What a beautiful way to start the week. These photos were taken at 8am. Stunning.

New Year clean up

Usually, blogs tend to only show carefully staged photos, only perfect scenarios. Well, life isn't always perfect so I now present my daughters' bedrooms:

 The kids have finally gone back to school after 3 weeks off for Xmas. They were ready 20 mins early this morning, eager to see their friends. And now it is left to me to deal with the aftermath - above is youngest daughter's bedroom, which was tidied by me 2 days ago. Messy again.

 Here are two photos of eldest daughter's room - she normally keeps her room relatively tidy but not this time.

So I have a busy day ahead of me - cleaning, tidying and sorting through unwanted toys/books. I soo don't want to start but I will feel so much better when everything is back to normal. xx

Tying up loose ends

 Looking back through the past six months of blog posts, I have realised that I have started/planned to start quite a few projects, but have not completed them or I have finished and not posted about them. The above floor cushions were made using some fairly substantial fabric that I bought from John Lewis remnants section. It is beautiful fabric and was very easy to work with (not that envelope cushion are hard to make). I am pleased that I have some left overs as I need to make some cushions for the grey sofa.

 I also made this cushion from the left over fabric I bought from the charity shop. I love this pattern and I still have some scraps of this material left.

This is the crochet ripple blanket that I started, using the giant balls of aran wool bought from the charity shop. I'm still not loving this blanket (the colour of the wool is more yellow/cream in real life), although my Mother in law really liked it when she first saw it so it may soon be hers.

 We bought this stool from Ikea about a year ago as we needed a small unobtrusive seat for the desk. The desk has since moved location and we now have room for a chair so this is just used as extra seating. The stool was supposed to come with a denim cover, which was missing from the box so I used some left over fabric from a tablecloth I made (Ikea fabric) to make a slipcover. I am really happy with the end result.

 The hall is finished (nearly! Radiator needs to be painted) and here is a photo of the brick pillar which I ended up painting dary grey instead of white. I put one coat of white on and realised it didn't look good in the slightest. We decided Farrow and Ball's Downpipe in eggshell would be the best solution. The slight sheen seems to soften the bricks and make it seem finished, if you see what I mean.

From this shot, the hallway doesn't look much different to the before photos, but it really does look a lot fresher and cleaner in there. Just got to paint that radiator... A very belated Happy New Year. Wishing you all the best of luck and happiness for 2011. Please feel free to leave a comment - Clare, that means you too. xx

So long, Santa

 Well, Christmas came and went in the blink of an eye, as it seems to do every year. We are in that strange time in between Xmas and New Year, where we don't feel like doing much other than snuggling up on the sofa with a cup of tea, good book or film to watch. I have been reading Eat Pray Love (have not seen the film but heard it isn't great, although the book was a good read) and Pride and Prejudice, which is especially enjoyable since I watched the BBC tv series again only recently. We have recorded a few things on Sky Plus but haven't been bothered to see too much, although we watched the new Upstairs Downstairs series which was fantastic - even the kids stopped playing and joined us on the sofa to watch it. My husband got a Kindle for Xmas so he has been reading a lot too. In fact, the only time I have been out of the house has been to do the food shopping (luckily extremely quiet at the supermarket) and to do a bit of sales shopping. 

 I got this 1950s style diary from M&S - a bargain at £2. It is packed full of useful info in the front, including detailed first aid advice, useful telephone numbers and the usual conversion charts. Very handy. I have always automatically bought a calendar for the kitchen but I thought I would try a diary this year - I am hoping it will prevent lots of paperwork from floating around the house. Doubtful!

 I also got some black suede boots which I was very pleased about as I don't often manage to find shoes/boots that fit me well. I have quite narrow feet and I hate uncomfortable shoes so shoe shopping proves quite difficult and I avoid it at all costs. Not entirely sure the kids were too pleased to be with me in the packed shoe shop.

And what I got for Xmas this year was...

... something I have wanted for a long time and which I hope will see a lot of use over the coming year. My first job will be to dig out a coat I started making a very long time ago - I am embarrassed to say how long ago it was, but I need a new winter coat so it must be finished. I have been buying old dressmaking patterns from the 1950s onwards at charity shops so I am sure I will be making a few items from these too. I am really looking forward to making my own clothes over the coming months and I hope I will get to wear them too - this is all dependent on how well they turn out though.

My other big project for 2011 is the garden, something I mentioned in my previous post. I have already got a gardening book from the library for inspiration. I need all the help I can get, but have at least decided on the style of garden that I prefer and that my non green fingers prefer - a woodland garden. It also fits in nicely with what we currently have - a bit of grass surrounded by tall trees and mixed hedgerow. I have no idea how it's going to turn out but I will have a go and learn from my mistakes. First of all, I will need to prepare a tortoise enclosure for my 3 tortoises, which will be right next to the decking so we can keep an eye on them from inside. All we need now is some dry mild weather. Not likely!

Tree!

Merry Christmas

I have been unable to blog for a while, what with snow, illness (youngest daughter again) and lots of last minute stuff that needs doing, that I think I will have plenty of time to do, but ends up being a bit of a rush. However, we have had time to do lots of lovely crafty things, and my wonderful sister was here to join in. We had lots of fun making the above crackers, although I think I must have found the most heavy duty crepe paper on ebay - I don't think anyone will be able to pull these crackers. Also sticky tape did not seem to want to stick to the crepe paper and we kept forgetting to put important stuff in like the snaps or the jokes so had to undo them. Admittedly we were rather more enjoying the making than being efficient! 

 We also made a batch of homemade mince pies (yum - have been eating them for breakfast instead of cereal) and our traditional reindeer cakes - chocolate fairy cakes topped with melted chocolate, glace cherry for a nose and curly wurly antlers. Very popular with young children and they taste delicious too. We have yet to make the yule log - the shop bought chocolate swiss roll is sat waiting, but the kids don't seem too bothered about making it. Never fear, my sister has offered to make it on Christmas morning - I think she is secretly looking forward to it! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

 Here is the Xmas bunting I made with some beautiful 1950's style fabric that I got at the Knitting and Stitching Show. I bought some gingham and pine cone fabric from the local sewing shop to go with it. I'm really pleased with the end result.

Here is my little cute Christmas Tree I got from the local garden centre a couple of weeks ago. It reminds me of the old fashioned trees that Woolworths sold in the 1920s and 1930s. Some toadstools and a length of ricrac were all that were needed to make it look its best.

I hope you all have a very Happy Christmas and New Year. We will be at home with family visiting, spending lots of time snuggling with the little people, playing games, reading books and enjoying a cup of tea/glass of wine by the light of the fire. I will be back in the new year, fully refreshed and ready to blog about more adventures ie. tackling the garden - my main task of 2011, which will be a bit of a challenge as I cannot be described as a gardener in any way/shape/form. Wish me luck. xx

Biscuits for Christmas - M&S can do no wrong

 I have not had much time to blog recently - illness, decorating, Xmas shopping - you get the picture. This is just a quick post though to show you what I bought today as I am so pleased I managed to get the above tin of biscuits from good old M&S, who also were very accommodating in reducing it to half price -  which was exactly what I was waiting for. I got the tin below too as it was only £4 and I thought you can never have too many pretty tins to store homemade biscuits, felt tips and lots of other clutter (we seem to generate quite a bit of clutter in our house, I don't know why).

 The picture below was in a pesky mood and refused to sit the right way up, even though I rotated it on more than one occasion. This tin is a gift. Shame.

Anyway, I will update you on further Christmasy goings on soon. We are putting the tree up tomorrow and eldest daughter and I will be decorating the wreath for the front door once I have finished this post. There is lots to cram in before my lovely sister and her lovely fiance arrive on Wednesday and prior to the kids finishing school on Friday. So much to do, so little time and all that. Take care all. Hope you are enjoying putting your deccies up. x PS. Must say how lovely my husband is - poor thing fell down the ladder whilst getting the deccies out of the loft. Bless.