Exeter Festival Craft Fair ;-)

Each year, the City of Exeter upholds the tradition of celebrating the Lammas Fair.

The annual ceremony of the Proclamation of the Lammas Fair, dates back more than 900 years!
We were there today, to watch this fascinating , colourful piece of tradition.
and the procession to the Guildhall (which , incidentally, is one of the oldest in the country),

led by the Mace Sergeant,whose very important role is to carry the Lammas Fair Glove!

The Lammas Fair Glove is a sign of Royal protection of the peace.

The glove is a large leather stuffed glove,attached to a long pole and decorated with ribbons and a garland of flowers.

Meanwhile, taking place on the Cathedral Green, was the annual craft fair...and although the weather was dull and overcast, it stayed dry for our time there. We wandered around the tents looking for anything a bit 'different'.Although I love jewellery and ceramics, there always seems to be an excess of these kinds of crafts.

This was a lovely stall. 'Petite Fleur'

You can't see closely but this lady makes many of her items using the technique of paper napkin decoupage.

I loved these wood crafts.

These berets appealed to me too.



Beautiful art work.





And then there was driftwood... there was a lot of it around this year.

Not to mention slate!

I always love to see terracotta

And then came the treat of the day for me...

I met a lovely, fellow blogger, Helen!

Her tent was filled with so much gorgeousness...she uses lots of vintage bits...just my thing!

So we swapped links...here's her blog and also her website. Both are well worth a visit!

http://bustleandsew.blogspot.com/

http://www.devonbeardesigns.com/

Fabulous cushions!

Wonderful quilts!

Using vintage children's books...

Fab hand knitted goodies...

Cards...

Beautiful buntings...

More quilts

It was all lovely...

Finally, having heard about this from Nich, here's a little 'funny', which can be seen on the door of an Exeter shop ...

Tee hee!!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Deb'n and its goings ons! ;-)

Look at this!

An invitation! ;-)

I expect that some of you remember the lovely painting by Henderson Cisz, which adorns out lounge wall?

I can almost walk into the picture every time I look at it.

Well, Henderson Cisz has excelled himself this time!

No photo will do this justice, not even on my header picture..but boy is it lovely and boy do I have any room for it...no!

The original 'Cathedral Yard, Exeter' is going to be auctioned, on June 18th, for a charity, ' Families for Children'

'Cathedral Yard, Exeter'

Did that stop me from ringing the gallery, to find out the price?

Did it heck!

''£295, unframed, madam''

GULP..but worth every penny and I can't wait to see it in the flesh!

I'm going to take a peep in that gallery when I go up at the weekend..way hay...!

Because ....on Friday, this begins...

Starting with this date... a very important date in my calendar... and in my fave Devon city !

On Friday, it is the Lammas procession, whereby this rather large Lammas glove parades down the High Street , eventually ending up on the roof of the Guildhall.

I just love our country for traditions such as this, don't you?!

I'll be there to make sure that there glove behaves , before I head to the Cathedral Green to look at the craft festival ! (Excitement is mounting) ;-)

Talking of Devon, having returned my mum's bookmarks , I was presented with a shoe box full of postcards , which she has saved and sorted over the years.....mainly English counties... with a few 'foreigners' thrown in.

'Would you like these for your blog?'

And so... for starters...

Do ee think ee can read it? LOL

Just a few snippets for you...oooarrr!

Now tis time to 'ave me tay!

Have fun, wherever you are ;-)

St Marychurch

This morning we jumped in the car and just for a change, instead of our usual craft morning, I took everyone to St Marychurch,Torquay.

It's a quaint little Victorian arcade with such a variety of shops...everything you need...and traffic free.

As we were walking up the street I noticed...

Fables The Bookshop

Well, I already knew it existed but what I didn't know was that it had two very friendly owners, Doreen and Frances.

Naturally, before we entered the shop,these books caught my eye and I am glad they did...

Without boring all of you footy haters too much, Charlie Buchan was a famous footballer,whose 'Football Monthly' became a firm favourite amongst footy fans after it was launched in 1951.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ARSENALbuchan.htm

And now these lovely gift books are in the bookshops:

Well amazingly, Frances told us that she was Charlie Buchan's granddaughter!

She was quite happy to be snapped..

This little shop was jam packed full of wonderful books..I need to revisit as we could not take it all in!

A book shop as bookshops should be....and of course

the last words are from Frances and Doreen..

How Bazaar ! ;-)

Bazaars, Fetes, Country Fairs...call them what you will...I love them!

I was lucky enough to be asked by Amanda (Shabby Chick, Totnes stall) to join her and do a 'Country Fair' at a place very near here, called Blackpool School. It's at Liverton, in a very pleasant setting, nestled in the foothills of Dartmoor.

So that's where we'll be on Sat July 4th, weather permitting,with some of my hand made goodies and some of her lovely delights!

Which means I've been having fun making a few vintage bits..starting off with some lavender bags because (yes ,ok, I know, I need to be struck down... before a certain lady in Paignton goes mad at me for this! You know who you are!) LOL

Yes, I took the scissors to a vintage tablecloth ! ;-)

As I was beavering away, I caught sight of this little book which is brilliant for all the basic embroidery stitches, if you can still get it. My absolute favourite.

And this one for vintage lovers...

Naturally ,one can also be inspired by these old faves...quite old fashioned but a must for the vintage craft room!

Which brings me on to this...an old favourite...very old fashioned... but one can improvise!

I hope you get to some of these gatherings, this summer.

BTW...Anyone for tea and scones?

I should say so ;-)