Monday, 17 February 2014

Psychedelic patchwork and other nesting nonsense

I've checked in the diary and it is as I suspected, I haven't been away for the weekend at all this year yet. Yes, I've been out and about, and I've had visitors to stay, but the luxury of being in my own home, and not having to travel in the utterly dismal weather has been fantastic. I did seven years of travelling up and down the motorways very, very regularly and I now feel almost phobic about driving long distances.

So, what have I spent all this home time doing? Well, we've made progress on that bedroom! It's only been a year. It's not entirely finished, but we have varnished floors, freshly painted gloss work, undercoated wardrobes, and new curtains. Ta dah!
1940s barkcloth showing Spanish scenes, Senors and Senoritas! I had to have it. I lined the curtains with some recycled bright pink heavy duty cotton, which cuts out all the light. The only problem is, I don't seem to want to get up in the mornings.
























I've also turned my hand to patchwork for the first time in over 30 years. I did it old school, you know, squares of paper, tacked in then sewn by hand. You probably think I'm mad, but I did it watching the box and found it rather addictive.



























There's a couple of jumpsuits in there, one entirely handmade, the other altered, a dress which was handmade and one which I never finished. I haven't decided what to do with it yet.

Talking of patchwork, here's the next thing on the sewing pile. A pair of the most fantastic 1970s psychedelic trousers which need a little bit of reining in. There's too much fabric in the legs, which I keep tripping over in a most indelicate fashion. If I keep them like that, my obituary could read 'Death by voluminous loons' and there's just no call for that kind of trouser tragedy, is there?



































I had a rather lovely week off work during which I finally started putting some pictures up on the walls. This little black and white photo with the boy and the donkey has found its resting place above our bed.

Pocahontas is in the spare bedroom. That frame needs painting, but the picture is just so romantic, with the moon reflecting on the water. I wanted hair like that when I was a kid. Whenever my mum cut our hair, I would try to stick it back on with sellotape. It never ended well.






























They say we all turn into our mothers in the end. Well, this weekend I hacked my own hair off. The cycle is complete.

Sunday, 9 February 2014

January, February, I don't understand

Well hello there!

I've been away a while, during which time a massive organisation has skilfully relieved me of my domain name. Sort of like a cyber Artful Dodger. Of course I could always buy it back, there is an auction. Highest bidder wins. But that way possible bankruptcy lies, so instead I formulated a cunning plan, sort of like a cyber Baldrick, which involves a slight change of name for the blog. It is now a co.uk, instead of a com. That suits me just fine.

So, what have I been up to? I had a birthday, which prompted some lovely parcels of joy from Curtise...

A gorgeous folksy apron, orange gloves and a little treen deer letter rack. All just perfect. I have a twin for that deer rack, so now I can have them in more than one room.

...and Vix

I had been admiring Vix's Madeira handbag for ages, so she sent me the baby twin, a wonderful hand embroidered Madeira apron, a notebood from India and a hat that makes me smile every time I put it on. It matches my vintage Astraka fake fur jacket exactly!

Talking of which, at Christmas, my sister and I had a get together involving an impromptu photo shoot when she came in wearing said jacket and hat. What do you think? Hot stuff, isn't she? She looks like she's just walked out of the pages of a 1960s magazine.
Into the new year, I've been really enjoying nesting, cooking, and doing a bit of sewing. Here's a shift dress I made from a tablecloth Vix gave me when we met up in November. It has been a bit of a wardrobe staple ever since.



























Somebody else who has been enjoying nesting has been my friend Serena. Here she is gracing the pages of Ideal Home magazine! If you want to see her wonderful little house, here is the tour I did a while ago.