Antiques Fair, Friends and a Surprise ... Now with (some) Piccies ...

I'm not too sure where the last week has gone but the weekend was taken up with the regular DMG Antiques Fair at Shepton Mallet. No photos as I didn't take my camera this time, and because it's pouring with rain I haven't unloaded the car yet - so can't show you any of the goodies I bought!

I'm happy to say that I did 'reasonably' well. Not up to my target figure, but not my worst fair by any means. So thank you to everyone who bought from me over the 3 days. I made a determined effort not to overspend this time as I have a lot of expenditure coming up soon (which I hope to be able to tell you about in the new year) and also, if I'm honest, I really don't need to buy any more stock for at least 12 months!!

However ... I did buy a beautiful 1920s fabric-covered box, which without measuring I guess is probably about 24" long, 12" wide and at least 6" deep. When I can extricate it from the car I'll let you know how close to the actual measurements my estimate is and will update this post with a photo. I also bought a collection of lace collars and other lace - about 75 pieces in total. My other purchase was a set of 2 French silky-soft linen monogrammed sheets and pillowcases together with matching plain sheets and pillowcases. However, they are unfortunately too narrow for a normal-size single bed, so I have already sold the plain sheets separately for sewing projects and envisage that the monogrammed pair would make fabulous curtains or could maybe be used for other projects. Similarly, the pillowcases are not a standard English pillow size but are nevertheless of lovely quality. Oh yes, I nearly forgot ... 20 mainly crepe de chine hankies and 25 linen napkins ... but I think that's the sum total ... or is it? I may find something else when I sort the car contents!

It was lovely to see Niki on Saturday although I didn't get much opportunity to chat to her as I was quite busy both times she came by. However, she brought a beautiful bag she'd made for me from the fabulous fabric she displayed in a blog post last week and I did make sure I had time to thank her and pay!! Saturday also brought Clare and Mike. Clare kindly allowed me to go off for half-an-hour or so (it could have been longer ... time flies, doesn't it). I was exceedingly grateful, as always, because at a busy Fair (when people are elbowing their way along the rows) it's impossible to leave your stand however desperately you might need to escape!!! Several other regular customers came by - it's always good to see them and over the years they have all become people it's nice to pass the time of day with. The weather was good on Saturday, despite the forecast earlier in the week saying that Saturday would be wet and Sunday would be fine. By Friday the forecast had reversed the weather for those 2 days and poor Kelly had to endure a very rainy Sunday. It was super to see her, with Paul (complete with cold) and Georgia. I think Georgia was quite pleased that I had a bag of Maltesers in my pocket!

The surprise came from Pauley. When the garden studio/shed was erected our electrician had hurt his back and was unable to connect the electricity. I've been using an extension reel plugged into a socket in the garage when necessary and had no idea when Garry would be likely to come to do the work. When I got home on Saturday evening Pauley met me at the door and told me to get out of the car and shut my eyes. Odd, but heyho, what had I got to lose? He disappeared into the house, came back, turned me round a couple of times and then told me to open my eyes. And there it was ... my studio ... in glorious technicolour ... that's what it seemed like at any rate! Garry had been, connected the electricity to the fusebox and thus the sockets and light that were built into the studio design, and everything is go, go, go ... soooooo exciting, and such a lovely surprise. Bless him ... he's not such a bad hubby after all!!!!!!

Sorry there are no photos to break up this long screed, but I'll update later when I've taken some, and add 'Now with Piccies' to the title!

Have a lovely week all, despite it being a wet one!

The measurements of the box are 22" x 11" x 5" so I wasn't too far out, was I! The photos of the lace show just some of it. There are another 3 photos, but I thought they were enough to give you an idea of what I bought. The other photo is a lovely sewing basket which realistically needs new fabric, but I rather like it as it is and will probably leave the new owner to change the fabric if they wish.

I'm not sure when I'll have time to get these on the website, so if anything appeals to you please ask and I can give you more details. I haven't unearthed the other goodies, but I'll do a new post later to show you what I bought today (Wednesday)! Please excuse unedited photos. I'm trying to do 101 things here, and unfortunately cropping photos isn't one of them!