Like Mother Like Daughter

All this wintry days darkness isn't good for happy blog posts. Coming home when all is black and the lights are twinkling away doesn't make for my kind of photos.

Good light today and a whole day of this and that stretching ahead of me meant I could take some pictures and pop into blogworld again.

The weekend was a whirlygig of all sorts of stuff. A christmas bazaar at our village church, swimming, massive clearing and chucking out and cosying up for a spot of hooking and stitching with the Bun's.

I made up some bunting in christmassy colours to add to the other general hangy things we have hereabouts. This morning was the official choosing a spot and hanging it up day.

The gingham ribbon came about for two reasons. First I couldn't be bothered to hook a cream chain and second I thought the contrast would make rather a nice change. Do you know, I'm really rather pleased I was feeling lazy and impatient for results as I love how it's turned out.

Little Bun had a good long stare at it tonight and said she'd definately like another go at learning how to crochet. Being a left-hander she's found it pretty hard up to now. Her top present on her christmas list is a pink sewing machine. Might have that girl converted to my ways. Miss Rosey loves to make too, but is honing her art skills and becoming fabulous at drawing like her dad. I'll have to share some of their pictures with you one day soon.

On Friday I bought a CK making book for the Bun's to help them with their stitching skills. I'd left this book on the shelf before when Miss Rosey found it as I thought "hey I can do that so who needs a darned book".  

After nothing much happening from me in designing and then cutting out felt shapes for them I reckoned buying the book with all the felt and makings along with the patterns, instructions and pretty pictures would make it all a hell of a lot easier for them and my patience. I'm good at being patient teaching strangers, not so good with my own so we need all the support we can get.

There are 12 really sweet felt christmas decorations in the book and as it's designed for kids they were happy to just have me on hand to help as and when. It was lovely actually and was probably the most relaxing making session we've had.  Or maybe it the large snowball my Mr put in front of me while we munched on dolly mixtures and sang to our first outing of 70's christmas party songs.

Little Bun is busy working on a Robin, while Miss Rosey is beavering away on a snowman. I'm sure Little Bun will show and tell on her blog very soon. She wanted to have a go at all this stuff a while back as she's always enjoyed writing stories and making comics. I think she's visited a few of you to say hello and she's been thrilled to have a few visits back (her mummy is pleased for her too).

Final shot just to prove the claim I made to clearing up this weekend. This was part of the dumping ground we have in the back hall. Three hours spent here making it all luvverly again and even christmassed up in early anticipation.

Colours

I have all sorts of fabrics in my stash that I really love, but at the moment I have two absolute favourites. I love the intensity of the colours and the simple bold prints. I've tons of the greeny, pink, yellow fabric which means all sorts of stuff can be made from it, but I've only a wee bit of the blue floral. I fancy making pillowslips from it, patchy cushions and tons more, but unless I can hunt more down I'll have to be sparing with it and use just a dash here and there.

This afternoon was yet another rainy one, so after helping Little bun bake a cake and sow seeds for an indoor fairy garden I finished stitching the bunting I'd cut up a few days ago. I wanted to see my favourite prints every day, so it seemed the perfect thing to change the bunting hanging above the table. We eat here, make stuff here, play games here and just sit around and talk here so it's a fairly busy spot.

For the first time ever I made proper neat and tidy flags. I normally use pinking shears on the edges and quickly sew both sides together. This time I sewed my triangles inside out and then turned them and marvelled at the neat edges. I'm pleased with them, but I still prefer rough and ready bunting.

All the gorgeous colours in my fabric have been inspiring me. Our dining room's been needing a new lick of paint for a while now. I was going to re-paint the walls the same colour as I still like the pale blue, but then I got my new to me fabrics and my head went off in a whole new direction. I want white walls, but this room just looks cold and miserable with pure white (I tried it when we moved in so that's how I know). Then I saw a lovely cream shade of wall on Yvestown and thought bingo. With my new gingham oilcloth and my fabrics I had the colours sorted for the furniture aswell. It'll be a few weeks before I get a chance to start on the walls, but I can still get going on the chairs and whatnot.

I got some paints mixed up on Friday morning as I was itching to start painting the tea-trolley that came home with me on Wednesday. 

I love painting, but I really hate all the boring preparation stuff. Luckily I still had the miracle liquid that does the same as sanding without the effort. It's weird stuff that looks like pink windolene, you just rub it on and then off and that's it - ready to paint.

By the end of the day I'd slapped three coats of blue on. Luckily the trolley looked just as it had in my head when I saw it on a cold morning in a rainy field. For now I'm storing a few of my making and gardening books along with a few other bits and bobs on it while the rest of the room slowly sorts itself out.

This weekend, amongst all the rainyness, I tried out another one of my new paints. A while back I'd seen a lovely sharp limey yellow from Farrow & Ball which I knew was just the yellow for me. I managed to get a fairly similar shade mixed from Dulux.

I'd decided to paint the chairs a mix of pink and yellow, but the pink I chose is far too bubblegummy and I'd pictured flamingo. So instead I've painted one eggy yellow and the other blue and I'm pleased with it all so far. The rest will have to wait a few days to get their own lick of colour as tommorow morning I have mortgage man coming over. In the afternoon my friend, who knows about practical stuff, is coming to fit the exciting shower pump I bought on Saturday. Fingers crossed it works so I can have the hottest deepest bath ever.

I realised this post sounds like Mr Bun has left the house. Well he did for a while on Saturday as he took another group to a football match. After one of his players smashed heads with another one, Mr Bun ended up spending the rest of the day in Stevenage A & E. For the rest, he just doesn't do DIY stuff, he hates it pathalogically so I do it. It seems a fair trade to me though to have a man who loves my taste, makes me laugh and laugh, puts up with me (which must be tough at times), believes in following dreams but can't fix a washer on a tap.

So Stitchy

Two Bun's have been delivered back to school and the house is horribly quiet. I have so much to do here and yet I want to go out and find some noise. It's a strange adjustment getting used to having them around all the time and then making the same adjustment back to being without them. When they return home I'll probably be thinking roll on bedtime for some peace. That's just how fickle a mother I am.

I've started making the bunting needed for the garden this weekend. It's Eldest Bun's birthday party on Saturday. We had to put it back a week and now I'm glad we did as I have had little party inspiration of late. She fancies the gazebo in the garden all bunting festooned. games and nail painting. Hopefully we'll get some of that blue sky, no wind, no rain kind of weather back again. This is a big hopefully as 12 girls will make it a bit of a squash and a squeeze in our cottage.

For now the first lot of bunting has been draped over the kitchen dresser and I like it there.

I also liked the reflections and distortions that came from looking at what is hidden within. The one and only jug cover to be made by me. This was on a 1.25mm hook using fairies breath (or so it seemed as the yarn was so fine). Needless to say it took weeks to make.

As the party girl always has presents to open from her friends we have always given the other Bun a gift or two from us. I think it must be hard watching someone open present after present and get nothing when you're only little. I started making a little pocket sized embroidered dolly for little Bun. It has taken me four evenings to get this far with the hair and I still need to do the back. Such tiny tiny stitches on and on. Relaxing - yes. Speedy - No.



I was quite pleased with the face so far until I took this picture of the original design. I didn't bother photocopying it to make a transfer. I chose to draw it on the linen freehand and now I really wish I hadn't as I much prefer the original face. I've gone off mine, but too late to start all those stitches over again.

I took these photos on my patchy chair cover and took a couple of shots of some of the more unusual fabrics. For centuries fabric has been saved and re-worked into something else. Here it's a mix of children's flannelette bedding and more grown-up curtains.

There are some bits that are fraying again so I'd better get my needle out and start repairs.