Vintage bag

Yesterday my grandma came to visit and she had a lovely surprise for me. When my great grandmother died in 1974 (so way before I was born) my grandma who is the oldest of three sisters agreed to take care of all the things from my great grandmother's posessions that no one else wanted. Of course, many things were simply thrown away but some pieces are still in my grandma's closet and basement because they're are of personal value. 

One of these things is handbag. Not a regular handbag, a black handbag with a flower pattern that my great grandmother handstitched with gobelin stitches. She made the pattern and then had it made into a handbag. My grandma told her that her mother was very proud of this bag and therefor my grandma never threw it away even though neither she nor my great aunts wanted it. 

So yesterday she gave it to me. She knows that I love sewing and stitching and more than once she has mentioned that it makes her very happy to see me working with a needle or a sewing machine. She also said my great grandmother would be very proud and happy that I like tthe bag. 

She wasn't fortunate enough to be still alive when her first grandchild (me) was born so I never had the pleasure of meeting her but owning something that she made and knowing that we shared at least one interest is amazing and heart warming to me.

But enough talking, let's have a look:

I admit it, it is old fashioned but I think it could look lovely combined with an elegant all black outfit. Or with a pink underbust corset I own.  When I come up with a nice outfit I will take a picture and frame it for my grandma. 

 

detail shot

Look at those stitches! I cannot find a single mistake. The colours work so well together and even though I am not a fan of the combination of black and brown I still love this special colour combination. Perhaps I will buy some (fake) gold jewelry (I only have silver and antique gold) to match the handle. 

I still cannot really believe that I own something that seriously qualifies as vintage. And that is part of the family heritage, of course. Thank you grandma, thank you great grandma. <3

One person's trash is another person's treasure

We live in a throw away society. An old dress, a single tea cup or maybe those horrid earrings your friend gave you a few years ago. We simple get rid of those things without a second thought even though someone else might need exact that one item that we don't have use for anymore. Today I got stuff that others didn't want anymore twice. Lucky me, huh?!

I spent the night at the Count's place and his mother had just been going through her old magazines. She ended up with quite a stack that was supposed to go into the trash so I simply adopted those magazines. Three have really impressive articles on different history topic in them, the others are old fahsion magazines. Most of them are from '07 and '08 but I got one Cosmopolitan from 2001. That's almost vintage, right? One of the newer magazines has a special about Britain in it, how lucky am I? I'm obsessed with Britain! An other one features an article on a family living in an italian castle and it has some beautiful pictures to go with it.

But the best thing I got today was a book. In our town hall there is a small shelf with books that you can take home with you in exchange for one of yours. So yesterday when I was in the town hall I checked the shelf and found the most wonderful book.

 

Hauff, stories and fairy tales

It's a book with stories by Wilhelm Hauff, a German author with a very interesting background story that I will probably blog about tomorrow. The book itself is beautifully designed, the cover is brown with a golden pattern aswell as golden letters. It is not even thirty years old even though the design looks much older. Whoever owned that book definately took care for it, it doesn't have any stains or marks or dog-ears. I seriously cannot understand why someone would give such a treasure away! As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to get it so of course today I went back to the town hall with a book that I have never liked at all, put it in the shelf and took the other one. I still cannot believe that I got this anmazing thing for free! Of course, I've already started reading one of the stories, so far I like it alot.

detail shot to show the design

The cover

 

Well, that's it for today. I hope you all have a lovely night!

Photos

One of the reasons why I started blogging was because I wanted an excuse to take more pictures. I have always been the one who had a camera in every important situation but during the last year I didn't really take any pictures on other ocassions than holidays or birthdays. I don't even know why. I'm still hoping that when I'm old I will be able to get out all these pictures that were taken during my life and go back to those special moments and think of the people and situations that are shown. It is always amazing to me to see old photographs of my grandmothers, seeing their pictures is to me like getting to know a glimpse of their past, their history. Photos can give you the possibility to remember a part of yourself that you thought has been gone for a long time. 

I am by no means a professional photographer. I have a crappy old camera and I use Picasa 3 as my editing programme. Yes, seriously, this woman is still without photoshop. But back to topic. Since I've started this blog I have taken a whole bunch of photos. Most of them are not even going to be posted here because even though they tell a story they're not really interesting enough to write about. Other pictures show me with friends or the Count and therefore won't be found here either because I want to respect their private sphere. Still, there are a few that I want to share with you. They're nothing special but they show what I have been up to these days.

On Thursday the Count and I went out for sushi. I had some wonderful maki sushi with avocado and sesame as well as with pickled pumpkin. Unfortunately, I only took pictures with my mobile and now I have problems connecting it to the laptop. That means that the only thing I can show you is a photo that the Count took the day after when I ate some sea weed salad that I took home with me from the sushi bar.

Left over sea weed salad

The most exciting thing that I did this week was getting my hair cut. For more than six years I haven't had a proper hair cut except for the occasional trimming. Now I finally got the fringe I have been dreaming about for years. I never had the guts to let them get cut. I love my hair so much, it's not even funny. I don't use any heat or silicones on it and I want it long. Not the length it is now, I mean really, really long. So cutting a fringe seriously cost me some nerves. I slept terribly the night before and during the morning I was more nervous than before my A-levels. Because of a simply hair cut. I mean, it grows, right? But still... I was really afraid it wouldn't come out nicely, that I would regret it. Luckily, I don't. It's been three days since I went to the hair dresser and so far I love my new hair style. So I asked my sister to take some pictures of me and the new hair. Here we go:

Also, my dear friend Vivi visited me today we had a little photo session.

 

Well, that's it so far. Have a lovely day!

Thoughts on wearing black

I wear black. Every single day.
Black is the absence of colour, it doesn't reflect light. So much for the simple facts. Now the problem:
Whenever I meet new people for example at university classes the topic of the colour of my wardrobe (or rather the absence of it) will come up at some point. Mostly the question is broad up by someone in a rather shy manner: "I don't know if I can ask you this but...Why do you wear black?"


The honest answer: I don't know.
For a long time I didn't even realize it, I just wore black more and more and at some point all the other colours just vanished from my closet. I simply prefer black over everything else. It's elegant, sophisticated and aristocratic. The point of it being elegant is probabl what strikes me the most about it. It suits everyone, very fair skin types as well as dark ones. It doesn't distract from the piece of clothes at hand, it leaves room for the farbic and the pattern to stand out. Additionally, black goes with nearly every colour except for brown and beige but that's simply my personal preference.

Source: we heart it

Black goes with a wide range of fashion styles in society such as conservative suits, cocktail dresses and the robes in the justice system of various countries but of course it also has a huge part in the world of alternative fashion. I identify as some sort of goth-ish victorian quaintrelle and black underlines that perfectly. I don't think of it as the colour of mourning, sadness and death as in some parts of Africa and America white is the mourning colour.

Source: we heart it

Of course, my favourite colour has often brought me in some weird situations and sometimes  I have to answer the most ridiculous questions. No, I don't worship satan, in fact I am an atheist, no I don't do drugs, yes I am smart. Black is the colour of the academics by the way. Some people cross the street when they see me, others but come up to me to congratulate me on my wardrobe. Small children tend to be afraid of me, older women love me. all in all, I get the most various reactions but that is not what wearing black is about.


 It's about me. 
Me being happy with how I look and what I wear. 
And that's what clothes are about, right?

Winter blues

It's official: I have the winter blues.

I really want to hide my boot in the darkest corner of the closet and trade umbrellas for parasols. A few days ago I got really excited over the singing of some birds that were sitting in a tree in my neighbourhood and that was when I realized: 
I want spring. Now. ASAP . I want leaves on the trees, waking up because the sun shines in your face and most importantly: Butterflies.

Unfortunately, even though I am the Good Fairy I can neither change the weather nor the season. So basically all I can do is wait. Wait and think of warmer days. So here we go:

These were all taken last summer in Berlin.

Tea

We live in a hectic world. We're always in a rush and everything has to be fast. That is probably the reason why people drink less tea and switch to coffee instead. Coffee on the run is incredibly popular, especially at university and quite honestly: I understand that.

It's fast, it gives you energy, not to mention it warms you nicely during those cold winter months. Nevertheless, I'll always stick to my beloved tea. If coffee symbolizes our modern society, tea stands for the exact opposite. Preparing a nice cup of tea takes time, the water has to boil, one has to pick  a tea to one's taste and finally the tea has to steep. For me personally, tea is a window of peace in my daily routine. I own nearly thirty loose and more than ten bagged teas, many mugs and two lovely tea sets I hold very dear. I love meeting friends for a nice cup of Earl Grey, it is probably my favourite social activity. 

What about you? Do you love tea as much as I do or do you prefer coffee?

,

An Introduction

Welcome.

I'm the Countess of Fairytales but you can call me Tascha. I'm a 20 year old student at the University of Cologne, my majors are English and history and I'm studying to become a teacher.

In this blog I want to talk about everything I love and appreciate in life which includes but is not limited to alternative fashion, crafts and needle work, tea, vegan recipes and simply everything beautiful.

To begin with I want to show you a picture of myself, simply because I feel that it is appropriate in and introduction.

This was taken during a fairytale themed photoshoot in the woods not far from where I live

I hope to meet some nice and friendly people here.

Sincerly,

The Countess