Spreading the Floral Goodness....

You may remember this post where I asked your opinions on how to "shabby chic up" the lounge which was dark and dreary and not really my taste?


I welcomed all your comments and have been gradually changing a few things - first I bought some faux silk curtains in duck egg to replace the dark ones and Mr Grumpy fixed the curtain pole (at last!!):

I intend to change the lamps too (for a pink ones, but don't mention that to Mr Grumpy!!)

Someone suggested the horse pictures had to go but they are portraits of two of my own horses that Mr Grumpy had commissioned for me so they most definitely have to stay.

I have also been making new cushions:

The big square ones are made out of a pair of curtains I got off eBay for £3.00 (they made another pair for the big sofa too) and I made a Union Jack bolster cushion too:

I'm pleased with how it's turned out - when I first learnt to sew I bought the pom pom trim, tried to trim a cushion with it and it was hopeless!! So, the fact I managed it quite easily yesterday shows me that I have improved.

I have some more fabric to make another set of cushions and I'm going to have a go at making piping for them.

Anyway, hope you all have a nice weekend....

S x

Never Give Up - (Look What I Made!!)

You may remember me telling you how for years I thought I couldn't crochet or sew, and that I took the plunged and have become competent at both?


Well, I can't knit either - have always been AWFUL at it - I would start with 20 stitches on my needle and somehow end up with 40, where these other stitches were coming from was anybody's guess - maybe they were breeding?


Anyway, last year I went to a class at my local wool shop and it wasn't long before the owner Claire realised that I was wrapping the yard round wrong (somehow?!!) and thus creating extra stitches. By the end of the class she even had me doing a little bit of cabling!!


However, I still found knitting D-U-L-L. Compared to crochet it works up S-L-O-W-Y and I am an instant gratification kinda gal. So the knitting was cast to one side.


But recently I have been hankering after making socks - inspired by Alice over at Crochet With Raymond - she has been knitting the most beautiful socks and I wanted to try.


The result:

As you can see it fits me perfectly (I say "it" as I have so far only knitted the one!!) but as such my feet must be a very odd shape as this is what it looks like off:

It looks like something Father Christmas might see hung on a mantelpiece!! I judged how long to make the foot by trying it on and as I said it does indeed fit perfectly so I must have short fat feet!! In actual fact they are a size 6 and I take regular width shoes so not quite sure what is going on there!!

I followed this pattern here but could not have done it without Kelley's Sock Class on YouTube (although she is using a circular needle, I did mine on four double points).

I nearly gave up doing the leg as the boredom set in but the combination of the variegated yarn and the TV kept me going.

So, the moral of this tale is even if for years your have thought you can't - maybe, just maybe - you can....

S x

A Potter in Petersfield....

Yesterday we had a potter to Petersfield, I fancied a mooch in the charity and junk shops. As we approached we saw signs to tell us that this weekend they were having a food and drink festival.


Had I known it was on I would have taken my camera so I could have shared it with you. There were loads of stalls selling things including cupcakes; garlic, chilli & olives; chutneys; curry sauces and even aloe vera juice.


We bought a little punnet of olives to nibble on (even H & W love olives and have done since they were babies) and then we each chose a beautifully decorated cupcake. Mr Grumpy was most enamoured of the buxom, vintage styled cupcake seller!!


In the main square there were stalls selling hot food, and the smells of hog roasts and venison burgers mingled with the more exotic spices of the Thai green curry that Mr Grumpy chose. After perusing all the sellers so we didn't miss anything H had a Dorset sausage as big as his arm in a roll and W and myself had a beef & ale burger which was just yummy.


We then had a CakeShake (cake or sweetie flavoured fresh milkshake) for "pudding"!!

So, we literally ate our way around the town and spent a pretty penny - but it was really enjoyable and on or way back to car W said "That was a once in a lifetime opportunity"!! I think he means because usually we say no at these things and today we let them have lots of food!!


Just near the car park is a little lane with a couple of shops that are just my cup of tea - I picked up these:

Two "anti-macassars" for chair arms (are they called "anti-macassars" when they are for the arms?); a beautifully cross-stitched traycloth - each for 50p and a little pig teapot for £2.25 which I will use for the boys tea before school.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend....

S x 

From Fugly to Fabulous!! Chair Re-Upholstery....

I have been hankering after a patchwork chair such as the ones I have seen on t'interweb, so when I saw this fella on eBay I bid and got it for a tenner. 


It's just the sort of little chair I was after, a low chair similar in style to a Victorian nursing chair - but as you can it was seriously in need of recovering:

I spent all day yesterday giving it a makeover:

I am very pleased with it as it is my very first attempt at sewing a cover like this!!

I couldn't find a tutorial so I had to work it out for myself. I was going to remove the original cover, dismantle it and use it as a pattern but as I prised the staples off the underside it became apparent that that wasn't going to work as the fabric was fragile and the inside of the chair was full of loose bits of stuffing.

Plan B was to pin greaseproof paper to the chair and then draw around it to make a pattern. I cut these out and then retired to my sewing room where I made patchwork fabric big enough for each pattern piece.

I cut these out and stitched them together using a 1cm seam allowance. When I had the back piece and the seat piece finished (but not stitched together) I put them on the chair for a fitting and then sewed them together too.

I have stapled the bottom of the cover to the underside of the chair as I wanted a tight fit but I could have hemmed the bottom and left it completely loose.

Whilst I was working away I had Desperate Housewives playing on my laptop and managed to watch 8 episodes!!

Today, my Sis and her kids are coming over so chaos will reign!!

S x

Car Boots & Barneys....

Hello!! I hope you are having a nice bank holiday despite the gloomy, grey weather we're having - it's a bit of a shock after all the glorious sunshine we have had, I expect it's getting ready for the long school holidays when the weather is always rubbish!!


On Saturday Hubby (who from here forth will be referred to as "Mr Grumpy"), myself and the kids went to a local car boot sale for a mooch around. We are newbies having only ever been a couple of times but I can definitely see how one can become hooked. I managed to pick up four lovely pictures for a fiver and a deep, loose bottom cake tin for £1 and W (son#2) got a couple of DVD's and a cheeseburger!!


As we were leaving Mr Grumpy and I got into an extremely heated debate about the best way home - it was firey but fortunately short-lived although I did have to track the two routes online to find out I was indeed correct!!


When we finally got home I made a chocolate chip and raspberry cake with my new tin:

Whilst the cake was baking I arranged my new pictures (which are part of the move to make the lounge more shabby-chic) - firstly I drew around them onto paper and the arranged the paper on the wall in a pleasing fashion:

This way I knew my arrangement was spaced properly and looked good before Mr Grumpy (love it!!) banged in nails:

The embroidery in the centre with the ornate frame was done for us by my Mum and given to me on the morning of our wedding - I love it. The rest were my car boot finds - I want lots more to fill the wall.

Today's barney was due to me wanting to go and take advantage of B&Q's special offer on paint and buy some antique cream to do the lounge and Mr Grumpy refusing. I usually get my own way but I did spring the idea on him and so I'll have to leave it for a week or so to sink in!!

We did nip out and I got a new lampshade, in a bid to introduce more pink:

It was from TKMaxx supposedly reduced from £48 to £5 and looks very pretty when the light is on.

What've you been up to?

S x

A Trip Down Memory Lane - Toys....

Toys I Loved As A Child

Using the Random Prompt Generator over at Daydreaming On Paper to give me the idea I would like to share with you some of my favourites from my childhood.

Fisher Price Pull Along Dog

This is one of my first loves!! He was made of wood and when you pulled him along his ears waggled. His stickers all became damaged (I recall I left him out in the rain) and so I took him to school where they helped me paint him brown and varnish him!!

Fisher Price Treehouse

OMG, I just LOVED this!! The top of the tree would shut down to hide the house and you had to press a button on top to get it to pop open. There was a slide from the kitchen to the bottom.

When our boys were tiny I tried to get one on eBay for them but they were going for almost £100.

My First Sindy - Ballerina Sindy

Just looking at this picture makes me smile, mine was the brunette and I got her for Christmas when I was five. I loved her and went on to have many Sindys. You were either a Sindy girl or a Barbie girl and it was definitely Sindy for me. My sister had Barbie.

Sindy's Horse

Due to my "Horsey Love Gene" I naturally had to have a horse to go with my Sindy - mine was bay and my sisters was grey. I also had the stables; jumps; horsebox; carriage....

My Little Ponies

In about 1984 My Little Ponies came out and I was desparate for one. I remember going to Debenhams in Nottingham and getting Minty my first My Little Pony. I had bout ten in the end including a baby and and a beauty salon for them!!

Commadore Vic 20

Haha, look at that!! That was our first home computer. We got it for Christmas when I was about 11 or so. Dad was a computer programmer and he made a program that had Santa appear and ask Sarah and Samantha (my sis and I) if we had been good girls!! It had taken him about a month to write whilst we were in bed each night.

The games came on cassettes and the graphics were extremely limited - we would play "Blitz" and a Dracula "adventure" role play game that was just words, no graphics at all!! We loved it!!

Pooh Bear

The toy I loved best was Pooh Bear - here he is on the left with me and my sister and her ted in about 1977. He wasn't a Winnie the Pooh but I called him Pooh Bear anyway. I was about 2-3 when I was given him and he wasn't new then. I adored him and he became very well loved. Over time he lost his legs; the stuffing out of half of one arm; had a hole in his chest which showed his straw filling and just one ear.

When I was 19 my Dalmatian puppy ripped him to shreds whilst I was in the bath and I still miss him :0(

Which toys did you love most?

Decorating Dilemmas - I Need Your Opinions!!

As you may remember I have been gradually spreading the floral goodness around our little house and until now have been kind of banned from "Cath Kidstoning up" the lounge.


But, I really am not happy with the way it looks and know I can get my own way ;0)


So, I am wondering if you have any tips on how I can shabby-chic up this room:

I'd rather keep the wallpaper as it has only been up a few months and I can't face redoing it - but I hate the teal paint on the chimney breast (always have) so am thinking of going paler, sort of a dark duck egg? 

The rest of the walls are currently "Biscotti" which is (unsprisingly) biscuit coloured - I fancied off white but when I did a tester it didn't go with the flowers on the paper which are definitely cream. So, would an ivory paint be better?

Do you think I could get away with introducing a bit of pink? Curtains (which I want to change)? Cushions?

Above the large sofa I want to do the mismatched picture frame thing like this:

(from Google Images)

So what do you reckon? Any ideas on how I can make this not very vintage teal room look a bit more "me" without changing everything?

Have a lovely weekend....

S x