From my Sister

My older sister surprised me last week with this wonderful gift!

It's an amazing vintage vanity case, in near perfect condition, with a beautiful red interior (and yup, that's me lurking behind the camera!).

My sister is pretty much the reason I started taking a big interest in vintage, although I have always been in love with the 50's silhouette and pretty dresses, she showed me how much fun thrifting can be!

If you haven't already, you should check out her blogs Poppy Lane and Dashfield Vintage. Dashfield Vintage is the name of her store, which will be online soon (currently she is only selling at various markets). I will be sure to let you know when the online store is up and running, she has an amazing collection of vintage clothing!

xx
Lucy

Out with the old, in with the older!

I am very excited to introduce you to my new sewing machine!  It is a 1950's (or so I believe) Brother machine which is built in to a table.

It folds up into a nice small table which is so handy!  I think I will name her Ethel, what do you think?
Ethel is in pretty good shape, however I believe her bobbin case is broken, so tomorrow it's off to the sewing shop to ask the lovely ladies there. Once she is up and running, I will probably be selling my current machine...

My current sewing machine is an industrial Singer (the motor is dated from the 1980's), which although I love to pieces, is a bit frustrating as it only sews a straight stitch, and without an overlocker, this means nothing is ever properly finished (unless things are French seamed, which gets pretty tedious). I sure will miss the speed though, domestic machines are painfully slow after you've been using an industrial machine! (we don't really have the space to keep both).

What kind of sewing machine do you use?

xx
Lucy

Summer Days

The last few days have included a lot of relaxing with family and friends, a little thrifting, and some baking of course!

Oh summer, I hope you never end!

Plum upside down cake (vegan). This was pretty good, but the recipe needs a
little bit of tweaking before I post it here!

(I also sneaked a few pears into the cake, because we have a lot on the tree)

Yum!

 
As for the thrifting, I will share my latest finds with you tomorrow, I am so happy about what I purchased!
I'll also show you this great vintage gift I received from my sister (don't you just love surprise presents? I sure do!)

xx
Lucy
                                         

Over the past week or so, I have been awarded the stylish blogger award three times!!  So thank you Paigey the Vintage Dame, Miss Rosina Lee and Island Girl!

The conditions of this award are:
 - Thank and link back to the person who awarded you the stylish blog award
 - Share 7 things about yourself
 - Award 10 recently discovered great bloggers
 - Contact these bloggers and let them know about this award

Ok well hmmmm 7 things about myself!

I am half German and half Eritrean (does that count as two things?).

I love to eat!  Good food makes me very happy.

 I suck at dancing.. But I take great enjoyment in having a boogie in the living room on a regular basis!

I am vegetarian, and have been so for almost 6 years (I don't eat fish/seafood either).

I made my dad's wedding cake!

I love dogs

(and cleavage)

I love flowers, especially Lillies and Hibiscus'

Ok, so now for 10 blogs I have recently discovered.. 10 really is quite a lot, let's see how many recent additions to my daily dose I can come up with..

Joy the Baker  This lovely blog may be new to me, but it's been around for quite a while!  Although it has nothing to do with vintage, it is full of great recipes and funny anecdotes.

Rockabilly View A blog about.. You guessed it, rockabilly!  (Check out the amazing boots in a post earlier this week.. I am literally drooling over them)

Justice Pirate I love this blog for the beautiful pictures, great outfits and amazing hair! (It does have some religious content, however I myself am not religious)

Lady Cakes Another baking blog, however this one is more focused on vegan baking.

Ms Arscott A blog about well, a little bit of everything! From current fashion to vintage goodies and everything imbetween!

Retro Renovation The name says it all! Check out the wallpaper in the latest post!

Sweet Sassafras Vintage, crafting, baking.. What's not to love?!  This lady is super talented, she designs and sells her own patterns!

Enthusiastic Homemaking A delightful blog about homemaking, this lady is also rather talented, she makes her own soaps and sells them on Etsy.

Hehe ok I'm stuck at 8, I think 8 is a good number, don't you? The rest of the blogs I read I have been reading for quite some time! (Plus this post has taken me aaages to put together!)

xx
Lucy

Thrifted Goodies from my trip

Hello!
I have finally gotten around to photographing my finds from my holiday...

Sorry these dresses haven't been ironed yet! I originally thought the above dress was vintage, but on closer inspection it might be a very good 80's dress.

This beautiful vintage dress, complete with matching bolero (again sorry about the lack of ironing,these are being washed tomorrow and I'm lazy when it comes to ironing!).

The photograph above is a tiny picture I found inside the black bag... The lady is probably the original owner, how cool is that?!!

Vintage hairdryer

Some sweaters, as well as the high waisted denim short shorts.

I also bought a pair of cute as a button tea towels.. Not thrifted, but I had to share a picture with you!  They have cartoon Pukekos on them, which I happen to think are pretty cool, - they're such quirky and cheeky birds!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend,

xx
Lucy

Holiday Mode!

Hello,

Things have been a bit quiet from my end lately, I have been feeling decidedly unmotivated to do anything since returning from my holiday... This lovely sunny warm weather we're having might just have something to do with it!

So here is a quick picture, and I promise by next week I will be back to posting regularly!

This is what I wore out to dinner with my sisters last week. We went to this great Mexican place called
Ahsi Itzcalli (they don't have a website, but I found a great review here).

xx
Lucy

P.s. Thank you Rosina Lee & Island Girl for the blog awards!

Summer road trip!

 

(Ok so this isn't our caravan, but it was so cute I had to show you!)

Hello!

As you know, I have just been away on holiday.. My man and i packed up the car, and drove from Auckland to Rotorua for a few nights in his parent's caravan, then off to Palmerston North, Wellington and Napier to visit friends and family!  Here are just a few of the many many photos I took.

His & Hers suitcases

Inside the caravan.. The bed is always made up like this, it looks like it belongs in a 70's porn film!

 We did a lot of touristy activities in Rotorua such as going on the luge

 

Boo, squashed hair!

Checked out the local dinosaurs...

Was almost eaten by one

Relaxed (ok got completely lost) in a 3d maze

Went on a small walk to a waterfall..

Woohoo! Made it through in one piece.

As you can see, I can be quite a goof ball!

I will continue with my pictorial review later... I also picked up a bunch of vintage & second-hand goodies, which I will photograph and post about later in the week.

xx
Lucy

Sewing Project Progress

Ok so I didn't get my sewing project finished in time for the new year celebrations, but I have gotten quite far! 

It's turned out a lot bigger on top than I thought, so will need quite a lot of altering, but overall I am quite pleased with the outcome!


I'm off on a road trip for the next week and a half, so won't be blogging for a while (I did plan to schedule a few posts for whilst I was away, but I have completely run out of time!).

xx
Lucy

Hello 2011!

Hello my lovely readers!
I hope you had a good near years eve and a relaxing new years day!
My new years eve was a fairly quiet affair which included a bbq and movies at a friends house.

My friends have the cutest little dog named Maggie, who loves to cuddle! They also have some pretty amazing furniture...

~

New years day turned out to be beautiful weather, sunny and warm, with a nice cooling breeze, so the afternoon was spent lounging by the pool... The perfect day!

Did you do anything special for your new year celebrations?

xx
Lucy

Happy New Year!

All the best for 2011!

xx

Lucy

(the lanterns hang above my kitchen window)