Kitchen Make-over

 Well I have achieved my main goal for this week so even if we didn't get to go any where at least my kitchen looks a bit fresher.  I bought this paint a while ago after much searching online for just the right one, it was difficult because people seem to have varied results with all of the cupboard paints.  I have used Wilko furniture in the past for my other projects but a lot of people were not happy with that on actual kitchen units.  I eventually decided on the Johnstone's cupboard paint as it had a lot of good reviews and people had also posted pictures to go with them.

I opted for just painting the doors and leaving all the frames in the wood effect, I thought this would  not only make it look a bit different from all the many grey kitchens that I am sure are out there but also give us options.  The first option being that if the paint does not hold up too well then we can still just change the doors without having to go for a complete new kitchen or even if just our tastes change in a few years we could just redo the doors again in another shade.

That was the first one I took last night when just finished, I changed the handles a little while ago and I have to say they look much better now with the grey.

A daylight shot of the grey, I am wondering whether I should go for a lighter flooring now or is that just a bad idea in winter with three dogs?

I may now make a blind for the window just to finish it off, we don't usually have anything up there as I took the last one down and it was never closed.  It could just finish off the room though.

I did two coats with a good  four hours in between, you wash the cupboards down with sugar soap then paint, no other prep.  So time will tell if that was enough, some people have suggested you can give the whole lot a coat of clear matt varnish over the top for extra protection while others say that slightly alters the shade.  I am very happy with the shade so I think I will leave it alone for now.

We have been optimistic and booked a holiday in the caravan for next summer, we enjoyed Anglesey so much last year we thought we would go there again.  That is when they eventually let us northerners out!  There were quite a few nice sites dotted around that looked interesting so when things are looking up we will have to try a few.

So that's all for now, take care.

Jersey Dresses

 I have finally got a few shots of my new dress makes, one of them was only completed yesterday but the grey one was finished a few weeks ago.  I decided if I waited for a bright day now I would probably be in for a long wait so we took a few while out on our walk yesterday then a couple of the latest make today.

The grey dress is a lovely soft jersey from minerva and the code is Cotswald11-C should you wish to have a look for that.  It is lovely and warm so just the right kind of thing for this time of year.   I used a patteren I traced off from the tilly stretch book when I had it from the library.  The dress is the Freya, I also made the top version of this a while ago in red and the fit is very good.

It is a high neck and long sleeves on my version but in the book version you can do a-line and also a frill detail to the front.  I didn't think that this pattern fabric required that frill detail so I chose to leave that part out. Also wow I look pale in that photograph!

 Coat back on here because it was too  cold to stand around without it!

The next dress is made from an Art gallery fabrics jersey, again from minerva code K-17403,  I have decided it might be nice to start and add these numbers in as I have found I sometimes see a fabric and then when I go back and look for it I can't find it as there are just so many.  That happens even when I know exactly what I am looking for.   I chose to use a simple sew pattern and this was passed on to me from Jo at Three stories High, thank you very much. It is the Alexa midi dress.   We went out for a meal today to soothe ourselves as we lost out on our holiday, I intended to get some nice shots in the gardens near the restaurant but the rain had other plans so more indoor shots today of the cherry dress as I am calling it.

It is quite hard to see on here but there is darting to the front and back and also under bust, the only thing I omitted was the back zip  as it was jersey it didn't need one Oh and also I did away with the back v as I thought it was impractical for a day dress but for evening it would look great.

There is also  a small vent to the back it would have been longer on the  longer version of course but I  did take quite a bit off the length as originally it was too long for me. 

So I have managed to document a bit of my sewing this week and I will try to keep that up at least this week as I am sure a s soon as we go back to school things will get busy really quickly again.   I have another project to make up but I am still in the deciding process with that one, there a some curtains that need altering for someone, a couple of my own mending jobs and of course the kitchen revamp.   hopefully some of this will be completed!

I am still enjoying Spinning Silver and think everyone should go off and read some grown up fairy tale style fiction for the season.  Also watching a good drama series at the moment called The Alienist, (that being about a psychologist and a murder case not aliens)  set in New York in the late 19th century. 

There are still some winter flowers growing in  my greenhouse and they really need to go out but to be honest my gardening enthusiasm feels like it has gone into hibernation now until next spring.  I will go and rescue what is in there, have a tidy up and let things wait now. I know all you hardy gardeners will be growing right through the winter but I like to garden in the sunshine myself. 

Well that's all for now, keep busy. 

Let's all Stay Home

 Well here we go, another half term of staying put.  We had just booked  little weekend on a site at Whitby to try out the new caravan before winter kicks in but of course we have had to cancel that.  I am disappointed but it can't be helped, my colleagues all had  late holidays planned too.  It has been a long half term  and I know the children were really ready for this rest.  We have just been sat outside in the caravan with the heater on!  The weather is pretty bleak today but tomorrow it is supposed to be a little brighter so maybe we can have a better walk at least then, we got caught in the rain coming back today.

My outing of the day was a walk in the park and a trip to the charity shop down the road which is now open finally.  I bought two books and a top from the pound rail, I have no idea why it was only a pound and can't understand why no  one else wanted it.   One of the books I have already read twice, but don't own a copy as it was a library book and that is The Handmaids Tale and at 75p for a like new copy I couldn't pass it up.  The other is When God was a Rabbit, an intriguing title so I thought I would give it a go.

It feels really good quality and was originally from White Stuff.

So that is about as much shopping as you will find me doing! I won't be starting the book just yet as I am currently reading Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and I also have a couple more on my shelf that I have collected while the libraries have been closed.  Our local one is now open to collect or drop off, so you have to have ordered over the phone and only from their stock.  It is a bit hard to know what to ask for when you can't go in  and look, you could be asking for book after book and them saying no we haven't got that.

I have a few more dress makes that need I need images of, I have worn a few of them but not got around to taking the pictures.  If it is dry tomorrow my husband is going to take a few for me while we are out, I get a bit fed up of taking them in the same place in the garden or house.  I'm after a few autumn leaves to show off the autumn makes.

Here is a bag I made last week, there is another with the same girl fabric but not the same bag and that one is for my sister in law, it was on the shop briefly but she admired it so it is going in the post as a gift for her.  This one has red faux leather, the other has a wool mix background.

The other one I made was this...

 

This week has seen a bit of baking, first a very successful gf vegan chocolate cake but alas no image again, it was cut into rather sharpish.  I used the basis of my banana loaf to make it but added lots of cocoa and adjusted the flour, it worked well.   Then some oat cookies that I did remember to photograph

Now I didn't even wait for these to cool down and as you can see there is one missing already.  The recipe was again modified but this time from the BBC food website.  I changed the flour to GF, only used half the sugar, added a tablespoon of applesauce and added extra oil and soya milk as the mixture looked far too dry and would never have held otherwise.

Lots of leftover bits from the fridge have been used up to make this lentil and veg soup 3 servings.

Then today a Shepherdess pie four servings.

So I have lots of things to keep me busy over the coming week even if we can't go far including the kitchen cupboards to paint.  Take care everyone, bye for now.

Busy Week

 Hello I hope everyone is having a good day, it has been a bit manic at work today I have to say it was just one of those days where you feel like you are rushing to catch up all day long. Home now and looking forward to my dinner! 

This week I have made a couple of bags and the first sold within minutes to one of my colleagues who is just flamingo crazy, it is this one here...

To be honest I did have her in mind when I saw the fabric in the shop, she just loves anything with flamingos on.  This is a  new faux leather that I have tried out and it is very soft, it comes in a few different shades so I think I will be be trying more of them in the future.  

The next bag I finished yesterday afternoon and it has a unicorn on each side, it is a Tula Pink fabric so a gorgeous vibrant print.  I really love this pattern but I think I need to be able to let them go when I make them!  This one has been listed on my Etsy shop.

It was a b it rubbish weather wise this weekend so we didn't manage to get out on the bikes but we have some exciting news...We are caravan owners once more, we had wanted a van conversion but after weeks of my husband going the through ideas, costs to run and the build cost it did not seem practical for us.  We went to the caravan show earlier   in the year and saw these amazing little tab caravans, so when one came up at the right price this weekend we snapped it up.   Here it is...

They are amazingly spacious inside, this one is a two berth.

We look forward to being able to get around in it and hopefully the restrictions will not last forever!

Well that is a quick round up of my week, I'm off now to  have my dinner and recharge ready for tomorrow, take care everyone.