And More!

 Yep, another piece of Portmeirion Holly and Ivy china.

A tea-light holder. Car boot find - of course. £2. I was walking by just as the lady selling was unwrapping it and swooped in quickly. It's less than three inches tall so not taking up a lot of room in the cupboard and I can use it on the bookshelf for December, with my other winter bits . That's my excuse for the purchase of my tenth item.

I had three years between 2020 and 2023 when I didn't find any - there are many pieces on ebay but much more expensive than I would pay. Mine are just from charity shops or boot sales - mostly the latter. So finding two bits in the last couple of months is odd.

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More Holly and Ivy Ware

 I wonder how long car boot sales will continue this year. As the weather gets cooler with darker and damper mornings there are noticeably fewer people selling. In theory the big Saturday boot-sale should carry on until 25th October  with their one-off Christmas boot sale on the 13th December and the smaller Sunday one will carry on until the ground gets too soggy. It's all weather dependent of course.

At the Saturday boot sale the  weekend before last I noticed lots of people had already started to bring along  Christmas decorations. One man had a small trailer full of new boxes of huge baubles - which would have needed a huge tree -in a huge room!

A few bits of Halloween stuff too. There's no need to buy new when you have a boot sale to visit.

I spent just £2 that morning with £1 being for a really big cauliflower and the other £1 for these two coasters- yes, more Portmeirion Holly and Ivy Ware! 50p each - what a bargain. 

It's been 16 months since I last found something (a bell tree decoration) for my 'Not a Collection' which obviously now IS a collection. 

I've been really lucky finding so many pieces second-hand, some are still available new at crazy prices, although they don't seem to make these coasters any more. There's lots available on ebay but I'm sticking to car boot sales and charity shops.

It was a good find which I'll  enjoy using through December . 

Here's what Debby said last December when I posted about the bell decoration. Love it!

Debby12 December 2024 at 11:19

If you put them together, they become a collection. If you scatter them artfully around the house, they are merely decorations.

You're welcome.

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Advent 2024 and NOT A Collection

 I've been saving this photo ready for a December blog post since May!

You've heard about my accidental collection that categorically isn't a collection of Portmeirion Holly and Ivy ware.

Well, I added something to it way back in May - from a boot sale of course.

£1 for a Christmas bell tree decoration, so not too big a spend.

It is still NOT a collection!

(Although I see there are now eight mentions in labels!)

My very first find is HERE

And it was one of the things in that lovely Museums Selection catalogue, that I mentioned last week. Selling for £35 reduced from £50!

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Sue

December 14th - Portmeirion Holly and Ivy

My Portmeirion Holly and Ivy 'Not a collection' hasn't grown since 2020. The first piece was the best bargain and came from a car boot sale way back in the autumn of 2017 for just £2. It wasn't meant to be the start of a collection!

But then the same year I found another piece- a small dish on a pedestal -  in a charity shop, then the next year a tea-plate from a boot sale and butter knives for a Christmas present. A year later and I found a big centrepiece plate from a boot sale again. Finally in 2020 I spent a few more pounds on a small custard/gravy jug and saucer which were in one of the glass cabinets that charity shops have for their special things.

Since then I've not seen another piece for sale at car boot sales or anywhere else - which is probably a Very Good Thing!

Some comments I remember because they seem a bit "off" and I definitely remember someone commenting, when I wrote about the first piece, that having special Christmas china was a "superfluous and unnecessary trend coming from the US". And of course they used plain white all the time - with Real holly!

I had to smile when the same person (I'm 99% sure it's the same person) commented elsewhere recently that they were getting their pieces of "T'was the night before Christmas" crockery out of the cupboard.

They probably didn't bank on me sometimes having a good memory for slightly snarky comments! 

But as it's Christmas they are forgiven.

Many thanks for comments yesterday about memories of Christmas decorations. Seems we all had something similar.  Apologies for not replying.

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Sue

A Collection? What Collection?

 Who said anything about a collection?

 

It started with this from Stonham Barns boot sale in  September 2017 - the best bargain of the lot

Then this from  the Hospice  charity shop in December of the same year

Followed by this tea plate from Needham-Market boot sale a year later

These were a gift  for Christmas 2018

and in May 2019 I found this, again at Needham Market Boot sale

And guess what - another bit - or actually 2 bits were in the glass display cabinet of the charity shop on Saturday, these were the most expensive of the lot, and I don't know what came over me!

 

This had better be the end of my NOT a collection!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Didn't Do Much

In the end I didn't go very far over the Bank Holiday Weekend.

Car-boot sales of course -  the Big one at Needham Market was HUGE and I came home from that via the Art Exhibition (photos tomorrow).  The small local boot sale wasn't as big on Sunday as last week when I was there selling, I was home after looking round  by 9am and they've started having sales on Bank Holiday Mondays too and that was even smaller - home by 9 again.

All together at all the boot sales I spent a grand total of £10.60p

I found...........................

A bright pink ceramic pot  for 50p to put my money plant in on the bathroom window-sill. The plant had been in a brown -glazed flower pot (with a bit of plastic in the bottom to cover the hole) and I'd been searching for a replacement for months - it's still not big enough but better than brown.

The brown glazed flower pot now has a baby Bay tree (£2) in it. I've got a Bay tree that came here in a pot and is now nearly four feet tall so it will be too big to move when the time comes. This new one can be potted into increasingly larger pots for several years ready for whenever I decide that an acre is too big.

Someone had lots of  my everyday crockery - Johnson Brothers Summer Chintz - for sale. I wasn't short of plates and didn't need teeny coffee cups, a serving dish or very small bowls but she did have one breakfast bowl, which seem to be the thing that gets broken more often- so that was 50p.

I picked up this little set of lift-the-flap books for £1. Willow loves lifting flaps in books.

Any minute now I'm about to become a Great Aunt when my nephews partner gives birth, she's a few days over due already poor girl. I found this (for £1.50) to send down to London when my sister goes to visit her first grandchild.

 This, below, is a plastic "float" inside a net. I bought it for 50p in the hope I could get the net off and use it for the green glass globe I bought from an antique shop when we were on holiday. But no - there's no way to undo the net so I've hung it up outside anyway......it looks like glass from a distance!

 Is there anyone out there who knows how to make a macrame net like this?

Another Kilner flip-top bottle to use for the Limoncello I'm planning for the Christmas Hamper presents - another 50p.

I bought a big tub of strawberries for £1 - they needed eating so no picture and a large  slice of banoffee cake - that's gone too so no picture of £1.10p worth of cake either. Yes I'm a greedy guts!

And then this,  ahem, yes it's another bit of Portmeirion Holly and Ivy ware. Its rather large - that's a £1 coin in the middle -  and should have a bowl in the centre making it a plate for things - crudities?-  to dip in something - hummus?.

 I didn't really intend to buy it but as it was £2 - it seemed a shame to leave it.(poor excuse!)

Problem - it won't fit in the dining room cupboard! Too wide..............

I now  have 5 Holly and Ivy things, 4 from boot-sales/charity shops and one was  a Christmas present............ officially a collection?...............bother!

Many thanks for comments yesterday.Smoked Paprika is now on my shopping list

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Sue

Some Lovely Pressies

Would you believe that on Christmas Day we completely forgot to take any photos. All my plans of getting the three grandchildren photoed all together - kaput- how hopeless I am.

I did remember to snap Jacob, now 2½ in his den (under a blanket hung between chairs) on Thursday before they went home, he has his favourite  cars with him and Mummy's phone!

and Willow now 8 months old, who had popped over with her mummy and daddy to say goodbye to her big cousin.

I'll have to take my camera next time I visit Florence to get some photos  of her too.



Having all my family here was the best present but I had some other  nice presents for Christmas (including the ones I had chosen for Col's brother to give me!) and just a couple of strange pressies that make me think that people don't know me at all! Which I know sounds awfully ungrateful. Sorry.

The puzzles I choose  - one will be started today.

Holly and Ivy butter spreaders and cheese knife from eldest - seem to be starting a collection!

Books I want to read, from son and youngest daughter, these are part of series and an Amish one from my wish list

Some  sweet treats (and I also have some Lindt Lindor hidden away for January) and a pretty tea towel

This looks interesting - something I choose myself

And lovely glass Christmas coasters

A white Hellebore to add to the garden later

And a Hyacinth too

A Robin nest box in the shape of a teapot. I shall wedge this into a tree that's covered with ivy rather than fixing to a wall or fence.

And a bamboo and bristle pan brush from a penny pincher pen friend- very handy.

And somewhere in the country is a person with the same name as me who is missing a book from their Amazon wish list, because my nephew gave me a book that was supposedly from my wish list but certainly isn't!



Back Tomorrow
Sue

Presents Getting Sorted

It was a fine and bright Saturday morning so might as well go to the big boot sale, after all it might be wet and horrible on the next 3 Saturdays and then there won't be any until February.
Good thing I did as I found some useful things

No one was prepared to do any bartering - too close to Christmas-  so I had to pay what they asked. The Portmeirion Holly and Ivy plate was £2.50 and new Christmas oven gloves were £2 as was the boxed collection of the Shirley Hughes books. The packs that say NOEL are sachets of fragrances for hanging in a wardrobe I guess.......they were 50p each. All except the plate will be presents....... the plate is for me - it's my 3rd bit of Holly and Ivy ware, all secondhand - 2  from car boot sales and one from a charity shop. I also bought some Lindt chocolate Teddy Bears from the man who does discount food and it was seeing them that gave me an idea. Something son said jokingly last Christmas "still hoping for a hamper". ( If you read this M or R....... FORGET you've read it straight away!).   

Leaving the boot sale I could either turn right and go and "do" another church and visit 2 charity shops in Needham Market or turn left and go back to the A14 and into Stowmarket.
But because of the idea that I'd had  it had to be turn left  for Stowmarket to get some more dried cranberries.

As I walked into town I noticed there was a big Charities fair on at the URC church so popped into have a look and on a book stall found this. It rang a bell - think it was mentioned in a bibliography of something I read a while ago. Paperbacks were just 20p so that was bought.

Another Charity had tables full of jigsaw puzzles - dozens of them .....had another brainwave - one could be a Christmas present to me from Col's brother. He doesn't go anywhere to buy secondhand and I would never bother with new jigsaws. I started buying a present for me from him a few years ago - he reckons it's a brilliant idea. I give him the present to wrap and he gives me the money!
Couldn't decide which puzzle to buy so bought two!


Back Tomorrow
Sue

December 22nd and Decking the Halls with boughs.............

Yesterday being the Solstice it was the day for bringing in some greenery.

From the garden I collected some bits of Rosemary, Elaeagnus, Ivy, a few pieces from the Leylandii and just one little piece of Bay from the plant that moved in a pot from the smallholding to here via Ipswich. It's been planted out now but needs a few more years to get going so I didn't want to take too much from it.
The holly - with berries - came from a lovely big tree about a mile away, I spotted it a few weeks ago and because we live on little used back roads it was still there when I went to bring a little home.
We've planted some holly in the mini-wood so one day there will be some to bring in from right here, although holly is so slow growing it might be the next person to live here who benefits.

A vase of greenery at each end of the living room and ivy on the mantel-piece. I'm Decked!

Now, on the subject of Holly and Ivy........... here's a thing.......a pretty thing and a happy surprise find. I had to go shopping at Aldi, so of course popped into the Hospice charity shop just over the road, where they always have a table of Christmas things and what did I spot, YES it's another bit of Holly and Ivy Portmeirion, a small footed bowl, priced up at £4.50 but Great Joy, they had a "Everything Half Price" notice on the table. Happy Dance........

................. But I really didn't mean to start a collection!

And Finally ........here is some news I wasn't expecting to say..........Colin is home! Much to our surprise they decided his blood counts were good enough to let him out a week earlier than we thought and I went and collected him yesterday afternoon. We have to go to Addenbrookes twice a week for blood tests where they check and re-adjust tablets and recovery will probably be up and down but at least he'll get a good nights sleep here. In a few weeks time he will have a bone marrow sample taken and that's when they'll be able to judge how well the donor stem cells have worked.
Having him home but still needing to rest and keep away from people with colds has quite thrown Christmas plans up in the air......... but in a good way.😊

Back Tomorrow
Sue

December 5th and the Best Ever Bargain

This has just got to be the car-boot bargain of the Century.

It's a Portmeirion  Holly and Ivy  footed Christmas cake stand which I got from the local small car boot sale in September for £2.........complete with storage box...... Honestly - Just £2. It was a man selling a whole load of house clearance stuff and when he said £2 I didn't hesitate but must have looked astonished because he said "If I'd have said £20 you wouldn't have wanted it would you?". I said no definitely not as it's not something I really need. I didn't tell him that I might have paid £5 or maybe even £10, as it's something I've seen in Wyevale Garden Centre at Christmas and they sell there for around the £35 mark!

It will stand in the middle of the dining table for the next few weeks so I can enjoy it, although the Christmas cake probably won't go on it until January when we have a family get together.

I had to rush around the other day  and get Christmas cards done for the Ipswich relatives so I can put them into a Ipswich Scout Post Box next time I go shopping, it's only a few days until their last posting date. I wrote about Scout Post last year and looked online to see where they have collection boxes this year. Seems they are EVERYWHERE!  They've even expanded into Felixstowe now as well. Must be a really good fundraiser - it is 25p to post a card in their boxes -back in the day when I was an Akela we just had a Christmas Jumble Sale/Bazaar, which was a very popular event.

Thank you for comments about Debenham, I really need to go there more often to check out the 10p bargains of out of date tins and packets at the Co-op. It was on Radio 4 news yesterday about East of England Co-op's doing this to help stop food waste. You heard it HERE a few weeks ago!

Back Tomorrow
Sue