polly's return, pincushions, fake birds and what-not-to-do

I got seven and a half hours sewing in yesterday- finally! Which meant that I managed to concentrate on one thing and get a batch of Polly pinafores done. I've been carting the embroidered bodice panels around from fabric wholesaler to warehouse and I finally matched one run up with a lovely dark brown gingham. Ah bliss! And the blue and yellow embroidery ones are finished as well.

I'm also putting some new things in the shop today (if I get off the computer in time!). New little 'cushions' made from embroidered doilies and Swedish raw linen and stuffed with huon pine shavings. You can use them as a pincushion or pop them in your linen closet to keep the livestock from eating your dowery linens (which I am sure you all spent your teenage years hand sewing whilst waiting for Mr Darcy to turn up). And the box of fake birds have arrived! Now I'm going to have to spend the whole weekend working out how to display them in a way in which Jethro can't steal them!

{I've been dwelling on the dreadful 'how-to-get-look' hints in I/O and really need to say that I had NOTHING to do with them. They are not anything I would even utter. Don't wash your fabrics before making up, especially if you don't know what you are dealing with, if something smells musty hang it outside in bright sunlight, if you've got a tea-towel cushion, for instance, wash it inside out so the print has less chance of rubbing off. That whole pyramid display comment- forget it- I don't plan how things go up, they mainly get chucked on any handy horizontal surface and pictures get hung higgily-piggily as they come into my life. If you want to use pressed tin you will have to cut it yourself, use a stanley knife to score it then bend it until it snaps along the score (bit of a scary job and works better with some designs than others). My instructions for decorating? Make it up as you go along, it's your home, you have to live in it, copying a look from a magazine or a book is never really going to work, it will only ever look forced and fake. Wonder if I could write a how-to book that said that..... hahahaha. OK I feel better now.}

Ok I'm off to display some birds.... glass jars perhaps......