Feathered Friend and Another Week Flown By - More photos added 8.3.09

I realise I have inadvertently been rather quiet on the blogging front. This last 3 or 4 weeks has flown by in a frenzy. Days off have been gobbled up with things to be done and no time to do them in, and here we are at the end of yet another week.

The list of things to be done today was endless, so I decided a little displacement activity was called for. I needed to reach some boxes at the back of my shed, which I'm desperately trying to call my studio, and whilst I haven't yet reached them I have cleared some of the route. For several months there has been a pile of exhausted eiderdowns waiting to be parted from their feather innards and today was the day. If I wanted to reach the boxes I needed to shift the eiderdowns, so a quick change of plan, and instead of ticking things off the 'to do' list let's disgorge the feathers today. Why not! Today is as good as any other day and I felt in the right frame of mind to tackle the task.

So, with appropriate (ie NOT black) clothing I opened up the end of an old duvet cover, ripped open the end of each eiderdown in turn, and poured, shook and flapped the first eiderdown contents into the duvet cover. Fine. Not too many feathers escaped. I repeated the actions with numbers 2 and 3 and although there were a fair few feathers fluttering on the lawn - rather like the results of a cat/bird battle - things were going well. Until we got to number 4. Just as I began to shake the eiderdown contents into the duvet cover I heard Mum open the gate into her back garden, looked up to say hello and ... feathers everywhere! I hadn't put the end of the eiderdown far enough into the cover and half the contents ended up on the lawn. Why I tried to gather them up I have no idea, but I ended up looking as if I'd been tarred and feathered. By the time I'd finished I decided the boxes could stay at the back of the shed until my next day off!!!

Meanwhile, in the house, Pauley was sorting boxes of DMC cones as I've had several orders for them over the last week or so. The next task was to tie up a few more fabric bundles. The Country Living mention had meant almost all the previous batch had been sold and stocks had dwindled to unacceptable levels. Here are the makings of new bundles.

Earlier in the day some of last week's auction buys were laundered and hung out on the line. They've now been ironed and are ready to go to Dairy House tomorrow.

This week has been another buying week (what a surprise!), with some gorgeous painted muslin and satin doilies purchased at auction. Aren't these Kate Greenaway children fabulous! Do click on the photos to see the exquisite painting.

There are 10 with paintings of fruits and flowers which are a little worn. I won't try to overload Blogger and show you those now, but I may add them to a slide slow later - photos now added (8 March). I'd forgotten about the 3 Louis Wain style cat paintings, so I've added those as well.

These two doilies were are beautifully painted, too.

Finally I went to the Bath Decorative Fair last evening after a day at Dairy House. The new WEADA (West of England Antique Dealers Association) booklet was being distributed at the trade evening, so I went along to collect our boxful and chat to the dealers who were exhibiting. The Bath Decorative Fair is a prestigious annual event and this year it was opened by Paul Martin, of Flog It fame. Normally prices are too high for me to contemplate buying anything, but last evening I made 3 interesting purchases which didn't break the bank, and I also made a charming new contact. There were plenty of other fabulous items, but most of them had four-figure price tickets. Here are the photos I was unable to upload when I wrote this post on Friday. The cupboard has a gorgeous roses 'sticky-back plastic' on the shelves. I love it and would like to keep it but sadly Pauley doesn't go a bundle on shabby chic!!! Also I do have to remember that I bought it as stock to sell!! I love the footstool too, and I've been looking for a hat block for ages and couldn't believe my luck to find one in a basket of treen all priced sensibly!

Hopefully I'm now back in blogging mode and I'll show you some more photos soon.