POP UP!

Whew! Last week was a bit of a nightmare. I thought I was going to get the keys to the Pop-UP on Monday and could start leisurely loading in my wares every evening, since the Village only allows this during “non-working” hours. But after some delays, I didn’t actually get the keys until mid-afternoon on THURSDAY! This basically left Thursday evening and Friday morning to move everything in, set up the shop and be ready to open on Saturday morning. The Friday evening drinks party was scrapped!

My talented friend, Stiles came over to help me zhoosh things up after I’d done the initial unloading and display. And boy did he work miracles! Luckily for me, there was a wall of shelves in the shop, along with several movable counters and I brought in some six-foot tables.

Stiles had the brilliant idea of moving the fixtures to either side of the door and then running two of the tables length-wide down the center. We displayed the silver and china on the shelving and the silverware on the tables. I hung two of the quilts on the wall and plan to change them out every week.

Luckily, the shop is filled with light, so it all looks crisp and cool.

I was actually surprised at what I sold on the first two days – all of my huge pitchers, bowls, tureens, and platters! Luckily, I have enough to replenish and worked on Labour Day to add more pieces.

Thanks to everyone who came to see me and buy some goodies!

PS – A few people asked for directions. Cross Keys is a gated mixed-use development with offices, shops and housing. It’s a but confusing, and not well marked once you enter the property. So here’s a handy little map for you to use. You can enter through the gate-house or the bus & truck entrance and park on either the north or south side of the shops. There’s a beautiful court-yard that you have to walk through to find me.

I will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through September!

Quilts, Again…

If you’re following me on Instagram, you have seen that I am have been seriously collecting Amish and American patchwork quilts in preparation for the upcoming Pigtown Anglo-American Pop-Up Shop.

One of my theories of retailing is that I would never sell anything that I don’t love, would not have in my house or would not collect. When I began thinking about these quilts, I realized that I have been collecting them for several decades!In fact, over the weekend, I opened a container only to find my first quilt purchase.

But it’s not just me who has a renewed interest in quilts. This recent piece in Fashionista outlines the resurgance in using quilts in fashion.  And in the recent article on my friend’s house on Nantucket in Architectural Digest, there were quilts everywhere. In the “Design Notes” there was a mention of the quilts, with a reference to Calvin Klein. It was noted as “price upon request” which generally means that if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.

From the Calvin Klein website, comes this:

CALVIN KLEIN is pleased to present a series of vintage quilts, hand-selected from across the country, exclusively for the brand’s Madison Avenue flagship. Emblematic of both American heritage and a homespun, handcrafted ethos of days gone by, these one-of-a-kind pieces range in origin, dating from the 19th to early 20th centuries. Some arrestingly graphic, others intricately wrought, these heirloom objects are entrenched in America’s visual vocabulary, and synonymous in many ways with Chief Creative Officer Raf Simons’ vision for CALVIN KLEIN. At Simons’ debut for Fall 2017, vintage quilts lined oversized, utilitarian parkas, or became panel detailing on classic Wall Street topcoats; most recently they were seen on the Spring 2018 CALVIN KLEIN 205W39NYC runway, tucked under models’ arms.

Click the image above to see all of the quilts in the collection. No prices!

But Klein is not the only one who is using patchwork quilts in their designs. Rosetta Getty had these designs, using the Log Cabin pattern, in her spring 2018 collection.

I would murder for this jacket, from the collection of Emily Bode,

this is from Libertine,

and these are from Mimi Prober, all from their Fall 2018 collections

Quilts in fashion is such a trend that the New York Times has even written about it, in a piece amusingly titled, “This Old Thing?” For quilts that aren’t in museum condition, you can always re-purpose them like these pieces from Kelsey Parkerhouse’s Carleen.

So, I am letting you know that quilting is having a moment, and I am here to help!

#Instagram: Whirlwind Few Months!

It’s been a whirlwind few months, with work events, a trip back to England and all of the other things I try to fit into my weeks! I will have a fun announcement in a few days, so stay tuned for that, both here and on my Instagram.

Sadly, a lot of magnolia trees were badly damaged over the winter. Luckily, this one wasn’t!

My friend did the flowers for this spring wedding. Just stunning.

Friends with benefits! In this case, a huge hedge of lilacs, and permission to snip away!

We took a quick trip up to historic Odessa, Delaware, a completely charming village.

It’s always fun to spot your childhood home on someone else’s Instagram feed!

I was invited to a beautiful dinner at the Walters Art Museum.

Before it got too hot to eat outside!

There’s nothing quite as refreshing as a gin & tonic on a steamy afternoon.

Our hearts were completely broken by the newsroom murders in Annapolis.

This might be a hint.

This might be a hint, too.

Check back soon for a big announcement! I hope that you’ll be as excited about it as I am!

First Trip to Pittsburgh… Loved It!

A few months ago, I was asked to present at a conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I was delighted to accept for several reasons. Primarily, it was an honour to be selected at this conference which attracts physicians from all over the world, and secondly, I’d never been to Pittsburgh. One of my closest friends is from there, so she offered to join me for the several day trip, and show me her town. It’s about a four-hour drive from Baltimore, and we knew we’d need a car, so we drove out there on Sunday afternoon.

The meeting was held at the University of Pittsburgh, so that was our first stop. One of the first buildings I spotted was the massive (40 story) Cathedral of Learning, which is still used as classroom space and has a massive half-acre, four story Gothic study hall. Of course, we made plans to visit.

We parked next to the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, just around the corner from the Cathedral. Buildings like these never fail to leave me in complete awe of those who built them! The detail and craftsmanship is incredible, and you just don’t find this anymore.

As we walked to dinner, I had a chance to look at some of the city’s more contemporary buildings, like the PPG Glass Palace, Gateway Health and others.

We took a spin across the river after dinner to look at the city from the heights on the other side. You can see where the three rivers come together in the first picture, and we stayed right by the brightly-lit building.

After my presentation the next morning, we headed over to the Cathedral of Learning and their International Rooms, a series of rooms donated by various nations and completely outfitted in national architecture and design. Each room was designed to reflect the nation before 1800 which is when the University of Pittsburgh was founded, and all are strictly non-political.

It’s magical! Although all of the Tudor-style doors are marked with the name of the room, you’re given a master key to all of the rooms, and when you open the doors, you are delighted by what’s behind them! The ceilings, doors, windows, fireplaces, and other details all reflect the room’s home country. Let’s take a look.

Ceilings, which range from almost plain to incredibly elaborate!

Doors, which all were about three inches thick, and Tudor-style on the outside.

Windows in so many various styles!

Other details

These images will give you an idea of the scale of the building!

Look where the finger is pointing to see the scale of a man against a massive door!

After we left Pittsburgh, we took a road which ran vaguely parallel to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I had heard about the Flight 93 Memorial and was curious to see it. I really had no idea of the terrain where the plane went down on 9/11, and thought it would be nice to pay my respects. It was absolutely gut-wrenching.

The crash site is at the top of a “mountain” which had been strip-mined, and so is pretty desolate. You can see for miles from the top, and the wind is constantly blowing. The memorial itself is very stark, with 20-foot high concrete walls, impressed with tree-bark and it’s more than two miles off the road.

A local stone path follows the progression of both the day and the plane, with incriptions when each plane hit, and leading visitors to the overlook where the crash site is located.

At the end, an inscribed glass panel tells of the difference a day made: A common field one day. A field of honor forever. 

Inside the visitors center, media from the morning of 9/11 played, with clips from the late Peter Jennings and from Katie Couric. There were also the voicemails from people on the plane to their loved ones, but, in all honesty, I couldn’t bear to listen to them.

One of the artifacts that really made an impact on me was the mangled and twisted cutlery from the plane, which had hit the ground at more than 500 miles per hour.

Although it was a quick trip, I really liked Pittsburth a lot and hope to go back before too long!