enough for me today.
Anyway, there is a good mix of antique lace, English and French large sized fabrics, haberdashery and embellishments for you to browse through.

Good Luck.

New items listed for today - next listings on Friday.

Today new items are now on the website.


After a sleepless night I struggled out of bed at 5am this morning to go to the auction. However it was really worth it. I have returned with a lot of goodies, both sewing items, antique lace and fabrics.
There was the most amazing amount of antique lace in one lot. It was so beautiful that you had to go and view it in the office in case it got damaged. There were two telephone bids. I managed to out bid one telephone bidder but couldn't pay any more than the second bidder. My husband was going red in the face as I kept bidding and breathed a sigh of relief when I stopped. I haven't seen this quality of lace in such quantity, for a long time. It was unfortunate that I wasn't able to buy it but I did managed to out bid the two telephone bidders on a smaller box, presumably from the same house clearance.

As I have a great deal of items to sort out, log into my records and price up before I pop them on the website, I have decided that I will not list tomorrow but list on Friday and Sunday. That way I can incorporate some of the lovely items I have just bought. I will try and take a photograph of some of the items for you and publish here tomorrow.

NEW ITEMS FOR WEDNESDAY 25TH FEBRUARY

Click HERE to go straight to the page tomorrow
I've listed this preview of tomorrows new items early today as I am very busy catching up with business. I will not be able to list these items until late tomorrow afternoon as I will be out at an auction, hopefully buying all day.

Vintage buckles, buttons, Victorian and 1930's trims. sewing thread fans, numerous 'strippin fabric spiders' and French fabric will be listed.

CHOICE OF THE DAY

Beautiful French fabric with a design of bouquets of roses.

More lovely items tomorrow

Click on THIS LINK tomorrow amorning and it will take you straight to the new listings page on the website. There you will be able to see larger photographs of each item. As you can see there is a lovely mix of vintage buckles, beads, buttons embroidery silks, vintage French fabrics and ribbon. A hat trim, lovely bunch of vintage flowers and an unusual Lux beadcraft envelope containing instructions on bead work motifs and it comes complete with the beads.

I hope tomorrow is a better day than today. First the dentist, then the hand brake on the van seized and now the washing machine has broken with the clothes still in it. Oh well hopefully that's the three.

SPECIAL ITEM

Lovely old English ribbon with a design of roses.

Back from the dentist.

Just to let you know that I'm back from the dentist and have just listed today's NEW ITEMS. I will now start the write ups for tomorrows listing and show a preview later on this afternoon.

Tomorrow - 1920's silvered metallic lace with a design of roses.

NEW LISTINGS FOR MONDAY 23RD FEBRUARY

Please note that I will not be listing tomorrow until the afternoon as I have to go to the dentist. Yuk!

SPECIAL ITEM

1920's SILVERED METALLIC LACE WITH A DESIGN OF ROSES.

Vintage buckles,beads,buttons and bows coming up at Rag Rescue

I've now finished preparing 175 items to be listed in the next few weeks. the majority of them are from that wonderful 'ATTIC FIND'

Tomorrow morning is the first of the new listings. 20 items will be listed as soon as I arise from my slumbers.

Love buckles? - research them on Wikipedia

I have always loved buckles, from Victorian shoe buckles to 1940's plastic buckles. So you can imagine my joy when I found a tin of buckles in that 'Attic find'. The picture shows one of the buckles that will be listed next week. A lovely brass buckle with a design of pillars and roses.
If you would like to do some research on the origins of buckles and how they were used through the ages see:-
Wikipedia

Vintage Anchor Flox pink embroidery thread

In the 'Attic find' there are loads of vintage embroidery threads. Many of them are large bundles of the above in numerous colours - 'Anchor Flox embroidery'. I spent at least an hour this afternoon trying to find out about this embroidery thread but came up with nothing. I visited a site by Alex Askaroff called 'A history of sewing threads' which is a very interesting site telling you all about the history of machine sewing threads and well worth a visit, but unfortunately it didn't mention the 'Anchor' embroidery threads.
If anyone has any information I would be very grateful to hear it, as I am very intrigued as to the word 'Flox' .I'm beginning to think that perhaps it isn't English and the 'flox' stands for floss.
I will be listing some of these wonderful embroidery threads on the 'Rag Rescue' site next week.

Taking photographs all day

I found these lovely Victorian shoe buckles in the 'Attic find' They are so sweet and in such good condition. Ideal for giving your party shoes a new look.

I've spent all day photographing and jpging some of the items I bought last Friday, 84 in total today and that's only about a third of the stash on my dining room table.

Phew I think I'll go and veg out in front of the television this evening.

Don't forget that the 'new listings' will start on Sunday but there are lots of lovely items still on the site that are up for grabs.

A lovely day of sorting out the attic finds.

Six inch square

I'm really looking forward to today's work. I'm sorting through all of those wonderful attic finds. I love coming home with a large box of items because it is just like Christmas, you never know what you will find. Hopefully I'll get some photographs taken ready for the start of my next 'Listing week' which will begin on Sunday.

I think I need a happy day today, yesterday was boring on the office front. I have however managed to update all customer orders so that you can now print them out if you need to. You will however notice that the order dates are dated yesterday due to a programming error which doesn't allow me to alter the date. If you need to get the original date you ordered please email me. this problem is on my 'to do list' for my website manager on his return.
I even got my own records of buys and sales on to my computer ready for the huge job at the beginning of April when I have to send my paperwork to my accountant. A good job done me thinks.
It was also a sad day yesterday as it was my next door neighbours funeral. If you ever read my other blog 'Feltissimo' you would have seen that I made a felted wedding card for them in May 2007. On there honeymoon she took ill and was diagnosed with cancer. She has been fighting bravely since, but she died a week last Thursday. They only had 20months of married life, life can be so unfair sometimes.

On a brighter note I think when I have photgraphed the attic treasures I'll put a photo up here on the blog as a taster to keep you waiting in anticipation.

I'm bigger than you.

My son Daniel in Guildford last week. He couldn't get to the hospital to treat his patients as the snow came over his knees. Soooo!! he build a very tall snowman instead. Looks as if he had a wonderful time. I don't think it he has ever seen as much snow in England in the whole of his 30 years.

Apart from taking orders for Rag Rescue I have had a day off today. I decided to do some felting on my embellisher. I was just getting in to it and a needle broke. I bought the embellisher in August and this is the first needle I've broken. I was so cross with myself especially as I can't get the needle out. I'm going to have to ring the company up tomorrow to try and sort it out. So I ended up ringing my friends and family which is always good to do and was a distraction from my felting disappointment.

Tomorrow is book keeping day, I'm hoping to get all of my buyers invoices on the site up to date. I can't wait until my ex-husband returns from Libya to get the site sorted, then everything will be automatic and it will save me so much time.

Loft treasures

First of all I'd like to show you the four lovely 1930's lingerie fabrics I've listed today. They are Soo! silky. The Liberty fabric is original with a label and still has it's dressing in it but when washed will become very soft. Unfortunately the light was very bad when I did the photography yesterday and that combined with the inevitable difficulty of photographing silk shows them rather in a darker shade but they are beautifully pale pink.

NOW TO THE LOFT TREASURES.

I got called out yesterday to a neighbour who is helping an old man clear out his loft before he moves. His wife had been an ardent dressmaker and embroiderer. She had kept everything over the years including her own mothers sewing bits and her aunts.
The lady produce a huge bag and box full of the most wonderful old items, many Victorian. It took me back ten years when I used to visit an auction where the auctioneer used to get clearances from large houses in London. He used to get the contents of the lofts, cellars and drawers and I used to get fabulous Victorian sewing treasures. Nowadays they are hard to find as many of them have been thrown away as rubbish.

You can imagine my joy when I saw these old treasures. Luxuriant sewing silks, beads in original advertising packets, loads of buckles, buttons waxed mending yarns, and many more, too numerous to mention. I paid a very good price for these because they are so rare now. The lady was over the moon and so pleased to be able to tell the gentleman that his wife's items would be treasured once more by people who would appreciate them.

I had a wonderful evening sorting through them all, which is why I forgot to put up today's new listings. This morning I'm going to a charity sale so I won't be listing anything tomorrow. It will be a few days before I list anything else as I've been inundated with orders this week and I need to keep my paperwork up to date and get all of my customers online orders typed up,. plus preparing for my next loading on the site. I'll keep the Rag Rescue News going on this blog every day and will inform you all when my next 'new listings' are.

I've placed Blogger's new toy at the top of the right hand side of this blog for 'FOLLOWERS'. If you follow this blog please make comments and join the followers that do.

Friday 13th is a GOOD day - Rag Rescue is listing again

RAG RESCUE

I like it when Friday 13th comes along. It always makes me think of my dear father. He was born on Friday 13th and he was such a good, kind caring man. Sadly he is no longer with us but tomorrow I will think of him all day.

I thought I would add some old patchwork hexagon pieces to the site as I know I have customers who like to re-use them in their own work. There are some lovely old fabric patterns.
Some more 6" squares are being added and a few of my own creations as I've been asked for them to be shown. I hope you like them all.

FABRICS AND SCRAPBAGS

I'm afraid today was a very dull day so the photographs have turned out rather dull looking.

Be an early bird and catch your fabric early. I list as soon as I get up. At the moment it could be anywhere between 5am and 7am. This is not normal, I might add, but after getting up every day for a week at 5am at the fairs, my body hasn't yet realised I'm back home and want some sleep.

New listings, earlier than mentioned.

As I am ahead of myself today I decided to add more items to the RAG RESCUE WEBSITE earlier than I mentioned. So have a good look at the 'NEW LISTINGS' page. There are lots of lovely items.

Embellish with beads competition.

The competition I have been running 'Embellish with beads' has been a real flop I'm afraid. The closing date was yesterday and I didn't have any entries. I think everybody has been so busy doing other things, which I can understand. Perhaps I'll run another competition later in the year!!

Still on the bright side, business is booming here at Rag Rescue and I'm just about to start preparing my next batch of items for listing tomorrow. I have so much stuff that I don't really know where to start, but tomorrow is planned, it is BUTTONS, BUCKLES AND TRIMS. I'll pop a picture on here later today.

Rescued vintage hats amongst other items.

ODDITIES ANTIQUES WEBSITE

I thought I would give everybody a chance to see the type of items I sell on my other website. These are a few of the items I rescued at the fairs. I just love the 1940's felt hats with their bunches of original felt flowers. The other two hats are 1870's straw and silk hats. I just had to buy them.
I am listing these and a few more items on the 'Oddities Antiques' website tomorrow morning (Wednesday 11th February)

I'll be back listing on 'Rag Rescue' website on Thursday with lots of buttons, buckles and other haberdashery and trims.

VINTAGE RIBBONS AND BRAIDS

Listing mid-morning.

More scrapbags being listed today.

When we are at the fairs we have to get up at 5am every morning. Unfortunately on our return my internal clock takes quite a while to get back to normality, so here I am at 5.38am listing on my blog. Mad I know, but at least it gives me time to do all the correspondence that I never seem to have time to do under normal circumstances.

Today's listings are of beautiful French fabrics with delicate designs of roses in pinks and blues. It makes you think of Summer even if there is still snow around. We are lucky here in Morecambe as there isn't any snow at all except on the Cumbrian mountains which can be seen across the bay. Still it is very cold.

I thought I'd tell you about how the scrap bags are made up. I have a session where I wash and iron suitable fabrics. Having got these in a pile, I test every one for strength and durability by pulling them and holding them up to the light to find out where holes are. I then set about drawing around a template which is 18cms x 12 cms. To fit the four fabrics in a bag I then fold each piece in half, iron and lay them out in piles according to colour. This way it is easier to see how colours and patterns will coordinate. After choosing four fabrics they are laid down and the pile gets bigger and bigger. Each set of four is then carefully laid out on a previously cut card, ironed and carefully turned over so that the fabrics wrap around. This is then photographed and slipped into a cello bag, sealed with my own label and priced.

This is a lot of work but I am sure you will agree worth the effort.

ARCTIC CONDITIONS HIT THE FAIRS, BUT WE ARE BACK HOME AND OPEN AGAIN FOR BUSINESS.

Freezing blizzards, snow covered marquees and hazardous roads made these February fairs the worst conditions we had seen in the 16 years of trading. However like most hardened dealers we managed to get there and tried not to moan as there wasn't any point in doing so. Our poor UK buyers found it very difficult to attend because even if they had managed to dig themselves out of their drives the main roads were blocked by lorries and overturned vehicles. Our overseas buyers managed a little better, not sure how they got there but they came in great numbers. Japanese, Americans and Italians braved the arctic like conditions to snap up the bargains. the UK pound being so low, obviously encouraged them to spend, spend, spend.

So now I'm back home in the warm, weary and streaming with a nasty cold but eager to start listing all of the wonderful new items I have rescued. I've put some lovely French fabrics into soak this morning and will spend this afternoon sorting out the lovely embellishments I bought.

I opened the RAG RESCUE WEBSITE last night and already have had orders from new customers. I will clear out all of the sold items hopefully today and start listing new items tomorrow starting with some lovely French and German scrapbags. I am aiming to work on a two week cycle for the next two months. I will list every day for a week followed by a listing rest week so I can get orders sorted and paperwork completed. As usual I will email all account customers at the beginning of the listing week with a sample photo of some of the new items for sale. If you wish to be added to my email list please let me know.

My new web manager is working away in Libya for a couple of weeks but on his return we hope to get all aspects of the site fully functional again. This means that at the moment I am still working manually so please bear with me if you see that your account invoices are not up to date.

If you are working towards entering the
EMBELLISHING WITH BEADS COMPETITION
don't forget that the closing date for entries is the
Tuesday the 10th February

Keep warm and enjoy the snow you may not see it in such quantities for another 18 years.