~Catching Up~

At the end of a tiring week leaving home at 7am for work every morning (I look and feel rubbish!) I am quickly popping in to do a ta-da of my latest chair project.  All the chairs in this house are vintage ones which have had a makeover. I thought I'd show the chair I've painted for Laura's bedroom.   I posted a photo of this on Instagram earlier in the week.  The solid wood chair was in a family shed, rescued and given to me.  It was in bad condition with a PVC seat, but as you can see it's a lovely shape so just needed a good scrub, rub down and paint.

 

I used the Laura Ashley eggshell in Duck Egg blue I had left over from my sewing room chair project. The method here was 1 coat of primer, followed by 3 thin coats of eggshell, gently rubbing down between coats.

 

I then used fine glasspaper to distress the edges, and finished with a wiped-on coat of clear wax and a good buff with a cloth.  The finish is lovely and satiny smooth - worth the effort.

 

The seat pad was repadded with cotton wadding from Dunelm and recovered in this lovely duck egg check linen fabric (£19.99 per metre - Dunelm) I've enough to make some cushions too.

 

Just need to repaint her room now - but that will have to wait until half-term!

Hope you like it. 

Have a lovely weekend x

~It's a Cracker!~

I can't abide spending my money on things like Christmas Crackers, though the kids would fall out with me if I *bah humbug* didn't buy any.  Frugal solution follows...
Buy Tesco Value Crackers - 10 for the sum of 96p.  I couldn't buy the cardboard for that, so I thought I would use them as a starting point.

I bought 2 packs of cute chocolate Christmas puds from Co Op for £2  (I had more than enough so ate these ones that were left)

I carefully dismantled the cracker - they'd glued the cracker-snappy thing to the card so I snipped it and reglued it after generously filling the cracker with choccies...

I dispensed with the nasty plastic toy...

Added some vintage eiderdown fabric scraps, gingham ribbon and hearts...

Thrify crackers total cost £2.96

~Busy making and crafting~

In amongst all the usual family stuff this half-term, I've made a few things to sell and also to give as Christmas presents.  I'm having a stall at J's school Christmas Fair, as well as a shopping evening in the next couple of weeks.
These brooches were made using Homemade Gifts Vintage Style by Sarah Moore . I used loads of felt, wool blankets, velvet, vintage fabric, doilies and vintage buttons.  I'm a bit too safe and precise with crafting, but I did try to be random with my fabric choices, which worked out better than over-thinking it. These will be lovely gifts along with some wristwarmers!

Some stockings made from wool felt - and I'm going to make some larger versions from a cream Early's blanket...

A hot water bottle cover made from a felted fairisle jumper (accidentally felted I have to say, but never mind)...

I love the velvet ribbon on this.  Remember to keep a look out in charity shops for jumpers suitable for felting. 
Is anyone else making their own Christmas gifts this year?
ooh and by the way, I have started work on the Lavender Attic shop, but being a technophobe it's taking me a while to plod through the process, but I'm getting there...

~Cosy & Thrifty Door Curtain~

Yesterday I managed to get my door curtain up with the intention of saving energy through the colder months. Apparently draught-proofing your home is a very efficient way of saving appoximately £55 per year, as well as then being able (hopefully)to turn your central heating thermostat down, which could save an additional £60 per year.  See the Energy Saving Trust website for tips here. 
We live at the top of the street, in a slightly elevated position and get the cold air whistling through the keyhole and letterbox, despite having a modern solid front door. Our thermostat is in the hallway too, so hopefully it won't kick in as often as it usually does in winter.
So here is my thrifty version of a door curtain...
Rather than spend on a posh 'portiere' curtain pole that lifts the curtain out of the way, we used a wooden batten (local woodyard £1) fixed to the wall above the door, painted to match the wall...

...and fixed the curtail rail (simple rail approx £5 from Wilkinson) to the wooden batten - a good idea as door curtains are so heavy.
 I'd kept a look-out in charity shops for a suitable sized curtain (approx twice the width of your door) and found this one a couple of months ago for £4. The curtain is a heavy brocade, yellow/gold striped, fully-lined, and already had suitable header-tape.  As the drop was only 170cm, I added a border and additional lining at the bottom.  I already had the Laura Ashley striped linen fabric and lining. Make sure the curtain 'puddles' on the floor a bit so it acts as a draught-excluder.
Here's the snug hallway now; I promise you it's instantly warmer and looks cosy too...

 During the day it can be kept out of the way and it's easy to pull to the side if you need to open the door.

Altering an existing curtain is a good way to learn how curtains are made too, for future reference.
Keep warm and have a lovely weekend x

~Half-term catch-up~

It's half-term, which means time off work for me to catch up on stuff at home. 'Stuff' being household jobs like dripping taps, leaking radiators, overgrown garden needing putting to bed and an ironing pile the size of York Minster - you know the score. Plus household appliances going *kaput* all at the same time.

I am now also on a mission to make as many gifts as possible for Christmas, in the name of much-needed thrift, but also in the name of being grateful for all that we do have. We do not need big and unnecessary material spending - just time and a smidgin of love.
So, do you remember this pile of wool bought at a local car boot sale?...

Well, I taught myself to knit in the round using 2 sets of flexible needles in the Summer.  It was fiddly at first, but just remember  to use 1 set at a time - one is your working set and one is your sleeping set.  Detailed and excellent instruction to be found in this book by Loani Pryor...
Once again I am knitting wristwarmers; but these little beauties require no sewing up.

1 working set, 1 sleeping set - half the stitches on each set

A finished pair of these lovely wristwarmers finished

off with some vintage buttons...

The pattern for these wristwarmers is a lovely one found via Julie at Little Cotton Rabbits here
See you soon, keep warm x

~Seaside Tea Towel Cushion~

In this month's Coast magazine there was a crafty tutorial about using souvenir tea towels to make cushions, bags and aprons, see here for more about it.

Photo reproduced from
http://fabricnationadventures.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/coast.html

I had a vintage teatowel from Cornwall (bought in a Falmouth charity shop last year) so have had a couple of hours sewing this afternoon, after finding some suitable ticking fabric and pom-pom trim in my cupboard.

Cushion front

Cushion back

Hope you've all had a good weekend x

~Finished Make-Do-And-Mend Dresser~

If you remember back in July in my
  ~ Dresser Envy ~    post I started the renovation of a dresser for my kitchen which looked like this....

I used any old leftover cream and white matt emulsion to give it all 2 coats of undercoat, with sanding between coats with either wire wool or fine sandpaper.  Then the shelves and back were painted in F&B Ball Green leftover emulsion, and then waxed.  The drawers and cupboards were lined in leftover Cath Kidston wallpaper from my bedroom, and the main body had 2 coats of F&B New White eggshell.  I was under pressure as we've got some friends coming for a meal on Saturday and I didn't want it half-done.  So here it is seen in it's fairylight glory...

 I haven't fully decided what to put where; OH says it's already *too busy* ...oh dear!
I love the green alcoves and wall paper...

It does feel good to get it finished; it was a bit of a 'Forth Bridge' project, but worth it!

~Dresser Envy~

Dresser Envy is something I have suffered with for quite a few years now; exacerbated by sneaky peeks and glorious transformations of dressers on the blogs I follow...

I've always coveted Steph's lovely dresser at Curlew Country...

Picture from Curlew Country blog

 I loved Scarlet's thrifty transformation loaded with Hornsea Pottery at Tales From Beyond The Nook...

Picture from Tales from Beyond The Nook

And I adore Kazzy's dresser at Country Rabbit - so much loveliness to peek at!

Picture from Country Rabbit blog

Well,  lucky me - heaven knows that I don't have the pennies to buy one - I now have my own dresser ripe for transformation!  

It wasn't thrifted; it was gifted -  from generous friends renovating their kitchen. 

 Here it is...

 It's lovely and solid, with oodles of storage.  I have bought a tin of F and B Estate Eggshell in New White, but my other materials I already had - some F and B Ball Green emulsion, some finishing wax and half a roll of Cath Kidston wallpaper.  Here's a sneaky peek...

I'll carry on during the Summer holidays tackling it in manageable chunks! The main body will be New White, with Ball Green on the inside and back. 

One more day at work then roll on Summer!

~A few sneaky peeks...~

Here are a few things that will be on my stall at Rivers Meet on Sunday...

A pretty pincushion made from an old teacup and saucer covered in fabric...

A mug warmer made from a felted angora cardigan and eiderdown fabric...

...fastened with wool felt and vintage buttons

Everything Stops For Tea mug warmer, made from a felted wool blanket with handmade heart buttons.
Hope to see you there! x
Rivers Meet Craft cafe - Market in May, Sunday 20th May 10am - 3pm  Methley, Leeds LS26 9EP.

~Photos from York Festival of Vintage~

Good job all the stalls at York's Festival of Vintage were tucked inside the race stands as it was a very wet weekend.  I did feel sorry for the owners of the vintage cars outside, who probably didn't get the attention they deserved, because of the rain.
I had a lovely day out with friends old and new, including meeting up with Sally from Poppycock blog (and Bob the bunny, of course.) Here are some photos of the stalls...


I so very nearly bought this pink wool blanket on the left (£12)



Bob The Bunny admires the vintage fabric on Sago Designs stall...
(You can now make your own Bob with one of Sally's lovely kits - see here)



Lovely Jubilee display by Living by Liz - I loved this stall.
Some people get it just right don't they?

This pretty stall had lots to look at too...

including vintage cosmetics, labels and packaging...

Vintage fashion show


There was a good mix of homewares, vintage clothing, reworked vintage, vintage inspired crafts, as well as bands, dancing and the excellent nostalgic collectors hall where it was a pleasure to meet Mrs Day, who is a member of a 1940s living history group called UK Homefront http://www.ukhomefront.co.uk/.  We had a nostalgic sniff of the carbolic soap and she let us in on some vintage and thrifty household cleaning tips.
I also bought some trimmings and buttons from the lovely Cool Crafting stall who had come all the way from Cumbria.  Have a look at their lovely website and blog http://www.coolcrafting.co.uk/
My last purchase was a spontaneous splurge on a gorgeous 1950s dress, which I am just carefully washing and pressing, so I'll share that next time...

~Simple Pleasures - Weekend bunny make~

I got this lovely book by Sarah Moore for my birthday back in February.

 Gorgeous photos, gorgeous layout and design - just my kind of book. Country Living are serialising some of the projects from the book; so despite missing the Easter Bunny deadline, I thought I'd have a go at the lavender bunny (p.111) which is shown on the front cover, using scraps and trimmings I already had.
Bunny's front is made from some pale pink fluffy wool fabric...

...with a vintage wool tweed reverse, complete with a pom-pom tail...

I especially enjoyed making the carrot from leftover linen scraps...

...and a tote bag to keep it in!
And every bunny needs a comfy place to sleep...

Not sure with who or to where she is destined to go - she may go to Rivers Meet 'A Market in May' with me when I have a stall at the craft cafe in Methley, near Castleford in May.
Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend, despite the rain!

~Hopes & Aims 2012 Update~

I haven't bought any new clothing (after my dress purchase on the 16th January) or anything else non-essential - just food, toiletries, petrol  etc.
I have to say there has been a definite change of mindset and I haven't been anywhere near a clothes shop. I've also worn stuff that I had forgotten about; maybe it's about being creative with the stuff you have already.
I am allowed to have a rummage in lovely charity shops though.   I managed to get some lovely Armani black trousers for £3.99 in Boston Spa the other day. Thrifting heaven.
I'm still reluctantly going to circuit training. It's a definite mood-lifter but not an attractive proposition on a dark, icy night. As the joke goes; my exercise regime lasts 2 hours - 1 hour of circuit training and I hour trying to talk myself into going...  

A bit of  nostalgia now...In my head whilst training, I convince myself that I look like this - my favourite fitness look - the hi-cut leotard and headband...

Olivia Newton John in the 'Physical' video in 1981

From about 1975 - 1982 I wanted to be Olivia Newton-John.  Back to reality though, and on return from Circuits I have to be helped out of the car making involuntary grunting noises, bent double like Mrs Overall in Acorn Antiques.

Sadly, I haven't lost any festively acquired weight yet, it's sticking around into February...The funny thing was I thought the charity shop trousers were a Size 10 and bought them smugly, but when I got home and checked the label, they are in fact an American 10. Ho hum.

~Thrifty Hot Water Bottle Cover ~

I'm really tired at the moment, but also relieved that I've nearly made it through bleak January without a meltdown. Thursday evening I was determined to sew, that feeling that you just need to make something and be creative.
My friend Claire, the 'Felted Ferret' made me a hot water bottle cover from a felted angora jumper last year, so I thought I'd have a go (as daughter L now pinches that one for herself).
I bought an angora/cashmere Principles jumper for £1 at a car boot sale last year, and have worn it to death for work until it's shrunk and bobbly -  so decided to reuse and upcycle it. I aready had the hot water bottle and other materials, so it's not cost me anything to make.
I washed it at 60 degrees, then did a bit of applique with vintage fabric, buttons and an old wool blanket...

I always use iron-on interfacing when doing applique. 

I used one of the frilly cuffs for the neck of the cover.

Here it is helping me keep cosy on the sofa with my favourite Greengate wool blanket...

Have a lovely weekend... I'm planning on pottering around and not doing an awful lot!

~Teapot and Teacup gardening~

Succulent plants, such as sempervivums ('houseleeks') are ideal for container planting in
vintage crockery odds and ends.  I have a stone trough outside planted up with succulents and alpines, but they are also ideal plants for sunny indoor windowsills - mine are happy in an unheated conservatory in Winter, and spend June to October outdoors in a sunny spot. 
From one of our 'miscellaneous boxes' from a local auction (£1 for a box of random old pots and kitchenalia) came this gorgeous old teapot, missing it's lid. It's a beautiful Gibson's Staffordshire pottery teapot in an unusual hexagonal shape. I used a well-draining planting mix of 50/50 horticultural grit and compost, and just repotted the offsets that my other sempervivums have grown.  They root easily and soon grow over the container sides.  This one flowered beautifully in the summer...

If you look closely you can see the spindly roots that the baby plants are sending out.

I do the same with pretty teacups...

...dressing the tops with grit for drainage. I don't drill holes in the china - just make sure you hardly water them - do not overwater them or they will rot. They make lovely home-made presents too, or for a fund-raising plant stall. Does anyone else plant up bric-a-brac odds and ends?

~Thrifty quilt TaDa ~

Thankyou for all the lovely comments on my last post - I think we're all floral fabric addicts, and it's clear that there are lots of us with unfinished projects too!
Today whilst 9 year old J used all the blankets and cushions in the living room to make 'Yoda's Hut' (?!?) I escaped upstairs to finish my quilt, first sewing achievement of 2012!
I'm proud it's not cost anything to make;  a real make-do-and-mend affair, I love it though it's not perfect and a bit wonky in places! The backing fabric is an old sage green cotton sheet that I was given - it's really good quality, soft and well-washed.  The padding is an old synthetic single duvet cut down to fit with the raw edges zig-zagged on the machine.  It'll be easy to machine-wash when needed. I then machine sewed the patchwork to the backing, leaving a gap to slip the duvet in - I slip-stitched the opening...

Then pondered about whether I should quilt through the layers...Eventually I decided to just make 6 suffolk puffs (or yo-yo's) out of some lovely Robyn Pandolph paisley fabric. Each suffolk puff has a vintage mother of pearl button at the centre, which is sewn through all the layers to keep the padding in place.

So here it is on my bed....

Overboard on the chintz and florals do you think? ...Never!

I think it'll be a lovely snuggly lap quilt when I get my caravan...

All the fabric has been bought second-hand - the Sanderson curtains were charity shop bargains last year and the Cath Kidston and eiderdown fabric were York car boot sale finds. A nice way to use and look at your very favourite fabrics.

Then I had a cuppa and a slice of this...

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend x