Speed painting and Feeling Old

We had our son Danny here for the night on Tuesday.  I fed him, and then he and Keith set to and moved out the oak Arts and Crafts sideboard in the sitting room, and then we all set to and somehow managed to get down the very heavy Victorian mirror which sits over it (imagine 6 feet long by 3 1/2 ft high, with a carved oak frame and a King's head in the centre - sadly it lost its original tendrils of wooden foliage before we bought it at auction many years ago for just £28.  A corner of the mirror had broken off but we had hoped that this was down the back of the mirror and could be glued back in place and a swag of something artfully draped over the break.  Unfortunately, it wasn't and we had to shell out £90 for a replacement mirror.  Anyway, with me on the screwdriver - not an easy job as some of the weight of it (it probably weighs a hundredweight) was on the screws which made trying to remove them a difficult task.  When all this was done, and the wall clear, then I had to set to with my paintbrush and paint the first coat on, then shoot upstairs for a bath whilst it was drying, then back down again and paint the skirting board white, and then a 2nd coat of Copper Blush on the wall.  If you have ever done speed painting, then you will know how tiring it is. I was so shattered that I was falling asleep watching the film Danny had chosen, and couldn't read a word before my head hit the pillow and I was sound asleep.

Then yesterday morning it had to all be reinstated, the drawers and cupboard contents put back in - though I had a cull of Granny C's glassware and washed it all and have put much of it in storage in the attic cupboards.  Ready for when we "move".  Yeah, like that is going to happen any time soon . . .

But if I thought the heavy lifting was over, when I came back from dropping Danny back at home in town, we realized there was another heavy lifting job - the 3 metre length of B&Q worktop which needed to be manhandled onto Keith's Workmate for cutting to length (and shape) and then taken up to the house.  Well, that was a blardy struggle, I can tell you!  I've just looked up the weight and they are 52 Kg - basically, a hundredweight.  It felt like that too!  A 2 man lift is a lot easier for two men than it is for an ageing bloke and his feeble wife!!  Anyway, we managed, and though it took three attempts to get it cut exactly to fit (a little bit had to go into the corner abutting the draining board) we eventually did it, after traipsing backwards and forwards with it 3 times . . .  It looks lovely - faux marble but it really looks like the real thing and is a great improvement on the worktop that was there before. 

The Panny has a loaf in it as we were down to the last couple of slices of bread.  Loading it up was my first job this morning - before I even had a cup of tea.  The stoneware Dundee marmalade pots for the utensils are one of my little foibles, a nod to Tess of the D'Urbervilles who used one just like the oldest one on the left, as a vase with some flowers in on the grave of her dead son, Sorrow . . .

Right, this won't do.  After going to a patchwork class yesterday afternoon, this morning I am off to my friend Dawn's to have my first proper lesson in lace making.  Yippee!!

Builth Antique Fair & Fleamarket - photo heavy

Saturday saw us up at Builth Wells for the twice yearly Antiques Fair & Fleamarket.  Sunday's forecast was for rain, so Saturday it was.  There were some nice things which took our eye, and here is a selection.  Above and below: I loved the patterns on these.  Probably French.

An attractive fan-back stool . . .



There was a lovely display on this stall.  I like interesting things.

What a beautiful Log Cabin quilt.  Many many hours of sewing and a lovely stall generally.

Keith loved this Gothic chair.

Stall belonging to a friend of ours who always has choice pieces of furniture, some of it quite early and desirable.

On his stall, this lovely little primitive Irish child's chair.

And another, not Irish (think it was Welsh actually.)

I was smitten by this Arts and Crafts jardinière, but not tempted to part with my cash . . .

On the same stall, a nice piece of Studio pottery with a Bumble Bee.

Above and below: a glass stall with a fabulous array of glass.  The items below were all Alum Bay glass.  LOOK at that gorgeous table lamp.  I didn't dare look at the price, but I remember it from last time so it won't be cheap . . .

A lovely old ark, like the one Keith is making for me (will he ever finish it, one asks . . .)

Above and below: two rocking horses, the top one "pony skin" (probably goat) and the bottom one, ahem, reupholstered!!!

A selection of lovely Welsh wool blankets and quilts on offer in one of the sheds.

A lovely hand-quilted Welsh quilt.

Finally - Game of Thrones anyone?!!!

What I bought at the Quilt Fair . . .

I didn't go mad, though I did spend a little extra than I had planned, mainly because I saw some lovely American quilt magazines and couldn't resist them.  I like magazines and treat them almost as paperback books.  They stay with me for years - I still have some - much-loved - American X-stitch magazines I bought when the children were tiny and money was very, VERY tight (they were a holiday treat) and I treasure them still.  (Just X-Stitch they are, in case you are wondering.  American X-stitch designs are just so superior to the British ones to my mind.)

Apologies for the flash.

There are some stunning quilts in these magazines and all the patterns are there too.

These cost just £2 each.  Dawn found the Bobbin Lace making one 2nd hand on one stall, and there was another stall with weather-damaged (by the look of things) books.  I  very good and just bought one.  Lots of ideas in there.

Found the missing photo.  Browns and reds.  

Below:   I sat down and rested yesterday afternoon, and watched Burghley Horse Trials on tv and I did a couple of rows of this, my patchwork bag.  Another row yesterday evening.  Paper pieced and hand sewn of course.  The white cotton in the piles above is for the embroidered pocket on this bag.

Today is a catching up day - shopping, banking etc in town.  I need to make an appointment at the Chiropractor's as my right leg has been painful for a while.  At first I thought it was the steroids (which have given me aching calf muscles before) but I think my hip's out of kilter again, as at Malvern last week my knee was hurting (classic sign) and also my little toes have been curling up of their own volition and I can't put my right heel to the ground when sitting down.  The joys of growing older!

Danny is here tomorrow night to help us shift the sideboard and hefty mirror over, and then I will have to do the Painting Night Shift and get two coats of the Copper Blush on in pretty quick order so that we can move the furniture back again next morning.  Oh, and a coat of white along the skirting board too, then that room is finished.  Yippee!!

More quilt photos

Above and below: you can see why this beautiful quilt got a prize.  Superb craftsmanship.

Above: all of the stalls had wonderful backdrops of quilts, runners, lap throws.  So much hard work had gone in to setting everything out to be as tempting as possible.  Check out the feather quilted border on that quilt on the left.  That must have been a prize winner at another show.

Christmas Puddings Log-Cabin style!

Above and below: a beautiful Cathedral window quilt, with close-up.

A lovely old Log Cabin quilt, pre-restoration, where the red had come from turkey red dyes, so probably fragile.  Not sure where these came from but perhaps the American Museum at Bath, which has a fabulous array of early American quilts.

Above and below, another superb prize winning quilt.  Just LOOK at that quilting . . .

I loved the simplicity of this piece, and just using three colours.

Above: a lovely moon-gazing hare done in the Indian Kantha running stitch.  I'd love to have a go at something similar (in my SPARE time, you understand. . .!)

Beautiful gold ammonites.

A lovely take on the Green Man.

Above: I have to say this was one of my favourite pieces - for the standing stones, and for the colours chosen and for those wonderful spirals.

It's a shame that the flash didn't go off as the colours don't show up as they did in real life.  A lot of work went into this, with extra embroidery to complement the patchwork.

Finally - a little bit of fun with these little badges (or you could make them with key rings).  I thought I would have a go.  LOVE that little winking yellow cat!!!

Photos from the West Country Quilt & Textiles Show in Bristol (1)

Yesterday I had a great day out with sewing friends Dawn, Sian and Sue at the West Country Quilt & Textiles Show in Bristol.  I took LOTS of photos, but these have loaded SO slowly that you just have a few to go on with this morning.  This first (slightly out of focus) photo is of a fabulous applique quilt from Cairo.  The work is done mostly by men, but apparently women are becoming involved now.  Looking at the photo, below left I see what I didn't notice at the time (being overwhelmed by the colourful hanging above) - from my Pictish studies days, these sort of key patterns turned up in Romilly Allen's ECMS (the Early Christian Monuments of Scotland) and my well-thumbed copies show examples from Scotland and indeed Wales too.  I am now kicking myself that I didn't take a photograph of this particular panel.  Who knew that there were connections with Egypt in this design?

Below, a lovely Arab horse executed in applique with Egyptian script on his body.

A Christmassy corner of one stand.

You can see why this superb quilt was a double winner.  All hand-quilted, as you can see below.  Trapunto work too.  Stunning is a much-abused word, but here it is totally apt.

Above: a bright and colourful quilt.

I am now hooked on these beakheads!  They come from Romanesque architecture and I had a lovely chat with the lady whose stall this was.  Sadly, there are none in Welsh architecture, and none at Kilpeck, where I would expect them to be, so I shall have to try and find some when we are in England on holiday again.

Above and below - another stunning wholecloth quilt which had been superbly quilted.  Sorry the close-up is a bit fuzzy.

Finally for today, bright an cheerful, with wildlife.  I love the Log Cabin Pineapple block at the top.