A Mini Makeover

When I moved here I was thrilled that I had a conservatory.  It's not large and there is no barrier/door between it and the kitchen.  This is great as it brings light and space into the kitchen but also means that  it's on view the whole time.  I use it as a space to do the messy parts of textile art, the printing and dying etc but, not being the tidiest person in the world, this means I can see all the gubbins from the kitchen.  On Saturday morning it looked like this

The mirrored walls make the mess look twice as bad

and I couldn't stand it any longer!

I went out and bought lidded storage boxes, oilcloth, and 2 fabric remnants.  I tidied, cleaned mirrors, found spiders, and made cushion covers.  I painted the lampbase with a match pot I found whilst tidying up and bought a new lampshade.  And voila - a nice room to sit in!

My messy art stuff is all in boxes under the table and the new cushion covers mean that this area is tied into the rest of the kitchen rather than being full of old mismatched bits.

I've put all my brushes and special bits like seed heads, shells and feathers into glass pots on the shelf above the original window.

And now when I stand in my kitchen this is the view I have into my conservatory - much nicer!

And if you're wondering about the apples in the trug, some have now become these -

Apple Muffins! All ready for a meeting I'm running tomorrow.  I find meetings always go better if cake is involved :-)

A Bit of a Do

We've had a bit of a family 'do' this weekend.  It involved a cake (made by a friend not me)

a new dress (which involved hours of alterations the night before, nothing like a bit of last minute panic to focus the mind!),

some 'adapted' shoes, which several people thought were rather nice (but I did admit to having to add the silk ties as I couldn't walk in them as they were!),

and a home-made card.

No, not my birthday - I have a few years before I hit 50 (although not as many as I'd like!), but my parents' Golden Wedding anniversary.  50 years ago on 8th September 1962 they got married in St Martin's in the Field in Trafalgar Square, London.

And yesterday they celebrated with family and friends and cut another cake to celebrate.

Congratulations Mum and Dad!

A Rather Nice Week!

How has your week been?  After my disappointment with the Easter weather I've actually had a very good week - a spot of gardening (including getting stranded in the greenhouse during a very heavy shower), tea and cake at CafeKnit with the lovely Celia (with the obligatory purchase of some wool of course), a trip round Long Melford with another lovely friend Fran and the discovery that I can now listen to the radio in my kitchen again courtesy of this app on my iphone/ipad (such clever stuff!).

I've also made some small textile pieces that I think I'll make into cards.

It started off as one bigger piece but I didn't like it so I cut it up! They're not big, this one is just 3.5cm x 5.5cm.

I found some copper wire in my sewing box (like you do!), so each piece has got some of that on as well as some copper beads.

I'm going to test one out this week for a friend's birthday - she's having a hard time with chemotherapy at the moment, so I'm hoping something homemade might cheer her up a little.

PS - If anyone knows where I can get some good quality blank cards and envelopes from I'd really appreciate it you could let me know - they need to be quite thick to take the weight of the textile without buckling or splaying out. 

Happy Blog Birthday Purple Podded Peas!

I've been to a birthday party - a blog birthday party as Purple Podded Peas was 5 years old yesterday!  Celia's blog was the very first blog that I read when I first discovered this thing called "blogging" so it was lovely to be able to share her celebrations with her.  I also got to meet Fiona whose blog I've also read regularly as it's a wonderful resource for recipes and vegetable growing tips.

We filmed a tour of her vegetable garden (can you spot the ginger studio assistant keeping an eye on us?). 

Purple Podded Peas vegetable garden with the Three Sisters mound in the foreground

(Actually we filmed it twice due to a technical issue commonly known as "finger over the lens"! You can view the final film here).

We met the under-gardeners in her old walled garden (they too were filmed).

Purple Podded Peas Under-Gardeners

And we filmed the DragonFly Pond - but stupidly I didn't take any pictures of it!

We had cake, and lots of laughs.

I came home with some gorgeous eggs (some of which I had for supper tonight)

and more cake, which I had this afternoon with a cup of tea in my garden.

There are more films, and a giveaway on her blog, so pop over and have a look, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself!

Thanks for a lovely afternoon Celia, and Happy Birthday Purple Podded Peas!