I fell off the Blogtoberfest wagon!

Trying to take on Blogtoberfest this year was probably not a good idea! I’m still recovering from illness earlier in the year, and then my 85 year old mum had a stroke a couple of weeks back, so , well, things just kind of fell apart.

I did manage to get to the Vintage clothing, jewellery and textiles show. Here’s some pics of our stand and the wares we were selling. It was lovely to meet some blogging friends and Etsy team members in person. Thanks for stopping by and saying hello.

We stayed in Sydney for the two nights of the show.  Our entertainment on Friday night – the Schlocky Horror Show on TVS, Killers from Space:

We P’d ourselves laughing at the aliens with ping pong balls in their eyes. They kept bumping into the furniture! A very young Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible), the pink guy in the photo,  looking suitably astonished – maybe it was their eyebrows that put the wind up him!

Blogtoberfest Day 6…Cast Off

I’ve been knitting up a storm lately. Knitting is one of those things that I’ve been doing for years, but not on a regular basis. I can go 2 or 3 years without picking up a knitting needle, then I get a burst of inspiration and I can’t put them down. I just finished this cardigan / bolero. It’s a pattern called ‘the Fan’ by Marian Isager from her book Japanese Inspired knits. I made a long sleeved version (which I need to photograph) and I like it so much that I made a short sleeved one. I rarely knit the same pattern twice but this was a really interesting knit. Its in a bamboo yarn in the most beautiful bluey-green lightly mottled colouring. I just love it!

Blogtoberfest Day 5… and the winners are…

Well it looks as if the winners of free tickets to the Sydney Vintage clothing jewellery and textiles show are Amy and Tess. If you lucky ladies could send me your address I’ll get your tickets in the mail. Thanks for playing along!

(Black glass buttons – aren’t they gorgeous! Just because a post needs to have pictures.)

Blogtoberfest Day 4….

Woooooops…………………

Blogtoberfest Day 3 … What does one do with all those buttons?

One makes these:

Blogtoberfest Day 2…I love the Oppy…

I love my local Op shop! Just about every week they have a few jars of these:

Being a button lover, I’m they’re best customer. They call me the Button Lady.

Here’s just a few from my latest visit – these are BIG!

And some blingy ones too:

I always have a quick scout around for other interesting tidbits. Imagine my luck finding this great little red anodised teapot:

And the best part – it only cost:

Blogtoberfest Day 1, I’m starting it off with a giveaway!

Well hasn’t October rolled around quickly this year. I think I’m still getting over last October, blogging every day for a month! Anyhoo, I thought I’d kick start the festival with a giveaway. Some of you may know that I own a vintage button business,  The Button Bower, www.thebuttonbower.com.

I’ll be selling vintage buttons at the upcoming Sydney Vintage Clothing, Jewellery and Textiles show happening from 16-18th October at Canterbury Racecourse in Sydney. If you love vintage, this is THE place to go. There’s around 60 stalls of fab vintage stuff for sale. Check out the show’s website for more info:  http://www.lovevintage.com.au/

I have a couple of  free tickets to give away, so if you live in Sydney, or you’ll be up this way please leave a comment on this post.  I’m going to draw the winners next Monday, 5th October, after 6pm, so please be sure to leave a comment by then.  There will be two winners, each will receive one free ticket.

Here’s a glimpse of the kind of things we’ll be selling:

Belt buckles and clasps, bakelite dress clips.

More lovely buckles – we have heaps of vintage buckles!!

Bakelite, vintage carded buttons…

Mmmmm more bakelite…

and more…..

Lots of vintage button sets that we sew on to cards and display on boards.

Beautiful post depression buttons from the 1930s, lots of Czech glass….

Come and say hi! We’d love to meet you!

I’ll be having a vintage button giveaway later in the month, so stay tuned!

Vintage Thingies Thursday – vintage belt buckles…

Hi and welcome to another Vintage Thingies Thursday. This week I’m strutting some of my collection of vintage belt buckles. The first one is made of bakelite and has three coloured bakelite spheres, like traffic lights. The second is reverse-carved applejuice bakelite, with the carving highlighted in red paint.

A little number from the 1940s,  and an amazing celluloid buckle that has been cut and draped after the surface was painted bright pink!

A so-Deco celluloid buckle in shades of red/orange and a gorgeous red and cream buffed celluloid buckle.

More beautiful celluloids – the first is a marbled chequerboard design with lots of bright colours set against black. The second has been made to look like jade.

A beautiful ‘cupid’s bow’ bakelite buckle, and a Czech glass buckle with silver lustre.

I wonder what kind of dresses these adorned when they were first put to work. They’re certainly a lot more interesting than most of the buckles that are around today!

For more VTT fun, visit Coloradolady!

Vintage Thingies Thursday – vintage pearl button cards

Hi, and welcome to another Vintage Thingies Thursday, hosted by Colorodolady.

Continuing on the theme of my last two VTT posts,  I ‘d like to share some of my pearl button cards.

These lovelies date back to around 1920’s – 30’s.

Beautiful cards of dyed shell buttons. I think these would lovely framed and hung together as a set:

The graphics are so elegant!

The lovely lady series, including a Hawaiian theme!

Babies and children:

Some dyed emerald green buttons for your man’s shirt??

And some uniform buttons. Does that doctor look suspiciously like Clark Kent?

Thanks for dropping by!

Pop over to  Colorodolady for more VTT fun!

Vintage Thingies Thursday – bakelite buttons

Some of you may know that I have a penchant for bakelite.  I’d like to share some of the vintage bakelite coat buttons I’ve been collecting over the last few years. These are all BIG buttons, mostly black or brown, but they have the most beautiful decorations, often in the form of escutcheons.

These two beauties have glass centres, the first is silver lustred.

These two have brass filigree work and amber glass faceted centres. The third is tortoiseshell bakelite with a carved chocolate bakelite centre. The fourth is marbled bakelite with a brass rose escutcheon.

These next four have filigree or lacy metal escutcheons. Don’t you just love the shape of that last one?

A beautiful black and applejuice laminated button, with reverse carving on the applejuice portion. And a carved beauty in marbled browns.

So head on over to Coloradolady’s blog for more VTT treasures!