magikquilter July 15th, 2008
My previous spectacular buy for this week is a jewellery set by Pilgrim of Denmark. This was in a ziptop plastic bag tossed in with the cheaper jewellery at the ’shall not be named store’ where I had a run in with the manager about pricing…see here. This was $15 and I have priced it online in Denmark for around 70 to 80 pounds new and here in Myer for over $150! This set is in as new condition and the photo cannot even begin to do it justice. It is also a source of inspiration for me for my work with textiles so I am beyond delighted with it.
Finds for this week are a Villeroy and Boch cup and two saucers in ‘geranium’ pattern. The lily biscuit tin is an English import which I had seen in Target a few years ago…I did not buy it then as I bought the other two patterns over two weeks and when I went back the lilies had sold out..so this was a great find for me. The style of biscuit tin makes it much easier to store crackers or biscuits in their packets in an upright position in the cupboard and that makes it easier to see them amongst all the other things in the pantry. It also looks great with some of my floral china whenever I set a tray for guests.
The snakeskin bag is a vintage one….probably from the sixties or seventies ….if my memory is correct….also I do not think that snakeskin is harvested like this for fashion any more although I could be wrong. It was a steal at $8…and it is as new! The cup and saucer was $6 and the spare saucer $3. The lily tin was 50cents! So this week I spent $17.50.
Tags: clutchbag, geraniums, lilies, Pilgrim jewellery of Denmark, snakeskin, snakeskin bag, Villeroy and Boch
magikquilter July 9th, 2008
I did a little research on my previous spectacular buy and the label is actually by one of the top fashion designers of Indian Haute Couture and I read that it is not an oxymoron by the way, and she also has some ready to wear as well. And here I was thinking that my purple beauty and this suit and my white pintucked shirt and camisole were beautifully made by a dressmaker/tailor!!! And I guess you could say they were! They describe her fashion items as trousseau wear and hand finished tailoring so I was not far off. No wonder those stunning young Oscar Wilde types were drooling over my purple beauty….its haute couture!!!!! And remember what I paid for it?
$15 for the silk dupion [fully lined in cotton muslin] pantsuit
$5 for the teal asymmetrical silk chiffon camisole.
This week I found some more beautiful frames for my collection and a pottery vase which has a rustic feel to it. Notice how all three pieces have black inserts, trims or inlay which tie them together. I also adore the swirly pattern inside the twin frame….think I shall keep it like that, its very arts and crafts. The vase was $4 the twin frame $8 and the square frame $5…altogether $17…not bad when you consider burr wood is so expensive. One of the twin frames is over $50 new.
Tags: arts and crafts, burr wood, deepika govind, haute couture, Indian fashion designers, photo frames, silk camisole, silk pantsuit, spectacular thrifting buys
magikquilter July 2nd, 2008
I have a deep love for all things Celt. My personal library is full to bursting with books in the magic realism/historical fantasy/speculative fiction field. I think my love of these things is probably steeped in childhood memories of the church and our Irish priests and nuns brought a lot of the artwork with them here, illustrated gospels etc therefore seeds were sewn for my love of these forms of art in the future.
When we married in 1983 we went to Northumberland for our honeymoon and spent quite a few days exploring Lindisfarne, Holy Island. This is where the monks originally from Eireland first educated and then sent out missionaries into the then pagan Northumberland and where they translated the gospels into wonderful illustrated documents…the most well known being….The Lindisfarne Gospels which are currently housed in the British Library in London. Lindisfarne also suffered in AD793 the first Viking attack on British soil, an attack that many historians view as being the equivalent or worse than 9/11/2001.
Since discovering a form of fantasy that I could actually read and enjoy about ten years ago I have been a prodigious reader of all things to do or based in the times of the celts so I was really pleased to be able to buy these books recently. Some of the authors and books I have enjoyed immensely are Daughter of the Forest by Juliette Marillier…three part series…preferred the first as a one off and Black Trillium by Marion Bradley Julian May and Andre Norton then Blood Trillium and finally Sky Trillium by Julian May. These I read in old smelly softcovers from whatever source I could find …and I cannot abide smelly books!!! Then over the last few years I was fortunate when the three hardcovers, all in immaculate condition, came into our local charity shop. The books were less than $4 each and are my previous spectacular buy for this week!
My husband found me a few of these and I found the rest. I love the artworks and have a great love of celtish inspired jewellery. Which might be why I love this crucifix so much…it is not so much celtish as medieval I feel and is from Australian designer of fashion and now jewellery…Peter Lang. I am not a crucifix wearing person as such and especially do not like the way it has been glamorised as a fashion statement but this speaks to me of my time on Holy island …indeed I think one could imagine a nun or monk of the day wearing that as they went about their day of gruelling labour or penitence. The crucifix was $8 and I have seen his necklaces are $150 to $200 new. Heavenly….as Lindisfarne would be to visit for a retreat….check them out before you visit Europe. It would be an unforgettable experience.
Tags: Fantasy, Holy Island, Illistrated Gospels, Lindisfarne, lindisfarne Gospels, Vikings
magikquilter June 21st, 2008
I went up to the Bondi Junction shop “After A Fashion” which is one of several charity shops of the Presbyterian Church in Australia. They have a really clean and well organized shop with all their clothes in categories ie skirts, tops, jackets, coats and dresses. A really good feature is the large sizes section, after Australia was named yesterday by a study as the fattest nation on earth this seems like a good idea! Of course there is the problem of larger sizes being so hard to find that they are in limited supply in second hand shops because unless you outgrow them, or lose weight, they are very rarely disposed of in this fashion.
There were a lot of size 26 and a lot of size 14 and in my size [16] several knee length coats of the type that were in fashion several years ago. I did not buy them however as I would have to take them up to modernise them and also they were more appropriate for office workers than for my slightly bohemian take on classics. I am now wary of buying anything new from stores that is the height of fashion as it really does date an item…all those handkerchief hemmed skirts I bought a few years ago are now a dead giveaway of that period, same with the peasant skirts that were everywhere last winter….though I am happy to store all these against the eventual return of the style in ten or twenty years! Although I have to say that they do look good dressed up with strappy heels and jewellery…..thing is to have variety I guess. I also think that velvets and silks and mixtures of those never really date as long as you keep the rest of your outfit current.
So this week I found a couch cover…[$49 new still had label] for $12 in a colour I would actually use and a vase to go with my oriental collection [new] $3, also another little hand embroidered doily for 50cents and a simply divine little dessert or fruit dish for $3, it is Royal Tudor Ware by Barker Bros Ltd England. The pattern is lilactime…so far I have only been able to find information about chintzware in lilactime but it seems to have been from around 1940. Also found out something I did not know about Royal Kent china….a lot of the original molds were made by Jewish internees in Walbrzych, Poland from concentration camps…it does focus the mind somewhat, doesn’t it?
So anyway the haul this week was $18.50
I have decided to feature a previous spectacular buy each time I do a thrifting post….this time it is my all time favourite find ever! A handcrafted by a tailor no less cotton velvet fitted yet flowing jacket in my favorite shade of purple. This little beauty was purchased along with a navy silk shantung pant suit with a teal silk chiffon camisole and a white linen camisole with hand finished embellishments and a white swiss voile shirt with pintucks. All by the same tailor and all the most exquisitely worked and fitted that I have ever seen. The jacket fits as if it were made for me, last winter when I wore it to little bistros in the city I had waiters in their twenties who were Oscar Wilde lookalikes swooning …..all the more when I said it was from Vinnies and I paid $12 for it!! Thank goodness it is winter now and cold enough to wear it…think I will take it into the city next week…its nice to have gorgeous twenty something young men swooning over me…even if it is only for my purple beauty.
Tags: "Walbrzych Poland" Royal Tudor Ware, After A Fashion, Barker Brothers Ltd, Lilacs, Lilactime, Purple, Royal Kent, tailor made
magikquilter May 13th, 2008
Hope all the mothers had a wonderful day on Sunday. This past week I decided to delete my earlier blog entries as the photos had disappeared anyway and I didn’t have many posts on how I made the various quilts and those seemed somewhat outdated now. Also through my flickr use I am more aware of which quilts have been viewed the most and which quilts/throws non sewers find most interesting.
This week CJ taught me how to optimise my photos and I have actually remembered how to do it …..and retrieve them as well… poor CJ almost lost it when I asked where do I go to get them now? Always making things harder for myself than I have to! I am a good problem solver on the computer though…just keep trying until I get it right!!! Well apart from the emoticon thing and the google reader thing and the etsy thing and the uploading my own photos to Wordpress thing…well its good for CJ to feel needed and that he has more knowledge than his mum!
I have also decided not to commit myself to a particular day or flickr group for thrifting and it might also have something to do with the person who runs that particular flickr group not being exactly cordial over the banning and photo links etc …but mostly because I do not want to feel that I have to go out thrift shopping especially for a certain day…the people who were waiting on my thrifting posts, and can you believe it there were, will see by the rss feeder anyway when I have done a relevant post.
Over the past week I found a gorgeous black sequined chinese style jacket by Maggie Shepherd [as new] for $8 which I promptly sold to a friend and a violet strappy top for $3 which she also bought. A gorgeous little hand painted glass candle holder for $2 and Jason Magnolia coasters for $8 [as new] and some assorted haberdashery items for $11…. everything cost $32 ..all in all a good hall and not just for me! I should have taken photos of the whole lot together and can’t now as my friend is probably wearing them in England as we speak. Will try to work out how to do the photo thing myself soon but do not want to overload my brain and in the process lose the ability to optimise. Whew, am sweating thinking about it!
Tags: flickr, magnolias, mother's day, optimising
magikquilter May 6th, 2008
This wonderful handbag was found while charity shopping as were the shoes. I adore the bright orange of the bag and particularly like to use it in summera s it clashes so wonderfully with my HOT colours! The shoes are by Diana Ferrari and are a good size heel…about 7cm….a kitten heel which is quite cute.
The wool crepe below is also from a charity shop and is from the seventies I believe. I think it will look wonderful as a wrap….lined with silk dupion or velvet…something textured!
Tags: abstract art fabric, fabric as art, sandals, woolen crepe for wrap
