new oomph!

I have been awol for a while as we've had big refurbs at home... but now the dust has finally settled (quite literally!!!) ... my clever hubbs built my cutting table and I now have the crafting room that I've been dreaming of for simply ages!!! :D

 the drawer boxes came from ikea, some new, some very old ! they're really good value storage drawers, but they are soooo plain and boring looking so I decorated them with ordinary household emulsion paints, then scanned & printed out some of my fabrics onto paper and glued the papers onto some of the drawer fronts, this is probly best done with a pritt stick as pva can cause some paper to stretch and go a bit wrinkly... yeh I found out the hard way LOL

  the quilt on the bed is one I made about 7-8 years ago for my daughter but she's into lime green & purple now, so it's all mine! :D I have a ton of cushions planned to cover/bury the bed under LOL and a lot of other finishing off bits but I'm getting there slowly! I DID however finally finish off the 'decopatch' button shelf I started last year! 

Ta Da!!!!

credit where it's due, this upcycled spice rack idea I pinched from Yvonne over at BoxofTrix, its taken me nearly a year to collect enough empty spice jars to fill it mind you, but I'm really pleased with it ... I need to cover all those lids tho as they're a bit...??? just not 'me'!

I now have curtains too :D... I had a dim lightbulb moment & had a good rummage in my laundry cupboard and found these vintage beauties that are just the right length, that I have had for years, yet they have never managed to fit any window in any home I've ever lived in...until now! :D  I knew there was a good reason I never throw anything out!

 there is still LOTS to do in there, like painting a big cabinet I bought from Ebay to store my fabric in... which I really must be getting on with, so, bye for now & see you soon.

1 done 2 to go

has it REALLY been almost a month since I last blogged?!!! Oooops... well, I have been busy since I made my bobbly bobble hat, and have made another one... only nicer, from some Aran wool for my mum who also wanted one... and a scarf! the scarf is only half finished, it seems to be taking longer than I had hoped, but it IS a lot of stitches LOL again its a pattern Ive made up as I go along and has taught me confidence making a rib pattern.

I should have added a few extra stitches onto each side to always ended in a knit stitch to stop it curling at the edges... but it is what it is... I live & learn. There's probably an easy solution to correct it, I just havnt found it yet!

I've also been playing with a few other things too, and finally framed my inchies :D the frame is from Ikea, called Ribba and was perfect for them.


some closer shots of a couple of my favourite squares


I have another box frame spare and am not sure what I'll do with that one yet... I might experiment with my sewing machine with fusible fibres and washaway stabilizer and frame the result.

I will run out of space on my walls soon methinks as not only are there plans for lots of my 'stuff' going on the walls, but I recently saw a lovely idea on Boxoftrix's blog for storage ideas for buttons... closely followed by a 50p find at a boot sale so have set to work with the transformation using this ...

and this...

(its REALLY fine paper that is both acid free and colourfast when pva/varnish is applied to it; and bonds perfectly without seams to give a nice smooth finish)

into this...

(ok,ok, so its not entirely finished...)

but I wanted to share it & I wouldn't be 'me' without umpteen unfinished things to complete LOL this WILL get done, and will become the home for lots of upcycled spice jars refilled with the many buttons that I have hidden away out of sight and mind... so watch this space!
I bought the papers when I went to the stitch n craft show recently, from 'the decopatch place'. If you want to check out their amazing stock, have a look at their website www.thedecopatchplace.co.uk but be warned, there is a lot of 'I want' stuff there!!!

oh and I have learnt to crochet... well I've been shown how to crochet and somehow managed to produce a granny square, jury is still out as to whether I actually enjoy it yet though!