Many Bags!

This week I have done more bag making, if you have noticed my little image for the Etsy shop you may have noticed that the little bag there matches my dining chairs!  Well I didn't want to waste that little bit of fabric, here it is I started it after I finished the chairs.

I have been listening to some podcasts from create and thrive and also reading the information on the site.  A lot of the advice about Etsy selling is all about being constantly having an online presence, posting to Instagram and other social media. I may have said before but I don't really want to make social media my life so if that is the only way to go it may not be for me.  So I am adding a few more and then I will them sit a bit and just see what happens.

Next up was a blue bag using up a few bits I have left over from a dress I made for a Minerva post, a few pieces of canvas only big enough for strips and some former duvet cover lining.  The faux leather I still have a bit left of that.  There was also a bit of experimenting here making a bird keyring  to go with the fabric.

Today I have almost finished another one but I think I will keep this one, it is a bit wild colour wise and I used part of a charity shop bag for the top, I will share later when it is complete.

I had a nice walk and a cup of tea at a café today with my friend, I also showed her where the  local fabric shop is as she wanted me to make her some tops.  Of course I couldn't come out empty handed and bought a gorgeous piece for me, it is now blowing on the line.  I thought I would wash it immediately to save me prematurely sewing it up later unwashed and regretting it.

Sense and Sensibility is finished and I didn't think much of it, if you are going to read any of the Austin project novels don't choose that one or maybe just stick to the original as the modern day character versions were far too tedious.

The garden is beginning to look tired, though I have to say the flowers have had a really good run.  There are just a few things still to open and they were planted quite late, the rest needs a good sort through now.

Well that's all for today.

Retro Dining Chairs Make-over

Today I finally have my stair carpet and hall flooring down so it feels more like a home again and not a project.  I still need to source a couple of pictures for my walls as my old ones don't go anymore but I have the idea to possibly reuse the frames and just get art posters.  That would entail more painting of the frames as they are gold but it would save them and I hate waste.

My table and chairs are getting used and look brand new, I am so glad I saved mums chairs from being thrown out because although they were worn and faded they are a strong frame.  In the end I went for a dark grey on these, the paint was from wilko and it is cupboard and furniture paint.  You have to use primer first but at £18 pound a tin I didn't think that was bad to transform some furniture.

I gave them all a good clean, sanded them and primed them and waited twenty four hours, then I gave them all two coats of the paint.  You have to wait six hours between coats.   When choosing the fabric for the seats I went for an Orla Kiely print in mustard as I though it would look good with the grey.

I am happy with the new look and the good thing is if the seats begin to look tired then the fabric can be updated again in future as it wasn't hard to do.  I also added an extra layer of wadding to make them extra comfy.

before

after

Here are the chairs with the primer on, they actually looked like a distressed effect so if you like that sort of thing I suppose you could have varnished or waxed over them at that point.  

The table top had three coats of clear varnish after the original had been sanded off, it is matt not shiny and I also bought the varnish from Wilko. ( I ought to mention at this point that I am not affiliated with that shop, I just thought it was good value for the paints.)

Here are the pictures of the finished stairs and hall, I didn't take a before shot as I just  got straight on with it and then thought oops.  So  it was originally beige walls, with a dark red carpet and light wood laminate floor in the hall.  The walls are now an off white called cotton, white walls and ceilings and grey floors.  I think it looks more modern but we have repainted the banister mahogany (which is the same) as I have an upcycled wood cupboard and I wanted some contrast.   So I hope we manage to keep it all looking tidy for a while, it is a hallway after all.  The little cupboard is for shoes but my sons seem to think it is there so you can kick your shoes off underneath it and leave them there!  I am going to have to wrap it up for today as for some reason my text keeps vanishing every time I start a new line and I can't seem to type anything below these images Argh!! Bye for now. 

A Quick Dress Between Painting

I have been painting all day, well I had to have a brief period before I could add another coat to the first items so I decided to run up a quick dress to have a change of activity.  I started painting my table this morning, then moved on to the chairs while that was drying then a cupboard in the bathroom that needed touching up.  I have to say by this point I was ready for a change, so I thought I would use this paisley print I bought in  a sale a while ago.  Nothing too fancy I just cut around a t shirt shape I like with cap sleeves and made the back longer than the front, I cut it out long enough to make a dress and also a long strip for a belt.

I think I will add elastic at the waist as I feel when it is just a belt I am constantly arranging the pleats that gather at the waist, an elastic keeps them nice and even for you and doesn't take long.

This is comfortable as the fabric is nice and soft, it is a woven fabric no stretch so I cut a bit bigger to allow for ease of getting it on and off without the need for fastenings.  It was a good easy make and a nice break from decorating.

Having only just finished the second coat on everything, three coats of varnish on the table, I am ready for a rest!  I have a copy of Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope to get on with my next instalment of the Austin Project, I have seen a few poor reviews for this so I will see what I think.  Sometimes it is best to find out for yourself as I have read books with rave reviews that have been terrible so you never know.

Tomorrow I will choose some fabric for the chair seats so I look forward to sharing the finished items with you and early next week my hall and stair carpets should be fitted so hopefully things will be looking more presentable.

A Sew Day

Today I have had something of a sewing frenzy, a friend of mine dropped off a bag of alterations she needed sorting yesterday and I thought I would get them all done in one swoop.  Sometimes I think it is better that way as if these things  hang around in the background they are sort of there on your mind niggling at you.  There were hems, sleeves, turn-ups, buttons to be changed and curtains to be shortened with tie backs made.   To be honest there was only a thin strip left for the tie backs from the bit I chopped off the bottom but she had brought pom pom trim, can't everything be improved with pom pom trim?  Well here they are and I suddenly have an urge for tie backs decorated in this fashion.

So now that is off my mind I can move onto my next upcycle job and that is to restore some life to  a set of dining chairs that have been given to us by my mum.  She has been saying for quite a while that wanted a new set and I have to say that we have had four sets of chairs yet she has had her set nearly all my life. My current set have two splits underneath, we are not a clumsy family they just don't seem to last, my mothers set on the other hand are very 70's well worn but solid.  I think with some attention they could be great and maybe be a set that will last us too. Here they are at the moment and they are not pretty right now...

They are scuffed and some of the seats have small areas of wear but that is ok as the frames are solid, I need to rub them down to prime and then change the colour.  We have also removed the seat so I can add extra padding and new fabric to the tops.  I will take more pics once this is all complete, my dining table is still in its rubbed down state too so I will be painting the legs on that to match the chairs.

I don't know how I will be able to go back to school in September there is just too much to do ;)  well best not think about that just yet and enjoy the remaining time left.  My oldest son and my mum both have holidays to Spain booked as we all go back in September, the nice bargain kind of holiday that School staff can never have.  I know it is the same for families with School age children but that said there are a lot of people that choose to take them in term time and I can see it may be the only way to afford a family holiday.

This week I need to get back into doing my pilates, I did months where I never missed a day and marked it off my checklist each time then we went away and I just stopped.  I think I have done two half hour sessions since we got back.  It is very strange do I need a list that badly? Maybe, so I will start a new one immediately I don't want it to turn into months of not doing it.

Right I am off to start the dinner as that is one thing I can't forget to do as there are people asking what we are having.

This and That

Argh! I am a day late with this post after promising myself I would stick to Tuesday and Friday posts oh well it is done now.  Last night we went out for tea with family to a place we haven't tried before and it was fabulous.  They offer small servings as well as full meals so you can have tapas style dishes instead of choosing one big meal. We don't go out often but try to meet up with my mother in law and her partner every few months and go out. We will definitely be going there again as they had a choice for vegetarians and vegans which is rare.  If you are from the Sheffield area it is called The Pheasant and well worth a visit the website is here if you want a peak.

I got this image from the website as it was pouring with rain when we went out, I am sure it is good to sit out front in finer weather. There was also live music on and they were good, acoustic guitar and singing a variety of music.

Today was supposed to be when my tiles went down on the hall floor, unfortunately after another layer of old tiles were pulled up an large crack has been found underneath.  So not wanting to lay expensive tiles on this even if it was filled we made the decision to take them back and choose a floor that would withstand possible future movement.  We chose a grey herringbone effect vinyl and a grey stair carpet, I am a bit sad  about returning the tiles but it would have been worse if they were down and then later cracked.  It is a bit worrying about how much movement is going on with the house but I suppose any house of a certain age will have some of these problems.. My husband has put down insulating material and now says he will board it over before they come to lay the vinyl, I have to wait until the 27th for that.  I think one of the reasons I like painting and wallpapering is that I can do that myself,  so if it needs doing I can just think right I will do it on these days and then it will be done.  Waiting for people to come out and sort things I am not great at!

I have just finished reading Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid, I really enjoyed it but I must say this was in the general category of new books but I would class it as YA due to the central characters and the teen speak used throughout.  Set around the Edinburgh fringe festival rather than Bath I thought it was cleverly done and also quite amusing that Cat the main character keeps mentioning the Twilight series throughout.    It is part of the Austin project and this has made me want to try some of the other adaptations, I had a look around and a few people are being quite negative about some of these works including the one I have just read.  It is full of the language of young adults (I don't mean bad language) and if this bothers you I can see how that would put you off.  However it is also witty, engaging and mostly good fun, so if people are horrified by the differences they need to consider how much times have moved on.  If you have read any of the other works in the Austin project let me know what you thought, they are Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope, Emma by Alexander McCall Smith, Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld ( Pride and Prejudice  updated) and the one above I have just mentioned. There is to be a Mansfield Park but that has not come about yet and possibly one other I think.  I think it is an interesting idea to do this but I am sure there will be purist fans who are just appalled.

What are you all reading this week?

Practical Stuff

I have had a busy few days decorating so no new makes to show at the moment. The hall, stairs and landing have been painted and today I did the ceilings. It all needed a good few coats as I changed the colour. The next job is doing all the doors cupboards and frames tomorrow, then I will need to choose a new stair carpet.  We have pulled up the laminate in the hall downstairs and bought tiles, my husband is going to lay those.  I am glad I got this started as I have always kept on top of the decorating of all the other rooms but the hallway has been left because I always feel we just pass through it. That said is also the first thing you see as you enter the house so a makeover was well over due.  This is a peak of the floor tiles...

I like the busyness of them as the rest of the décor is  plain, I will post some update photographs when it is all finished.  When I was working on the stairs my husband made me a platform that stretched between the ladder and the decorating bench at the top, it even had notches so that it fit into the rungs on the ladder and wouldn't move.  He was not thrilled about me working on it while he was at work but I really didn't want to get anyone in to do painting that I an do myself.  I also feel that it is a good use of my time when I have the summer off school so I always fit decorating jobs into school holidays.

Our water pump to the shower has decided to pack up, we have only had that one three years and now we are having to put up with slow trickle showers until a new one is sourced and fitted.  It turns out it may have been the wrong sort originally so that is why it didn't last, we replaced like for like with the original from when we moved in.  So who ever did the job in the first place must have installed the wrong pump.   There is always something around the house that needs replacing and that makes me think what hard work it must be for the people who own the holiday rentals like the one we just stayed in.  To keep things looking good with a constant stream of families passing through surely must mean a never ending list of repairs  and replacement items.

To keep me entertained while I have been busy I have been listening to more podcasts, the time just passes so easily. Maybe that makes decorating a flow activity though I am not sure I would want to do it five days a week,  just a thought.

My latest book is Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin, it was on the new books shelf at the library.  It is a YA book but I'll give it a go, I was drawn in by the bright cover.

Bye for now.

August...ing

I thought I would do a post like this early on in the month instead of leaving it until the last minute so here goes.

Making mainly bags at the moment, I have decided to set a certain amount to stock on each online shop then stop, leave them on for a fixed time then if nothing is really happening after a reasonable amount of time they will be used or gifted.  Here is yesterdays bag, which is more of a revamp as I made this one a while ago but it has been improved.

Baking gluten free, vegan scones for the second time this week, I just know they would taste so much better with regular flour as the GF stuff has a certain taste to it but I have to look after my tummy.

Watching  Keeping Faith, I have pretty much binge watched this, this week and I have really enjoyed it. The scenery is lovely and I found the story very engaging even if I did wonder what the hell she was doing standing by her sad husband, if you have been watching you will understand!

Reading currently Night Road by Kristin Hannah, now I am half way through this and it is not really my thing but a friend passed it on and said it was amazing.  Well I am not feeling it and my husband keeps on saying why are you still reading that book you don't like? Well I feel I should see it through as she enjoyed it and books are a very personal thing.  Who knows the last few chapters  may blow me away, fingers crossed.

Growing  more lovely flowers in the garden, quite a few of what have come up have been a surprise as I planted some mixed colour seeds.  It would be nice if they had specified what they all were as I am now finding I like certain ones but have no idea of the names.

Enjoying the summer break but wondering why it always leaves me uncertain if I am in the right job. Maybe it is having more time to think but I am just not sure if I want to do the same thing for the rest of my working years but have no clear plan what path to take. 

Listening to  more Rich Roll podcasts, the latest one was an interview with Dan Buettner founder of Blue zones you can have a look at the website here . He has travelled the world studying the longest lived citizens of various communities and what they have in common, it is really interesting and of course a lot of common sense.  Both the website and the podcast are worth look/listen.

Wondering what to grow next in my greenhouse or garden for late summer, any tips for autumn colour as I would really love to keep the colours going for as long as possible.  Budget plants being the theme, I have no time for expensive plants that give a week of colour and then they are gone, especially with our British weather.  A week of bad weather could see us inside all week with blooms been and gone, no I want to grow or plant value giving varieties to keep the garden looking well a little longer.

That's all for now have a good weekend. 

Making and Sorting

Do you ever start something and then wonder how  a simple job could have taken you so long? Well that is how I am feeling today.  I have a big folder with all sorts of house stuff in it, you know the kind where everyone puts things they don't want to lose. Well I am on my third folder and it had broke again so I have decided everyone is going to have their own as clearly we are trying to cram too much into one large one.  So I set about getting rid of papers no longer needed, organising and so on. Then I couldn't find my breakdown cover, I called them and it turns out that has expired and I was going to call to change the car details too. So another job of finding new  breakdown cover had pooped up!  It is all done now but I did notice the overhead cupboards are a bit untidy  so that is a job for tomorrow.

That aside, over on Minerva crafts today you can see the full post for my mock jumpsuit here . It has had a lot of wear already as it is really comfy and washes well.

This morning I completed another little bag, it would go really nice with my swan skirt but I have listed it.  The idea being I am supposed to be making them to stock etsy and folksy shops but I always like them. The real annoying thing for me is making things and then putting them away in cupboards to just wait around for the possibility of someone wanting them when I could be using them.  I have a feeling I would be a dreadful actual shop owner, the sight of full shelves with items fading but never used would make me sad.

While we were away last week I finished reading The familiars by Stacey Halls it was excellent. I like the fact that she used real people from history to build her story around and it was good to get stuck into a book after a few false starts. After I finished it I watched a little documentary about the Pendle witch trials as this was the central theme to the story.  Unfortunately I have since started 'Circe' and didn't like that, Enchantee, but that was my fault as it is YA fiction and I didn't realise when I ordered it and finally The Meryl Streep Movie club. The last one was in the holiday rental and I did persevere but it really wasn't for me.  Any suggestions for my next read are greatly appreciated.

Anglesey

Well some incredible has happened this week, we have actually been away on holiday in the UK and had sunshine almost everyday.  The only day it was overcast all day was Sunday, so we are very pleased.  More so because before we went away my husband said if we get another week of bad weather we are never booking anything again!  Oh dear, as we usually turn the weather as soon as we set off on the road.

We visited Anglesey Cemaes Bay and headed off to a different spot in the surrounding area each day.  It is beautiful and we will definitely be returning one day, we did lots of coastal walking up and down hills and saw some picturesque seaside towns.

Cemaes Bay itself is worth a visit, it is small and quiet but has everything you need, on the beach is St Patricks's bell, legend has it that St Patrick was shipwrecked at Ynys Badrig where he founded his first church and the bell has been erected in honour of that.

We had a walk up to the little church along the coastal path, it is small and well kept with information about the place inside.  It has an honesty box to support the upkeep and I think it is good that there are still places where this trust in visitors exists.  There are many places where even the toilets are locked.

This was our first day so the overcast one!

The next day we visited Breakwater country park, this was a wonderful place walks in different directions some of which were quite challenging.  There was an outdoor gallery and that was interesting to look at.

One of the views on our walk

I  took loads of these so I feel I may bore you with them, let me know if you want to see more and I will put them in another post.

We also visited Treardurr  Bay, this was much busier than where we stayed and with the baking sun you really could have been anywhere in Europe.  It has a lovely stretch of beach and was full of families enjoying the weather. 

 Amlwch was the nearest small town with a supermarket and used to be a port where copper was exported all over the world.

Beaurmaris  was beautiful with a pier and lots of pretty painted buildings, though I have to say we found that every where we went. There were certain parts of the beach where the dogs could go on so we let them have a little paddle but we are not sitting on the beach types, so not being able to access all of it was not a problem.

I don't know why but my dogs couldn't wait to get off here, it was as if they knew they were not on solid ground and no it wasn't too hot I checked with my hand.  We had plenty of rests, drinks sat under tables (the dogs not us!)  in the shade and we never stay out for a full day just a few hours here and there.

 Our house that we stayed in had a hot tub and before we left I made this bikini, the yellow straps are recycled from an old one but the rest is made from bits of scuba from a dress I made.  I just used an old bikini as a template.

Well that is all for now, my husband has more photos so I will share more in a different post if you are not already fed up of my holiday snaps. Back soon.