Two fab markets til holidays!

This Thursday will be the last one at Spitalfields for at least a month as I'm off to Scotland for lots of relaxing, walks on the beaches with the dog, gardening, seeing friends, eating lots of lovely fresh seafood n trying to find some treasures for the stall. Before that one last market on Saturday 19th of July, when I'll be at North London Vintage Market, a fabulous venue for all things vintage, a real oasis of amazing stallholders and their wares. There'll be outside stalls too, a dog show in aid of North London Hospice and great food. Stalls range from clothes, jewellery, furniture n homeware including my stall filled with enamel and other vintage Kitchenalia. Do come along if you can. It's such a lovely atmosphere, reminding me of a village hall somewhere miles away from busy Crouch End! Have a fabulous summer n I'll try to write a blog from Scotland if I can get a connection!

A load of ol' knives!

Back indoors at Spitalfields Market yesterday. Last week we were al fresco due to an event happening inside. Just as well we were back indoors as it was really cold and miserable. Some lovely new stock including some french linen cloths which are great as teatowels or hand towels. I've got a whole pile of fabulous old knives with faux ivory handles. There are butter knives with handles the colour of butter and larger dinner knives, the colours being a mixture of yellow and ivory. I've packed them up into sets of six. I love using these. They're so sturdy and feel very nice when using to butter toast etc. I often get the smaller knives but it's great to find the larger ones too. Pair them with old large forks for dinner time.

The Danish Connection

Recently at Spitalfields I had another visit from a very nice Danish woman who approached me a while back with some items she'd brought from her home in Denmark. This time she had found me a real feast of jewel coloured enamel including ring shaped moulds suitable for cakes, jelly or brioche. They are in both ruby red and deep heavenly blue with white interiors. Some have little wire attachments to hang them up on the wall. Also there was a blue colander which was bought immediately and is now winging its way to America! It amazes me where vintage items begin and end. It would be great if they carried a little diary showing their history, where they came from, where they've been and where they are now! That would be so cool. I've bought things in Scotland - who knows if they started off there, then they've been bought by someone in London to take to Italy for example!
Most of the items from Denmark are that wonderful shade of sky blue but included in her latest haul were two grass green items, a funnel and a fish slice. They sold very quickly which I was a bit sad about as they were so beautiful on the stall against everything else. Included in the blue enamel was a striking coffee pot. I was told that they are called Madam Blue referring to the colour but people don't say pass the coffee pot but pass the Madam Blue which is very sweet. I also have blue funnels with white interiors which are great for decanting oil into smaller containers etc. I have a few more blue  colanders including an unusual jug shaped one. This also has a little wire for hanging on the wall where it is common in Denmark to display these items as they are beautiful as well as functional. There is also a zester and three cute tea strainers. Please contact me if you are interested in any items. 

Classic creams n greens n jewel coloured enamel

This is a selection of some of my enamel ware for sale. A beautiful cream n green flour bin which can be used as a small bread bin, a sweet red teapot, a really useful Bain Marie pot, great for making sauces, melting chocolate or making porridge. The classic cream n green cake tin dates from around the thirties/forties.