Friday 30 October 2009

PARCELS ARE STILL BEING DELIVERED.

I thought I would just reassure customers that parcels are still getting through. For example, a parcel posted to Suffolk on Monday via Royal Mail 1st Class, only took two days to arrive and a parcel to Northern Ireland sent on Wednesday arrived on Thursday this week.
I am finding that if I post  on the days between the postal strike action the parcels are being delivered quickly.
I am monitoring the situation so I would ask all customers to let me know as soon as their parcels arrive. Of course there is still the option of courier service where they aim to deliver in 3 days. Please email me if you wish to take this option, if your order is over £10.00.


Thursday 29 October 2009

VINTAGE FABRICS - LOOKING FOR FLOWERS?



 Rag Rescue's special scrapbags, being listed tomorrow Friday October 30th at 7am GMT
at

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”

 Henri Matisse




Wednesday 28 October 2009

Brighten up your mood with flowers


Pile up the squares.
More squares listed tomorrow morning at 7am GMT

I love flowers even more so now that my garden is so small. I try to plant as many as I can and fill the house with the sweet smelling flowers of the season.
Even though the weather is warm for the time of year we still know that just around the corner the cold Winter looms.
One way to cheer up the home in Winter is not only to fill it with blooms but also to create home accessories with flower patterns that remind us of warmer days.
I've been thinking about flowers rather a lot lately, probably because most of the fabrics I buy are floral. It has let me into looking up quotes that are about flowers and I've decided that I will close each blog I write with a 'flower or fabric' related quote to cheer everyone up this Autumn and coming Winter.


“Love is a fabric which never fades, no matter how often it is washed in the water of adversity and grief.”

Tuesday 27 October 2009

LACE AND LOVE


Listing Wednesday 28th Oct.at 7am GMT

Vintage lace motifs are always so popular as you can use them for such a wide variety of projects.
I am also listing a book that I found on my travels called:-
A garland of love booklet of poetry from the 17th century

This is the most wonderful book of poetry. The poems are from Herrick and other poets of the 17th century. Gathered and presented with some of her drawings by Daphne Allen.

The book is dedicated to MELUSINE and all who love the romance of other days.
There are 14 poems all either illustrated with pen and in drawings or as separate coloured removable prints. You will be able to see photographs of them on the website tomorrow.

The book has 12/28 pencilled in the front and this could be the date. However it is a very old book and as you will see from the pictures is not in pristine condition. There is foxing on almost all of the pages especially near the centre fold which is tied with a twisted cord.

This is the sort of book to treasure.

The wounded Cupid.

Cupid, as he lay among
Roses, by a bee was stung;
Whereupon in anger flying
To his mother said, thus crying:
"Help! O help! Your boy's a-dying"
"And why, my pretty lad? said she.
Then blubbering, replied he,
"A winged snake has bitten me,
Which country people call a bee."
At which she smiled, then with her hairs
And kisses, drying up his tears,
"Alas!" said she, "my wag, if this
Such a pernicious torment is.
Come tell me then how great's the smart
Of those thou woundest with thy dart!"

Herrick (1591-1674)

Monday 26 October 2009

VINTAGE FABRICS FROM VICTORIAN ENGLAND


Along with these Victorian quilt fabrics are beautiful vintage French fabrics.
All will be listed tomorrow at 7am GMT
AT

Rag Rescue is now on 'Facebook' why not join the group and start a discussion on vintage fabric.

Sunday 25 October 2009

VINTAGE FABRIC WEEK BEGINS MONDAY OCTOBER 26TH



On Monday 26th October I will be listing some lovely vintage fabric squares and large pieces as well as strip rolls. There is a variety of English, French and quilt vintage fabrics.
Don't forget that we are on GMT now so the above vintage fabrics will be listed at 7am GMT tomorrow.
Worried about the postal strike delays?
No problem here at Rag Rescue.
Create a 'WISH LIST' .
Build up your order over 2 weeks. If the total is over £10 I will send it by door to door courier
AT NO EXTRA POSTAL CHARGE.

HOW TO CREATE A 'WISH LIST'
Do not click paypal for your first order, click 'bank transfer' instead. Then send me a quick email telling me that you want to create a 'Wish List'. I will then add any further orders onto your first one and send you an invoice at the end of two weeks.
IT IS AS EASY AS THAT. 

Saturday 24 October 2009

DELIVERY SOLUTIONS DURING THE POSTAL STRIKES.

Dear Customers,

Thank you for your support through this difficult time of postal strikes. Here at Rag Rescue we try to get your orders to you as soon as possible.
In order to do this we have decided to put the following plan into action.


POSTAL DELIVERIES WITHIN THE UK
Orders over £10 will be sent by courier at no extra charge to the customer. They will be sent by MyHermes which is a door to door delivery service 3-5 days delivery time.
This courier service will leave your parcel either with a neighbour or a safe place if you are not in. A card will be put through the door stating where you can find the parcel.
If you would rather pick your parcel up yourself then  I can use the ‘Collect Plus’ courier where you can pick your parcel up from a nearby shop.

Unfortunately due to the cost of courier services I am unable to make this offer available to orders under £10.00. They will be sent by Royal Mail first class post unless you state otherwise. I am extending the time for ‘WISH LISTS’ to be paid for so that you can build up your order over two weeks and reduce the postal cost.


SHIPPING ABROAD

We will contact you individually re courier services available and costs.

Hopefully the postal dispute will be sorted out soon so that we can get back to normal delivery times.

Don’t miss out on items you would like to purchase
BUILD UP A ’WISH LIST’

Thursday 22 October 2009

Make Christmas a vintage Christmas


Lovely reds and golds at Christmas.
Why not see the wonderful Christmas cards of the past in these two wonderful books and read about
the many quaint and curious customs surrounding Christmas.
All at RAG RESCUE WEBSITE tomorrow, 7am listing time.

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Vintage beads, baubles and bags + plus postal strike news

All at Rag Rescue tomorrow morning (Wednesday) at 7am BST

Just a few words again about the postal strike.
I am suggesting to customers that they pay for items either by bank transfer or by paypal at the moment so that cheques do not get lost or caught up in a huge pile of mail somewhere.
A few days ago I suggested an alternative way of getting your parcels to you by 'Collect plus' They have reduced their costs to£3.79
Today I have found a different carrier called MYHERMES which you can find here:-
                                                      https://www.myhermes.co.uk

This costs £3.99 a little few more pennies than 'Collect plus' and is a home delivery service. If you wish to use either of these courier services please let me know when you order.

Monday 19 October 2009

Antique French buckle clasps, moire rosettes and lovely petit point.


Being listed tomorrow Tuesday 20th October at 7am BST

So what have I been doing today?
- caring for my invalided mum
- washing vintage fabrics
- sorting out the stock room
-  taking and wrapping orders and posting
- booking an appointment with a new accountant as mine is still in Rugby . I left Rugby 6 years ago.
- getting frustrated as there aren't enough hours in the day.
- answering emails
I think I will have a break now.

Sunday 18 October 2009

A WEEK OF NEW ITEM LISTINGS BEGINS TOMORROW


Well I'm back home safe and sound, back to the rain yuk!
The picture above shows the items that will be listed on the RAG RESCUE website tomorrow at
7am BST

Friday 16 October 2009

Rag Rescue new items are all set for listing next week.


Lovely late 19th century French picture hook cover.

I'm all ready now for the new listings next week so watch this space on Sunday for the items that will be listed on Monday.
I'm just about to pack a few things now and shoot off early tomorrow morning to pick my mother up. She has been very ill with her heart recently and the fact that she hasn't sold her house yet has added to her stress combined with the thought of the oncoming Winter. We have compromised and decided that she will live with us for  three weeks and then go home for a couple of weeks until the warmer weather comes or her house sells. She doesn't want to leave the house empty for too long.
I will be back early on Sunday so there will be no problems with posting orders as those that have come in today are all packaged up and will be posted in the morning by my hubby.

I hope you all have a good weekend and the weather looks to be reasonable so enjoy it while you can.
Back blogging on Sunday.

Monday 12 October 2009

Vintage fabric - new selections


I've managed to prepare 10 more 6" squares which will be listed tomorrow morning. As you can see there are some lovely florals and tiny 5mm red check ideal for Christmas crafts. All the vintage fabrics are English.

NOW SOME MORE PREVIEWS OF THE WONDERFUL ARRAY OF VINTAGE FABRICS I PICKED UP AT THE FAIRS.



 

 

All these English and French fabrics have to be laundered so guess what I will be doing this afternoon.

Sunday 11 October 2009

Back home safe and sound and already busy sorting out new stock.



As I had to take some photographs for customers I had met at the fairs, I thought I'd take some of the new stock I bought to show you.




All of these items need either cleaning or a little repair but at least they have been saved.

 

A good selection of English and French tapestries, silks, rosettes and embroideries.



Unfortunately the weather is rather dull at times today and so the photo's haven't come out as well as I had hoped or was it because I am so tired but I think they show a variety of items and these are only the tip of the iceberg.
I just love looking around the stalls for different items. The Lincoln fair was great for this as there were many new stall holders. They hadn't wanted to stand in the large damp marquees and who can blame them. We had a small marquee, one in the shopping arcade but unlike other fairs where they erect them on the grass and the tent becomes damp this time of year, ours had a ground sheet of blue trampoline and over this was coconut matting, very posh. It rained on and off all day on the Tuesday which was a shame as the Mayor of Lincoln opened the show and Radio Lincoln covered the fair all day. There were men walking around on stilts, musicians serenading  the customers and at times lovely gentle music playing. It really was a carnival atmosphere. In the bar in the evening there was live music and a party for the stall holders staying on site.
Congratulations really must go out to the superb organisation of the Arthur Swallows team. It is a pity that  IACF had to try and spoil it.

Saturday 10 October 2009

ALL FAIRS OVER NOW UNTIL DECEMBER

We will be making our way home today, thank goodness. All three fairs were a success and I met some wonderful people from all over the world. We are however absolutely shattered, nine days of fairs is very tiring and even Ludo the dog is still asleep in his bed as I write this post from my mothers house. As usual Ludo was a huge success at the fairs. He has become a real salesman for at Lincoln a group of Japanese customers were walking past our marquee without stopping when one of them noticed ludo. AAAAAh! LUDO he exclaimed. They rushed into the marquee and took his photograph and then bought loads of items. We had never seen the Japanese customers before but they knew Ludo.

The good news is that I found lots of wonderful fabric and trims to buy, so over the next few weeks, after washing and ironing has been completed, I will start listing them all. At the moment all I want to do is get home and sleep.

A big thank you goes out to all customers new and old that continued to buy from the website whilst I was away. I will get their orders wrapped and posted on Monday.

Thank you all for your good wishes posted here on the blog, unfortunately I was either too busy selling or too tired in the evenings to answer but I will get around to it in the next couple of days.

Thank you all for your patience in waiting for your orders to be delivered, but things are now back to normal.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

LINCOLNSHIRE SHOWGROUND ANTIQUES FAIR - HUGE SUCCESS

Just thought I would let you all the know that the Lincolnshire Antique Fair and Home show is absolutely superb, extremely well attended with such a brilliant atmosphere.
If you can possibly come along tomorrow you will not be disappointed.