Going With the Flow

Hello! How's everyone doing?

I thought I would be doing lots of writing on this blog but it turns out that's not the case. I just haven't felt like it. Just like I've not felt like making artisan bread, doing online yoga and pilates classes, finishing all my sewing and knitting projects, learning a new language and cutting my own hair. Some days it feels an achievement just to get through to the end of the day but I'm learning to go with the flow and do what I feel like doing rather than what I feel I should be doing.

The lovely weather over the Easter weekend made me feel like tackling a garden project and this bench seat was in dire need of some restoration. I managed to scrounge a couple of pieces of sandpaper from a friend when I was delivering her shopping to her doorstep... she threw them at me from a safe distance. And fortunately there was enough paint left in the can from when it was first painted many years ago.

I have the same aversion to sandpaper as I do to sandy beaches but I persevered and a couple of coats later it is almost as good as new. I managed to paint the dog's ear to match but we won't mention that. I had to have a sit down and pour myself a glass of Prosecco as a reward!

We also managed to organise a family zoom call on Easter Sunday with all six grown up children and various partners plus the two grandchildren... although the six week old stayed asleep on his Mum's lap throughout. It was lovely to see everyone together. I know I'm not the only one to be missing the family.

Silly hats/masks were optional... as was the green paint up the arm. It came off eventually.

This week has been a slow burn but I have made scrub bags for the NHS from an old flat sheet.

And masks for us too...

Although I regretted mentioning that on social media as it seems everyone has an opinion as to their usefulness. I agree they offer no protection to the wearer but the general opinion seems to be (and this is from a couple of nurse friends) they help prevent passing the virus on. It also stops me touching my face when I'm at the supermarket and hopefully gives some sort of reminder to others to keep their distance. Although I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who have no concept of two metres. One chap actually brushed past me at least three times yesterday, close enough that I could have punched him. I was very tempted and I've been googling cattle prods since coming home!

I also quite like the Dick Turpin look and feel like I'm about to hold up a bank!

 I have been drawing pages into my art journal on a regular basis which I'm hoping we'll look back on one day when all this is a distant memory. It seems like a good way to keep a record of what we are going through, both the good and the bad. I don't think you can watch the video of my pages here but it is on my Facebook page and Instagram

Anyway... that's what I've been up to. Now if you excuse me I'm off to take my advance yoga class whilst brushing up on my Cantonese. Actually no...  I don't feel like it so will probably pour a glass of something and see what's on the telly!

Stay home, stay well everyone!

Moving House

It is hard to believe after all the waiting but we have been in our new home for nearly four weeks. I could probably write about the move itself but we've all been there... and it's stressful. Trying to remember everything feels overwhelming, what to leave behind, what to pack in the last minute box, not to mention the several hours cleaning everything as we emptied each room. That was a complete waste of time as the new occupants of our old house haven't moved in but instead are gutting the place. Bathrooms, fitted wardrobes, carpets... you name it, it's all coming out. Wish they had told me... the place hadn't been that clean in years! Despite only being a mile and a quarter away from the last house, and us both having friends in this village, not to mention all the activities we already do in here, it does feel completely different... and we love it!

 

The view from our front door looks right across the road to the beautiful church and we love hearing the bells as well as the hourly clock chiming. It kept us awake the first night and we did wonder if it had been a mistake to move into a house right opposite a church, but we really haven't heard it since and I have already managed to get myself on the clock winding rota.

We're lucky that the house itself doesn't need anything doing to it. It's clean, well maintained and the decor is very neutral so we can take our time putting our own stamp on the place. However that doesn't mean that we are all unpacked and sorted... far from it! We thought we had done a really good job of clearing and getting rid of stuff, after all we were doing it for long enough. But we still have far too much stuff so the decluttering continues. And I no longer have a studio, so everything that was in my previously spacious studio is now in boxes scattered all over the house, which makes gathering things for teaching an interesting experience to say the least. The plan is to replace the rather tired looking garage at the end of the garden with a purpose built studio and shed, but all in good time. The garden also needs a complete overhaul but I have decided that waiting a year to see what comes up etc will be the sensible approach. Which of course is just a ploy to put it off for a year! At least it is looking a little greener today after all the rain than it does in the photo below.

One of the major changes I have had to adapt to is cooking on an Aga. I have never been one of these people who have longed for an Aga or the lifestyle it implies. I couldn't really see the appeal. I also happened to love my electric/gas range cooker and knew that would be the one thing that I would really miss in my old kitchen. But I admit, the Aga is a thing of beauty and I have started to get the hang of it.

Meals tend to be oven roasted combinations that all go into one pan and get cooked together.

Virtually anything goes and so far everything has been a resounding success (although I have yet to be brave enough to bake a cake). But... and it really is a big but... I just hate the fact that the thing is hot for twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, using electricity and pumping out heat when I might use the oven once a day if that, I boil the kettle a few times a day and sometimes make some toast. Maybe in the days of having four teenage sons at home when the oven always seemed to be on it would have been fantastic but with just two of us I am struggling to see how it can possibly be cost effective or in the least bit environmentally friendly. And so although it feels like heresy, I'm not sure the Aga will stay. The jury is out and there won't be a rushed decision, but I'm not convinced it's an asset.

 

Despite my doubts about the Aga I rather like the rest of the kitchen. There is a central island that has the sink, dishwasher and a fridge fitted along with some cupboard space. There is a free standing larder and these fitted shelves. I managed to find a real bargain in a closing down sale and bought this sideboard that fits snuggly underneath  the shelves. Except the cupboard is painted off white and the shelves were a sludgy looking green. Actually I'm guilty of heresy again... they were painted in Farrow and Ball "Vert de Terre" which I'm sure is very classy but just happened to look a bit dark and dingy! There is no before photo but I have spent the past three days painting them off white to match the cupboard and I think it's a big improvement. I might be over sharing here but it was so hot in the kitchen during the heat wave this week given that the Aga was also throwing out heat, that I was stripped down to my underwear to do the painting. Fortunately there was no-one but the dog to see me because it was not a pretty sight and there really was paint everywhere!

 

It has certainly brightened up this little corner.

The squashed bucket thing on the wall was left with the house and I was all for getting rid of it. It caused a bit of a debate on Instagram and suggestions were made that it could be used as a planter (too many holes), it could hold dried flowers (no way... dusty things), it could hold utensils (potential in that one) or it could be a magazine holder, which is what I have opted for... for now. The thing still doesn't really 'spark joy' as they say!

And so there we are... we have moved, we are happy, there are lots of changes we would like to make but we are also in no hurry. Just don't ask if we have unpacked yet!

In other news, I am off teaching at the Festival of Quilts next weekend (it has been a challenge finding all my resources to say the least) and with the move etc I complete forgot that I have some complimentary tickets to give away. If you are going to the FOQ and don't have a ticket please email me and let me know. If I post them on Monday you will still get them in time!

Welcome to my World

I was going to ask did you have a good Easter weekend... ask what you got up to. But that was this time last week and there appears to have been a time warp. But that's what my life is like at the moment and the weeks are flying by. Of course if I stop and think I know exactly what I have been up to... there's been a printing workshop to teach in Hertfordshire and then a rag rugging workshop in Leicester. I took my Mum to her painting class as driving any distance has started to be problematic for her, and I had a stall at a craft fair, so that's four days gone already.

But for the purposes of this little space I'm still back there in the Easter weekend before all those things happened!

Our Easter break was quiet... a chance to get on with more clearing out and packing, although that didn't really happen. The week before I had spent a day doing mosaic with my friend Terry, making this dish. So I finished it and grouted it and it became the perfect dish for holding chocolate. No Easter Bunny in this house... we have an Easter dragonfly!

I also finished off my furniture restoration projects. An old yellowing pine chest had been given a first coat of paint several weeks earlier and had been sitting there reminding me it was unfinished every time I walked past. It got its second coat, a wax and rub down and then on a whim I added some stencilling as we had been given the stencil as a Christmas gift.

It is destined to hold all my spare knitting yarn but that's a joke... I have given away at least ten carrier bags of yarn and I still have three boxes full. So let's rephrase.... this will hold some of my knitting yarn stash.

 

While I was about it I also finished off another kitchen chair.

So now I have a pair. I think it might be some time before they become a full set but that's the plan. Except when guests arrived on Monday no-one wanted to sit on them in fear of spoiling them. But no point having nice things if they are not used... I ordered that bums were put on seats!

 

On the last day of the holiday the family descended... in dribs and drabs all day... popping in, popping out, some staying hours, others making only a brief visit. Of course it was lovely to see them all and there was plenty of food on the go, including chocolate baking too! Who doesn't like a mini egg brownie?

So that was our weekend, busy in a nice way. Since then there has been some progress with the house situation and it looks as though we won't have to rent after all. That's all I'm saying for now, but the clearing and packing continues. I have also joined a little singing group. Believe me, I am no singer but this is an informal group of friends meeting to sing together once a month... because I need another hobby/interest in my life! Jesting aside, it's a great stress relief to sing for an hour or so and I thoroughly enjoyed our first meeting. I'm also taking  part in a free online sketchbook course called Sketchbook Revival, over two weeks. It's pretty intense with two videos a day from a variety of different artists but I'm picking and choosing what I want to do and somehow fitting it in by neglecting the housework. The dust will still be there in two weeks time. If I find another spare half hour or so I might even write about it here!

So how was your Easter weekend? Good I hope.

Upcycling

About three years ago I picked up three old kitchen chairs in a charity shop. The intention at the time was to do wonderful things with them but then three years went past... and I didn't do anything with them!

So, last week in the midst of sorting out and packing (even though we still don't have an actual moving date) I decided it was time to tackle my little upcycling project and the chairs were given a couple of coats of chalk paint, waxed and then rubbed down to give a distressed look. You've got to love paint that doesn't require any rubbing down or preparation first.

While I was about it I also got the first coat on an old pine blanket box. There is method in my madness as the intention is that this will hold my stash of knitting yarn in our new living room so it does almost come into my sorting out regime. And I couldn't live with that aged yellow varnish.

I then recovered the seat with some appliqued and embroidered fabric...

And hey presto... my new upcycled chair (other two still to finish!)

I was wondering whether to make a set of six but at the rate I'm going it will be another fifteen years before I finish them all!

I was spurred on to get at least one finished though as I am away teaching at Misssenden Abbey this weekend where we are making collaged fabric to turn into bags.

And I thought it would be fun to show how the fabric can be used in different ways

 

Almost too nice to sit on!

Sorry I haven't been replying to comments again... for some reason Google lets me type out a comment, I hit publish and then nothing appears... so frustrating! But I do read them all and enjoy hearing from you.