the patchwork dress

easter bun(ny)ting

Last Easter weekend I made some easter bun(ny)ting to hang across the dresser.  I'd bought the timber bunnies earlier, and just wanted something to hang them from.  It's the first thing I've made using my sewing machine in ages - and at times I wished I hadn't started - it was rather a lazy bunting, and I wasn't sure whether to give the bunnies little yellow ribbon bowties or not? What do you think?

I also bought some new seat cushions from H+M home - they had some nice stuff for Easter/Spring.The cushions are intended for outside, but Charlie immediately tried them out and gave them the paws up.

 

manifesting - the wonder of collage

You may remember this post a few months back where I stuck a little collage of magazine images on the wall.

Notice any similarities with the chairs in the top picture?  

Now this is the wonder of collage... I'd visited a furniture recycling project with a friend back in May. As we pulled up, there were 5 little chairs all standing outside in the sun on the tarmac, as if waiting for us.  I made enquiries and secured all 5 for £25, with the aim of stripping and painting them.

This was not an easy (or pleasant!) task - in fact I've only managed 2 so far.  I decided to avoid the 'Nitromorse' route, and used an eco paint stripping gel, which N had successfully used to completely strip a bike frame, so I thought if it works on metal it should be ok with wood.  Which it was - but it's a relentless task stripping paint and varnish!

Eventually, I gave up on the little brown chair having got so far.. I decided I quite liked it half done and maybe would not repaint it.  So brought it indoors to the room where the collage was, and then suddenly I really noticed the chairs in the top picture and realised that's what I now had!

I also loved the simplicity of the drawer storage in this cutting - and last week, crazed by the stacks of stuff in my workroom, invested in 3 Stuva cabinets from Ikea.  

They are actually designed to be children's wardrobes, but I love the fact that you can get a tall unit that can still take stuff on top like a sideboard.

(Still a work in progress!). I like the simplicity of the design.  According to Ikea they are made from recycled materials so a bit of an eco choice too. I chose to shelve mine, with a couple of basket attachments to hold loose items - plus they are much cheaper than 'adult' furniture!

Again I am amazed at the power of collaging to help with manifestation - sometimes you don't quite know how it will turn out - the trick is to let the images that really call to you to be the ones you rip out.  Once they are put together it's almost like the subconcious is showing you a pattern or a story of creative possibilities.

Somewhere I read that November is a better time to make plans for next year than the New Year in January.  I suppose this is the time we plant bulbs etc that we want to see come up next Spring.  Save up some magazines now for a dark night in by the fire, and let your heart and fingers do the walking.

If you don't have space for a collage you can spread them out on a table or floor and take a digital photograph - either print it out smaller or make it your desktop.

An afterthought ** - planting seeds is always more productive at and just after a new moon, so they are growing with the moon.  You may like to try this with your collages - the next new moon is next week Weds 26th October followed by another on Friday 25th November (by my workroom calendar!).

before and after

Eek, those of a sensitive disposition, look away!  This was our bedroom when we moved into the cottage...

Yet, I knew it had potential, and even with a cosmetic lick of paint and a new carpet installed yesterday it has been transformed to this...

An oasis of calm.  Perhaps not the best photos, but I was so excited this morning, I actually want to spend time in this room - it just never felt like ours before and I'm so glad to get rid of that old carpet.

I have some Ikea ticking type fabric with a red stripe to make a new curtain.

On a blog front, I met up with Deborah of eastcambusmoon yesterday at the village hall for a coffee. She had left a comment here about a month ago, and I recognised the name of the farm and that we are neighbours. Of course it turns out we know some mutual people - but much of this connectivity has come through blogging.  Jane originally contacted me through Ginny, and Deborah found me through Jane.  I was able to recommend to her the Wee Green Market in Killearn next weekend - where you will find Suzanne, Lynne, Rebecca (that's one of her handpainted lanterns on the window cill above) and Isobel all with their craft stalls.  A wonderful community of crafty bloggers.

During the week I had some sell-by-date sunflower seeds, so popped them outside on the bird table and spotted a new visitor.  

Siskins!  A small group had attached themselves to a bunch of greenfinches - they looked so neat and small beside them - similar colouring but more of the handpainted look with little black caps. By the evening there were about 3 males and 2 females feasting on the sunflower seeds. Am enjoying having these new visitors with their different song - until the seed runs out at least!

"and a year gone in a firtree..."

I'm a little late with my advent post today, but phew just made it.  This was due to preparing and holding a mini workshop at home with a couple of friendly colleagues who wanted to spend some time learning to draught by hand - a skill they find difficult to get experience in during working hours.  Like everywhere else, our departments have been reduced, and the time available to hire or spend time with people wanting to learn new skills is almost gone.

But anyway we had (I think) an enjoyable day which included lunch, and the temptation to sit by the fire and just chat was there, but we managed to keep some momentum.

I was quite taken with the idea of finding some solar powered exterior xmas tree lights  this year.. and found this set at Dobbies.  The picture was taken excitedly around 4pm just as it turned dusk.  It looked so pretty... for about 10minutes... then they went out... and came on again... and then went out.

I knew it would probably end up a bit of a gamble like this, as light levels are so low at this time, but thought it worth the challenge, and a bit of fun to see what would happen - and as amusing as a crap neon sign or a burgling santa.  Just the expense of buying... then free Christmas tree lights fuelled by the sun... or not?!

It is exactly a year today since we moved to the cottage, and yesterday was also my 200th post here at the Patchwork Dress.  So double anniversaries.  And to celebrate, here is our fir tree bedecked in its temperamental lights.  How fitting.  Thank you, Firtree for having us!

a new sign

When we moved in to the cottage, there were a few times delivery people couldn't find us, mainly because the sign on an old piece of wood was badly faded.

I'd been waiting until good weather to repaint something - and decided to do it straight onto the stonework of the cottage, no fuss working out where to hang a sign.

I thought I'd share the steps, just incase anyone felt the urge to do the same!

First of all I drew the image to the size I wanted in Illustrator and chose a font. You could also do this in Word or any programme, as it fits on a sheet of A4 paper and can be cut down. I then cut it out, drew round it on the wall and masked off the outside with masking tape. Then filled it in with Weatherseal paint - a grey mixed from black and cream.

Then I reused the template, rubbing on the back of the letters with white pencil. Repositioned on the wall, I just went round the outline with a hard lead pencil so that the white pencil would transfer onto the wall - knew those primary school techniques would come in handy one day!

Then, with cream weatherseal paint and a thin artists paintbrush just fill in the lines... You could use this technique for a sign, just some words or a quotation - or even a smaller version with your name. I quite fancy painting the birdtable with something next! My lines may not be the neatest, and the photos are also a bit blurry! But a friend did remark on the new sign, and I instantly earned a commission to do his!

garden

my blog seems to have turned into a gardening blog all of a sudden - it's the place I've been spending all my spare time lately - am so tired after work, even 5 minutes out there makes you feel as if you've done something, and I find being outside so therapeutic, even though I am a novice gardener.

These are the sunflowers that Melissa sent me last year in this post..

the tomato plants I bought a month or so ago from the Red Cross Plant sale in the village, are now up to my shoulders! The first flowers are coming out, and I have been getting tips about growing tomatoes from a chap at work. I was just commenting to N last week about how quickly they are shooting up - and that I'd been advised to pinch out any new growth between the stem and leaf - when he told me he'd kindly been pinching off the flowers to help. The tomato growing has consequently been left to me, and I also gained some courgette plants from a friend.

today I have been out madly tidying in the garden, and replanting an old trough - moving the plants I wasn't so keen on, to turn it into a herb garden. In there are parsley, basil, some coriander and one or two lettuce... The parsley marker was bought at Potfest on the last foray. I really like the typewriter typeface on it!

Speaking of forays I have had a couple of good finds at work. During the week I savalged 3 old wooden pallets from a skip, as since N had seen an article about this designer in Dwell magazine - he'd wanted to make one of these...

I am so delighted with my recycled sun lounger. (By the way, if you like this kind of thing, check out Scrapile as well.) Had been needing some garden furniture to add to the 'bench' and had been planning an expensive trip to Ikea - so the next day he made a table to match!

which also doubles as a footrest and another sitting bench. Total cost £0 - from 3 pallets.

I hate having to work on Saturdays, as it means a 6 day week and I miss my morning of R4 and pottering in the house. It knocks the system, which I don't think recovers without a break - so thank God I am having a week off later this week. However, being at work did have some payoff as I was given this Cath Kidston fabric by a colleague - with another piece in beautiful roses.

All I need is some time to do something with it!

Bon appetit!

room with a view

Yesterday the doorbell rang and a delivery man asked me to sign for a box. We were expecting a delivery of one of these, but after I signed for it, realised that it said "M&S flowers" on the box. (Snapdragon Jane, look away now!)

...far more exciting than the logmaker (or is it?...), it was a delightful surprise delivery from my friend Jill as a gift for our new home. I'd not really done anything about spring bulbs when we moved in, as with so many other things to do, it seemed like a bit of an indulgence. But I do LOVE them. So this was a very nice surprise, and a promise that Spring will arrive. Although it would probably look good by the front door, I put it in the garden just outside my sewing room window so that I can enjoy it everyday.

Speaking of which...

..still a work in progress, but I was keen to post about it now, as it will never be 'perfect' - the chances of me catching it on a tidy day with sunlight and all the pictures on the wall may be a few months off yet! So here it is Stage 1!

BEFORE... (as it was when we moved in)...

...hm, in need of some t-l-c I thought...

and for several weeks it was like this...

...war torn dumping zone...

So I much prefer it like this!

...there's the ol' sewing machine... cutting mat... ready for action.

Total cost of revamp £13.99 for the stripey Ikea rug.

We pulled up the carpet to discover the blue floorboards, which I may repaint, but quite like and will do for now.

The cream blinds had a scalloped edge and braiding that I didn't like, so cut it off and hey presto, got 2 new plain blinds! Luckily the 'weighted edge' was above the scallop, but you could always trim and rehem an old blind, as usually they are much longer than the window anyway.

The pine chest at the end of the room is holding all my secondhand fabrics. It was originally in another room and most of the drawers were stuck. With the aid of a can of Pledge and a rubber mallet (!) - oh the Boxing Day fun we had - we got the drawers out and N planed them down. If he'd taken any more off he said, they would have become trays.

The Hornsea pots on top were charity shop rescues which now hold & keeps tidy - threads, strings and things. (That's the Creative Café coffee pot there too, where we put our written intentions inbetween meetings. We then pull them out at the next meet, usually having forgotten what we put, and are surprised to discover that one if not several have come true. Mine was moving house!)

The Ikea clear fronted chest under the sewing machine was a giveaway from my friend Suzanne. Now I have a bit of a confession... I saw in a magazine a "gift wrapping table" - it looked like a huge tupperware table with legs like a wallpaper pasting table - and I exclaimed WHAT! are you MAD? - a table to store giftwrap and all your ribbons etc on extending legs. Madness I cried. Then thought, what a good idea, I'm fed up with rolls of wrapping paper stuffed behind wardrobes and squished ribbons - so they all fitted in the bottom drawer! neat and tidy. If I read this elsewhere I'd think 'anal', but actually the satisfaction of having it 'out of the way' does exceed this.

There is still the unseen end of the room which is housing some piles of magazines and some storage boxes, but it generally all is much neater and more organised and feels more efficient. Magazines come in the door, go to the cutting table, recycle bins underneath, scraps into the logmaker, cards out the other end!

Watch this space!