Friday 27 January 2012

Some pretty vintage gifts.


It feels like ages since I last blogged. I cannot even remember why I have been so busy either. 

I did try to sew the upholstery covers for the caravan but made a bit of a mess of it. Have decided to wait for my mum to visit and show me the proper way its done. 

I have been very lucky this last week and been given some really nice vintage items by friends. 


These Salter scales actually match my new vintage bathroom scales, and they work.


A lovely dressing table set.


A pretty compact.


A set of rose embroidered place mats.


Some fish cutlery, I love old cutlery.


Finally this gorgeous eiderdown.

I saw my surgeon on Tuesday and she prescribed me a tablet to help stop the hot flushes. What a nightmare, it only took an hour before I was tripping. I was so sick, it was horrible  and it took nearly 24 hours to get out of my system. It did stop the flushes so I did actually sleep through the night for once but I would rather flush than feel like that. 

I am off skiing this weekend to Bulgaria, its my first holiday since treatment and my first time skiing. I am really looking forward to it. My hubby is a ski instructor with the military but is refusing to teach me, he has booked me into ski school. Its probably for the best really, want to enjoy the holiday.

So I shall see you all when I am back.



Friday 13 January 2012

They say you learn by your mistakes!

Yesterday I decided was going to be the day I finally sat down and started sewing the curtains for "Lotte" the caravan as she is coming along. My hubby is away overseas and my daughter was staying at her boyfriends house. I had no work, no errands to run, no excuses what so ever. I have put it off for months because I am still not confident using the sewing machine. My mum is going to give me a master class when she visits next time, thankfully.
So I did not even bother to get out of my pj's, I put some music on, lit the Jo Malone candle I got for Christmas (that is a strong candle by the way, you only need to light it for 30 mins. It will last forever at that rate) and started work.


This is the curtain fabric for "Lotte". She is a big caravan so there was loads to cut and sew. It took me ages, probably a lot longer than it should of but this is my first big job, its a bit different to bunting. So I finished them all and thought why don't I make a start on "Lola" too. So I cut all the fabric, matched the curtains up in pairs and sewed for hours. When I got to the last one I suddenly remembered a fellow blogger Wendz recently sewing her curtains upside down. Yes you have guessed what I did, I sewed half the bloody curtains upside down. Luckily "Lotte's" fabric could go in any direction but not "Lola's". So I  then spent another hour making repairs until I lost the the will to live. I did not manage all of the repairs, the few which are left can wait!!!!



 The main thing is they are sorted, just need to purchase the upholstery fabric now and make a start on that. Its bloody hard work these caravans!!!


This is another vintage music cd I have come across, its very subdued but nice. 




Going to chill now for 2 days till hubby's home, I have worked hard this week.


Wednesday 11 January 2012

Fire screen finished

I have been busy finishing my first few projects. 



My new fire screen.



The kitchen cupboard.

Finally I have to say thank you to hubby who is so thoughtful. Due to my new medication putting me through the menopause I am having lots of hot flushes. He has bought me a bunch of fans to place around the home so there is always one close to hand. He even bought fans covered in vintage fabric. He really is a sweetie. Below is a couple of them. (Chez if you are reading this I highly recommend you buying one).



Sunday 8 January 2012

My custom made fire screen

I have finally started working in my workshop. The reason I have is because I want to. I know it has been ready for a few months with some vintage furniture desperate to be made pretty, I've just had no motivation. That is no longer a problem because it is back.

I have the ugliest fire in my living room. It is definitely from the 70's maybe earlier. As the property is a military house there is nothing I can do about it, they will not let me remove it. It is probably classed as vintage but I hate it. Anyway I asked a friend who is a carpenter to make me a wooden fire screen. This is what he came up with. I asked for a handle he put a heart handle on. Its perfect and just me. This is the first coat of paint and the feet need attaching. I am thinking of putting a shabby chic design on the front using a cranberry colour. 


It had to be custom made as its a lot wider than the average fire screen as my ugly fire is massive. I absolutely love it and cannot wait to finish it.

I have started work on a vintage meat cupboard I recently bought. I decided duck egg blue would be a lovely colour.



I have some duck egg oilcloth to line the shelf's and the drawer. Its going to be so cute that I will probably keep it just in case it goes in my new house that i will eventually buy one day. I shall start work on the big dresser next, I will probably keep that too. I will end up with a workshop full of lovely furniture soon.

One of the caravans is nearly ready, just the outside to be painted and the floor to be laid. I need to finish the curtains too, hopefully she will be ready in feb.

The situation with the dog did not work out. In my New Year post I claimed I would not do anything that caused stress or made me unhappy. She has gone back to her owners who will carry on looking for a good home. It has made me realise I do not want a puppy. My life is easy and calm, I did not realise how nice it was till it was disrupted.

Friday 6 January 2012

The blog is fixed thanks to Happy Harris from "Happy Loves Rosie" . I have no idea how easy or difficult it was to mend but she managed it and upgraded me onto the new blogger interface too. So there should be no more problems. 

When life becomes a little bit easy around here I have a habit of making it more complicated. We have a home full of pets and it works well, its quite chilled out. So I decided to makes things crazy and take in another dog who needed a home. She comes from a good home but circumstances meant they had to find another family for her. She is a lovely 3 year old "Staffie" called "Holly".


Its been a mad 48 hrs but its all calming down apart from the having to keep the cats away from her as they are a little bit scared. She only wants to say " hello". 


It will all work out soon I hope!!

My job involves me working for quite a few clients, which means at Xmas I usually a small cash bonus as a gift. I decided I was going to club the money together and buy something I have wanted for ages, a Vintage Eiderdown. The one I purchased is from the 1940's and is really pretty. It goes perfect in the spare room with the "Clarke and Clarke" fabric.



Finally this is one of the gifts my hubby bought me for Xmas. Its from the 1950"s and really cool.



I have to mention that no one in this family has a problem with how much they weigh. We have never had bathroom scales. He purchased them because he knew I would love the retro look about them, they are spot on accurate for the age though.

Sunday 1 January 2012

Normal service will be resumed shortly (hopefully)

I have no idea what is going on with my blog. It looks horrible and all my graphics and pages have vanished.  What a great start to the New Year this is. Hopefully the next time I post this will be rectified. I hate technology!!!