A Tidy Workroom & a Trip to Bath....

I have found the last week to be a little tedious. Although I am quite used to spending a lot of time at home due to my work being based here, I've been suffering from the fluey/cold that has been about and so I didn't really feel up to doing very much....

I decided to make use of my time by sorting out all of my vintage fabrics - believe me, they needed it!! I keep them in this large glazed armoire in my workroom, which means that they are on view all of the time.

Years ago, I would buy old damaged eiderdowns that had seen better days, but whose fabrics were still pretty. I would carefully unpick all of the quilted stitching and then empty the cover of feathers. (If you have ever tried this, you will know the mess involved!) The piles of fabrics above are mostly all old eiderdown cottons, which I have now trimmed of all their ragged edges, removed the remaining feathers and pressed each piece with lavender water. My whole house ended up looking like a feather factory! I was covered in fine feathers too, which didn't help with my sneezing...If I had gone out into the garden, I'm sure my hens would have thought I was one of them!

It has taken most of the week to iron every single panel of fabric that I own, but I am hopeful that this will make it easier to work with.

I even tackled my little French vitrine, with its red, white and blue French tickings and ginghams.

I recently bought the little bear, called Sasha, from Mia at manOmine. Her hand stitching is impeccable and I think he looks very cute guarding my fabrics!

As you can see, my workroom needs more work, but today I was feeling a lot better so decided to leave the chaos to get out into the big wide world for few hours....

A German style Christmas Market is still on for a couple more days, so I decided to visit the centre of Bath. It was a beautifully mild day and the Abbey looked even more impressive than usual against the blue sky with the large Fir tree standing in front.

And surrounding it are lots of little wooden chalets selling all manner of festive treats.

I loved this one selling Christmas wreathes and plants, with the Hyacinth bulbs planted into it's roof.

There is such a lovely atmosphere for shoppers, with mulled wine on offer, roasted chestnuts and cheerful music....

Bath is a very bohemian city and so is extremely popular with tourists from all around the world, who come to visit the historical buildings too.

Here an Irish man was playing the fiddle, singing folk songs and walking a tight-rope at the same time!

Can you spot the silver painted man pretending to be a metal statue, as an old fashioned carousel glides around outside the Pump Rooms?

I certainly feel better for my little foray, even though I didn't bump into Nicholas Cage as Michele managed to do(!), I did come home with these little treasures:

A Victorian religious card and some adorable miniature hand-knitted jumpers from the Christmas market. Each one was presented on a tiny beaded wire coat hanger; I am thinking of using them on some of my handmade dolls in the new year, when I have time to start sewing again. (In the meantime, I think I will hang them on our Christmas tree.)

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend,

Love Niki x