When we lived in a big house in the country I had my very own room for my sewing supplies and all the other strange and extraordinary things which went with them. I could strew things all over the floor and leave them for days on end without any comments or disparaging remarks. Since moving to the apartment in the CBD I have been without a sewing room and my dears, what a sad situation that has been! Despite having had a big purge before moving to town there were still craft supplies cunningly concealed beneath beds, in storage cupboards and at the homes of various long suffering relatives and friends around the country. So you can imagine the bliss of having a room for my craft supplies again at Shoestring Cottage. Sometimes I go in there and spend a happy hour or so just opening cupboards and turning over pieces of fabric, surprised and pleased at all the projects I have ahead of me. 
In fact if I never bought another scrap of fabric I would still be struggling to get through all these fabrics in my remaining years, so there is a strict ban on the purchase of any more fabrics ... unless strictly necessary for the completion of a project, of course. 
I know I am not alone in this passion for my own little space. Mr Shoestring can spend many a happy hour in his shed turning things over and putting them back on shelves, so we are both happy at Shoestring in our different places. A win/win situation!
Now for the best buy of the week. What about these fabulous genuine art deco shoes? They are in beautiful condition and the craftmanship is wonderful. Even the leather linings are soft and the stitching is so tiny. Why do you think these shoes would have been saved in the back of somebody's cupboard for perhaps 70 years? I like to think the original owner wore them to the dance where she met the love of her life and always remembered that night whenever she saw the shoes. They are a bit like Cinderella's glass slippers perhaps, especially because they are so tiny. They are a size 28 and there is no way many modern adult women's feet would fit into them. I looked up a book on art deco fashion which mentioned that, "The 1920s produced the most exciting shoes of the century, with a tremendous variety of cut, colour and ornamentation. With shorter skirts, legs and feet were now on display and shoes became the focal point of fashion. Women wanted coloured stockings and new shoes, especially after the sombre and practical styles of the War."
