Lilys House

i’m in love

with Annie Sloan chalk paint.  Oh My.

Thankyou Nicky of The Vintage Magpie (who just happens to be my neighbour, so I could pop over to hers for a quick sneak peek) for putting me on to this amaaaazing stuff!

Seriously, if you want to paint some furniture, this is the stuff.  We are talking No Prep.  That’s right, just whack it on – that’s my kind of paint.  I tell you, nothing is safe around here.

this is ‘Country Grey’, a sort of putty colour…..

one end of the kitchen was always so gloomy with a lot of dark wood.

I was very hesitant about painting it as it seemed a shame to , well, cover the wood, but I’m so glad I did….

it’s transformed the room.  It’s never going to be a light space but it’s much less like a cavern now.

 

even the badly stripped rocking chair got the treatment!

december snapshots

It’s been a lovely month of snowy mornings, a rare occurrence here in Devon but becoming less so it seems!  That first day was magical and the girls rushed out in their nightclothes to  sample the cold, only to come back in to find that the last day of school had been cancelled :)

 

The run up to Christmas was a little more chaotic than usual with lots of pressie buying and wrapping left to the last minute, still, a bit of pressure never hurt, right?

some gift knitting was completed, Multnomah, as mentioned in the last post.

  

now dyed a sort of sagey green.  I think I preferred the natural but the colour was a request and the recipient very happy, which is what counts.

then of course, we move on to Christmas itself.  We were away this year staying with family and we all had a lovely relaxing break, (well, it was for us – not sure about our poor hosts ;)

new toys were played with and introduced to old timers……

and knitting carried on as usual in the background, the comforting feel of needles and yarn accompanying me wherever I found myself.

On a side note, I actually managed to clear a very hip bar/club once, after I got a sock in progress out to show some friends (non knitters, not such a good idea). No place is too cool to knit in, I say!

 

And on that note and with this very apt last picture, I wish you all a most wonderful , happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year! x

multnomah

I really needed to get Mamas multnomah finished this morning so I could take it to the craft fair tomorrow and show off the beauty that is Pearl.

I just love it when you have to knit ;)

nearly there….

and she’s done……

with just a couple of yards left out of two skeins. 

I think she’ll be pleased with it – fuzzy, warm and super soft, if it wasn’t for my Grandmother I’d be tempted to keep it.  As it is I can’t think of anyone more deserving of a snuggly hand knit.

I’ve nothing else on the needles (ok, there are the things that I’m ignoring in various bags – mainly lace with mistakes I can’t face ripping out) but I’m probably going to start some sort of gloves, maybe with cables. Something quick and gratifying.

Right, I’m off to oil my spinning wheel ready for tomorrow’s outing!

Have a lovely weekend x

downtime

 

I hoisted this old foot spa out of the airing cupboard.  Lots of fun and best of all, providing the necessity to stay still for 5 minutes.  We rather overdid the Mr Men shower gel and the foam had to be scooped off multiple times.  Wilf was transfixed.

Choccy bic, feet in warm water – might have to try it myself.

scenes from december

I’m not going to try and do a wordy post.  I’m not feeling particularly wordy or interesting lately, hence the sporadic posts.  The damp weather (I know, I know, enough with the weather ;) has been a bit miserable and I’ve been feeling less than motivated. However, having said that, the festive season is upon us and the usual preparations are being made.  The tree is up and beautiful in the front room…….making the sofa even more inviting, the gifts are mostly bought, if not wrapped and we are slowly getting a bit more in the mood.

So here’s a taste of my December so far.

shepherds warning……

decking the halls….

 

more mud than I need…

I’m in there somewhere !

new dog warmers

Hope you are all getting there too !

the week started well when……

I took Maddie to school on a non – pupil day.  I can’t say it’s got worse really,  I seem to be  ambling along in a sort of brainless daze.  Which is very me anyway.  It’s quite nice actually and I’m just going with it, knowing that organisation will have to kick in at some stage.  I hope. Maybe.

So, what’s been going on around here ?  Well………here’s some evidence of knitting projects..

 

the bag contains a cardy for Maddie, one and a half arms left till completion, the others are Lilys – some Kureyon fingerless mitts and a scarf….

and this is Dashing (in BFL hand spun, to be retrospectively dyed grey) , for Papas Christmas present.

What else…..well, Halloween things of course.  We spent a great afternoon doing the pumpkins, one child relishing the squidgy mess and the other revolted by it ;) Very different characters, my girls.

 

Being half term last week, the girls had to get involved with the mundane stuff too….bed making anyone ?

In fact, we had the most fun doing this, isn’t it always the way ?

 

It was great to have them at home for a week but we were definitely ready for school come Monday.  Shame there was no one else there  ;)

help !

I’ve got a little whirling dervish here (note the jumping off banisters).  How one small thing can leave behind such a trail of fluff and glitter I will never know.  I would like to say that my kitchen is usually showroom standard but that would be lying ;)

Lily is at ballet summer school for a few days so I thought that Mads and I could do a bit of chillin’.  Instead, she is in ‘active mode’ and I have a head cold and feel like cotton wool.  I’m just pottering round, having faint stabs at tidying up now and then.

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This poor old blog really is a bit neglected these days.  And very light on any actual knitting, crafting, spinning, dyeing….creative content ! So, sorry for the disjointed posts of late, checking in with random stuff is about all I can seem to muster lately.  Such are the cycles of blogging.

It is all going on behind the scenes though, albeit slowly.  My almost finished Shipwreck is testament to that….

I say almost finished.  The rounds seem to go on for ever  and are pretty tedious now.  I really just need to knuckle down and get it done.  It’s going to be lovely even though I haven’t beaded it.  Just need to decide what colour to dye it.

I’d better go and check out what the little one is doing as it’s gone suspiciously quiet.

Probably turning the dogs into frogs.

the morning so far

 

the shop

the delights awaiting me on the doorstep when I returned

the pleading ‘please put my bed in the sunniest spot’ look

the garden beginning to bloom

the mess that’s taken over the whole house

times this by 100.

Suddenly the garden, coffee and a sneaky almond croissant seems overwhelmingly appealing………………

bits and bobs

Well, this week has rushed by.  The weather has been quite good on the whole and has seen a little flurry of ‘round the house’ jobs.  I don’t know what’s come over me !

I think writing an essay for work has had a lot to do with it.  It’s amazing how having an essay looming over you can prompt the need to do anything but. 

Such as..

(check the quality of that brush….must invest in some more…and the paint lid – you can see how long the paint had been sitting patienty in the shed)

Our downstairs loo now has two coats of paint, a rather fetching soft green.  It’s only taken two years to get around to it.  Amazing what an essay can do.

I stopped procrastinating and got on with it like a big girl, enjoying the sunshine as I worked.  Couldn’t see the screen very well but there was no way I was going to sit inside in the gloom and make it seem more of a chore..

What else has been going on ?  Well, I finished some spinning at long last..

The Bluefaced Leicester on the left will probably become socks and the thick and thin angora/extra fine merino blend has been claimed by Lily (when in the shape of a nice snuggly winter scarf).  These are my hand dyed fibres.  I wanted to get more practice with the angora especially.  It’s one of my favourite fibres.  I spun it quick and carefree, which was the effect I was going for, with the added benefit of being quicker!

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It’s nice and early here, 7am.  I can hear the little one chatting to Nick upstairs, so I know the peace will be shattered shortly.  Yep, here she is.  (Break for a big cuddle….)..

Right I’m off to hang the washing out, make porridge and to straighten this place up before my Dad gets here.  It’s barbeque day!  And I have the makings of Mojitos in the fridge. Fingers crossed the weather holds.

Have a super weekend !

 

the cat ate my computer

literally……………….

I was called out at 6 am this morning.  On return, I nipped into the back room/ Juno Headquarters/animal sleeping area, to check emails whilst I could do so relatively uninterrupted and stress free.  Ha !

It was Mowzer, no doubt about it.   He’d obviously spent a lovely night picking away at the keys – what perfect feline fun..ggrrrr. They all popped back on ok, apart from the bottom right one.  You may notice that the little black thingumyjigs that give the keys a little suspension I guess, are missing.  (What, you didn’t know they existed ??)  Having located the said black things on the floor, I spent a good 15 minutes getting my head round how they fitted together. Oh yes, I now know the intimate workings of the keys…

I really didn’t need the Krypton Factor style mental challenge quite so early in the day. ( I’ve already had that, steri stripping  knees back together)

It can only get better :) 

And yes, I will shut the laptop tonight.