A beautiful spring day and to commemorate Easter Sunday, I visited the last indoor session of the Leslieville Flea Market (which moves outdoors next month) down in The Distillery District of Toronto.
The first vendor I chatted with was Brad Poirier of “Fair Judy’s Antiques & Curiosities” [ http://www.Facebook.com/FairJudys ] where I found a slew of Canadiana – lots of vintage plaid, sports and history memorabilia, and even some weird old medical books. Brad (pictured below) was the perfect booth host who helped me select an old book, “Steele of the Royal Mounted”, that I later discovered was published in 1911.
I then chatted with a lovely lady who was too shy to pose with this cute-as-a-button purse featuring a Westie dog. Very retro, very chic.
I was then stopped in my tracks by some fabulous graphic auto prints created by Max of http://www.Mokkolife.com (see below) Beautifully and simply framed, the vintage autos and sportscars really stood out and I also loved the note cards made from those same designs and animal prints. The crazy wee beastie t-shirt is going on my Christmas list, too.
If you like elephants, you’ll LOVE the cute and colourful plates and dishes created by Leslie Fruman of Clayshapes Pottery [http://www.clayshapes.etsy.com ] . Delicate and charming, all the pieces were affordably priced.
Last time I visited the Flea, I met Kevin Nielsen of Big Kev Vintage and he was there again today with some cool new vintage treasures, including the muscle builder in a box (pictured below). Who needs expensive gym memberships when you can pick this up for a song?! Visit Kev’s Facebook page to see if it’s still available and you, too, can get in shape like the guy on the box top. Facebook.com/BigKevVintage
Coco & Bear had some great vintage kitchen pieces, framed prints and small furniture, as well as the retro kid’s plastic farmyard, Farmer Brown and his tractor included! http://www.cocoandbear.etsy.com
Opposite Coco & Bear was the delightful Vera’s Vintage Home (below), a delicate ladylike booth displaying teacup sets, repurposed jug planters, teapots and cosies. Samantha (a.k.a. Vera) O’Sullivan creates these beautiful vignettes and you can visit her virtual shop at http://www.Facebook.com/verasvintagehome
There was a faint fragrance in the air and when I turned around, I realized that I was surrounded by Lavender, thanks to the Province Apothecary booth, hosted today by Tabitha, friend of owner Julie Clark. Fragrant sprigs of dried Lavender and Sweetgrass, bottles of lotions, potions, unctions and creams covered the table, including one rather intriguing bottle labelled “Sex Oil” – I was so close to making a purchase as it’s been a particularly looong cold winter and goodness knows I need all the help I can get! If you need a hit of spring yourself, visit Julie’s site: http://www.ProvinceApothecary.com
My dear friends from Haute-Goat were there, too, with their yummy goat cheese infused caramel sauces, chocolate truffles and goat-themed merchandise. There are new kids on the block, er, I mean farm..so visit them on http://www.Haute-Goat.com or Facebook to see videos of the cutest wee things on 4 legs. https://www.facebook.com/HauteGoat?fref=ts
Bragg + Bee offered all sorts of cool treasures, including medical charts, vintage maps and Canadiana. http://www.Facebook.com/braggandbee
Sourced & Salvaged and Eco Stems shared a booth space and each complimented the other’s display. Loved the salvaged industrial lights repurposed into desk lamps. Visit their sites for more: http://www.sourcedandsalvaged.com http://www.ecostrems.ca
I started a crowd around the Things I Buy For You booth when I started ooo’ing and aaah’ing over this uber kitsch 3D moose picture. OMG, it was so cheesy, it was great!
If only I had space on my walls, I would have bought it…. modestly priced, I think now I should have just bought it and saved it for a cottage gift. The nice man there had a bunch of other groovy treasures so hopefully he’ll be at the next Flea and we can all go fight over the Elvis portrait (or the moose pic) or the old map of Canada pictured below. http://www.Facebook.com/thingsIbuyforyou
Here are a few more random pics I took, and check out http://www.LeslievilleFlea.com for news of the next event.
HAD TO ADD THIS WONDERFUL SIGN POSTED ON FACEBOOK THIS EVENING – how appropriate and how true. Please support all the vendors at the Leslieville Flea and all the mom and pop businesses out there in the world.
Fordham PR 