A spot of Spring sewing...

In the moments when I haven't been up to my eyes in tiling adhesive, my mind has been turning towards the need to create a few Easter-y items for the next two sales I am doing.  

The first, 'A Spring Market', is at Sherfield-on-Loddon Village Hall, near Basingstoke, on Saturday 26th March.  This will only be the third venue I have sold at, so fingers crossed!  The second is my regular stall at The Maltings in Farnham, but I really feel the need to get some new items onto my stall, as there are a lot of regular customers who come back every month, and I want their attention to be grabbed by something they haven't seen before!

Anyway...

A couple of years (and a bit) ago, when Miss U-t-B turned twelve, a crafty birthday party was held for about seven or eight guests.  We decided to create the following items...

A mini CD 'scrapbook' from the free CDs that used to get put through the letterbox.

Added later: Holes made with a Crop-a-dile punch! In case you were curious...

Miss U-t-B's one was based on the school production of The Wizard of Oz that she had been in at the end of Year 6 earlier that year.

 It was a nice memento of happy times with friends that she's not necessarily at school with anymore.

The second make for the party was another mini-scrapbook, this time a concertina to fit in a CD case.

For some reason I thought that the girls might run out of things to do, and not wanting them to be twiddling thumbs, I had spotted these...

...in Lidl, and purchased several so there'd be something to fall back on if they were super-fast with their mini-scrapbooks.

Of course, the mini-scrapbooks took up plenty of time, so the Scandinavian Christmas kits were all but unused.  And this week I remembered them, lurking in the back of a cupboard (the kits, not me!), and decided to put the thick felt that is included to use for something more my style than the star coasters featured in the illustration.

Little Easter baskets

Have you seen the new teeny-weeny sugar coated eggs (like Mini Eggs, only smaller)?  I think those would be perfect for these.

My other project has involved finding some vintage egg cups in local charity shops, popping a small egg inside (actually, I would like them to fit nicely - Lindor may be delicious but they are a bit on the small side for the egg cups!)...

...then topping them off with a felt and vintage fabric appliqued bunny!

What do you think?  Got to be better than bathroom decorating photos!

What a difference a day makes...

With Miss U-t-B returning from her holiday today, the race was on yesterday to get as much of her bathroom finished as possible.  After the major hold-up at the weekend, when the floor, joists and beams all had to be replaced, we were decidedly behind schedule.  So I thought I'd try and take a photo or two every couple of hours, to chart our progress.  Strangely, I thought this would help spur us on!

10.30 am

Notice the part painted walls.  When I started putting on tile adhesive, it became clear that the paint was not adhered to the plaster, so we had to pull it all off.  It came off in chunks, like wallpaper!  But this was another hold-up...

At least the loo had been in and working for a couple of days...

A towel, but no running water!

12.30pm

Mr U-t-B had used the very frightening angle-grinder to make channels in the wall for the shower plumbing.  I'd done a bit of tiling.

2.30pm

Mr U-t-B putting together some very neat and drip-free plumbing

I did a bit more tiling to his right (soldered joints not being my forte!)

6.30 pm

Plumbing sorted and tiled over

A scabby wall where the tiling used to be

8.30pm

Mr U-t-B put on his plasterer's hat and sorted that out

10.30pm

Bath finally in place - time for bed!

10.30am 

We got started early as I had to go to work at half-ten.    Tiling finished round bath. Vinyl flooring laid.

Basin in place.  Who said 'What about taps?'

I have to say that my lovely husband has worked his socks off to try to get this job done for his daughter (and her very patient boyfriend, who hasn't escaped any of the chaos), even though he has really hurt his back and is in considerable pain... He is a jolly talented chap and I can't wait till it's all finished so he can have a well-deserved rest! 

Bit busy to blog...

Trying to get out of a hole...

I'll let the photos tell the story 

(Sorry, they aren't pretty - those of a delicate nature, please look away!)

Hmm - looks a bit damp down there...

Screwdrivers shouldn't cut through wood like butter...

Eek! Eek! And triple eek!

Not a timber left...

Nothing left untreated...

Our weekend, needless to say, did not go quite as we planned.  

It's enough to drive you to this...

Junior Choice

Friday evening and I'm thinking ahead to tomorrow morning and all the usual Saturday morning jobs - shopping to be done, washing to get on, clearing out the fridge, making soup with the veggies on the brink of decay, the list goes on...I don't really mind all these mundane jobs, but something got me thinking about Saturday mornings when I was young.  I think it was Chris Evans using the theme from 'Black Beauty' each morning recently.

When I was a child, Saturday morning meant Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart and 'Junior Choice'.  

Some of the songs are best forgotten, but some of them are lingering there somewhere in the recesses of my mind. 

And with the marvel that is YouTube, I have been able to relive some of my childhood memories all over again.  


First, the melancholy one...

Next, a dreamy one...

Then the one which was my very first favourite song...

And lastly, the one with the lyrics I could never understand, though I still tried to join in all the same.  Couldn't find a good clip of Rolf, so this guy at least makes the lyrics clear to me, after all these years!

I wonder what songs you liked when you were small?

A Tale of Two Kitchens

Look what's happened in our dining room...

Half a B&Q Takeaway Bathroom has landed (the rest landed in the garden), cutting off the way to the curtains, my sewing machine, some half-finished projects and the 

rotary-cutting paraphernalia.  

Very frustrating, but there's nowhere else to put it in our cosy 

end-of-terrace, till it migrates next door - the last of the big jobs in the Grand Flat Renovation for Mr U-t-B's daughter.  

Before we went away on our little skiing jaunt, we worked hard on the kitchen.

It's not yet quite finished but...

Where once there was a dark and extremely grimy, early 90s kitchen, 

with a defunct oven ...

...there is now something light and clean (and an oven that not only works but has its own meat probe!)

The kitchen used to have just a run of cabinets down one side.  There wasn't much useful storage at all.  And the wall cabinets were so small, given a ceiling height of nearly three metres, that it looked a bit like a dolls' house where they'd got the proportions wrong!

Now the units go round the corner, facilitated by the moving of the boiler (which conked out mid revamp).

The sash window has had its staff beads removed ready for renovation, but we need to have a couple of clear days to get this job done properly.  It'll be worth it in the end...

Haven't got round to painting this bit yet, but I'm pleased with my tiling!

The chimney breast used to be completely plasterboarded.  

Shame about the border that was de rigeur in the late 80s and early 90s.  This one was especially nasty, and it has left behind a patchy flaky mess now it's gone.  Lots of elbow grease has been used trying to sort that bit out! 

Mr U-t-B has opened the chimney breast up and created an arched opening.  We are going to try to find a nice old floorboard to cut up for shelves in there, and we may put a wine rack at the bottom.  I keep forgetting to visit a local salvage place to try and pick a floorboard up ( probably because it is a risky business - soooo many temptations!)

 This side of the kitchen used to have just the radiator, a fold-up table and chairs and the boiler.  Oh, and more of that delightful orange border.

It now has a small work area above the radiator as well as the fireplace feature.  It will also have an electrical supply soon, which will make the kitchen much more practical.

So this weekend we want to get the new bathroom in - Mr U-t-B has already made a start by pulling out the bath this very afternoon.  The eldest Miss U-t-B has helpfully gone on holiday for a week, so it will just be her poor boyfriend traipsing across the road to use our shower!  

Mr U-t-B worked as a plumber's mate in his student days, so at least it's another DIY job.  I'm not much help, so I can get on with

 some of the unfinished painting in the kitchen.  Or alternatively, once the bathroom fittings have gone, get back to my sewing machine!

Did I really write on February 2nd that 'the end of all this decorating and renovating is in sight'?

Keep on running...

Haven't had much time to sew today as I was teaching French in the morning and then had a mountain of ironing to tackle, with an uncooperative iron...

However, I kept going with yesterday's idea - well, the flowery part of it - and here's what I made...

Felt notebook covers for Seawhite sketchbooks...

Thought these might be good for Mother's Day...

Oops!  Forgot the bee on this one!

I only started these about half-three and although I had to put on my taxi driver's hat three times and my pancake chef's one twice, I still managed to get them both done by ten o'clock, so practice is certainly helping me speed up with my little needle!

I want to now expand my repertoire of flowers and I have just the book to help me, bits of which I will share tomorrow if I get a chance.

Thanks for all your lovely comments recently - I really do appreciate them! 

Running with an idea

You may remember these from before Christmas...

Bottletop Pincushions!

I made quite a few.  They are rather addictive, and quick to put together. But they are a bit on the small side.

So when I saw an aerosol can lid about to go in the bin, I pounced upon it.  Then my moisturiser ran out and that had a suitable lid  too. 

So today I have been making a whole family of pincushions.

I used a couple of vintage embroidered cloths (including the one I am now using as my header) for inspiration for new flowers. And I decided to put a bee onto each one, which I can't believe I haven't done before!

I must apologise for the blurry photos, but our camera really doesn't do close-ups.  Don't know why, because it's a good camera!  It may have something to do with the operator...

I wonder what you have been up to today?