Bathrooms, Buys and Bobbins.

 (Yeah, I managed to get some alliteration going in my title...!)

A wee display just for my (and your ) viewing pleasure!

 Bird finds; found nests and remnants of eggs, feathers and a gull's skull.  The feeding blue-tit ornament is chalkware , made by Bossons, England and dates from 1968.  Super detailed.

 I have had the white ceramic vase for many years, it has no marks but I suspect it is Crown Lynn.

The old wooden bobbins with sewing thread have such beautiful shades with lovely names; the 2 small Sylko bobbins are "ice-blue" and "light kingfisher".

And now the big thing happening at my place, courtesy of Mr. D.I.Y. himself;
It's the Bathroom Make-over!!
Don't worry, he's done this before, twice actually.

This new house has a bathroom.With a bath.
We don't take baths, we like showers.
 This new house also has a shower. 2 as a matter of fact. One tiny cramped one right next to our bedroom, it's very 70's, with 3 brown tinted glass sliding doors and no room to move without banging your head, elbows or other parts. Also no heater or extractor fan, or storage for clothes, towels etc, so you have to get dressed in the bedroom.
The other shower is just as awkward downstairs in 1 of the bedrooms, and is exposed to the room over the top of a little wall. So the whole room gets steamed up!
An entire bathroom solely used to brush you teeth in, is just a waste of space, right?

We think so.
Out with the bath!
If we want a long hot soak we will go to Ocean Spa or go to my brother's spa pool , where we can lay under the stars and play 'spot the satelites'.
 And out with the lino.
We want tiles this time!
And out with that little cupboard in front, so there will be more space for the shiny new shower. Bye to the wall lining, cause all the plumbing has to be changed and we can add some insulation in the walls. And more tiling.

And away with that basin and vanity unit. We are having a beautiful recycled hardwood (rimu) shelf with 2 green glass bowls and funky taps.
Don't worry ; the real plumber will come to connect the very important stuff.
The ceiling panels are gone too now, and we already have some halogen spot lights, cause it would be good to have a light in there. There was only a little fluorescent tube above the mirror.
Mr. D.I.Y. is having so much fun playing demolition man!
But he's only allowed to do 1 room at a time.....

Last weekend I took myself and my friend M. off to Palmerston-North to the Fabricabrac Market to sell our unwanted fabrics. M. was a professional dressmaker and loves to quilt, so she turned out to have quite a bit of stash... (She had to get her own table in the end.)
We had to leave bloody early to get there by 8am. I'm not very good about getting up at quarter to 5 in the morning on a Saturday... But M. kept up a pleasant conversation to keep me awake.
It was very successful, I had 4 overflowing freezer baskets full of fabrics and zips and threads etc, but came home with only 1 basket! Most of it was retro 1960's and 70's and it seemed to be wanted by many people.
 I also had 4 meters of silver and turquoise brocade in pristine condition, which was snapped up by this overjoyed lady. She told me the date had been on her calendar since March or so, and she had come to look expressly for brocade, and there it was. She was going to make herself a party dress for her 30th birthday and I had made her day!
Well, that story just made my day too! Brilliant!
Above you can see what I spend $5 on; 2 small curtain samples with embroidered trees and leaves- for book covers.
A piece of vintage pink-with-white-roses mattress cover- for making lavender hearts.
3 lots of bias binding- for bunting.
A crocheted-bonneted-lady - to applique onto a child's dress.
A 1960's french monsieur with bouquet- for the front of a satchel bag.
And will I get brave and make myself a skirt with that 1 meter fabric pattern?

Lovely M. gave me a box of chocolates vintage wooden bobbins. The thread on most of them is still nice and strong for use, but I just love looking at them. And as I mentioned before, the colours have names, not just a number. How do you like "light apple green", "saffron", "lilac", "dark myrtle" or "heliotrope"? Perhaps you can picture "moss green", "blue jade", "light emerald" or "green plume"?
Then what about "linen", "cairo" or "goldfish"? Maybe "frivolous pink" does it for you?...
Oh I just adore them, thank you so much M.!!

With it I put a few op-shop finds of late; a crocheted border, already salvaged from maybe a pillowcase.
2 embroidered old-fashioned guest towels. And a little Japanese kimono-fabric purse with an appliqued bird, so kawai-i !!