A lovely surprise

Hello Lovely Friends and I really mean this - Friends.  I want to say a huge thank you for the wonderful support you have given me over this very difficult time.  I have had such lovely messages from you, all of which made me cry, not with sadness but with thanks.  I couldn't wish for a more gorgeous group of lovelies to be involved with.  Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, you lighten my load every day.  I hope you have all enjoyed a good day with lots of sunshine, smiles and laughter.  I wanted to show you something special today which was a real surprise to me.

 

Last May I bought this in a vintage shop in North Wales last spring and was delighted to find it.  The shop has now closed so I was pleased to scoop it up for my sewing room.  However I had not really taken into account the amount of work needed to bring it back to life.

 

 

It was in a pretty grubby state but untouched which was what I wanted.  I found some newspapers from 1942 lining the drawers which really pleased me and there was even the old bread board at the back of the cupboard.  The only blip was the lack of two matching glass panels.  I loved the crinoline lady but hated the other replacement.

 

It was packed into the back of the car and carefully driven back home and put into the porch where it stayed for quite a while as my husband pondered what to do with it!  He is not a lover of any 'old and tatty' as he calls my wonderful vintage finds.  He was not impressed with the cupboard at all and could not understand why I would want it in our home, never mind my sewing room.

 

Eventually in the summer the cupboard found it's way onto the front lawn to be sanded down completely to reveal the not very good wood (according to my husband) but I thought it was just fine. 

 

The above photograph shows the little fridge where they would have stored any meat but not for very long I hope.  It really made me realise how well off we are in this country for things like fridges and cookers, no more make do and mend now.

As you can see quite a lot of work was done and I was excited thinking about colours as I wanted it to be as natural as it could be.

 

Now, in between time the cupboard was eventually painted blue and cream and I moved it into my room and then filled it up of course!  I need to tidy it again but I will show you it as it is now.  Now the photograph below shows the section of the cupboard which would have been used to prepare the food and my Mum said that they used to store the flour, raw ingredients in here and Grandma would make the bread on the pull down piece of the cupboard, as you can see, not a lot of space here.  I have all my vintage fabrics in here plus all my tea towel fabrics.  I know that it looks like a complete jumble but there is a system in there........honestly!

 

 

The picture below is one of the top cupboards which has all my buttons in - I try to use vintage tins when I can to store my buttons as I have very fond memories of our button box at home.  For some reason it always fascinated me and I would spend ages going through all the different coloured buttons.  One of my favourites was the little yellow ducks which Mum used when she knitted little cardigans for my lovely brother Vincent.  I so wanted to have these on my doll's clothes.

The little fridge is below and I have used this to store my Liberty pieces.  I love these and usually buy them from Rachel my sewing teacher who seems to be able to source these from magic.  I just love them all and hate to use them as they are precious.

One of the drawers with tapes in - sorry it is a bit of a mess.  The problem is that I try to squeeze too much into a little space.  I wish I had a much bigger room but I have to be grateful because before I had this room I was putting my sewing/knitting things all over the house and could never find anything.

I love this pattern and looking at the clothes which Prince George is wearing on his trip to Australia I think there could be a resurgence in these little suits for baby boys - what do you think?  By the way, most of you will not remember the old money - this pattern cost 1 shilling and 1 penny which is the equivalent to a tiny bit over 5p now, I think it was good value even then as it is so cute.

 

 

This is the other side of the top cupboard with more buttons and fastenings - I think I am obsessive about buttons as I have so many!  Maybe I could do with a bit of therapy to wean me off this obsession.

I cannot show you all my craft books as I am ashamed as I have so many.  I made a resolution in January to go through them in a methodical way and just keep the patterns I needed - I did it for one month but looking at this photograph I need to renew this resolution - now!

 

Now, yesterday was a very sad day and I got home exhausted from everything that had gone on.  My lovely husband though had been working hard.  Unknown to me he had been looking for new glass windows for the cabinet but couldn't find anything similar to the crinoline lady.  However he had been to a specialist and had worked with him to find something suitable for the cupboard.  He picked them up yesterday and put them in for me ready for when I got home.  He is such a darling.

 

I apologise for the photographs which I took earlier.  The room is so tiny and I mean tiny so it is difficult to get a good view of the whole cupboard so I have had to take the best photographs I can.  Sorry.  This is the bottom part - do you like the colour?

 

 

Now you can see my surprise - do you like them?  I think the glass is just lovely, the colours here do not reflect the beauty of the real thing.

 

 

I just love them - I hope you do too.

 

 

So my little beauty is finished.  It may not be in the complete style of the time but I love it anyway.  My lovely husband had worked hard to try and find something similar but I feel that his choice is really cute and classy.

 

 

I hope you all like it lovely Friends.  I am hoping to get some craft work done this week so will catch up with you all soon.  Have a lovely day/night wherever you are in the world.  I send you all lots of hugs and loves.  Dorothy :-)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx