Decorating and stuff

Slowly catching up with myself here.

Thought I would show you all my lovely new craft corner.

We redecorated the play room and made it a bit more grown up. As the boys all now have a bedroom each all the toys have gone upstairs which means the dog has less to chew.

I now have somewhere to put all my 'stuff' and boy do I have a lot! It didn't seem so much when it was hidden away all over the house. That was when it was tidy, now it has a ribbon string hanging from under the shelves and all my sewing boxes and button jars...

We also changed the fireplace in this room. We had an old 1930's high mantle which the previous owners had boarded out and put the tv in. We thought about putting a log burner in but it was very expensive so instead I searched ebay and found a fab Victorian fire place complete with mantle and granite plinth

ok you can't really see it because of all the paint pots (3 bedrooms, hall, front room & play room painted)

Metal fireplace

Tile detail

All for the princely sum of £80 :o)

I also took a brave step and painted the previously cream front room a dark Victorian green

At first I was horrified as I thought it looked like a tank but after a few coats (4 to be exact) and it drying properly I love it! So much that I have sent back the bookcase I had bought as I thought it covered up too much of the green. So we still have our books in old Claret boxes from when Chris & I both worked in Oddbins.

I had dressing up to make, at the last minute thanks to my boys memories... so they went as Christmas presents

Noah decided he needed a back story so he was an Elf who had fallen into the parcel machine....!

Another big event was when Jacob & I went to a talk by Chris Packham about nature photography. Now we are really into conservation in this house and we have family membership to the RSPB and BBOWT. I currently volunteer as a Field Teacher with the RSPB and Jacob's ambition is to be a wildlife photographer so this was a big deal for him.

Chris Packham was an absolute star. He met everyone in the theatre foyer before the show, at the interval and stayed behind at the end. He had time for everybody and we all got photos, he even gave Jacob a top trumps set called Plop trumps all about animal poo. A great night out and a true gent..swoon...

The children all marched with the Scouts on Remembrance Day through the town. It was the first year my Dad didn't march with the Royal Engineers as he was away but myself and the children did as we are all scouts. I even managed to capture a rare display of brotherly love on the way home

Meanwhile I was busy making gifts for the teachers

Whilst fighting off attention seeking cats...

...and dogs that still needed walking no matter how much painting there was to be done

Whilst the children got on with the important stuff

and other things

 working together

Yum!

10 minute beading

I have found the photos for the quick beaded necklace I made for the job interview in July.

It was for a General Teaching Asst in the Design & Technology Dept at the local secondary school and I thought if I showed up to the interview wearing something I had made it would score me extra points. However I, as usual, left it all to the last minute so after a quick chat with the lovely ladies at Flutterby Crafts http://www.flutterbycrafts.co.uk/            I made this, a quick knotted bead necklace.

Sorry the pictures aren't great- and I didn't get the job....

The supplies

Planning where to put the beads

Bead repeating pattern prep

I made the thread double thickness so I could knot it, then put one strand through the bead and the other around it, then knot it at the bottom to secure it.

then another

I chose 3 beads as my repeating pattern

Finished necklace. This literally took 10 mins and I was really thrilled with the result

I have worn it a few times now and been asked where I bought it!!

More Apples

Apparently there was a very bad apple crop this year due to the wet spring and a decline in Bee numbers. I know I didn't get any Damsons from Simone's tree this year as only a third of the tree pollinated.

We seem to have bucked the trend though as I had bags and bags of apples.

I made an Apple & Ginger cake every other day for nearly 6 weeks. I made it so often even my children started to say no to cake. I made jam and chutney that I have posted about before but still I had a glut of apples. My neighbours started walking faster everytime they saw me approach with a bag as they had all been given at least 2 bags each. I searched the internet for mince meat recipes but all the ones I found used 1 or 2 apples and I had tons!

Eventually I found an Apple Brandy Recipe on an American web site and decided to give it a go 

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Apple-Brandy

Basically you make a sugar syrup, pour it into sterilised bottles, add the peeled cooking apples, cloves and a cinnamon stick them top up with Brandy. Put it in a cool, dark place and give it a shake every couple of days  then after a week (I left mine for a month) bottle it up.

Easy....

...And it was! 

It also tasted delicious which was a bonus so I bottled it with the self seal bottles from Lakeland and gave it out as Christmas presents.

I only used a litre of Brandy. Next time I will buy 3 litres and make a huge batch.

Wow I really have been AWOL haven't I?!

The builders started on our loft in August and because of one problem or another they didn't leave until October. Then started the whole redecoration nonsense and because of all the new fire doors barely a room was spared. I finally finished painting on 17th December after weeks & weeks of emulsion. And I'm still not finished but that's a story for another day.

So on the 20th Oct I did a fantastic Willow Weaving Course at Thatcham Nature Reserve. It was run by Christine Brewster who has a studio in Englefield and runs lots of courses. Have a look at her website

www.stripeybasket.co.uk

or book a course at Thatcham this Spring

http://www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3791

First we started with the Willow

It had been soaked for a week in cold water to make it pliable.

First we twisted it round to make a circle

Then we put four twigs from top to bottom to give us a frame to weave into

Then we started to weave the sticks across

we had to keep pushing the willow down at the ends to keep them from bending up.

We kept working until the whole circle was full

Then we trimmed the edges to make a trivet or plant pot stand

After success with the trivet we were able to start the basket. For this we needed a board with holes in a circle to push the tall fat willow through. This was called Stakes & Strands. The stakes are fat willow roughly the same size then thinner willow to weave.We tied the willow at the top and at the bottom then pushed the card down nearer the bottom.

We placed the willow cage on our laps and started to weave. We were using two willows for this pattern, one starting on the stake behind the other. The pattern started in front of the stake so front, back, front and so on. The second willow did the same so they covered both sides of the stake.

We were pushing the willow down as we worked. It became really soothing and rhythmic and the whole room went very quiet but a contented quiet. You had to concentrate enough to block all other thoughts out and just concentrate but it was really meditative.

When we got to a height we were happy ..

..with we changed to another pattern called English Radding

This pattern required you to start the willows from the next Stake along so that you were building up the sides in a swirl.
So if I started on stake 1 I weaved as far as I could go then started the next willow on stake 2. When I got to the desired height of my basket I untied the top then cut the stakes to size

I then trimmed the willow that was left sticking out.
We turned the basket over to the base and removed the cardboard

To make the base we bent the willow across the top of 5 stakes and then under the 6th all the way around, trimming off the ends.

Ta Dah!!

I am really pleased with my basket. It now sits in my bathroom and holds toilet rolls!

There was still a few hours left so we were able to try 'free form' weaving. Christine has made many different free form designs including a full size bear. Look at her website to see her gallery. Stunning!

In all free form you start with a sphere

 Once the sphere was made you just wrapped the willow around and in and under until the shape started to form.

I used techniques I had learnt during the day and made.....

A ROBIN!!

How cool is that?!

I am really rather pleased with it, can you tell?

So these are all the things I learnt to make on a one day course

I will definitely do this again. I really enjoyed the steady rhythm of the weaving. Christine runs courses in all sorts of interesting weaving so do look at her website. She is a very gentle & patient teacher. 

Teaching the boy....

Well here we go, Noah has decided that he wants to knit so here he is knitting a square to make a flag. He seems to be enjoying it so far but we'll see how he goes

Where have I been??

Sorry for the lack of posts. Can't believe I have been missing since July!

I have been busy though and will post pictures very soon.

In my absence I have started a jumper but to be honest I am finding it a bit tedious. I guess I must just like quick projects so I see the results instantly. I haven't given it up but only work on it on mondays when I have to sit through the boys swimming lessons.

I have crochetted a beautiful flower headband from the fabulous website of Creative Yarn, have a look as she has loads of free patterns

http://creativeyarn.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/headband-with-flower.html

Its very quick and you can make it in about half an hour

I have really enjoyed crocheting flowers as they are quick and fun. I am crocheting lots of flowers in different designs and colours with the intention of sewing them all together to make a bag, not sure how yet.

I have made another karate doll but this time a girl, complete with long blonde hair for a friends daughter who is competeing for England at the European Karate championships. Go Ellie!!

I have also had a go at beading and furniture restoration but more of that when I get the pictures up but the biggest thing is we are having our loft turned into a bedroom and our house is in total chaos, everything from the loft is in the bedrooms or was until we had holes in every bedroom, now every room in the house has stuff on top of stuff on top of stuff......its all a bit much and will be for at least another month. Then I get to decorate....every room in the whole house :o/

Can you see all the apples?

 

 Kids creating a pulley system

So I have been hiding out in the kitchen finding different recipes to use up all the cooking apples that are falling off the tree.

Apple & cinnamon jam, apple & strawberry jam, Apple & ginger chutney, apple cake....

Apple & cinnamon jam

apple & strawberry jam

My wares

Meanwhile the cat has packed herself away

and the puppy spends her days trying to get a huge ball in her mouth