One Year On ... Giveaway Time Again ...

On April Fool's Day I shall have been the proprietor of Dairy House Antiques for a whole year. Just recently I've read many blog comments about the speed with which the last few weeks have flown by, but nothing exceeds the speed of the last 365 days. The whole experience has been a huge learning curve, quite exhausting at times, a wee bit stressful occasionally, but most of all it's been exciting and the best opportunity of a lifetime I've ever taken.

We've had an amazing year, with consistently buoyant sales figures, which we've obviously been thrilled about. It doesn't do to become complacent though, and each month we've wondered whether that was going to be the last good month but, thankfully, all is still well ...

Just over a year ago I asked all you lovely bloggers to wish me luck and maybe follow my exploits. You've been so supportive, and many bloggers and blog readers have visited Dairy House in the last 12 months to see what all the fuss was about. It's been great to be able to chat about it and show you a few pictures of Dairy House stock - both mine and that of our dealers.

As a thank you, I thought a giveaway would be in order, and what better - I hope you'll agree - than one of the beautiful Scheurer fabrics that I mentioned in my last post. Those of you who follow Niki's blog will have doubtless seen the photos of the fabrics she bought yesterday. They should whet your appetite! I don't yet know which fabric sample the winner will receive, but whichever one I choose I can guarantee that it will date somewhere between 1875 and 1936 and will be a textile collector's dream. (Update: If you need a further Scheurer fix you can view another slideshow here)

All I ask is that you tax your brains a little and come up with a phrase or sentence using as many letters as possible from DAIRY HOUSE ANTIQUES, SEMLEY. See! Nothing too complicated!

I'll choose the winner on Wednesday evening, 1 April, after I've spent a few jolly hours at the Talent 4 Textiles Fair at Ilminster. After all, a girl can never have too many textiles!

Have fun!

Sue

What I Did in March ...

It's been a busy month! Most of it is too uninteresting to mention, but I'll fill you in on a few activities. I can at least offer you plenty of photos (sorry, no I can't ... see later comments), slide shows and a link to Flickr piccies. Obviously all this is in addition to my usual Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at Dairy House!

Before visiting the Bath Decorative Fair, where you may remember I bought the lovely shabby glass-fronted cupboard, the hat block and a footstool, I viewed a couple of auctions and bought more lace, Christening and everyday baby gowns and some lace bobbins. The gowns have been soaked and boiled and are now waiting to be ironed. I had hoped to do that last week, but ran out of time. Sorry, no photos other than the lace (see later).

The highlight of the month was another trip to see Donna. If you check out her website from time to time you may have seen the Scheurer fabrics she had for sale. These fabrics really need a post of their own and I shall probably do one later in the year, but suffice to say at the moment, that I have bought from Donna all the remaining Scheurer fabrics. If you've never heard of them, here is a slideshow giving you a peek of just a little of what I came home with.

We filled 7 or 8 huge plastic check laundry bags with rolls and rolls of fabric samples dating from the 1870s to 1930s. The Scheurer company was a famous European textile printer from Mulhouse in Alsace, France, and their fabric samples went to auction in 2004. They have all now been documented and recorded, and after being passed into Donna's care for a few years they have now passed to me. They are a textile collector's dream and how I shall ever manage to part with them I don't know. I plan to keep some, but the majority will have to be sold as I'm afraid I don't have those limitless funds which would allow me to keep everything I buy. This purchase is an investment which will, hopefully, "see me well".

I was hoping to add more photos, but every time I try I lose my internet connection and get an error report message. Great! And this post was going to be full to bursting with piccies! Do enlarge this one if you can to get a good look at the birds.

Whilst I've looked through the bags at least once and now transferred all the fabrics to gorgeous red and white spotty, strawberry or ditsy floral bags (purchased from here), each time I take out a batch of fabric I find a pattern I hadn't noticed before. The colours are amazing, and considering that some of them are 130 years old, the fact that the colours are as bright as the day they were created is astounding. Some of pieces - all approximately 31" x 19" - have been so stunning that seeing them for the first time made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.


So, moving on ... once Pauley and I got back from visiting Donna I'm afraid I collapsed into bed for 36 hours with a cold and a really thick head. Needless to say once I felt better Pauley ended up with man flu which he's continued to suffer from ever since! I have to admit, though, that he really does sound poorly today!

Last Tuesday I gave a talk! Don't laugh! I was asked by a local women's group to give a talk on caring for linens. It was only to be 30 minutes so I thought I ought to manage it OK. If I could keep groups of YTS trainees entertained in college 5 days a week in the 1980s I felt I could probably rise to the challenge of keeping a group of 20 or so ladies interested for half-an-hour. Thankfully the talk went well - I took plenty of before and after examples, a basket of products (Napisan, rust remover, Oxyclean, washing powder, iron-on interfacing/Vilene), items made (or suggestions as to what could be made) from damaged tablecloths etc, monograms cut from otherwise threadbare pillowcases and so on. Apparently it was very interesting - and quite amusing - and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I don't know that I'd want to do too many, but I've already been asked to do another one elsewhere next year.

On Friday I had another birthday - that came round far too quickly, but probably not as fast as the next one! The birthday in 2010 will add a nought and give me a free bus pass. What a scary thought. I mentioned to someone the other day that rather than enjoy the benefits of the free bus pass I think I'd like to buy a tricycle. One of those that you used to see old ladies pedalling on the road. It would, of course, have a nice loud bell, and I'd quite like it to have a trailer so that I could pedal around the countryside with a trailer of linens and textiles. I'd be wearing purple, of course, and a red had, and would carry a stick so that I could run it along the railings as I tricycled past!!! But back to this year's birthday. I was up at crack of dawn in order to meet up with one of the Dairy House dealers at Shepton Mallet. Now I no longer stand at the 3-day Antiques Fair myself I go in early with John, help him unload and then shop. This is where I bought the fabulous quilt, eiderdown and screen that I mentioned in my last post. It wasn't until I was photographing them yesterday that I realised that the colours of the eiderdown and the quilt matched perfectly and they should really stay together. I bought them from different stallholders and certainly didn't realise at the time. The screen is covered in a lovely vintage toile and is yet another item I'd like to keep! However, everything mentioned is for sale, and most of what you'll see in the slideshows or on Flickr are, too. If you see anything you 'need' do feel free to email!!

Here's a Flickr slideshow. I've not tried this before, so it'll be interesting to see how it turns out. I've added quite a lot of photos to Flickr and there's a link in my sidebar.



If you stayed with the slideshow you may have seen the eiderdown fabrics which were the result of my 'feathered friend' post earlier this month.

I bought a few other things at Shepton before rushing home just after 2 o'clock. The plan was that Pauley, Mum and I were to go to Hannah's for tea at 4.30pm as a joint celebration: belated birthday for Pauley, my birthday and Mother's Day. So we arrived at the appointed hour and sat outside waiting ... for ¾ hour after which I phoned Han who was still at work and waiting for us to meet her there! We were supposed to be having afternoon tea at Babington House at the end of Han's shift! Woops! Anyway, we arrived at 6 o'clock(!!!!) for our tea and cake - brought in to the Lounge by the Food & Beverage Manager singing Happy Birthday. It was yummy, and so was our joint birthday present: tickets to see Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre in May.

The weekend passed in a haze of DH customers, Semley Auction (a couple of Lots purchased, but nothing particularly exciting or worth writing about!) and sunshine! My grand plan for my day off today, and what I thought was to be the last of the sunny weather, was to spend a few hours in the garden following on from Pauley's sterling work last week. Fat chance! I was just answering some emails and contemplating getting showered and dressed, fill the washing machine and escape outside, when I got a call from Dairy House saying that Paul Martin (of Flog It fame) and a film crew wanted to 'pop in' in an hour's time. Considering my journey to DH takes 40-45 minutes and I had to get dressed first, I did well to follow the sound man the last few hundred yards down the A350, leap in the door and be there to greet Mr Martin! They wandered round, did a bit of filming, chatted a bit and left. I then drove home again, by which time it was blowing a gale and raining. So much for my day off. At least it's meant I could sit here this afternoon writing this post.

I still can't upload photos to Blogger without the whole thing crashing, so my apologies ... you'll just have to look at the slideshows and the one photo which I managed to upload.

The next couple of weeks are going to be as hectic as ever. I'm planning on visiting the Textile Fair in Ilminster on 1 April and on 4 April I'm standing at the Gloucestershire (I think) Quilters' Guild Trade Day. I'd give you details, but I can't remember them, other than the fact that I think it's at Chipping Sodbury.

On 18 April I'll be at Bridport Rag Market. More about that in due course.

So, enjoy the rest of March. Let's hope we have some more fine weather soon, especially on 31 March which will be our 32nd wedding anniversary. I might just manage another day off!!!!

So Many ...

... photos to take ... so little time!

So many gorgeous purchases to show you ...

Fabrics from the 1870s to 1930s ... a stunning eiderdown ... a beautiful handstitched quilt ... a mountain of lace ... lace-making bobbins ... an early toile screen ... and ... and ...

I'll do my best to get photographing while I'm at Dairy House today ...

Meanwhile, hope you're all enjoying this glorious weather and spending time in your gardens!

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.

Printer Cartridges ...

Just a quick post to enquire whether anyone uses these printer cartridges:

Canon BCI-24 Black and Canon BCI-24 Color

I have 7 Colour and 3 Black unopened boxes. I've no idea how old they are as we've had our new printer for about 18 months now. I'm guessing that some of the cartridges may be up to 3 years old. I don't know if they have a shelf life or not - I can't see anything on the box.

If anyone can use them please email. They are yours for the price of postage.

This is the start of blitzing the office!!

Country Living - Fame at last ...

You may remember this post in December when I mentioned that there was a Country Living photoshoot going almost on the Dairy House doorstep. I thought it was for the April issue but apparently we are in the fashion spread in the March issue, out now. Typically, my subscription expired last month and I haven't renewed it, so I shall have to wait until the magazine is in the shops before I get to see what was written about us.

Lois emailed me last evening to tell me we had a mention, and apparently someone phoned DH today asking to order some of my fabric bundles. I hope to be speaking to her tomorrow.

Exciting!

Snow and Shopping for Stock

We've had some snow folks! There have been some wonderful photos in blogland so not to be outdone, here are mine. Apart from the bird table I took them on may way to Dairy House on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday was totally different - you'll notice the icicles on the petrol pump - with far more snow and a complete whiteout looking across the fields. Absolutely nothing to see - no trees, hedges, horizon - nothing! I'd have liked to stop and take another photo, but there didn't seem to be much point! The difference in snow levels between Somerset and Dorset has been quite marked. The Dorset end of the A303 has been much worse, so when I leave home I have no idea what to expect on my 32-mile journey! Let's hope there's an improvement tomorrow.

Needless to say we haven't had too many visitors to Dairy House over the last few days, but we've still managed a few sales! It's meant I've had an opportunity to tidy and sort a bit more. The lengths of braid are now wrapped round card and priced - I hadn't realised how much of my stock was unpriced!! More fabric has been folded and if it's quiet at the weekend I shall endeavour to finish filling those lovely drawers!


I've acquired some super bits and pieces over the last few weeks - a bumper box of lace from the Antiques Fair at Shepton, several auction lots of lace, loads of buttons and a few exciting items from private sellers. Most things you see here will be for sale. I hope to get much of it priced today. I'd love to say it will be on my website, but at the moment I just don't have time to spend updating it (as those of you kind enough to look from time to time will have realised).


Anyway, here's just a small selection so you can see what fun I'm having today sorting through everything. Lovely lace pieces - perhaps I should keep the discus thrower for the Olympics! And what about the Crinoline ladies and other embroidered nets! Sleeves with fabulous flouces, pretty buttons, an abundance of buckles. And what about my "One up one down" little house? Isn't it wonderful? I think I shall be able to find the time to give it a spring clean and give it a lived-in feel. The sewing machine was brought in to DH by someone the other day. I've wanted a miniature one like this for many years so maybe "Everything comes to he who waits" isn't too far off the mark! As for the fabric-covered boxes - yummy! And the 2 Victorian dress adornments are a treat. Only a few more months before we'll all be writing about bluebell woods like the one on the tin!

Enjoy!

An Award, A Birthday ... and New Drawers!

Those of you who follow Donna's blog and website may recognise part of the title of this post. Read on to see why I've poached part of it! ...

First of all I have been given an award by Amanda ...

... because "The authors say that blogs who receive this award are exceedingly charming. This blog invests in proximity in space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be new friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandisement. Our hope is that when ribbons of these awards are cut, even more friendships will be propagated. Please give your kind attention to these writers."

Thank you so much Amanda, not only for thinking me worthy of the award but also for the lovely words you wrote about my blog in your award-giving post! I'm delighted to receive it. I should be passing it on now to other bloggers, but if you saw the number of blogs in my list of favourites (not those on my sidebar, but all the others I dip into when time allows) you would see what a difficult task I would have to choose the required number. I guess there are in excess of 200 now! I think I must say that if I have left a comment on your blog in recent weeks you can be fairly certain that I visit you regularly and that you are an inspiration. Consequently, please feel free to accept the award and pass it on as you think fit. I know this isn't exactly the way in which such awards are intended to be offered, but I hope I will be forgiven.

***

So ... moving on ... Mum celebrated a birthday on 20 January (I had better not mention the number, but think bingo and two fat ladies!) and on Friday I took her to Bath where we met Hannah at the Moon & Sixpence for lunch ...

prior to enjoying Hannah's birthday gift to Gran ... seats at the Theatre Royal to see the Moscow Ballet perform Sleeping Beauty. We were in the second row with only the orchestra between us and the stage (no-one in the seats directly in front of us). The performance was magical and Mum had a wonderful time. When we lived in Northampton Hannah danced from the age of 3 until we moved to Bath when she was 14. Every year Mum would take her to see whichever Ballet Company was performing at the Theatre, so this was 'payback' time!! A jolly time was had by all ... in fact, if you were walking round Queen Square in Bath about 5.15 pm on Friday and saw 3 women spanning 3 generations in varying degrees of uncontrollable hysterical laughter (you know the sort ... doubled up, stitch-evoking, unable to walk in a straight line and thus blocking the pavement), then I apologise! It was funny at the time, but there's absolutely no point in telling you why we were laughing because it's never funny to anyone else, is it!!

***

And so, finally, to the "New Drawers" ... If you read Donna's post a couple of weeks ago you'll know that she bought new drawers and that her old ones were going to a good home ...

Here they are just prior to being carried out of Donna's home on Tuesday ...

And here they are just after they arrived at their new home yesterday (they lived in Liz's van in the interim) ...

One photo taken with flash, one without. I'm never sure which is better inside Dairy House. The flash seems to make everything seem so flat but without it the photos tend to be rather yellow. What do you think?

I had to do a complete rearrange of my space to fit them in. It was a marathon task and all achieved on what turned out to be our busiest day. We had people queueing up to pay for their chosen items yesterday. Liz and I really felt we'd done a day's work by the time we locked up. First of all shelves were shifted, the French cot full of eiderdowns and quilts was moved,

the 2 banks of 25 drawers which house my haberdashery, buttons, lace, small pieces of fabric, sequins, beads, threads etc were 'shoved' (literally) 2 feet along from their original position in order to squash in the shelves I'd moved.

We had to saw a bit off the uprights of the shelves at skirting board level as the gap was half an inch too short!!!! Plenty of hilarity there as I'm sure you can imagine!! Some things just won't budge or bend - wooden shelves being one of them!

Thankfully I was there today to finish tidying up. My space is the area which customers walk straight into when they come in the door, so first impressions and all that ... it was important that it was all shipshape and Bristol fashion by the time we closed up this afternoon (at 5.15 instead of 4 pm).

And here are the drawers (as many times as Blogger will let me upload photos) as I left them tonight. I printed off the temporary labels so that DH customers know where to look until I decide on how I want to label them long-term.

I am filling them with linens - tablecloths, traycloths, napkins, sheets, pillowcases, doilies, place mats, runners - and so on, in the hope that people will open the drawers to find what they're looking for without leaving the screwed up pile of badly refolded items which is the norm! (If you are one of my linen customers I KNOW it wasn't you!!!!)

So! Have the drawers gone to a good home? Oh yes indeedy, they most certainly have. They'll be stroked and nurtured and filled and emptied and refilled, labelled and polished and in 2 days have already been coveted by 3 customers!! And they're mine ... all mine! And that's the way they're going to stay!! A girl just can't have too many drawers ... and I now have 76!!!

Magic Moments ...

I've been waiting to take photos before posting, but somehow the camera and I haven't been in the same place at the same time. I've managed to scan a photo, but I fear this post will be more words than pictures!


I finally managed to take what I'm calling my week's holiday, which basically means that I didn't go to Dairy House yesterday or today. I'll be back there on Saturday though, wondering where the week's gone!


On Monday I spent most of the day under the spare bed! It was time to re-acquaint myself with what was lurking there. I vaguely knew, but it was a treat to go through the wooden box in which I keep various mementos - hence the title of this post.


First I found this poem, written by my Mum in 1958, just before my 8th birthday. It follows the first time I was going to stay overnight with my grandparents. It's self-explanatory ...


Susan's Lament

I really was so sorry
To feel I could not stay
It would have been a worry
Until the break of day.
I felt I would not sleep you know
It was so very trying
Of course, at home I slept and slept
And woke on Sunday crying!
I would have had a lovely time
And in my mind I knew it
But now alas it is too late
How annoying! Blow it!


It really was too bad of me
After all the work you'd done
But when I hopped into that bed
It seemed not quite such fun!
I truly was so full of fear
I wish I had been bolder
Oh! please forgive me Grandma Dear
I'll come when I am older!


I did not feed the lambs so wee
Nor watch Monty fetch the sheep
The reason why? Oh, silly me
I thought I would not sleep!
Up to the farm I'd planned to go
Grandpa said he'd take me
Come wind or rain, or hail or snow,
I'd no qualms for my safety.
I missed it all for, as you know,
I thought I would not sleep!


I found my autograph book, signed by many in 1961 when I left Barry Road Junior School and 1966 when I left Northampton School for Girls. Amid all the 'good luck for the future' messages were a few gems ...

"When up to the neck in hot water ... Be like a kettle and sing!"

"Lost! Somewhere between sunrise and sunset - sixty golden minutes, each set with sixty diamond seconds. No reward is offered, for they are lost and cannot be regained!"

"Make new friends, but keep the old - One is silver, the other gold!"

"True friends are like diamonds - rich and rare, False friends are like autumn leaves - found anywhere!"

"The pattern is before you, like a sheet of driven snow, Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show!"

"Happiness is a virtue that one cannot shed over another without a few drops falling on oneself!"

My 50th birthday cards came next, and a few little drawings from Hannah's best friend Emma. Those gave me an opportunity to relive some magic moments when Han and Em were growing up, and to remember the super party I had with family and friends in the very farmhouse I dare not sleep in when I was 7!!


Next came a photo of Pauley and me, probably in 1977. We were guests of my aunt and uncle at the Chamber of Trade Dinner & Dance (do they still hold such things?). Those were the days ... you'll note that neither of us has changed a bit!!!





This might be the time to mention I also came across a notebook dated July 1980 where I noted absolutely everything I ate for a month, during which time I lost a whole stone, and was restored to my, then, regular weight of 9 stone. Gosh, if I weighed 10 stone now I'd be over the moon, not limiting myself to 1000 calories a day. Mind you, it worked then, perhaps it would now. I see that one day I was still hungry after 1025 calories (Cornflakes, milk, sugar, peach, 4 crispbreads, paté, lamb chop, cabbage, mint sauce, peas and a glass of Croft Original sherry, that I had 2 fish fingers, measuring 100 calories after I'd totalled up my day's intake!!! I also see that a couple of weeks later I had left room for 2 sherries!!!! It's interesting to see what I ate then compared with today's meals. No wonder I haven't seen 10 stone for many years.


Also in the box were letters from this lovely lady from whom we bought our last house in Northampton in 1980. Vera Law was amazing. She was 80 years old when we met her, less than 5ft tall, had never married and was still travelling to London to carry out research for the V&A.
If you click on her link you'll see the number of records of her work held at the V&A. We didn't realise all this in the 5 years we knew her, although she told us that (at least) one of her illuminated manuscripts hung in Westminster. Both Hannah and I received many beautiful letters from her. She wrote in a minute copperplate hand and Han framed one tiny letter, no larger than 3cm x 5cm. On this small piece of paper she wrote 4 or 5 paragraphs, one of them asking Han if she had yet met the fairies who lived at the bottom of the garden. Vera came back to visit us many times to see the work we had done to the house where she, her brother and sister were born. She had moved away and her sister was in a nursing home. The house had become available for sale following the death of her Oxford Don brother.


Can you believe, I still have my GCE timetable AND all the examination papers. Taking a quick glance at them I'm not surprised I wasn't a particularly 'high achiever'. I obviously preferred to bide my time and wait until I was 'more mature'!!! (Some might question that comment of course!) What is even more amusing is the fact that I have a few pages taken from my Fractions exercise book, dated 30 January 1960, where the best teacher ever, Mr Brian Cooper, made the comment "Quite Good - you have no need to fear Fractionitis Susie Q". Judging by the rest of his comments I had problems remembering that a fraction is numerator divided by denominator. Forty-nine years later I sometimes wonder if I have yet grasped the concept!!!


Finally, after a few other important letters and notes, at the bottom of the box are 2 special cards - one is a birth congratulations and the other was for Hannah's Christening. We obviously received others, but these are the only ones in this particular box.


So, after those 'magic moments' I took Mum out on Tuesday - another birthday has crept up on her almost without us noticing - and then spent the whole of Wednesday fighting my way through towards the back of my studio. I managed to get down one side, found a mountain of linen and textiles which should have gone to that great textile mountain in the sky a long time ago (all the 'stuff' that you end up with when there's just one item in an auction lot that you are desperate for), and came across a box containing among other things, a pair of double linen sheets - I've been telling customers I only have singles for months!! I can't say there's more space in the studio as yet, but with luck I'll be able to get out there again soon to work my way down the other side. Not during this week's holiday though, as tomorrow I go to collect new specs and (totally unnecessarily) endeavour to add to the stock mountain by going to an auction!


If you managed to stay, despite the lack of photos, I hope you enjoyed those few magic moments. I'll try to do better next time, and flood you with piccies.

Happy New Year ...

A Very Happy New Year to you all. Thank you for visiting Vintage to Victorian throughout 2008 and I look forward to your company in 2009

Tagged - Top Ten Rules for Life ... and a PS

Thanks, Ruth, for tagging me. What a difficult task this is turning out to be. I'm sure I'll remember the most important one after I've listed 10 others!

So, in no particular order, here they are:

1. Take the opportunity of a lifetime in the lifetime of the opportunity (Dad's maxim, which I'm sure I've mentioned endless times before)
2. Look after no 1 (oh, if only I could) and take time out to think/plan/switch off
3. Never play to win (then with luck you will)!
4. Never mention the 'D'(iet) word
5. Think positive/be optimistic/enjoy life. Don't be negative/pessimistic/miserable
6. Never start a 5-minute job if you only have 5 minutes to spare (you know they always take at least half a day to complete!)
7. Rise above it (whatever 'it' may be)
8. Don't waste time worrying about what might happen (there'll be time enough to worry when it does)
9. Always keep an eye on the cars ahead, not just the one you're following
10. Remember it costs nothing to say 'please' and 'thank you'

Not as difficult as I thought. Nothing profound but maybe some food for thought.

This is my somewhat tongue-in-cheek analysis of them: no 1 worked; no 2 would be nice; no 3 - Mum always won games when I was a child by this method (still don't know how she managed it); diet? what diet?; I'm generally optimistic and like to think the best of people (until they let themselves down); I work best under pressure so no 6 is for you rather than me; I've risen above so many undercurrents I'll soon be walking on water; no 8 is true and it really is such a waste of time worrying, especially when you find 'it' doesn't happen and all the worrying was unnecessary; no 9 is just sensible; no 10 would make the world a much nicer place!


I wonder if these might do as my New Year's Resolutions. They should be easier to keep than the sort I normally make!

Update: I knew I'd think of another one!

1. Resort to resources!

If it doesn't make sense, then I'll explain! Remember Bob-a-Job? Does it still happen? Well, one Bob-a-Job week in the late 1950s/early 60s a young Cub Scout knocked on our door. Mum gave him the job of cleaning our garage doors (wooden ones with panes of glass at the top). I think it was just a case of sweeping the dust off them rather than a full 'wash and brush up' (and payment was a 'bob' , slang for a shilling or, in today's market a mere 5p). Anyway, he was only a small chap, and when Mum went out to see how he was getting on he said that because he was too short to reach the top of the doors he had 'resorted to resources' and found something in the garage to stand on so that he could do the job properly. We've never forgotten this and from time to time when Mum or I have struggled to do something, one or other of us has said 'we'll just have to resort to resources' . So, the moral of the story is ... use whatever is available to you to get the job done; make the most of what life has given you; you can still do a good job, even if you haven't got what you think is the necessary tool for the purpose.

I realise I should have tagged others. I know you are all longing to do this one, so rather than name individuals I shall leave this open to anyone who'd like to give it a try. Just leave me a message so I can pop over and see what your rules for life are!

Christmas is over ... time to tidy and plan for 2009

Dairy House was only closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so I've already been 'back at work' for 2 days! I've rearranged a few things in my area of DH, and have draped this gorgeous patchwork over a hatstand. I can't imagine how long this would have taken to do as it is all handstitched and each square measures only three-quarters of an inch. Some of the original backing papers and tacking stitches are still in place. I have no idea when it was constructed, but the fabrics used date from mid-Victorian to Edwardian (and possibly a little later). The earliest are in the centre and the latest are around the edge, so perhaps it was a continuous task handed down from generation to generation. We shall never know.

I've started to tidy up the fabrics in readiness for a fresh, clean start to 2009. This pile is made up of predominantly red fabrics. They'll be switched around again yet, but for the time being they look slightly coordinated!

There are several metres of pink ticking in this pile. There are 3 different patterns here - one with poppies and 2 with roses. The glazed cotton at the bottom of the pile is unused and consists of 4 x 10ft lengths, perfect for curtains.

And finally, 2 small piles of black/pink/cream French toile and cretonne. This is just the start of the sorting and folding, and these piles are the tip of the iceberg!! There are still all the piles I didn't photograph, the bags of fabrics in my shed/studio, and more in the armoire in the spare bedroom.

Then there are the bundles of small colour-coordinated pieces tucked in the recently-acquired drawers, together with a bagful of pieces waiting to be grouped together to be added to those in the drawers.

Once the fabrics are organised I'll move on to the buttons and vintage sewing notions. At the moment they're piled into the drawers in no particular order, but at least they are now available for sale at DH rather than tucked away in boxes in my studio, not seeing the light of day from one Fair to the next. Once they're sorted I'll start on the vintage hankies, ribbons, cottons, threads, braid, traycloths, afternoon tea cloths, crochet-edged linen cloths, large damask cloths, linen/damask/huckaback towels, napkins, pyjama cases, pillowcases, bolster cases and sheets, before moving on to the eiderdowns, quilts and blankets.

In a spare moment I'll work on my New Year's Resolutions and possibly write some Christmas cards as I regret to say they just didn't get done when they should have been.

Update: Instead of writing cards I began to clear my desk last night! Eeeek! There are papers at the bottom of the pile dated August. Woops! But I also found these.

Now, how bizarre is this? Serendipity at work again. The crochet alphabet book surfaced just hours before we received a card from my old boss in Northampton. I left his employment in 1982 when I became a college lecturer. Every year, bar last year, I have sent him a Christmas card and this is the first one I've ever received!!!! Their second child was born when I was working for him, and I crocheted a shawl for the baby. Once she had arrived I incorporated her name (Victoria - no mean feat) and date of birth into the border (although I had to work out how to do it as I didn't have a book or charts then). Those were the days - a part-time 9.30-3.30 5-day week working. In those days I had time for friends and family, crocheting, knitting, sewing and endless other pastimes! I really must organise my time better in 2009. I feel I need to make contact with my old boss, so that will spur me on to write to all the other people in my address book who would normally hear from us at Christmas.