Skullduggery...

And here is my skull, at home in my natty corner unit. He looks forward to greeting those of you who come to Dorset Art Weeks! 

It's beginning to look a lot like ...

 

The tree is up, I'm smashing chestnuts and school's out. Everything's looking and smelling very festive. But what's that on the sofa? Could it be a new furry addition to The Raggy Rat? Yes, that's two year old Ash, and this is his first Christmas in a family home. He seems to be taking it in his (long) stride .... 

Lining a basket ...

I found a small but sturdy basket to help me bring logs from the garage to the house. The only problem was, that the bits of wood and bark, came through the weave and went all over the floor!

So I determined to line it with fabric, on the same day that Topsy determined to stay in it, no matter what I did, because it was really her best bed!

Eventually and only when the lining was fully sewn, I forcefully removed the cat and tied in the pretty fabric. 

Now I'm all ready for when the wind-swept, early autumn feeling shifts towards the nip-in-the oar that has me reaching for a wooly cardy!

Hooked on collage?

Time to paint the porch which has always been original bricks. But now that the house is painted, demanded a makeover too! 

An inexpensive set of hooks has been used for children's coats, but I couldn't bring myself to put it back on the wall without a makeover of its own, so I covered it in cute paper. 

A wash of gold guache adds a special something and looks aged. 

The edges of the paper have been sanded. Difficult to photograph but looks superb! Try it next time to are altering furnature and so on ...

The plated hooks are gently worn from use but that's fine for my purposes and I screw them all back on with glee!

Finally back on the wall! Hooks that make me happy and suit all the little coats that get hung here ...

House work ...

Here is my humble home, who's tired walls and chimney let in a lot of that horizontal rain this past winter ...

Here is mike doing some pointing! We knew that the chimney was badly in need of repointing and we found that it also needed repairs to the flashing. The other chimney had some attention when Mary was a baby. 

Over one or two very soggy says my bedroom wall ran with water and I'm left with some beautiful staining!

The scaffolding provided access to the whole side of the house. More issues were found which may well be the reason of damp in the corner of my room. 

As grey clouds approach again, the ground-out chimney was plastic wrapped to prevent more water damage until drier days again!

Opting to paint after the repointing, the house began to change colour. It's called Birch, and is a gentle shade of grey green , sympathetic to the stone clad buildings that also share our cul-de-sac. No magnolia or cream for me!

The red painted parts have also been reniewed too. 

Now the scaffolding tower is in place for me to create a special something on the front of the house! Any guesses? I'll share that with you soon!

House Work ...

With the three patchwork curtains finally finished, my living room looks ready for springtime!

From outside we appear to have delightful stained glass windows! These will be nice to come home to in winter, after choir practice!

One of my cushion-covers looked very worn so some curtain off cuts from a friend have remedied that! We also happen to like chickens anyway ....

Finally this Mother's Day card from school, provided inspiration for an Easter holiday joint family craft. It was made using markers and wallpaper samples ...

So we bought a canvas at value house and I dug out my own sample collection ...

Thanks to Daisy, Matty, Mary and Michael for making flowers with me :-)

My Amazing floor ...

My living room floor has featured a few times in this blog, including some repairs to some of these old tiles. But i came up with a good plan to say goodbye  to the random pieces of carpet and expensive alternatives ... so i started with a room empty and a thorough deep clean ...

Next Michael got down on his knees and did a sterling job filling and smoothing cracks and gaps, and then the floor was sanded and washed and hoovered!

You know those old family bibles with the covers falling off and the amazing illustrations? Michael and I both have one of those and instead of being a tatty King-James-Version tome that no one bothered to read any more, this one was given a new lease of life with a ton of PVA and a sessions of careful placing of The New Testament ...

I love collage. Working with big pages was a challenge when they were wet, as they have to be wet both sides with a solution of the glue and smoothed in place to dry - with the door closed to keep curious kittens and little girls out!

Once dry I gently hoovered the floor with the brushes out, to remove any dust and fluff before applying three coats of varnish.

The finished floor is alive with stories, and a gentle cream colour. Also very good for car games and perfect for sliding with no slippers on ... 

The children were pleased, and many visitors are impressed. But does it disturb you? Is it ok to physically 'stand on the word of god' as well as spiritually? 

I clearly love patchwork and collage, cant wait to have the new budget home made curtains too!

New curtain ...

Remember those squares we laid out at church one day? I taught Michael how to pin them together ready for machining. 

And with the first set of 90 squares transformed I think this is the best curtain I have ever seen!

Making my house look cosy from the outside too!

And now for something square ...

At the end of the year I slipped into The Prayer House to lay out a really big project ....

It fitted into the floor space at the back of all the chairs laid out for Sunday's meeting ....

It also comes in three parts and will make me very happy. Can you guess what I'm making?

Afterwards, all the lose threads were hoovered up and no body knew we had been having fun with 270 8inch squares!

WIP - cute shelves ...

Remember these two new projects?


I have been filling and sanding ...

House Work - the Window!

My Downstairs toilet was put in 2 years ago, into a generously sized cloakroom by the front door. The window looks onto the back garden, and I covered it with a piece of printed net, worked well if you didn't put the light on, of course! So I got busy with some soapy water, a squeegee and some window film. I am pretty pleased with this!

House Work Again!

and the cat was ready to roll!



and the ceiling was sealed!



Meanwhile, in the Garden, after the rain had gone ...

Hamster-car ... coming home !

made by Claire .... and Buster!