where the fleas are

Outdoor yard sales are over but in this country flea-markets are organised and kept indoors so we can hunt for treasure during the 6 months of snow and darkness too.
They are indoor spaces where sellers can hire a unit and are given a number to write on each price ticket, so the stalls don't need to be manned. Opportunities for haggling are seldom but things are usually cheapy cheapo anyway.

Above is an exceptionally nice example of an indoor flea-market near us - the rest of the local hunting ground is more utilitarian-looking.

So what's been hunted lately? Well, I'm gonna show you some random fleas.


I scored a great big 60's woollen blanket for a fiver - outstanding quality, great colours and spotless too!
It was made in Finland by Villayhtymä Oy and designed by someone called Aune Gummerus.

Look at that great big home crafted coat hanger with the hammered iron hook - I was amazed to find it in the take-for-free bin...!
My eyes were drawn to its irregular shape and accented woodgrain. I swooped down on it straight away and only admired it extensively at home.
It is a lovely object, the photo doesn't do it much justice... The other hanger is there just for scale.

I've been looking for interesting orphaned crockery and cutlery ever since we've got an own kitchen here. These espresso cups and saucers make me quite proud of my mismatching skills...

The 50's cup with the gilded handle is unmarked but is a fine bone china - it's my fave cup to drink my morning espresso hit from. The chunkier cup is Tams of England. The blue rimmed saucers are German porcelain, the red rimmed ones are Czechoslovakian.

Then I got some things that I don't usually get: a couple of wide 80's hair bands. The reason is that I found some decent sized pieces of soft-as-butter merino sheepskin and decided to make some earmuffs for myself and possibly as gifts.
Hopefully I can marry these items together into earmuffs - it's already subzero and snowing over here!

I also found a length of mustard cotton jersey - I'm planning to make it into a top.

The kitchen is always good to thrift for - this painted wood handled potato masher, a cheese plane and a french Mouli cheese grater (just like the one Amélie uses in the film) will be used well surely.

The kitchen utensils were practically free because we bought them alongside a rag rug from the local antiques dealer. When my boyfriend comes with me to shop at this dealer's store, we always get lots of discount - it seems to be a man's world in there...

We had a runner for the hallway on the wishlist for a while now and were happy to find this 3 meter long rag rug for a tenner.
I show you the corner of it - our hallway is very dark and the pictures didn't come out well.
Next thing to thrift is a good overhead lamp, I guess!