It’s Monday What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It’s a chance to share the books you’ve read in the last week and plan your reading week ahead.

This week I finished reading The Vintage Teacup Club and The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean Both books had a fabulous vintage theme and I really enjoyed them. they definitely put me in a vintage mood.

 

I have now started reading The First Last Kiss by Ali Harris. I loved her first book Miracle on Regent Street and so far I’m really enjoying this one. I got this as a review copy and it’s not available for a couple of weeks but you can pre-order it from Amazon here.

I’ve added a few things to my to be read list this week. I ordered my daughter some new books from The Book People for Christmas and I also got myself a collection of books by 1950s author Barbara Pym so as soon as I’ve cleared the list a little I’m going to work my way through these.

Barbara PymI got all 5 books for £6.99 here

013Never Can Say Goodbye by Christina Jones – You Had Me at Hello by Mhairi McFarlane – The Secret Supper Club by Dana Bate – Laura’s Handmade Life by Amanda Addison

On the subject of vintage themed books a friend from another blog and I are planning on doing a vintage book challenge for 2013. The idea is to read lot’s of lovely novels which centre around vintage clothes or were written mid-century. I’m going to set up a Goodreads group in the new year. If anyone would like to join in please comment below as I’d love to know if it’s a good idea!

I didn’t get any reviews written last week with all the craziness of christmas but I’m hoping to get a couple done this week.

I hope everyone has a great week and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This week we’ve been doing a few of the little projects that we’ve been wanting to get done for ages. My husband is busy painting some furniture we bought a little while ago and I’ve been making a few things for the house. I started making a quilt for our sofa a few days ago and it’s coming along nicely. I used Moda pre cut patches which I’ve had for ages and use for little projects every now and then. It’s going to be quite big when I’ve finished but this is what I’ve done so far…

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I bought a few cake stand kits from Ebay earlier this year, and I’ve managed to acquire loads of plates so we finally had a go at making one today using a special porcelain drill bit to make a hole in the plates. I think these pretty plates make a great cake stand, and I’ve ordered gold stand pieces to replace the silver as I think it will look better with these plates.

Cake StandI hope you’ve all had a nice weekend, I’m off to the V&A tomorrow to see the Hollywood costume exhibition, very excited so look out for a bit on that later in the week.

Has anyone else made anything nice this week?

It’s been great having my husband off work for a few days over Christmas, although he’s spent much of his time off in his shed working on some pieces of furniture and vintage finds that need a little TLC.

A few months ago we bought a lot of vintage frames, most of which we are painting to hand around the house. We also decided to turn a few into little chalk boards. Ornate frames look great painted and we added a piece of hard board to the centre painted with chalkboard paint. This one has just been painted so it’s still a little wet, but you get the idea! These are nice and cheap and easy to make and take about an hour so it’s a great little upcycle to brighten up a kitchen, hallway or kid’s room. (I’ll try and take some more pictures when it’s finished and the lights better!)

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I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and a well deserved break. I had a lovely quiet one with my husband and girls, it was the most relaxed Christmas I’ve had in ages. I’ve had a few days off blogging so it’s nice to get back to it.

Today I did a little vintage shopping with my lovely brother. He’s the most stylish person I know and is great at helping me pick stuff and giving honest opinions! Definitely my favorite shopping buddy.

We hit the vintage hive that is East London, starting at The East End Thrift Store in Whitechapel. This is a great shop if you’re looking for a bargain. Don’t expect to find any vintage gems, the shop is full of eighties and nineties clothes with dresses priced at around £15-£20. They had a two day clearance sale this week with a few dresses for £5. After trying on heaps of dresses none of which were quite right I found a gorgeous red eighties does forties dress for a bargain £5. The dress fit like a dream and although it didn’t look like much on the hanger it was stunning on. I’m going to do an outfit post with it over the weekend once it’s been washed.

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We then walked from Whitechapel to Brick Lane and visited a few vintage shops round there. To be honest I’ve fallen out of love with the area. In all the shops I visited the only things I could find were over priced and not particularly old vintage. My dreams of finding a nice 1950s tea dress hidden amongst eighties tat just didn’t come true.

Beyond Retro

A few 1960s and 70s dresses amoungst an eighties explosion in Beyond Retro

This leads me to something I’ve been pondering for a while…

WHERE HAS ALL THE GOOD VINTAGE GONE????

When I first fell in love with vintage a few years ago it was cheaper and much easier to find. You could still get a bargain on Ebay, with fifties dresses at around the £30-£40 mark, now for a good tea dress you’re looking at around £50-£70. There also seems to be far less out there, I’m getting concerned that the world is running out of good quality vintage!

From now on I’m going to stick to vintage fairs, where you can still find great pieces and I’m planning a little trip to Greenwich market as soon as I can to see what I can get there.

Where do you go to get fifties bargains? Are there any still out there?

 

I also want to say a quick thank you to Mitzi at Mitzi’s Miscellany for mentioning me on her blog today. I love her blog and the quirkie little bits in her Etsy shop.

It's Monday, What are you Reading copy

This weekly event is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey

First of all happy Christmas Eve! I can’t believe how quickly its come round this year. We’re all ready for a lovely relaxed day tomorrow and all the girls presents are wrapped and under the tree.

This week I finished reading A Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern. I loved One Hundred Names it was a really clever book and the story was fantastic. I’d highly recommend this one.

I am making progress with The Vintage Teacup Club by Vanessa Greene and should have that finished this week. It’s a really nice book and I’m enjoying the story a lot so far.

I’ve also started reading The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean this week, which fits perfectly with my vintage theme.

The to be read list is very similar to last week except I’ve added a couple. I had to go on a long train journey to visit my Nan on Saturday and forgot to take my book so I picked up a couple of books at the station. There was minimal choice however so I got Yo Had me at Hello and The Secret Supper club because I’d seen them mentioned favourably on other blogs.

To be readLaura’s Handmade Life by Amanda Addison – The First Last Kiss by Ali Harris – You Had me at Hello by Mhairi McFarlane – The Secret Supper Club by Dana Bate – Never Can Say Goodbye by Christina Jones

I’ve managed to get a few long overdue reviews written in the last week, I wanted to get them all done before christmas. Click on the images below to read the review…

  

I still have to review The Casual Vacancy which I will try to do this week.

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas tomorrow. xxx

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