Its been a while!

I've been back to work for a whole month now and its taking its toll already, come the weekend I'm fit for nothing. No blogging, no crafting, just catching up on all the things I previously did during the week. I think its the 2 hours driving a day that does it! 

Following on from my last post, we did in fact get the allotment sorted throughout the week, all 12 beds dug over and everything tidied up.  We also have a little friend who keeps a watchful eye on everything, waiting to have a little scratch around as soon as our backs are turned.

The Reading half marathon has also been and gone. It's the first time I've actually been to watch, supporting Jourdan and his friend who have come back from Uni for the Easter holidays and I surprised myself by enjoying it too.  Jourdan did very well, managing to knock quite a bit off last years time.

It was amazing watching people coming around to the finish line and I watched every single one of them, the only person I didn't see from the set off to the end was Jourdan! Next year I'm very tempted to have a go, but maybe just start with a 3k? 

Neglected!

It's nearly Spring and time to get down to the allotment. 

Oh dear! To say its been neglected is a bit of an understatement, shameful really. Last year for some reason we really didn't get our act together with it, but this year will be different (Statement to be repeated every year).

Some hard labour later and we've cleared two beds, only ten more to go!

And time to declare war on the snails, who seemed to have moved in from everybody else's patches.

So this week, as long as the weather holds out, will be all about the allotment. 

I shouldn't even be here though as I should have started an eight week contract to work away from home, which unfortunately or fortunately however I choose to look at it, was cancelled at the last minute. Oh well another week at home. 

Finished bookcase - Before and after.

Again it took longer than anticipated, but i'm happy.

Before...

After...

New cushions

My previous cushion covers although practical and went with my room, at the time my mum made them for me, needed to be changed and so I set myself another project to do just that.

I bought new feather pads and then found ways to cover them with scrap fabrics etc.

This one is made from the length waste of a pair of Ikea curtains and a small piece of floral.

A patchwork cover made from an old French linen sheet I purchased in France in October for 2 euros, not good enough to keep as one piece but the monogram has worked out well. Mixed with some Irish linen and again good old Ikea curtain fabric.

 I'm really pleased with this one; its made from an old jumper that I got from car boot fair for £1 especially for the purpose of felting. The left hand side is the polo neck part. Just some buttons and lace added.

I also got a round pad which has been the most awkward to deal with. Covering it with fabric was above my sewing skills, so the obvious choice was to crochet the cover for it. Instead of wool, which wouldn't be as hardwearing, I chose a craft cotton (basically string) and crocheted both the back and the front the same in half trebles. I wanted to keep the stitches pretty close as I didn't want the pad to show through too much. 

Although quite nice, it was looking a bit boring. I didn't want anything too colourful or bright and so my final decision, after a lot of messing about, was to weave in different coloured wools. Pretty pleased with it actually.

Bertie doesn't like the new cushion as much as the old ones as she has learnt very quickly that she can't snuggle up on them. So as it stands there is still one old cushion in my living room just for her, spoilt or what!

no touching the new cushions!

After a couple of minutes sitting nicely she's off anyway to annoy Arthur.

Bookcase redo - Phase 1

I started the bookcase yesterday as it was beginning to stick out like a sore thumb in all it's orangey pine glory.

 This bookcase has traveled around the houses, from room to room with me over the years and has certainly has its work cut out as I seem to be a bit of a bookaholic and just can't stop myself from buying them. 

Cushion update in the pipeline

Taking all the books from the shelves was a job in itself, but they are all stacked up now hiding behind the sofa. These are just a few of my books, the rest are dotted around throughout the house, just so that I can pretend that I am tidier than I actually am, in a least one room. 

Out of interest I was looking up painted bookcases on the Net yesterday and marvelled that people could perfectly arrange just a few books and other objet d'art on their bookcases with no overflowing mess, just minimalist prettiness, whereas I actually need far more space than I already have and look forward to one day having a room dedicated to my books, not a library as such but definitely somewhere with a comfy chair, a real fire (preferably), nice lighting and books galore.

All stacked up

Empty bookcase

As this bookcase has knotty pine wood and theres a lot of it, especially by the time I would get to the shelves, I decided to undercoat the whole thing in a cheaper paint. Hopefully this will now make my chalk paint go much further.

Undercoating done.

Second furniture project - Done!

Following my previous post I have finally managed to finish the second piece of furniture but it took me slightly longer than I expected. 

I previously worked on this cupboard way back in July 2010 after buying it at auction and was very pleased with it too all stripped and waxed. However times move on and I need to lighten up my living space. So brushes in hand I set about updating it again and with some trepidation it has to be said.

It does look a bit beige in the pictures but the colour is actually called County Grey, an Annie Sloan chalk paint, which I've also added some dark wax to in certain areas. It would look lovely in an off-white room but I'll stick with it for the moment as it is.

It looked especially nice yesterday (Valentines day) when our anniversary came around and I received some flowers.

Oops best ignore the boobies on that card!

Bookcase next!

Bedside cupboard

I went to a neighbours for a coffee recently and was inspired to start having a clear out. 

The first challenge I chose was to tackle the two chest of drawers and wardrobe in my bedroom. Two bags of rubbish and one large charity bag later and it was done. But I also now have a pile of Ebay items to deal with and under the bed to clear out. Having a really high antique bed is lovely, but you can store an awful lot of 'stuff' underneath it!

 One chest of drawers was moved to Emily's bedroom and an additional chest of drawers (really need to stop buying them at auction) was moved from the living room, where it had lived for months after being painted, upstairs to my bedroom. At last the living room is starting to look like a living room and not a furniture depot!

From Emily's room we took out a bedside cabinet that was given to me some time ago to do something with but like everything nothing had been done, it was just plonked in her room for somewhere to place a lamp and very ugly it was too.

Top stripped and first coat of blue/green paint.

Second coat in grey, leaving the shelf and cupboard blue/green.

Waxed, distressed and finished.

I've now moved onto another item and will hopefully have that finished within a few days.