Bits and pieces

Hello bloggy friends! I have missed you! I have made a resolution to post more often. It is nice to come here and warble away. I don't visit often enough. I have a great excuse to be here today though, as I'm waiting for my literature search records to export on my other computer, so am temporarily paralysed work-wise!

I haven't been making very much recently as we've been thinking about moving house so all my thoughts have been on mortgages and property rises/crashes etc. Eek! We have looked round a few houses that are quite nice on many levels but alas, it's expensive in the Bath and all houses that we can afford have a fatal flaw. Some recent examples of fatal flaws:

-house built on top of cliff and garden perilously clinging to cliff, necessitating perilous cling to cliff for selves to navigate to shed.
-house built at bottom of cliff, necessitating much artificial lighting or slight troll-feeling whenever in back half of house
-house in good location but internal walls in wrong location, necessitating builders coming and talking of 'steels' and '£1000 for that, £1000 for that, oh yeah, another £1000 for that' jobs
-house perfect but location imperfect (ie adds another 30mins to my 1.5h commute)
-house perfect but costs too much

So, still hoping for a miracle unflawed house, and will probably get the sewing going again while I wait!

I have been being DIY handy though. Not much call for this in a rented house admittedly, but our house is plagued by black mould (curses! condensation. problem with single-skin stone houses!) so requires a fair bit of maintenence to keep mould at bay. One of the more distressing mouldy area discoveries last winter was the inside of our coats. We had hung them on the back of the front door, and condensation had built up there and there was mould all over them! So horrid. So I bought this frankly OTT girly coat hook thing from the shop opposite work. More of a convenience purchase than an actual style decision (am surprised the husband did not complain. Perhaps he is a secret shabby chic lover). Put it up last year but the weight of it pulled one of the tacks out of the wall. We had (the shame!!!) been living with this for a while:

Sorry about the perpetually shabby photos.

This situation was not satisfactory, but the tack had ripped a hole in the plasterboard and couldn't go back in. So it was MILLIPUT TO THE RESCUE!!!! I love milliput. Most of our house is held together with it. It's this sort of plasticine-type stuff that comes in a grey part and a yellow part. You roll the two different colours together and get a sort of yellow-grey putty stuff. You can then make it into whatever shape you want, and it will become ROCK HARD in a few hours. I stuffed it into the hole and then put the nail back in and waited a bit. I also got a knife and smoothed the wall so it was flat and not all lumpy with weird grellow plastaciney stuff (good tenant?!!!!). Now we are set for the heavy coats of winter:

Yes, that is a little bird sitting in the girly coat hook. It had a little picture frame in the 'o' of LOVE (of course!) so I framed a scrap of happy Tilda fabric that I had (used here). I love it! Although am now thinking I should have used something more manly to offset the 'Love'. Perhaps a photo of a lorry? Or a muscle? Suggestions welcome.

tweeeeeet! hellooo!!!

Ooh and whilst references 1001-2000 download (groan!) I will just show you the few other things I've made since we last spoke:

Veg cake mix (incl beetroot). Turned out lovely. Note also pleasing 1980s juicer in background!

Ooh and this tea cosy for my lovely work friend who got married in a flurry of bunting and joy:

Yay! Made with leftovers from our own wedding bunting. 2011/12 truly are the years of the bunting!

And finally, the one I'm most proud of: A LADY!!!

Was going to give her to our niece. Fairly sure I still am. Quite in love with her tho. Ack!!

I made her from a pattern in Mollie Makes. So proud!

Ooh and talking of proud, and ladies, our friends in the Midlands recently welcomed a GORGEOUS baby girl to their family. Just so happy for them. Congratulations J&F. 

I wanted to show you this quilt I made for them, which will hopefully be a nice playmat or something for their little one:

Tried to be gender-neutral as they didn't know whether they were expecting a boy or girl, and think it worked ok! Yay. I basically made it up as I went along. First one I've ever made. Def won't be the last! So satisfying. And the nice thing about sewing gifts is, you can feel your love for the recipient as you make them! If that makes sense.

Have a lovely evening everyone! xxxx

Light up, light up... painting an old standard lamp and making it amazing

A couple of years ago, we bought two touch lamps from Argos. They were some of the cheapest lamps around - I think £14 for two - but they were very handy and cheered up dark corners. Then, around about Christmas time, one of them broke. The living room dark corner was now just a dark corner. This was bad, as the ceiling lamp was now the only way to actually see, and that is attached to the scary wiring of our house, requires an un-eco old-style 100W bulb, and makes a v irritating high-pitched whine the whole time it is on. 

Husband and I looked around for a new lamp. We could not agree on anything. We had recently decided only to buy Good Things - ie no more cheap lamps from Argos. The new plan is to buy only good quality items, that will hopefully not end up broken and in landfill as quickly as the cheap versions. We scoured the charity shops but there was nothing nice At All. We then had a look online (ie spent about 3 hours searching for 'lamp', ending up feeling slightly sick and wondering where the time had gone and not agreeing on anything). We reached a stalemate and the dark corner remained dark. We were sitting in the gloom to avoid the whiney ceiling light. We should've gone to the pub.

Then, in a stroke of massive good fortune and happy coincidences, I spotted a lamp in the corner of my Aunt's garage when we were visiting her in Yorkshire. It had been her mum's so she was hanging onto it, but didn't need it in her house (all her corners are bright, you see). She very kindly agreed that we could rehome it.... so we put it in the car... and 4 hours later it arrived in Bath!

Lamp in original state. Please ignore bedraggled begonia in background.  Am unable to throw out plants if still alive. Not v in keeping with posh Bath lifestyle. This will be why we have not been invited to take tea in the Royal Crescent.

Original shade. Pleasant chintz but seen too many dusty days 

We left the original shade in Yorkshire because it was a bit worse for wear. When we got the lamp home, we decided it was a bit too 'brown'. The varnish was also all coming off. We went to Homebase and spent our Nectar points on a can of spray primer and gloss paint. We also bought a new flex and switch thing and plug to replace this retro-looking wiring:

Husband had a sudden and immediate burst of Husbandly activity and rewired the lamp. This was very surprisingly easy. The old switch screwed off the top and the whole base was hollow so we could just thread the new flex up through it. I then had a few bursts of running out into the garden, spraying the lamp, and running back inside before it started raining again. Mostly this was a success.

Spraying in the utility room when the outside was too rainy.  New non-slug house needs a workshop :)

Segregated. Spray paint is surprisingly smelly

We were very pleased with the new glossy finish. Especially as I couldn't face sanding the original varnish off so just sprayed over it and hoped that the flakes would somehow 'seal'. They did! I should have been a dermatologist.

All that was left now was to find a new shade. You may have noticed that the shade in the first pic above (purloined from the ex-Argos lamp) was just a touch too small. We wanted a large fabric drum shade in sort of neutral colours to tie in with this room and whatever other room we end up in when we move out of the slug house. I also wanted some white in the fabric to tie in with the base.

A bit of Googling lead me to believe that I could make the shade myself for about 30% of what it would cost to buy a nice one. So all that remained was to find a piece of fabric. 

Well. We thought agreeing on a lamp was hard. Agreeing on fabric for lamp shades was impossible. I don't know why we have these problems. Things like houses and holidays and other expensive things, we always seem to agree on and decide pretty quickly. Give us two tea towels and ask us to pick one though... full-blown war. Husband favoured a beige fabric with small dogs all over it. I wanted a sort of geometric, ikat-style pattern. Stalemate. 

Then, very pleasingly, whilst looking at 'how to make a lampshade' tutorials on the internet, I stumbled across  Emily Robson's lovely website, Martha and Me. Emily is a very crafty lady who had not only made a lampshade, she had made it the size that we were after, from a fabric that we both liked, and it was for sale, and it was affordable! Done.

A few days later, this exciting parcel arrived:

And the shade was unveiled!

When the shade arrived I realised it was a ceiling shade rather than a standard lamp shade - d'oh! Hadn't thought to check that. The pattern, which is lots of houses all next to each other, was upside down. This was annoying, but I discovered that by balancing the new shade on the old mini shade, it could be the right way up. I then discovered that you can buy 'lampshade adaptors' or 'shade carriers' which do the job for you in a more professional way - £3 from John Lewis! Job (finally) done. Corner bright. Life looking up!

PS if this tickles your fancy, do check out Emily's blog. She makes lots of lovely things, including some brilliant cushions and cards (which might look familiar if you have ever received a handmade card from me, because we have the same ink stamps!) :)

House Fail

I had just got off the phone with the estate agent. She had agreed to ask the landlord to cut back the creeper (currently trying to strangle the house), repaint the rotten window frames, shave the base of the swollen back door so that we can open it without hacking at it with a screwdriver, and sort out the mould in the bathroom. She had previously said that the landlord can probably not do anything about the freebies we got with the house - mega moth infestation and slugs which visit the downstairs in the middle of the night. We had decided that the location is good and we will put up with the freebies.

I put the phone down. Something caught my eye on the kitchen ceiling. A silver, shimmering line. Aaarrrghhh!!! THE SLUGS ARE ON THE CEILING!!!

Surely the next step is that the slugs are in the bedroom.

We are going to have to move.

iPadded: a handmade quilted iPad case!

I have been wanting to show you this for ages, but couldn't because it was a present for my Mum, who likely comprises 50% of everyone who reads this blog (hello Mum!). Now it has been handed over (and is reportedly in use), I can unveil:

I am v pleased with it because it is one of the first things that I have made that actually turned out a) anything like I hoped it would, and b) not looking like a child had made it. The patterned fabrics are from Tilda and the other bits and pieces are random leftovers that I had lying around.

I basically just got our iPad, measured it, and added a few cms for general seam allowance plus my own margin for error (things I sew ALWAYS end up smaller than they are supposed to, unless they are a tea cosy, in which case they end up as gargantuan things suitable only for giant's tea parties and headwear for men with big heads and little shame. Strange but true). I used the measurements to make a little lined fabric bag with a layer of batting in the middle. I sewed a piece of elasticated gingham into the top seam and a button on the other side to hold it closed. I did toy with making a little quilted lid to protect it better and probably would have done if the iPad was in there loose. As it is, iPad is always in a little black leather protective case, so this case is extra padding for pretty highdays (iDays? hehehe) and holidays.

I have a few more projects on the go at the moment but seeing as the PhD is the only one which pays me, they are a bit dormant! I have vague ideas of becoming like a lady I met at a lovely fabric shop who takes pretty sewing things on holiday with her, but the thing is, it seems to require so much effort just to pack enough clean and (vaguely) matching clothes for a holiday that I am not sure that the organisation required to bring fabric plus needles and thread, etc, is within reach at present! We Shall See.

Making the weekend

We had a great weekend! Saw lots of family at Granny's 90th (NINETY!!!) on Saturday. We went to a restaurant and had a lovely lunch. There were 23 of us. Productive 90 years!

There was some debate beforehand over whether anyone would want to eat a birthday cake. It is however surely a complete travesty to have a birthday party without a cake. So we compromised and had cupcakes. I made them and althought they look a bit strange in the picture above, they disappeared fast so overall = success.

The pic above shows the second batch I made. The first batch, gah, I forgot to put the eggs in. Cunningly disguised this by filling with yoghurt and giving them to various friendly visitors as puddings.

Next weekend we are popping round to see Husband's brother and family. I have made them this tea cosy. I wish I'd outlined the letters in blue, but overall am vhugely pleased with it. It is the fourth one I've made and the first one that I haven't messed up too badly and been left with a massive snagged wrinkle.

Oh I love tea :) The sewing machine has been behaving recently which has meant that I can spend more than ten minutes sitting in front of it before getting too tense about the tension issues! Sadly though the bulb has blown and the sewiing table is dark and the sewing machine is from the 1960s. I am going to have to go on a bit of a hunt at the weekend.

We went for a very pleasing walk yesterday, in a small village near Bath. In fact it could almost be considered the plughole of Bath, lying in a dip at the bottom end of the city. A five minute drive and we were in the countryside tramping though streams in our wellies. Wellies and streams are very pleasing. Who needs free museums?!



Toasty ears

So, if you know Husband, you will know he is Super Cool. He is Down with the Kids. He is an Uber Trendsetter.

These traits meant that he was becoming increasingly unhappy with his headphones. They were free onesI had got off a drug rep at a conference (pretty good freebie I thought, right?). He claimed he wanted ones with better sound.. but I know that secretly he wanted ones that looked BETTER. In keeping with his bad self. I also suspect that he wanted them to fit in with the headphones of the other people on the bus.

So, he bought a massive pair of headphones. They are big and cream and quite amazing. I was with him when he bought them. They also come in black and powder pink.. When we were in the shop, it became clear that he couldn't tell the difference between the cream ones and the pink ones (he's colour blind). OH OH it was tempting not to say anything as he admired the pink ones. But in the end, the cream ones were chosen. 

They are very large and um, cream. They needed a safe place to go when in his bag. His bag deserves a blog of its very own. To keep things succinct, I will just say that it is a place that papers, old plastic lunchboxes and cookie bags go to decompose. One day perhaps evolution will occur and a new superhero might emerge and we will be rich. Until then, however, it was necessary to protect the headphones from the bag. So I made them a little padded bag, from my old jumper and his old shirt:

Nestling

I think this case makes him even more super cool. He has managed to maintain his status as Trendiest Man in the Office. I believe he even managed to keep an air of cool when one of his colleagues walked in, saw him wearing the headphones, and asked him if he was 'planning to land a plane'. Heeeheheheee! Aww. Love.

Springy Bath part 2

Back from my meeting! Bonus = the food I had left in the fridge was only slightly out of date so I am also well fed :)

More spring things:

We went to the Gower with Tom and Barbara, our friends who we share the Bath with. It was brilliant. The idea was to go surfing but we had such lovely weather that we thought we'd go for a walk. It turned into an epic march to the end of Worm's Head. Well, I say the end of it. What actually happened was we got to the rocky section you see there, clambered around for quite a while, became starving, and went to the pub for lunch. All in all we walked for nearly 10 miles. Then we went for a quick surf. Then we went to the pub for more food and brilliant scrumpy. Then we fell into comas and were exhausted ALL WEEK. It was worth it though. I got some great photos!!

Wormy

 We also went to Yorkshire to visit Dobbie. We managed to get a quick surf in there, too. Well actually I went bodyboarding. I really enjoyed bodyboarding and so did Dobbie. Husband tried to be a gnarly surfer but the strong current meant he mostly ended up getting washed into the pier :)

Saltburn - ahhh!!

I have not given up on my crafty persuits and have several exciting projects to share with you over the next week or so (assuming blogging motivation holds up..!). Hope you are having sunny Springs too!



Spring in the Bath!

Ooh, lots of brilliant things have been going on since we last spoke. Firstly, we purchased an Easter Island Head on impulse. Sadly he was from Homebase and not Polynesia but he is a fair bit more accessible to us than if he were from Polynesia so we are grateful for him anyway. We have called him Mystic Stephen and are very pleased with him. Can see him from the kitchen and he is a very calming presence. Also (mystically) at night time, a shaft of light from the window falls on his face so he can be seen at all times!

Peeking out!

Secondly, it was Easter. My parents and brother and his girlfriend came round and we ate a LOT. Mum arrived with as many cakes as I'd already baked. We also roasted a leg of lamb and had amazing roast new potatoes that I somehow managed to produce. We then went for a very hilly walk, and ate some scones. All in all it was very nice and when they had left we very quickly finished up any residual chocolate and cakes and ahem ten easter eggs so that was good (I always think good idea to eat them v quickly so that diet can start sooner, rather than spreading it out and failing to be on diet for another three weeks due to temptation in cupboard. I know the total calorie intake is the same but surely this works out better somehow?!)

Also, it was Dobbie-the-Aunt's birthday. She took us out for a lovely lunch and then we had this brilliant cake made by DesertVicky (she fled the country in a surprise move so I won't link to her website just at the moment!). It was delicious. The sheep are made from those toasted coconut things like the ones you get at M&S, with choc button faces! Dobbie lives in a place called Shepherd Hill so the cake was meant to look like a Shepherd Hill. Total success! And who doesn't like a day of cake, champagne, family and birthday cheer?!

I have a meeting in a  bit so will be back with more later. Must go and see if the food that I left in the fridge five days ago is still a) there and b) relatively sterile (doubtful!)

See you soon!

Bon Voyage Gaeorg!

When I used to work in London and live in Kent, I looked forward to arriving at my car as much as arriving home (Husband was on nights a lot so house was often empty). Gae was so welcoming and warm and safe and supereasy to drive.

When we moved up to London, he carried our things (along with a van, Phil's car and my parents' car you understand. We are not mimimalists). Phil's car got sold and Gaeorg took us shopping and on many many brilliant camping and surfing holidays.

Gaeorg on honeymoon :D

Totally dwarfing the surfboard on the roof with his uber massiveness. And believe me, that is a massive surfboard! 

Poop poop!

When we briefly moved back with our parents by accident, he came and provided a mobile suitcase / wardrobe service. Then he chugged over to our next home and braved the wilds of Woolwich. He probably got away with things there because he was small and unobtrusive. He had a BIG HOLIDAY when we lived in Reading and got to live in a very swish underground parking place.

Bathothian parking spot

Finally he came to Bath and now, has gone on to Devon! With a very nice lady who wanted him to drive her dog-in-a-bag around in. Au revoir Gaeorg!


(perhaps I get slightly too attached to vehicles.)

Weekend is nigh!

Yes yes it is soon to be the weekend and I am VERY EXCITED!!

Tonight I am going to get lost in a big whirl of housework to prepare for the arrival of my aunt tomorrow. It's her 60th birthday and she is travelling from Yorkshire to spend it relaxing in THE BEST SPA I HAVE EVER BEEN TO (this is a high accolade) at the Macdonald Bath Spa hotel. We are going to see some friends on Saturday night and then on Sunday it is Aunt's Birthday Meal (also at the Macdonald hotel). Lots of family are coming and we are going to have a big meal and then come back to our house for tea and cake. Am not sure we've had 16 people in this house all at once before... we have had bbqs but there was garden available, which is not the case when there is frost on the ground.. inhospitable hosting that would be..!

So yes, I am working from home and have started to clean the oven (felt I should but god knows why, it's going to be a tight squeeze in here but I am not actually anticipating people to climb into the oven) and have popped out to buy tulips and strawberries. I think these are essential for birthdays. I attempted to make the guest bed but it's a sofa bed and as soon as I get one end of the mattress to lie flat, the other leaps into the air like a sort of writhing demented iron sea monster. Yes, exactly like one of those. So am waiting for Husband to return from the horsepittle to wrestle it into submission.

In other news, last night we sold Gaeorg!! He has been in our family for five years and has been amazing. For anyone who cares, I totally recommend a Yaris. He never broke down (L). Very sad to see him go but onwards and upwards.. we are acquiring a new car on Sunday. Called Roger. Adopting him from some lovely friends who are fleeing for the good life in NZ. Very excited! Also car will be nice reminder of Tom and Barbara. Problem is, am not sure we will EVER be able to get rid of Roger for that reason. Unless we move to NZ. And obviously we can't do that, as I would have to change the title of this blog.

Hope your weekends are shaping up to be fantastic! Here are the flowers I bought for the birthday girl:

And we have started decorating with this EXCELLENT wooden bunting received from Steph-who-likes-men-in-historic-costumes:

I know my camera is rubbish!

See you later!

Regal hens

Things are very posh in the Bath. Even our eggs have crowns:

They have most likely come from the Queen's hens. Mmhmm.

I made three of the royal eggs into these awesome brownies:

My kitchen could be more photogenic. Next house -> pretty kitchen!

They are particularly awesome because they are both delicious and low in  fat. They achieve their low-fat status by being made with mayo and not butter. Husband was enjoying his brownie until I informed him of this. He continued to eat it but I could tell his heart wasn't in it.

You know I said I made some muffins the other day? Well, they were inadvertently low fat as well. About 48 hours after I baked them, I opened the microwave and found a bowl of melted-and-re-hardened butter. They turned out ok though, I really don't know why anyone needs butter when we have mayonnaise, or simply microwaves to abandon it in..

Muffin man

We were looking at our bank accounts last night and realised that it's pretty easy to spend upwards of £30 a month on muffins. Yes, muffins. If one of you in your relationship (naming no names) has a penchant for muffins, 'usually the chocolate one, but sometimes the white choc and raspberry one' and visits a certain green and white high street coffee shop every weekday to gaze at and potentially purchase one, 20x-at-least-£1.50 = at-least-£30.

£30 = dinner at a nice Bathothian restaurant! So, we went here in the virtual life and we went to Sainsburys in the real life and then made 36 muffins (half white choc and blueberry and half apple and cinnamon (made the recipe up for the latter). Unfortunately I had forgotten that most muffin recipes fail to put enough sugar in so they all taste a bit like bread. We now have 35 bready muffins in the freezer for one of us to take to work every day and chomp their way thorough. Total cost = about £5. Brilliant! Hopefully.

Finished the chest of drawers!

Lifesize wooden cat for scale. Hehe. Not really.

What do you think? I am v pleased with how it turned out. As well as the exterior renovation, we cleaned the whole thing, polished it and lined the drawers with some pretty wallpaper samples. Our linen now has a fantastic, solid, clean new home! So very pleasing. We ummed and ahhed about what type of handles to use and in the end, budget decided it for us. We went for the cheapest vaguely matching ones, amusingly named 'granny knobs'. We might switch them out for some old-looking brass ones to match the original knobs that are on the middle drawers when we get rich though. Swanky.

As a reminder, this is what it looked like before:

You can read more about the happy transformation here

I am very proud of it. And it provided a welcome distraction from the uncertanties of flat-selling. It also made me think twice about buying a house that needs lots of renovating in the form of sanding down woodwork. I am not sure my attention span would take it.

In other news, I have been busy in the kitchen:

Not the most photogenic of things I know!

They were meant to be watercress quiches but I accidentally bought bags of mixed peppery leaves instead of watercress, so they were sort of salad quiches.. sounds gross but was nice. One was for cakey Vicky's birthday and the other was for the nourishment of Husband.

Tonight I am off to see the nice lady who I sew cushions for (I can sew one for you too if you like, for your chair or bed or campervan or garden or child or anything else that is not soft or pretty* enough!), and on Friday we might go and see War Horse or The Artist. Might. Then off to Swinners at the weekend to say goodbye to some of our good friends who are departing this life for one on the other side of the world, which makes me sad and I don't want to think about it! Next weekend is the Bath birthday celebration of Dingleby, my aunt, which is VERY EXCITING so that is nice! I will tell you all about it.

*excluding children

Sew Kindley

I made this Kindle case for husband when we got married.

Nice handmade Kindle case :)

It was fairly straightforward to make; just a long quilted rectangle which you then double back on itself to make the pouch, leaving a flap for the 'lid'. A good button is essential in these situations and I chose a wooden one for husband because when he met he was rather, hmm, backward when it came to technology and insisted he did not want a mobile phone because they were made of plastic and were not available in more quality materials (which apparently included wood). Unfortunately his moral stance has since eroded and he now has an impressive Apple habit, but I thought he might appreciate the sentiment.

I used a nice bit of binding tape to join the two fabrics I used. Birds featured quite a bit at our wedding so this was a nice way to tie in the weddingy theme without being overly girly.

He seems to like it. The Kindle lives in there, in any case. Hehehe!

Happy Friday everyone!!

Chillier and chillier

Just wanted to drop in to say how much I love my new chopping board:



Don't mind the weird caulk by the cooker. The gas man prised out the old cooker and then fitted a smaller one and filled in the broken edges with bath sealer. I stood there in horror feeling pleased that it was not my house. If it WAS my house, this kitchen would be in the bin!!





It's really brightened my chopping experience. Not a time of day that I have ever really contemplated as being particularly important before, but it is nice to make as many things cheery as possible, isn't it?!

I was making a chilli. I found five cans of different types of beans for £2 at Sainsbo's:

Yes, I also found a glass of red wine.

The chilli recipe came from my friend Vicky. I usually make it to my mum's recipe, but thought I'd try something new. Paprika featured heavily. It was great - nicer than it looks in the picture!!