Wednesday, 24 August 2011

Twinwood Time!




We're going on the road again this weekend selling our vintage wares at the 10th anniversary of the Twinwood Festival.


I've got my ankle socks and my petticoats at the ready!


Loll

x

Wednesday, 17 August 2011


It's a sad time in Toadstool land as on Saturday 20th August at 5pm we will be closing our shop door for the las time. Sob! In all seriousness it's an exciting change for us as this isn't the end. We will still carry on trading on a mobile basis by going to Vintage Fairs, Antique Markets and Flea Fairs around the local areas so you haven't seen the last of us! We will also be giving our ebay shop and website a bit of a vamp up so there will always be places where you can still shop with us.

We want to say a huuuge thank you to all those people who have supported us over the last three years. We have met some amazing people from young couples looking to furnish their first house with unusual and quirky furniture to lovely old ladies who buy a vintage coat every Autumn as they "just can't get the quality these days". As in any business there have been good times and low times but we put our all into it and wouldn't change a thing.

Right enough of the soppiness (clears throat)!! This week we are continuing our closing down sale so there are many bargains to be had! All jewellery is half price together with half price shoes, a £1 bargain box and 20% off all linen and fabric.

Obviously we will be keeping the blog going so we can keep you up to date with everything that's going on. Why not tell your friends to follow us and we can keep growing and expanding our Toadstool family!

So, once again thank you for everyone for your support (and obviously your cash!) over the past three years. Here's to a new, bright and no doubt chilly (when we're selling outside in the winter!) future!

Take care

Loll
x


Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Summer Sundae fun in Leicester!

This weekend we had a stall as part of The Vintage Fair at Summer Sundae in the grounds of the lovely De Montfort Hall in Leicester. It was a good excuse for us to make some cash and be able to see some live music we like such as Newton Faulkner & Reef (as pictured below).





Here's me on the stall wrapped up against the slightly chilly wind.




We had a lovely time sharing a stall with Second Hand Rose and enjoyed some crazy and slightly tipsy nights dressing up in crazy dresses and having a dance in the Wagamama tent.


Next stop Twinwood in a weeks time for some more old fashioned fun going back to the 40s & 50s.


Loll

x








Tuesday, 26 July 2011

The Vintage Festival



This weekend we will be heading down to London Town to be part of the Vintage Marketplace at this year's Vintage Festival which is being held at The Southbank Centre. It's running on Friday 19th, Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st July so come and see us!


Loll

x






Wednesday, 6 July 2011

Old Sewing Machines, New Mirrors & Vintage Board Games!




Firstly I'd like to talk about another of my new collecting obsessions....I have a strange obsession with buying vintage board games. I've built up quite a collection over the past few months, even bought a 1970s Kojak game which doesn't even have the instructions! My newest acquirement is this fab game from 1980 called Motorway ("due to Motorways being cool in those days" - the wise words from my partner Tom). It is a very simple game with car shaped counters, two types of cards and a board printed with, you guessed it, a motorway! Can't wait to have a go!





Right now back to shop business! We've been having a bit of a buying spree on old sewing machines lately and here are a couple of examples of some that we have in the shop.



This is a beautiful Frister & Rossman black and gold machine, unfortunately missing the lid of the case. The machine itself is in full working order and I particularly like the marquetry tape measure inlaid into the side of the base. A definite sign of a good quality machine which would have been very sought after in it's day! A bargain now at just £25!




This beautiful creature is a Singer electric machine from 1959 which comes complete with it's own foldup sewing table/cabinet. All of this for the bargain price of £35! I love the styling of this machine with it's two tone brown colouring and the cabinet is a good small size to fit into most homes.


Obviously these are dangerous things for me to sell as I have a serious love for old and interesting sewing machines. I have to just keep reminding myself I have three old machines at home (a traditional manual black & gold singer, a chain stitch mini (no bobbin so I call it my magic machine!) and a Minimatic Bernina) as well as my all singing, all dancing Husqvarna digital beauty so I think I have plenty to keep me going!



Now on to our lovely new art mirrors which the super talented Greg Dunn has brought in for us this weekend. My particular fave is this 1970s wooden backed one. Why not come in and have a look!


Right, that's all folks!


Loll

x





The Worcester Flea!!





After many months of planning myself and Jo and Clare (aka WAVE) have managed to organise this exciting new event to hit Worcester City Centre.


The Worcester Flea will be a regular monthly event starting on Sunday 7th August then taking place on every 1st Sunday of the month after that. All three of us love going to Flea Markets on a regular basis as you never know what gems you will find so we decided to bring one to our own doorstep! The event will be taking place at Angel Place Market (next to the entrance to Crowngate Shopping Centre) and parking is available for £1 all day in Crowngate car park. There will be 30 stalls selling everything old and unusual from vintage clothing to antiques and bric a brac.


Hope to see you there!


Loll

x

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Hi!



We've been busy little bees again over the past few weeks. We traded at our first proper festival of the summer, Arleyfest, which was great fun and the music was amazing! Here are a few pics of our stall and the super talented Seth Lakeman.






As you've probably learnt I have a few secondhand obsessions and one of them is old books. I can't resist picking up big boxes of random books at auction and seeing what gems lie within! Below is an example of one of those gems. It's a book on gardening from 1929 written by H H Thomas and contains some lovely photos and illustrations. When I opened it I found it was full of newspaper clippings from the 1950s and was even more excited to find a selection of letters dating from the 40s and 50s from the author himself giving the owner of the book advice on gardening queries. This is such a treasure and something I will definitely be adding to my collection!



This weekend (or rather tonight!) we're off on tour again. This time selling at Upton Jazz Festival in Upton upon Severn and it will be the first proper outing of our ginormous marquee so fingers crossed it stays up! Will post some photos on here next week.






Have a great weekend!



Loll


x