Hung out my first load of washing this year. Sunshine - yaaaay!
Also learned a new trick - if you fasten the poppers on the duvet cover before you wash it, then socks and other small items don't become lodged inside it. Amazing given how long I have been doing laundry, that there are still improvements to be made. I wonder what else I haven't cottoned on to?
My goodness, 1 1/2 minutes unbundling washing x 4 duvets x 50 weeks a year x 10 years until they start leaving home - You've just given me 50 extra hours!
Posted by: Amanda | 09 February 2011 at 15:15
Isn't it refreshing? The learning something new all the time, that is, not the first laundry hang-out of the year. Because I cannot even wrap my head around the latter, living in a place where winter goes on a whole lot longer...
Posted by: Lynn | 09 February 2011 at 15:23
Oh the first drying day of the year, such heaven.
Posted by: Rebecca | 09 February 2011 at 15:40
Hmmm, as I read my comment back I am thinking my life may be lacking excitement....
Posted by: Rebecca | 09 February 2011 at 15:41
Yes! I had my first load out on Monday too. Good tip about the poppers, unfortunatley my Ikea duvet covers don't have poppers. A brilliant storage tip I've just started using is to keep the duvet cover along with a sheet and anything else you might use on your bed inside the pillowcase. It has revolutionised my linen cupboard I tell you!
Posted by: Sue | 09 February 2011 at 15:47
Now why didn't I think of that!
All the years, the time wasted searching for odd socks only to find them hidden at the bottom of a duvet months later.
Enjoy the smell of freshly dried washing - I've been hanging ours out for the past fortnight with all this windy weather we've been having.
Nina xxx
Posted by: nina - tabiboo | 09 February 2011 at 15:52
Well I thought about hanging out the washing the other day and then it stared raining (and blowing a gale too). Oh well, maybe next weekend!
And it's not just odd socks that end up inside my duvet covers, its the whole load, why?!
Posted by: Sarah | 09 February 2011 at 16:10
Well done you to take full advantage of the wind and the sun! I wasn't that clever! LOL
One laundry tip I read last year is that if you peg trousers from the back and t-shirts bottoms side up and one layer thick only they dry in 1/2 the time. The theory is that the wind billows them open and the the air is getting to both sides of the fabric....try it :o)
Posted by: Sew Create It - Jane | 09 February 2011 at 16:54
wow. our laundry would freeze today. jealous!
Posted by: kirsten | 09 February 2011 at 16:54
Good idea about the poppers - but then I'd have to undo them before putting it back on the bed! My problem is more that the giant duvet we have has covers that take forever to dry - roll on summer!
Posted by: dottycookie | 09 February 2011 at 17:18
Jealous! No way it's warm enough (or dry enough) to be hanging out washing here yet, and I do love it so.
And I just learned that duvet trick recently too - clearly 2011 is the year of discovery!
Posted by: domestikate | 09 February 2011 at 17:38
My husband has an ingenious way of putting the duvet back in the duvet cover in one easy step.
But how come whenever I try to be clever and do it that way I end up stuck inside the duvet cover? x
Posted by: PinkCat | 09 February 2011 at 17:42
What a good idea! It's the pillow cases that always get lost for me --
Posted by: Readersguide | 09 February 2011 at 18:01
Bah. It is still freezing here. The duvet covers would be like cardboard.
There's a complicated way of hanging a duvet cover so the wind blows inside it, and dries it quicker. I am sure this is incredibly useful if you live anywhere slightly warmer than the North of England.
Posted by: The Coffee Lady | 09 February 2011 at 18:11
What a clever idea! I'm so glad you had it! Lucy x
Posted by: lucylocket | 09 February 2011 at 19:20
Oooh lovely - the first lot of sundried laundry of the year always smells so nice. I wasn't organised to make the most of the sunny weather yesterday and today it seems to have disappeared again so am still drying mine on the radiator - roll on more sunshine!
Posted by: Julie | 09 February 2011 at 19:35
What you need now is a teenage daughter who decides to do your ironing as a surprise.
What do you reckon? I can recommend it as a pick-me-up.
Posted by: Alice C | 09 February 2011 at 20:20
But no beautiful blackbird pegs? Are they still in winter hibernation?
Posted by: Amaranthine | 09 February 2011 at 23:03
*Sigh*. It'll be at least 2 months before I'll be able to do this!
Posted by: lina | 10 February 2011 at 00:02
The smell of line dried washing is so satisfyingly homely. Roll on proper spring drying days.
Lisa x
Posted by: Lisa | 10 February 2011 at 06:34
Oh I remember your first drying day post last year - it's like a lovely landmark. It's given me a real boost to see it!
Top tip on the poppers. I hadn't thought of it either.
I like CL's idea - we could harness the wind energy using clean linen!
Posted by: Emma | 10 February 2011 at 09:03
Sadly no sign of sunshine here. I always wash bedding on it's own - sheet, duvet cover and pillowcase so nothing gets hidden inside. But where do all the missing socks go??
Posted by: French Knots | 10 February 2011 at 09:38
That looks like the "inside" of my house.
8 below freezing here this morning, no outside laundry unless I'm freeze drying it. :)
Posted by: Gina | 11 February 2011 at 00:10
what if the quilt has no popper?
Posted by: Monica | 11 February 2011 at 10:37
Great pic of your washing line, lovely angle
Posted by: Catherine | 11 February 2011 at 16:58
Oh lovely - I'm ashamed to say I've wasted a couple of gorgeous drying days recently.
As for the duvet tip, I recently observed my best friend and her partner doing up all the buttons on their duvets prior to washing - she has him very well trained as he did it automatically when she passed him the duvet cover. I need to train Mr Moog better. Since then I've berated myself every time I've washed my duvet covers, as I spend ages fishing around inside them for pillowcases!
xx
Posted by: Lesley | 12 February 2011 at 18:49
Goodness. Where do you live, lucky woman, that you can hang laundry in what is the dead of winter here in Ottawa? I have a solid three months to go yet. Sigh.(Today's temperature? -28C. Sigh, again...) But it is lovely and sunny!
Posted by: Ilona | 15 February 2011 at 15:08