Newtown Textile Museum - Part II . . . sit down with a coffee

 

As you will see, I did take lots of photos.  Here is the "pattern" for making braiding, which I've never seen in a museum before.

"Tommy rot" is an expression I grew up hearing, yet the etimological meaning of it is "nonsense" of "foolish talk", which is how it was used in my time. 

The Great Wheel.  These are still fairly easily seen and turn up at Antique Fairs on occasion too.

There was this shop interior, and also another one for a cobbler/shoemaker.

There was a small exhibition about John Owens, Newtown's first photographer, and indeed there is a museum in the town dedicated to him.

I hope you have enjoyed looking around the Museum with me.  I hope to visit again when they have a demonstration happening.  I follow a textile specialist (spinner, dyer, weaver) called Lea, and her daughter Elfie, on Instagram.  This is one of the places they give demonstrations.  There is also a lady (Rachel) who is a weaver in residence.  

LINK to Museum webpage, which is worth visiting.

I have a dental checkup today - half an hour away at Llandovery - then later on I am meeting up with a fellow blogger who is in the area.  Then the Plumber is also due "at the end of the day" . . . busy here.

Newtown Textile Museum - Part 1

 This was truly excellent.  I took my time to wander round and read about how life was here in the past.

Note the sugar nips, bottom left, and the cone of sugar beside it.  I think the blue wrapping behind it is a cone wrapped in sugar paper - even when I was growing up the sugar came in blue bags, not dissimilar to this paper.  From what I recall, shops were allowed to sell sugar on a Sunday as the sugar paper could be used to light the fire . . .  Sounds odd, but I am sure it was the case.

Furnishings were simple and minimal.

Nightware was hand-sewn.

The man himself.

The loom above:   Laura Ashley lived in the area, and had her own clothing company, as of course many of you will remember.  It is good that this loom has come through her to the Museum.

Here is a traditional Welsh loom.  I remember when one came up in a local sale-room, I was very tempted to put in an offer - we had a spare room large enough - but getting it through the door would have been a problem!!

I have had a very busy day.  It started with the car being taken down to the garage to have the back light fixed back in place (after I went too close to the gate when reversing out the other day).  Pam gave me a lift back, bless her.

I spent a good hour or more deep cleaning my bedroom - changing the bed, vacuuming the mattress, making up the bed afresh.  Then I dusted round everywhere - including the dusty lampshades, vacuumed everywhere and had a general tidy up.  Then I vacuumed everywhere else upstairs and dealt with a couple of stains on a carpet.  Then I trimmed the last of the wallpaper we hung on Sunday, so that's sorted now. Tea was a beef casserole in the slow cooker.

I needed to get in the greenhouse and pot on 5 well grown cucumber plants and 3 more tomatoes, so I did that (gosh, it was hot in there).  Watered round everywhere too.  Then  I was lucky enough to get a lift to the garage with my next door neighbour, and came back and finished mixing the cake I had in two bowls (dry and wet ingredients) waiting for me to be free to put it in the oven.  It's a Spiced Apple Cake, and I'm taking it to other Pam's tomorrow when I go to see them before my quilting group.

So, I will be glad to sit and rest a bit tonight.  The Dunelm order (mostly stuff for Tam) has finally been delivered, so I have some new double bedding to go in the wash tomorrow.  

The lighter blue ties in well with the blue on the wall in Tam's bedroom (she chose this set).

'scuse gardening shoes at the bottom!

Now, time to catch up with some tv and actually relax for the first time today.

Last week's visit to Plas Dinam

 

The wildflower meadow was a bit disappointing, as it was mostly Common Spotted Orchid. Thousands of them, but not much else by way of variety at this time of the year.

What a beautiful home this once was - now a wedding venue.  The stableyard is covered over and tables and chairs out there for wedding receptions.  That's where we had tea and cake later.

What fabulous views from the garden.  One of my good friends lives high up amongst those hills, and of course has amazing views.

The back of the house.

A fabulous white Peony with huge flowers.

I didn't really rest much yesterday as Gabs and I doing probate work and wallpapering.  Today I checked the auction lots again and decided not to bother as only a couple of items I was interested in and they wouldn't necessarily go at the price I wanted to pay.

I stretched my legs having a wander round Brecon, into the charity shops, and stopping at WH Smith where I found a magazine, The English Cottage Garden handbook which just had to come home with me and will be kept forever. A little treat for me for having gotten up around 5 a.m. on Saturday.  I also popped into the bookshop to see the proprietor Paul (we always went and bought books there when we had a day out in Brecon) and I got upset telling him about Keith.  He was very kind, bless him.  I found a travel guide to New Zealand though, and D Parry-Jones' 1952 book "Welsh Country Characters" which also came home with me.  Parry-Jones died aged 90 in 1981, and had gathered much history and information from his father who died aged 85 in 1951 and quite probably his grandfathers before that.  I was delighted to find it was a signed copy too, which makes it more intimate.  Interestingly his description of the old type of stocky, tall, broad faced, square chinned people in Wales in the Iron Age (don't ask me how he could date them so precisely) sounded remarkably like Tam's partner Jon (whose antecedents in Ceredigion go back to the year dot).  

"But then, along this western seaboard there dwell the remnants of a race, 'a deposit left by some ancient movement . . . of the early days of metal in the third or second millennium before Christ' - a people of very stalwart build, strong, large frame, a broad head, a wide face, square chin, strong jaws and dark hair.  They are supposed to have been the men who came to these parts in search of lead, tin and gold, but what is of interest in this connexion is that where you find them you find also the great megalithic monuments - the long stones (Meini hirion), the cromlech, the dolmen, the cist and the stone circles.  Buried underneath these gigantic memorials we find the bones of these people.  And though it cannot be said with certainty that this "stalwart", "broad headed" race built threse monuments, nevertheless these facts are significant.  I am particularly interested in them, for my mother hailed from those parts and bor all the physical characteristics of the type. "

The pair cost me £5.

Anyway, got back and needed a Time Team nap again...

Fresh, more interesting post tomorrow, about the Textile Mill in Newtown.

This wonderful Welsh quilt was part of the museum exhibits.  Love that Pineapple Log Cabin centre.