Golden Queens, Crafting Queens & Archie

We have stepped across the invisible threshold of late summer and into autumn,

 signaled by the bringing home of wrinkled passionfruit & plumply delicious golden queen peaches.

Our land is parched & our gardens desperate for moisture of any sort. The woodland anemones have been tagged by the naked ladies.. 

 and the short round of autumn fairs began on saturday out at St Luke's. 

I could hear a little voice over in the corner behind the counter somewhere & when at last I found the source...there was Archie all fur loved off & real. He had a wonderful time wandering around with me & seeing all the people...oh the conversations he had! 

We've gently removed the Wiggles plaster off his leg.

 No quick yanking here.

 My lovely thermos basket was just $2 & the wonderful tussy mussy is full of tweedia & other summer treasures from someone's garden.

 Oh yes! and my eidy I came across at St Vinny's earlier in the week.

Just no way, no way at all that I could leave it there!

Sitting quite near Archie was this darling book 

"The Fairy That Wouldn't Fly" told & pictured by Pixie O'Harris.

Isn't that just delightful...imagine being called Pixie O'Harris!

Rather reminds me of one Hettie Brown (seamstress, forager, wooly sock wearer)

It was printed in 1945 in Australia.

 A rummage in the bottom of a box produced these buttons for 50c & some short pieces of filet crochet...useful for bag making. The little fairy brooch is for Nina of course.

Great timing...just across the road was a monthly Craft & Design market that dear Keriann had mentioned would be on. Here she is at her Sweet Mary stall you can read a little about here here & see more of here lovely hand made crafts.

Just along a little further we were so delighted to find two like-minded vintage blanket lovers.

Two lovely girls who have moved to the Bay quite recently & who spend every spare minute crafting. What enamored us both instantly, was the amazing range of truly fabulous, up-cycled vintage blankets; blanket stitched, crochet edged, patch-worked with great skill, embellished with hearts, stars & flowers & each one backed with a complementary vintage sheet or other thrifted fabric.

 Talk about creative dedication! 

 The girls are happy to make a commissioned blanket to suit. (We are having a big think about that & an even bigger rummage through the cupboards for materials!)

 Aren't these so sweet..you can also find them here.

 We loved what Fleur was doing over here in this corner with her Little Golden Book Bunting made from old books & New Zealand maps/atlases. 

 We hopped back in the window on Thursday & had a change around & added some cupcakes on one of our cake stands & other vintage things that we have for hire. Such a lovely old building..used to be a department store, back in the day, called Roaches.

  No enquiries as yet, well, other than a lady from Hamilton wanting to know where she could find a tea cosy like the one in the window...time yet & it's great exposure 24/7 for a whole month.

 We even had a musical accompaniment while we fluffed.

 Walking in our park (just around the corner) & through the Chinese Garden we knew it must be almost International Cultures Day..

 when we saw these glorious lanterns had been put up once more.

 We were busy selling fruit yesterday afternoon, but I snuck around the corner for a quick look..

aren't they adorable..all stuck out in the middle of nowhere together!

 I nearly burst out laughing when I saw this sign..but good on them. A Chinese food stall they were selling fruit only: melons, apples & huge nashi pears.

 I loved this scene with all the different cultures & the classic Kiwi retro caravan in the background.

 Looking across the park I saw this gorgeous creature emerge from the flower bed.

In the evenings the lights are so magical & open to the public for the week until 10 o'clock at night.

 They had enchanting music playing too.

I noticed this beautiful feather resting on the maple tree this morning.

I wonder who dropped it & does she miss it?

And this afternoon a boy burst on to my porch while I was taking pictures of plump peaches.

He is extraordinarily fit & about to run in the 47km Triple Peaks Challenge this Saturday. He reckons he'll do it in under 5 hours. All we have to do is turn up with fruit, water, camera & car at the other end!!

Thanks so much for visiting.
Hope yours is a peachy sort of week!!
MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥