stash enhancement!

As it was Mothering Sunday last weekend I went to visit my mum over in Newark, Nottinghamshire.  We decided to do a trawl of one of the local antique centres and then went on to a local antiques fair.  It ended up being a useful stash enhancement exercise - the antique centre had lots of stalls with baskets full of buttons (how did I walk past them all in ignorance for so many years I ask myself?) - and this is what I ended up with:

I think these blue ones are some of my favourites - so bold.

You will also notice some beads in there - mostly pearls which I plan to either restring or use to make a project or two more pretty.

I also bought the scarf they are all sitting on - a rather funky orange and yellow 70s number I picked up cheaply.  Unfortunately it has a cigarette burn at one end, so if anyone has any suggestions as to how I could disguise it... I would be grateful.

But the best finds were to come at the antiques fair... on a stall with old tools I came across this beauty and couldn't resist!

I know it looks a bit like a lopsided boomerang, but this is what it actually is - something a lot more useful ;o)

The guy asked me what I was going to do with it, and seemed quite pleased when I said I was going to use it for dressmaking.  I suppose so many old tools just end up on people's walls as interior design.  It has a lovely brass bit on the corner to hold the two pieces together, and I think the wood is boxwood - its a great colour.

Last but not least I also managed to pick up a pair of old, but still sharp scissors which will replace my blunt plasticky snips.

They have a nice detail on the handles which attracted me to them - they used to make things properly in the old days didn't they?