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Sleepy. Blogtoberfest Day 16

Sleepy time here. We had a lovely evening out tonight with friends to celebrate a birthday. I’m now feeling all drowsy and ready for bed. Ah, I love Sundays; no need to rush anywhere, you can have a nice lazy sleep in and take the day slowly.

The two black kitties above are my latest eBay, retro find. I’m so happy with them, mint condition. Black cats are my favourite kitties. My first cat, Puss, was black with a little white spot under her chin and my Max kitty is all black. I was only very little when I named Puss, so I am allowed to have an obvious name! Max is what suited the little bundle of black fur who, like he did then, loves to tear around the house on mad runs and also, tear up newspapers. ♥

I have some comment catching up to do tomorrow, and a meme to participate in. For now, it is time to visit bedfordshire and get all cozy under the blankets. A peaceful nights rest and/or a wonderful day to you. Thank you for all the lovely comments I have been left recently, they are most appreciated and make my day. Always nice to know people are visiting my little part of the interwebs.

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Fifties Fair at Rose Seidler House

At the end of August, the Husbitect and I went to the Fifties Fair at Rose Seidler House. It was a lot of fun. Apart from seeing the house itself and the retro decor, there was entertainment plus lots of stalls selling retro clothes, household items, collectibles, food and so much more. We both found some goodies on the stalls, including a vintage model kit for the Husbitect and some vintage canisters for me.

This is a photo heavy post (not to mention the fact that I’ve heavily filtered the photos). I tried the built in gallery for WordPress but wasn’t all that impressed with the options. So good old insert one by one it is. If you know of a good gallery plugin for WordPress, do let me know!



The very retro hostess and the Velvet Set singing.


One of the coloured glass doors in the house kitchen.


I want one of these cute Teardrop caravans.

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All the items in the back were themed perfectly.


Including a gorgeous picnic basket!


Hula girl’s car was pulling the caravan.


Another Hula girl, with some faboo anodised aluminium cups.

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Retro Recipe: He-Man Salad (Blogtoberfest Day 8)

I have a very large collection of retro cookbooks and recipe pamphlets. I am fascinated by the era of the late 40s to mid 60s. I love the design of the clothes of those times, the illustrations, the hairstyles, culture, the music, the architecture, the cars and of course, the food.

I started playing with one of my recipe pamphlets this afternoon and wanted to share a recipe from my copy of ‘Tasty Salad Recipes’ by Lora Lee Parrott. Isn’t that a fabulous name? Anyhoo, flipping through the pamphlet my eyes caught the title of He-Man Salad; how could I not use that one?! I haven’t tried this recipe, although I have tried many of those from my collection.

One day I want to host an authentic retro dinner party. All foods from recipes of the time, music of the time and guests must dress in period. Ah, one day!

The image above is the result of my playing. The two illustrations come from the cover of the booklet and the rest is from my own little hands. I had so much fun making the image that I think I shall do more! I hope you enjoy these images, too.

* Soundtrack: I Don’t Want to Set the World On Fire by The Inkspots.

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eBay Treasure (Blogtoberfest Day 5)

Another fabulous find from eBay. You may remember from when I last bought a retro sideboard from eBay, that I have a penchant for naming furniture. Well, not all furniture, just my two retro sideboards. My newest of these I have named Bettie after Bettie Page.

Solid white oak, glass top and a glass shelf on the inside. There is also a cutlery drawer and another two shelves behind the door. Bettie was a gift from my Husbitect for our Wedding Anniversary. I have plans to line the cutlery draw with felt or perhaps velvet if that is more in keeping with the period? I haven’t completely decided what to keep in Bettie as yet, but I have put some of my kitschy and cute retro collectibles on the two main shelves.

Eclectic, yes?!

A new to me vintage blog that I think is totally faboo is ‘Into Vintage’. If you also love retro, vintage and kitsch, you’ll love this blog!

Do you also collect retro things? Something else maybe – what do you collect? I’d love to know!

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Vintage Crafting

I’ve been flicking through some of my craft books to find something easy to make while recovering from the flu. I have a complete set of ‘Stitch by Stitch – The illustrated Encyclopedia of Sewing, Knitting and Crochet.’ which was published in 1984. There are 20 volumes and lucky for me, the ones I have are all in excellent condition.

You can sometimes pick these sets up at book sales and on eBay – keep your eyes out for them as they are wonderful. Lots of basic and advanced instructions with detailed illustrations. The projects range from clothes (kids & adults), household items and toys. There are a few different editions, so the covers may look a little different than mine. The three projects below are ones that caught my eye today as they are quite fun and cheery.

I really want to make the pompom bathmat, that would feel so good and sqooshy under your feet! If you’d like to make one of the projects above and just cannot wait until you get your hot little hands on the books, I found some links with similar projects.

  • Pom Pom Rug from Super Minx. It’s from a vintage craft card set, neat!
  • Anjie from Pom Pom Emporium (super cool name) mentions a book that has a pattern for a pom pom rug plus she links to a free pattern from Lion Brand yarn.
  • My Google Fu failed me and I couldn’t find any patterns for licorice allsort cushions or similar projects. But I did find a recipe for Licorice Allsort slice. You need something yummy and sweet to fuel creativeness! The recipe is from Taste.com.au, a site that is awesome for finding delicious recipes. Really worth checking and bookmarking. The photo of the slice is from Taste.
  • Lucy from Attic24 has a gorgeous tutorial on crocheting hexagons which you could use to make a rug
  • And of course, the lovely Pip from Meet Me at Mikes has a wonderful set of video tutorials so you can learn how to crochet.
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Retro Recipe: French Egg Casserole

One of the retro cook books from my collection is ‘The Nancy Spain All Colour Cookery Book’. I like the little anecdotes that Nancy shared along with her recipes:

“Well, Stirling Moss and I once argued passionately about Welsh rarebits all one evening. Stirling (like the late Charles Dickens) adores toasted cheese and swears it isn’t indigestible…”

I wonder if ol’ Stirling would like the recipe of Nancy’s that I decided to share? Maybe not, as it doesn’t have cheese in it.

French Egg Casserole.
1/2 pound medium sized onions, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
2 level tablespoons cornflower
1 pint milk
salt & pepper
dash of grated nutmeg
4 hard-boiled eggs
2 tablespoons white wine

Sauté the sliced onions gently in the butter, until tender but not browned. Add the cornflower and mix well. Gradually add the milk and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. Season and add white wine. Cut each hard-boiled egg into 4 pieces lengthwise. Reserving some for decoration, mix remainder into sauce. Pour gently into a small casserole and top with egg, chopped parsley or browned onion rings.

Did you know: Nancy Spain’s Great Aunt was Mrs Beeton.