First of the Year..............

Well, another Christmas and New Year has been and gone.......Happy New Year everyone!

And you can tell that, unlike some organised and energised folk, I had no New Year Resolution of blogging daily, or posting on a certain day every week.......nope, that's never going to happen!

In fact it is almost a month since I last posted.....just been too busy living in the moment to find any time for taking photos or even thinking about posting, so apologies for my lack of posts!

I always take a few quick photos around the house at Christmas so I do have something to share.

I hope you all had good Christmases, hopefully without flooding or storm damage or power cuts......

We felt ourselves extremely lucky on Christmas Day, having heard that many people in the next village were without power......

And in a nearby town on Christmas Eve, people evacuated their homes as the river rose and flooded their houses. Terrible enough at any time of year, but awful at Christmas, and sadly worse followed when these same homes were looted. 

What kind of senseless, wicked people can do that?

Anyway, as those poor folks gladly put a bad Christmas behind them, I too am happy to look forward to another New Year, having been fortunate to have enjoyed a good Christmas with extended family descending on us on The Day, and having achieved making a record (for me) 5 dozen mince pies this year! (And I don't even eat them!)

Amazingly enough, the poinsettia is still alive and doing fairly well....just a little leaf drop.

I am loving the colour of this one, such a very pale lemony colour which is somehow so fresh and uplifting.

(You can just see here another pair of fingerless gloves that I made before Christmas whilst on a crochet roll, turquoise with the same sort of very pale lemon edging - I think now that's probably what made me choose this colour trim to go with the turquoise! )

A few days before Christmas I popped in to the Antique and Flea market and came away with a basket full of goodies for around £15, including the basket!

I found some large scraps of green and cream heavy woven gingham, perfect for re-covering the Victorian chair I bought last year at the Antiques Fair.

lots of lace trims and crochet doileys.......

a huge bag of vintage trims, braids and gimps in all colours

£2 the lot!

.......and numerous other bits of lace, linens and bits and pieces that I still have to sort through and wash, as they were just put aside amidst all the Christmas preparations.

I'm finding it hard to get settled into a routine now that everyone is back at work and Uni here, and still haven't focused on what to tackle first in the long list of "things to do". 

Lots of painting and decorating to do....finish stairs and landing, finish sitting room... too many WIPS!

The back garden to plan....new terrace and new vegetable beds needed as the raised beds have fallen apart....found some garden design software in the sale, so am looking forward to using that as an aid...

New cooker needed which will mean a minor re-jig to accomodate a larger range cooker - having been used to cooking on a dual fuel range cooker for 12 years at our last house, when we moved here 3 years ago we inheirited a small 50cm single oven cooker, and believe me it is a real challenge, and not much fun, trying to cook a huge turkey with all the trimmings every year for 11 or 12 people on that!

New shower needed......need to source flooring....

etc etc etc.....

I haven't yet shaken off the in-between Christmas and the New Year feeling of limbo, and am just too bogged down with routine chores and tidying up after the holidays to start any of the above yet.

And I have temporarily lost my creative mojo I think, it having been put on hold over Christmas, so I need some inspiration and a kick up the posterior to get me motivated and back on track with whatever I was doing last year.

Have you got back on track?

Cosy Time

Well, it's getting closer to C-Day and yet it's still not looking very Christmassy here. 

Just a few little touches starting to appear, but I'm aware that I should be a lot more ahead than I am.

And that's because even though I have been pretty busy Christmas shopping, with most of the presents, food and drink now bought, I am rather guilty of getting side-tracked with other things.

Crochet things!

And this crochet book by Nicky Trench is to blame!

I have been dying to have a go at crocheting these pretty lacy gloves ever since the book arrived a couple of months ago.

And then I thought they would make an ideal present for my sister, so here they are in all their soft mauve glory!

(It's OK, she rarely has time to read my blog so she won't see them!)

As with anything I make, whether it be food, sewing or crocheting, I am incapable of following instructions without resisting the urge to change them and put my own stamp on whatever it is.

With these gloves I decided that as pretty as the lacy finger-less edges were, I wanted a scallopy shell edging. 

So I added one. 

I made a crochet scarf for my sister a couple of years ago, and this colour is one that is in it, so they should match her scarf.

I hope she likes them!

This young man has been keeping close whilst I have been on my "crochet roll" in the evenings.

And these colour yarns from my stash inspired the next project I made this week from the same book.

Again, one that I have wanted to make ever since the Nicky Trench book arrived - a cafetiere cover.

My version below

And here we have the "gillyflower" touch - ad-libbed vertical stripes at the handle, but this time not because I wanted to add them, but because I had to.

Cosy in my chair all ready to crochet, I was too lazy to get up and measure my cafetiere, and so just trusted that mine was the same size as the one in the book.

It made up so quickly, and before I knew it I had finished it in an hour or two whilst watching TV. 

But sadly it was too long.......and not wide enough!

AArrghhh!!!!!

So.......after some very careful measuring and fitting this time, rather than undo all my work, I added vertical stripes, turned it up at the bottom, sewed on a button (as per the pattern), and hoped for the best!

Much better!!!!!

And a lesson learnt too - measure first and don't make assumptions!

Still need to get the "real" tree for the hall, but the fake one is looking very cheery with its "bung it all on, the more the merrier, tasteless and all" decor!

Which includes red crocheted baubles that I made a few years ago, and Bella's favourite electric blue velvet deer! (see first tree photo above!)

So tasteful! (not!)

The vintage Christmas tablecloth bought at the Flea market the other day is now in use.....

For a change from the traditional dark red Poinsettia, I bought a creamy/ pale yellowy/ lime greeny one - the photo doesn't do the gorgeous colour justice!

Hope your Christmas preparations are more ahead than mine!

Painted Bureau in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Following hot on the heels of last week's Annie Sloan painted coffee table, I have been busy again this week with my Annie Sloan Chalk Paints transforming a mahogany bureau that I bought  from a friend.

It had been sitting sad and unwanted in her garage for several years, and when my friend heard I was looking for a little bureau desk with drawers and a flap down lid, she showed it to me and a deal was quickly struck.

This is what the pretty little bureau looked like before - a well-made bureau, with a little surface damage to some of the drawers, and a bit scuffed around the legs, but otherwise in good solid and sound shape and in need of a facelift.

And several days later, here it is........

Using Annie Sloan Country Grey and Original, the same colours used to paint the coffee table in my last post, this is what I did.

***

Annie Sloan Painted Bureau

Removed all handles from drawers and dusted down the bureau - I didn't need to wash it down as it was clean.

Painted one generous coat of Annie Sloan Country Grey using a large flat brush and working quickly -  don't be tempted to go back and touch up an area that you missed as you can sometimes end up taking paint off - better to go back later when dry or leave it altogether. (I painted over the key plates too, then sanded and scraped off most of the paint afterwards to leave a slightly shabby look)

When dry I painted a second coat on the bureau top and desk lid as I wanted a good coverage here.

When the second coat was dry, I lightly sanded all over using a fine grade sandpaper, gently distressing edges and corners which would naturally get knocked and worn. I like a subtly distressed look but you can distress as much as you like, or not at all. Even if you don't want any distressing, I find you achieve a much smoother, silkier finish if you sand before waxing, and it also highlights the brush strokes for a bit of depth and colour variation.

I then used a fine artists paintbrush to paint the bevelled edges of the desk lid and the raised drawer edges with Annie Sloan Original, to add some contrast and highlights.  I also added a highlight to the little pull out runners that support the desk lid. This took several hours as I wanted a fairly neat job. 

I then sanded the white edges, dusted the whole bureau down, then waxed it using Annie Sloan clear wax applied with a soft cloth, applying sparingly but covering it well.

After allowing the wax to dry for a day I buffed it with a duster, then using heavy duty sandpaper I roughly sanded all the handles to remove most of the dark brassy finish. I then re-attached the handles.

And voila! 

Now I must confess at this point that I haven't completely finished the bureau, as I want to paint the inside too - in a contrasting colour, perhaps a pretty pale duck egg blue or pale green - not sure yet.

I'm thinking of maybe mixing up a paler shade of either Annie Sloan Duck Egg or Provence - I have both colours in my paint stash. But it may have to wait until after Christmas now (especially as I have asked Santa for this book...........!)

****

Last week I popped along to the local Antique and Flea Market with Jane from the flower house - she came away with several vintage goodies which I expect she may share with you on her blog (if she hasn't already done so) and I found a few buttons and bits and bobs, and some fabrics.

some pretty vintage hankies, one with lilac crochet and one with a beautiful tiny tatting trim.

some sweet little cross-stitched napkins

vintage hand-painted buttons on original card in dark brown

and more buttons in the same design on white

a delicate handmade lace collar made from tatting

another collar, this one machine embroidered

a very delicately crocheted cream coloured teacosy - presumably to be place over a padded one

a very faded and stained vintage apron made in the prettiest tiny blue roses cotton - am hoping to be able to salvage enough to make something from this

2m of Anna Maria (Horner) fabric for £2, in a very 70's chocolate and white design, from her discontinued Chocolate Lollipop range

and a little xmassy tablecloth for £1

A pretty good haul again!

Hope everyone's Christmas preparations are now well underway - not many weeks to go now, so I'm glad to have most of the present shopping done, and much of the xmas food safely stored away.

Our Christmas cards will be written this weekend ( Bella plans to sit at this very desk to do the job for us which makes me happy - I'm glad it will be used ), and we are planning to get the Christmas tree from our local Christmas Tree farm just outside the village - they open the barn for just a few weeks each year to sell them.

How are you getting on with your preparations?? 

 Are you like my sister, totally organised, and so already finished??!!!

Enjoy the run up to Christmas!

P.S  For those who missed my last post, I finally made a breakthrough and stocked my Etsy Shop at last!!! Just put in a few Christmas decorations, probably a bit late for most people but at least I now know how to stock the shop.  

I will put some of my vintage and antique cushions in to it in the New Year - I was so pleased to have finally done it, but it was a lot of work what with the photos, the measuring, descriptions and weighing for postage!