Sack of spuds

We have a basket in the corner of our kitchen called 'the basket of plenty'. This basket was acquired on a not so successful camping trip B and I took to Northern Spain in a very noisy and unreliable car when M was just a twinkle in our eyes. The basket of plenty is where we store our vegetables. And at the moment it is looking rather un-plentiful in an end-of-the-month way.


We do usually have potatoes in it though, and this is a source of annoyance for me, as we tend to buy potatoes from the supermarket and they come in horrible plastic bags that get torn open and then our potatoes sit in the light and go all green and sprouty.


Not any more, they don't! Ta-dah! One drawstring bag for potatoes, whipped up from some canvas salvaged from a cushion cover, a few scraps to applique 'POTS', and a drawstring from a box of old sewing bits from my Nanna's house.


This makes me very happy. Happy Saturday everyone!

Invites out

We sent our wedding invites out this week. It was quite an operation, and I am glad that the job is done. We have been dithering about how to keep them cheap and personal, and with a handcrafted feel, but without making too much work for ourselves. In the end we decided to draw each other and print this on the front of the card with the date. There is also a green paper insert that is tied into the invite with some jazzy wool.


I'm pretty pleased with them. The picture of me actually looks like me, I think, but the the one of B is a very poor representation, but we thought people would get the idea. If you want a laugh, have a look at some of our other efforts below. As you can see, I am a very poor drawer, where as B is much more accomplished. I do have to say that one of those that I drew was a joke, but perhaps it is hard to work out which one!

Anyway, they're all in the post now, bar one which I am still waiting on an address for, and so I guess we're gonna do this!

Lift off!

We had our carpet fitted in the attic on Wednesday... oooh, there's nothing quite like a new room with new carpet! My in-laws also arrived mid afternoon for a three day visit and to take over childcare duties so my time was freed up to sort out the house re-arrangement.

B and I put together all the Ikea drawers on Wednesday night and dis and re-mantled the bed so the big stuff was done. All day yesterday was spent cleaning and moving and cleaning and sorting. The transformation is incredible. We are not finished yet, and I still have to do another Ikea run - why we can't organise ourselves to get it all in one go, I don't know. Actually I do, it's down to mind changing and indecision!

The top picture there is our new attic room. We are yet to put up clothes hanging rails in the eaves, and a curtain rail, on which will hang a curtain (yet to make) to cover up our drawers and associated tat.

And now for the studio/ office... please see before photos: A nightmare of a situation where we had office (in my day job I work from home), and bedroom, and storage room all in one. As you can see, it is not a good look:




But hey! Look what it is like at the moment: Lovely new desk arrangement, shelves with space on them, a standing height work desk... hurrah!

B will have a desk and music set-up in the right hand corner of the bottom photo, and I will have another little desk for my sewing machine. It's coming on, no?

Knit two, purl two

I am forever saying I will one day learn to knit, and admiring Kyoko and Ms Cleavers creations always gets me. And, we have a fabulous local wool shop that I go to for thread and buttons and the like. So, at the weekend I went in there and said "Help me! Where do I start?". The very patient lady showed me some options and gave me a little tutorial on casting on, knit and purl and sent me on my merry (for I was most excited) way with my wool and needles.


I spent from 4pm until 10pm (with a small break for putting the boy to bed and eating supper) knitting, and making mistakes that I couldn't identify and unraveling all my work and then starting again not getting past three rows of 22 stitches... argh!


I got very good at casting on, and took this picture on Sunday morning to demonstrate that I could at least get this far, and set to again, and look...

...knitting!! Lovely ribbed knitting! I now have to go back into the shop to have the lady show me how to cast off. Can you guess what it is yet?

Between my furious bouts of knitting this weekend I have been painting like a woman possessed and it finally feels like our new bedroom is in sight... this is what all the fuss has been about. The carpet arrives today and will be fitted on Wednesday. Exciting stuff.

Look...

what the optician did to B's eyes today...

Baby bunting safe and dry

B's brother and his wife were here visiting at the weekend. They are due to have their first baby in May, and we spent some time going through M's old baby kit which has just been returned to us from my brother. Don't you love the way these things get passed around between family? Although it seems they are coming thick and fast at the moment, we have been very good and staggered them perfectly for this!


The moses basket that M spent his first months in was second hand when we bought it - 99p on eBay, and it has seen two more babies since, and it shows. Look at that handle! Not sure you would want to carry a football up the stairs in that, let alone your newborn!


So on Monday, in between outings in the weather, I set to making some new handles. I am very pleased with the end result. A much finer set of handles than the basket was made new with, and I love a mending project that breathes fresh life into something.

Here is the bottom view of one of the handles... don't you love the pattern the stitching has made? And it is strong... that is double threaded nylbond, stitched twice! Oooer!

The title of this post references Each Peach Pear Plum, a classic picture book which I remember enjoying in my childhood. It is a new one in our collection and M is bananas for it right now.

My very own sticky dust

A little while ago DottyCookie posted about a shelf in her kitchen that was prone to collecting 'sticky dust' an evil that seems to escape no kitchen. The comments on that post were all of us cursing the stuff. Well, since we have been having building work done, I have had to give my house over to the filth, and I am just starting to get back on top of it. This weekend I tackled our glasses shelf. The following will explain why we have been using the same few clean glasses from the front, and leaving the ones at the back.



Oh, the horror! Will you just look at that! You might think I shouldn't have let it get so bad, but what is the point in spring cleaning if there is a new layer of plaster/ coal/ saw dust every day? Good riddance builders!

Ugh, can you see the grime on top of the glasses? But look, hot soapy water.

And, just look at that... anyone for an orange squash?