Back by popular request.....

Well, not exactly, but thank you to those lovely people who emailed to ask if I was OK.    I have been having blogger/computer problems, but the biggest reasons for my absence have been the decorators, and family visitors.

We've lived here for about two and a half years now, and for that time the ground floor rooms and the hall stairs and landing have looke like this:

Wall-to-wall off-white and a fetching 1980's border inherited from the last owners.   Following on from the success of the red study, we really felt it was time to brighten ourselves up - life here can be tedious enough without off-white walls (especially grubby off-white walls).   So having already got the house in a complete muddle thanks to the water leak, we got the decorators in - lovely Adrian and Sharon whom I'd be glad to recommend to anyone locally - and armed with the Little Green Paint chart we did this:

Changed the whole of the centre of the house to a lovely summer sky blue, (Gentle Sky)

Went bravely sugar almond pink in the kitchen, (Secret Shell)

and yellow/cream (Stargazer) in the sittingroom - where the light doesn't give a good photograph, unfortunately. (All the colours are brighter than the camera shows).  Apart from the fact that I now, desparately, need to do the main bedroom, the house feels transformed.    Into the middle of this came H's nephew, his wife and new baby (well 4 months,s o new enough).  It was great to see them - they are only in England briefly once a year at the moment -and the baby, a boy, was a joy, but it was a bit hectic to say the least.   Just to add to the chaos, we also had a wasps' nest up under the roof above the front door so had to get 'a man' out to deal with it.

My latest card for Postman's Knock was a bit done by the skin of my teeth as Daughter and I were going to Art in Action for the day, and I forgot to photograph it (or take the camera to Art in Action).  You can see it (Coast /Seaside theme), and the one on Water which I received from Chrissie, over on the Postman's Knock site with all the others.  We had a great day out but I've spent the weekend putting the house back together and catching up on washing, cleaning etc, so it already seems a long time ago!   

I haven't time to catch you up with everything that's gone on over the last fortnight or so, so you'll have to wait in anticipation to hear about the Little Cotton Rabbit that  I was able to purchase from Julie at this site - I've wanted one since I first found her blog!,

Still looking on the bright side..

Well, two posts in three days - must be a record for me!  The lovely little chap above is my Easter present from my daughter, who thought, quite rightly, he would make me laugh.

A lovely parcel came from Elaine at Ted and Bunny after I won a giveaway to send the prize to a friend.  Here's the lovely little Easter duck with an egg cosy and little doilies for egg cups - I asked for my prize to be sent to my daughter and she received two little ducks and a chicken which she likes very much.

Spent the morning at the local Flea Fair which was huge - took me over three hours to wander all the way round.  Bought a couple of things to help with the postcard swap, so can't show them here.  Didn't buy quite  a lot of things that I fancied but didn't actually need, but enjoyed looking. Weather is absolutely lovely here so it was great to be out in the fresh air.

Agreement has been reached at last over paint for the bedroom - after considering practically every shade of green we're going for a sort of lavender colour instead (not the first time we've been through the Green debate in 35 years of marriage, and we rarely find one we like that suits the room, it seems more affected by light then any other colour).   I've ordered the paint but I should think it will be a week or so before I can start putting it on the wall.    Must major this week on my next postcard - theme New York, New York.  That wedding means it has to be posted off on Thursday, a day early.  Mind currently very hazy on what it might look like (postcard I mean not the wedding)!

Think I must do something about potting up my tomato seedlings before I make some tea, as once I sit down and put my feet up I shan't want to go out again.  Though there are hopeful sounds coming up the stairs so perhaps H has put the kettle on?

So what do you think?

I've painted and sanded and painted and touched up the edges and now my room is open for business again at last. 

The original woodwork wasn't brilliantly finished so the paint took better in some places than others - hence the sanding etc.  I tried using soft clear wax on the surfaces which get more use and then sanded and painted again as Annie Sloan recommends - it did improve the surfaces which were very rough in places.

The blue is James 108 from the Little Greene Paint Company - it's slightly darker than it looks on the picture, more the colour of Wedgwood pottery.  The room looks much larger than it did - it's actually about 7 ft by 14ft but the shelving narrows it.  I had a real sort out - the shelves were packed before, but it won't stay this tidy!  My stash of wool lives in the cupboards under the window, but my sewing materials are in the utility room downstairs  - this room really needs a  larger work table to take advantage of the light under the velux window.  A trip to Ikea is indicated I think.

I've put a tutorial for the log cabin throw on a separate page  - it isn't finished yet but I'll post the rest as soon as I can.   For the people who asked about the Squggle Throw, it's very simple.   You'll need about 9 balls of each colour of a super chunky which knits to a 9.5 stitches and 12 rows tension on size 10 needles. (Sirdar Squiggle, Big Softie, Denim Ultra, and King Cole and Twilleys do similar so there's a big choice in all sorts of yarn).   Cast on 30 stitches and, in moss stitch, knit 42 rows to make a square, change colour and repeat.  Knit four square to make a strip and cast off.  Knit three strips - or more if you want a larger throw, and sew together.  It's very warm and cuddly.

Weather's wonderful here - hope you're having a great weekend.