Bedroom update

There has been a couple of additions to the bedroom since my last post. Firstly I mentioned the need for a set of canvas paintings on the large wall. Well they were completed over the bank holiday weekend and although the design remains very simple I am happy with the result.

Secondly I went to work on a cushion cover when the decorating was finished. I love embroidery because it is so calming and soothing to work on. It's a slow but satisfying hobby and has been my preference in recent days. I've been too scatty to concentrate on crochet patterns or sewing projects with any success. The cover I already had lurking in our living room but as it was green I nabbed it for the bedroom.

Check out the little bee floating among the flowers!

Blog Action Day October 15th

May be one post can't make much difference, but if we ALL do it... that's raising awareness!



Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Stashing up for the winter gifts already

I've had some afternoon time for crafting lately and have been stocking up on supplies for winter gifts. I know it seems early but before I know it will November and there will no time for sewing. So these are the fruits of my labour from the last couple of weeks. Some tea towel bags as promised from that great tutorial at "What's THAT gonna be?", some zip up pouches from this great tutorial at "Blueflower Treasures" and some rice pillows that should make splendid gifts. Look at the lovely fabrics...

I'm well on my way to some winter presents. The rice pillow fabric is so lovely. I think I have to go back for some more. It's bargain fabric too at only £2.29 a metre.

I still haven't started on those bedroom canvases yet. I was sidetracked by the embroidering of a cushion cover! Still where would I be without several projects on the go all at once!

New Mojito bedroom

I'm not in the habit of posting photos of my bedroom but here is the before and after of the weekend's decorating spree. Here is what it looked like before:

Very drab I'm sure you'll agree. This is the finished product after a weekend painting and playing with bargain accessories. Note only one wall is painted with "Mojito" as this was the one with the horrible damp stains, plus the paint was hideously expensive.

The general theme in the room is green like the rest of the flat but it has some gorgeous 70s orange thrown in for good measure. The orange throw at the bottom of the bed hides the dog hair better than the green one! It's an old tatty sofa bed that serves as part step onto the bed for our old dog and part posh dog bed! The main light shade can't be seen in this photo but is brown stripes. The new bedding is in chocolate, the bed throw in pale green, the cushions you can see and the lamp by the bed is also in chocolate. Under the bed are some new cardboard storage boxes. I have to admit I think that was the greatest achievement all weekend - cleaning under the bed and tidying up the stored junk!

This is the painting I did for the opposite wall. The canvas was painted with emulsion first to try to disguise the photo canvas underneath. This did not work as well as I had hoped, despite an additional coat of gesso, and one of acrylic, then emulsion again! However, with no direct light on it, (like the flash), it looks okay.

The wall is wide though and would benefit from more than one picture so I'm going to do a similar design on three rectangular canvases. This one will migrate to a side wall. I cannot put anything up on the wall behind the bed because the wall is too damp. (This is a basement flat and all the outside walls are cold and damp and the plaster crumbles.)

Well I'd better go and get those paint brushes out again...

Colour therapy

I'm surrounded by an assortment of different colour projects at the moment. The tea towel bags from this tutorial are coming along great. I have made three from some towels I found at bargain prices and I'm always on the lookout for more suitable designs! I will get around to taking a picture at some point. These bags are in brown/cream, brown/white and pink floral/pink gingham. After discovering a small collection of zips in my sewing box I made some pouches from different tutorials. The last one I used was this one at Blueflower Treasures, which was by far the easiest to follow and included tips that helped a beginner such as myself who was struggling with the actual zip part most of all. The pouches are in different patterned fabrics, my favourite in a tiny blue and orange dotted print.

I've been playing around with a little gadget over at the Crown Paint site too. You can see all your favourite colours in action. At the Dulux site there is an option to upload your photo and then put the paint colours on that. I found it rather fiddley though and not worth the time it took to achieve a usable result! We were playing with room colours for the bedroom, in an attempt to help disguise the persistent damp patch near the ceiling. I was looking for something along these lines...

But the bf chose a colour green that seems to match the rest of the flat and is not unlike the green on the Crown home page when it's on the wall. It's warm and relaxing at night and bright and cheery in the day, the perfect combination. Now we just have to get round to the painting! A quick bargain hunting trip for accessories has helped to motivate me though. A bedside lamp, cushions, throw, new bedding, lampshade, storage boxes and candles (all coordinating of course) all for £55 should push me in the right direction! A bargain makeover if ever there was one.

One Month Later

Work and study have kept me out of crafty trouble this past few weeks. I do however have a photo to share. During a couple of sleepless nights I made this little bag.

I made it from a pattern in the Amigurumi book I bought a while back. It's an easy pattern although there is fair amount of counting involved. Not the best of patterns for an easily distracted insomniac! I quickly realised that it was going to be too small to actually use. So it became a gift for Milly (aged 4 1/2) who took an instant liking to it. It came with us on walking Dottie the collie up on the Downs and on our return was full of leaves, pebbles and seed pods! She was so sweet collecting a little nature garden into her little bag.

The photo of the bag was taken in the front yard. The pots of flowers are still going strong. The Gazanias are flowering now and the Fuscias have plenty of buds and a few flowers ready to pop open!

So now after a couple of weeks of frantic work, my latest NVQ candidate has almost completed her award. The work is due for collection on Wednesday and then we have a short wait to find out if she has passed. I'm so relieved it's done. I have a week off from work now too. I'm looking forward to a little quiet time and I'm already planning a project list to keep me occupied! How's this for starters:

A phone cozy for a work colleague

Tote bags made from tea towels (this is a great tutorial here from "What's that gonna be?")

Embroidered cushion cover from a kit

Learn to Knit

Sort out the bedroom including the contents of the wardrobe

Attempt making my own skirt

Okay so I might not get through all of these but hey it feels good to have a few projects in the pipeline.

Orange High

It may or may not have been noticed that my favourite colour is orange. To be fair, other colours get a look in too, there is quite a lot of purple in my life, some chocolate brown and bit of red. On occasion I will admit to a little pink. In summer all colours seem to inspire with their energy. Today though I'm running good on orange...

... I bought an orange hula hoop with green sparkly stripe! It's yummy. I walked back home with it hanging off my shoulder. It matched my orange trousers and coordinated with my summer bag. So now I have belly ache from hoopin' all afternoon!

My current crafting inspiration also features some summer citrus shades. Hmmm, good enough to eat.

I'm so full of crafty ideas tonight. Which is typical because I have to go back to work tomorrow and won't have time to craft with a pile of paperwork to do before I go. (What do you mean I left it to the last minute!)