It's a little bit blingy and bright and shiny....it's a little fun...
It's a coat hanger covered in cheap baubles and a big red bow to cover the badly made fastening. (Coat hangers are hard to bend, people, don't assume I tell ya)
But it's a happy coat hanger, don't you think?
This must be a record.
A quilt in less than a week?
Without further ado I give you .... 'the lounge quilt' (to replace the old lounge quilt which is now the 'back of the car quilt', not a demotion, more like a career change...)
Graciously modelled by Mr M in situ in the lounge. (The thing above his head? a lampshade, not a hat)
He was running late, I only had one shot.
It's very soft and already creased and worn looking, which is how I like my quilts to be.
There isn't much to say about it: only two colours and let me tell you it was very hard to be that restrained!
Am I pleased? 100%. I love it.
I think I deserve first dib with it tonight, right?
I woke up this morning with a jolt and then after checking the news I wished I hadn't woken up at all. I can cope with nightmares... but reality? It's a little bit harder.
People... what is going on?
Why?
Seriously?
Do we really want to leave this world in the worse possible state for our children?
Not happy.
How can I teach them the importance of understanding and cooperation and respect if all they hear is the exact opposite?...
Scary.
It's made me eat white plastic bread for breakfast!! AND I skipped the gym!!
That is bad. Real bad.
Let's talk bulbs instead.
Every year I like to dot a few of these babies around the house:
This one will start its life in between 'sad geranium' and 'ridiculous cactus' on the kitchen sill, only to be moved to a better place once it's flowering.
Or maybe not.
We need all the 'pretty' we can find.
I'm off to buy more.
When we moved into our new home the boys got new beds. Big boys' beds.
Big boys' beds which are still too small when your first born passes the 6'1" mark... but that it's a story for another time.
Today let's talk about his new quilt.
When I asked No 1 if he'd like me to make him one for his new room his reply was: "if you want". Given his age (15) and the raging teenage hormones I took that as a "yes mum I'd love you too" and got to work. Delusional? Me?
It took a while.
Life got in the way.
Then I decided to do a lot of heavy quilting on it...
That took even longer.
And then when I finished it I didn't take pictures... and what you're getting today it's a bit of a mess. Basically old photos on my phones and me chasing the light around the house with nobody to hold the damn thing up for me.
So... the bottom half looks like this:
The top half (upside down... just turn your monitor please...)
And when it's on his bed (bad light, messy room... you really don't know what was out of view... sigh) is like this:
Or sometimes like this (as you can see he doesn't mind which way it goes... #whydoIbother...
Or you can hang it crookedly from the top of the wardrobe and it looks like this:
I used all the blue fabric/scraps I had and it was a lot of fun to make. I tried not to over think it and reign myself in a bit...
and for the quilting I tried to match the tread to the fabric... with a little of variegated fun thrown in the mix. I like doing my own quilting but by the end I would have gladly paid somebody to do it for me.
Yesterday I bought wadding for three finished quilt tops... watch this space.
My attention this week turned to my house plants.
We have lots.
Unfortunately quite a few were in a state of disrepair... we've been away a lot this summer and the care bestowed onto them varied from obsessive watering (the house sitter drowned quite a few... we need to have a chat about succulent and cacti me and him) to oops I forgot that was there (think death valley).
So armed with a list I searched for suitable replacements.
First up: maiden ferns. I so love them... but I just kill them with my love. All-the-bloody-time.
They replaced the cadavers in the conservatory (don't worry, no direct sunlight hits them. Not that it made any difference to the other lot).
Then I replanted the three little Arabia pots I found at a charity shop a few years back that live on a shelf above the kitchen sink,
I have no idea what these pretty little things are called, or how mahoosive they'll grow to. Or not.
My botanical knowledge is scarce at best, but I think it's really poor when they sell plants without a name label, how are we supposed to learn?
Then I bought another anonymous weirdo plant which now resides in an old candle pot and replaces a boggy succulent. Sad actually. I loved that plant.
Then I got sucked into buying a whole tray of cyclamens, what can I say, I can't resist them. (The boys think the leaves are 'rude' and so the 'willy plant' is tucked away out of sight).
Boys.
Sigh.
The conservatory is been taken over...
but I don't mind.
Now I need to do something on the front door... what can I do?
mmmhhhh.....
It's one of the great British traditions, like long cricket matches, cups of tea and the Queen speech... if it's a Bank Holiday you must do gardening. Or DIY. DIY is acceptable too. (There's also the venerable traditions of spending hours stuck in traffic on the motorway... but I don't really like that one)
I don't 'do' gardening.
I like 'being' in the garden... reading a book, having a snooze, a spot of knitting, perhaps even cutting flowers for the house, but gardening gardening? the on your knees, hands in the dirt variety? No thank you.
Today, though, I did.
Pat on the back/where's my G&T?
I drove to the garden centre... marched straight past the petunias and the marigolds (I apologise to all petunias lovers... I'm still your friend, I promise) and purchased a whole bunch of plants with cute names like 'Felicia blue' and 'Cape daisy'... and geraniums, because they are nice.
I had the job of filling one large container in the front of the house and of course I bought flowers that totally matched what I was wearing... isn't always the case? And weird. In fact my slightly red/orange toe nails in the above photos are really annoying me.
I enjoyed it - shocking, I know - but I can promise you, you won't find me weeding anytime soon... it wasn't a life changing episode. More like a glitch.
...and probably I planted too many things in too small a space but hey... I'm counting on the law of attrition to do its work/Darwin's survival of the fittest... whatever.
In other words, we'll see what happens!
Hopefully something will survive.
Urgh. That's the bit I really don't like.
(The geraniums - 'light pink'... there were others called 'bacon pink' which must be the worst name for a flower variety in the history of flower names and I couldn't bring myself to buy them, pretty as they were - are in the house. One on the table and one on the kitchen window by the sink.)
And now, seriously, where's my drink?
PS My short gardening career was cut short when Mr M's father (my father in law basically) told me off for not 'making straight lines' when mowing the lawn (incidentally I cannot pronounce that sentence... mowing the lawn... it's impossible)... he asked me if I was hoovering. Whatever. That was it for me.
PPS I quite like racking crunchy leaves on a dry, crisp Fall day.
Carrying on with the subject of driving this morning I was 'on the road again'...
Open bracket:
I really need cowboy boots
Close bracket.
... as I was saying, I was back on the road driving to a bus depot out of town because my darling No 2 had left his long-time-saved-for headphones on the to rack of the bus that drove them to the rugby match last Saturday.
I spare you the drama/shenanigans/theatrical behaviour he exhibit on realising he would have had to endure a whole school bus trip to Normandy without his headphones... it wasn't pretty. My attempt at consoling him fell to deaf ears. Apparently the fact that when I was younger the only in car entertainment was singing out loud or, if lucky and the road was straight , a copy of a word search magazine... was of no interest to him whatsoever.
Aaaaanyway. The mission was accomplished and then I took the opportunity to stroll around the lovely town of Nailsworth. What a pretty place!
First stop was Hobbs House Bakery where I bought bread for tonight and a lovely coffee and maybe, perhaps, I might have also purchased a divine chocolate croissant... I'm not sure, I can't remember..
I'm doing all I can not to eat it all.
Gluten, schluten...
Then I popped in the cute LYS and offered my support...
... and Mr M may be getting a new pair of socks...
And then I popped into "Domestic Science" a huge shop offering a huge choice of lovely old and new...
... where I definitively grabbed that gorgeous blue vase
because it's now in my kitchen!
And now if you'll excuse me, I'm on the road to the laundry room again...
It's time to put Christmas away.
Part me feels relieved to have the house all de-cluttered... the other though it's a little sad... January is grey and miserable and cold even, and especially so. without all the holiday pretties...
Anyway...
...the Three Kings have reached baby Jesus and it's time to make the trip back to the box in the garage... (the angels fell from the roof of the stable and broke their wings. Occupational hazards and also fallen angels are kind of romantic don't you think? (or have I read too much teenage fiction?).
Open bracket: once one of the kings emerged from the box without a head. Very weird. Couldn't find the thing anywhere... so we had quite a macabre Nativity set that year! Closed bracket.
This year I tried wrapping the tree lights around cardboard to avoid the stupid tangles and untangling swearing next December. We shall see.
Now what can I put under the glass bells?
Suggestions welcome.
My dearest children,
I can see an improvement.
I can see some thoughts for 'the next person' has gone into your action and for this I'm truly grateful. You are all obvious maturing and thinking about others and not just yourself...
Now let's see if we can add a little bit of effort and finish the job. It's not hard. It won't take too long. I'm sure you can squeeze the last bit in between snapchats messages and instagram posts.
It can be done. And the world will be a tidier place. And I'll be a happier mum.
I'm sure you appreciate that alone is worth it, right?
Sigh.
We have painted the doors in the new house a gorgeous blue/black.
(Little Greene, "Basalt")
They look great, I love them. They used to be a sad grey before and I couldn't wait to change it. (I love grey, half my clothes are grey... just not that shade and not on a door!)
Anyway, do you know what looks good on dark doors?
Yes! a bright wreath!
First up was the back door (our house is on a corner and both doors are visible from the road). I guess when the house was first build this was the 'servants/delivery' door as it opens onto the boot room/scullery area - currently it's rugby boots and sports stuff room!
I dug out an old burlap wreath I made a couple of years ago, nice but plain,
and added a string of artificial little apples
and a glue gun... oh come on... who doesn't like a glue gun?
And voila', a brand new Autumn wreath:
It's a little too small... but it's the back door and it'll do for now. I find it difficult to find large plain wreath to decorate around here...
And then there was the front door, which is much bigger and definitively required a larger wreath.
...At this point you'll have to forgive the lack of 'during' photos as I was trying to sort out new tyres for my car at the same time and was somewhat distracted....
... anyway, I bought a large fake orange berry wreath from 'Home Sense' and a few other bits to add to it. I wanted a lot of large pinecones but they only had cinnamon scented ones and... no thanks... so I compromised
with more fake fruit and more burlap
And voila'...
Autumn, I'm ready.
Even if I have no tyres for my car...
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