That Was a Week That Was

We thought we had been organised in using the back bedroom to store everything from the hall and bathroom but then the plumbers arrived.  That meant emptying the airing cupboard too.  And then they wanted the carpets and floorboards up as well. John was here alone as I had been rushed into hospital and so everything was moved rather quickly into the only room left, our bedroom!  Well that was a bit of a mess.

The thermo store looks like something Heath Robinson would be so proud of.  John managed to take out the remains of a chimney in there and gained a lot of room. There is still plenty of work to be done to tidy everything up and totally rebuild the airing cupboard but we have heating and hot water again. 

I was in hospital from the Monday to Friday night as I had lost 8 pints of blood in less than 36 hours from 3 lesions in my stomach.  Looking at the photos of inside I have very thin stomach lining and I know I'm ulcer prone, too many years taking Voltarol.  Unfortunately one of these lesions seems to of happened over a vein and bled rather heavily.  We can only guess that, as it is very near my hernia, it rolled and split. I wasn't very well for a time and had to have four blood transfusions. Mind you with all the moving of stuff and no water perhaps the hospital was the best place to be for a while there! 

The rest of the build is coming along nicely with more plumbing in the bathrooms being finished, plasterboard going up and the whole of the old roof being replaced as well as the new bit. We also opted, after a lot of thought and looking at many options, to go for lovely eco cedar cladding along the back and gable cheeks. That has also all arrived.  

The new windows arrived two weeks ago but they had made them in the wrong colour.  As they were timber and not painted they have had to be totally remade again, a bit of a delay!!! In less than two weeks we leave for Australia.  Luckily the builder is staying here to carry on and hopefully the windows will arrive for him to fit so he won't be working in the dark for too long! 

As you can imagine I haven't been too well to make much. The brain has been more than a little foggy.  Not sure if it's lack of blood, lack of oxygen or just me in general! I could spend a little time sitting at the kitchen sink using up some of the felting wools I bought for the Fiona Duthie workshop on making felt wrapped soaps.  Quite a pleasant task and something to go on the charity table at next years open studios. 

I also completed the online workshop to make wands.  A strange subject I know but one that took my fancy. I also made a stand to keep them in and this is the end result. 

They were very hard to photograph!  I think it was because of all the bling and spangles. 

I think I have an appointment to finalise the bedrooms today and then I will go and potter in the studio.  No bending or lifting to strain the tum and plenty of sitting down as I run out of puff pretty quick. 

A Few Little Cuties!

I posted about the machines on Facebook and totally forgot to blog about them!

Aren't they sweet!

John bought me the Wilcox & Gibbs.  She is 10" to the top of the wheel and sews a beautiful chain stitch like a dream.

As that one looked a bit lonely we then bought the immaculate little Essex which also sews beautifully and is 7" to the top of the spool pin.

And it came with this diddy, teeny child's Casige which is only 5.5" to the top of the spool pin and works too.

In the making department I have been cracking on with the EG Course and two Artful Gathering workshops.  I would show progress pictures but I usually don't because the course tutor has gone to a lot of trouble to put these together and I think progress pictures would undermine that and probably breech a copyright or two. They are also paid for courses and again it's wouldn't be fair on the tutor to bandy her lessons about freely on the internet.  I'm sure you understand!

I did finish another Olivia cardie.

It just needs blocking and buttons but it's a lovely crinkly lightweight yarn by Sirdar called Raffaella.  I have so many spare and odd balls now I can see where the term Granny Blanket came from!  I must do something with them all.  Perhaps a crocheted blanket.....

It was also Mike's birthday a couple of weekends ago and I drew a portrait of Grandpup Remi for him.

In case you were wondering about the rusty nails panel, they have oozed a little!

Don't forget all pictures can be clicked on to be made bigger.

I will confess that in the beginning I did spray with a little salty water but other than that they've done their own thing.  No idea why some marks went up and some down but I'm happy with that.

The build is plodding along.  We are all Celotexed in so it's almost like having real walls.  The roofer starts next week.  Wiring for the solar panels is in place as is most of the rest of the wiring.  The Plumber is also starting next week to install a whole new thermal store system, could be fun juggling the amount of water we have to use! Bathrooms are all ready to be delivererd and the bedrooms are in the plans stage.  Can't move in the garage for 'stuff'!

Finally hello to new followers, waving madly from the outer reaches of Dorset.  I'm glad you found your way over.

Keep cool in the heat everyone!  Unless you're down under of course.

1st Attempt: Eco Printing

When I went to the Brockenhurst Needlework Fiesta a few weeks ago I purchased some Eco print fabric from Caroline Bell.  I knew I wanted something to sit in with my rusted fabrics.  I cobbled them together and made this cloth.  

It's 36 x 23 inches and a good size to cart around with some neutral thread and stitch into.  

I've wanted to have a go at eco printing for a while and have most of the kit.  Last week I finally gathered up some fabrics and put them on to boil for a couple of hours.  I then let them soak in an alum solution before selecting several varieties of leaves to fold into them and simmer away on Friday.

After a couple more hours I switched off and left them in the pan in the utility room to steep. 

Over the weekend I took Ellie over Dorchester way to do some tracker training.  She certainly got those little grey cells working and I was very proud of her achievements.  Within the Pointer groups I am a member of on FB there are several who do this on what could almost be classed as a professional level working with search and rescue teams finding people and lost dogs etc.  Very rewarding for both owners and dog.  I'm not sure Ellie will go up to their level but she certainly rose to the challenges set her.  Obviously we were too busy to take photos but this is Ellie and I with the other ladies and their dogs who were with us.

When I came back I rinsed out the fabrics and hung them to dry in the shade.  I've just taken them in to iron.  They didn't come out fantastically and I was amazed at how yellow most of it was. I will have to look into which leaf it was that did that.  Here are some photos of the better bits.

There were some bits of shirt, old table linen, turban cloth, silk, calico and good white cotton.  I'm not sure if I should now post mordant them to see if they change colour again.  I think I need to read a bit more into it again unless anyone has any experience they wish to share. Also the camera has lied a little and made the colour a little more vivid than they are.  For a first attempt I'm pleased at least some pieces came out usable and the rest of the fabric also has some good tones if not leaf patterns.  

In other areas I have been fiddling a bit.  The coursework's latest session is almost done and I am doing two workshops online with Artful Gathering again this year, mainly for technique but they are fun too.  Knitting has almost come to a stand still but I've had a few books and magazines arrive so I read them in the evenings rather than knit. 

I made these three door slams this morning.  

Now it's finally becoming warm the doors have a habit of slamming shut with everything open. These save the dog's noses or them being locked in let alone unsuspecting fingers. As for the build, we can now see shapes of rooms with walls going in and the roof timbers are on. I did like the shadows the wiring cast the other morning, they reminded me of the cow parsley I've been using in my coursework. 

We are on our third total rewire of the house.  The first time was because all the old stuff had to come out.  The second time was when we had an extension built 7 years ago and there was a lot of rat damage and rerouting.  This time the rats have eaten us out of most cables so this stuff is rodent repellant and semi armoured.  We have also had perforated trays made to block access in the cavities and are using scrunched chicken wire in other areas.  We will win this battle! 

And finally if anyone ever tells you online friends are not really friends you can poke them in the eye.  I had a lovely gift and card in the post to cheer me up.  

Thank you Benta. They are in and on my bag so I'm never bagless. XXX

A Little Bit of Sunshine

Thank you all so much for the messages on here and by email.  You're all lovely.  I hope I replied to everyone but the brain has been a little foggy.  This week hasn't been fun but it's gone and we now move on.  

I've not been too much in the mood for making things so I thought I'd go around the garden instead which always cheers me up.  When we moved in ten years ago it was more or less a field with some tree stumps in it! We spent the best part of four years fiddling, planting, digging, building and setting it up.  Well now it is virtually self caring with a few tweaks each week by John and Brian, I just do the directing. 

We lost a rather tender Solanum jasminoides alba on the pergola after it's second year but replaced it with it's more common purple brother which took off.  This year it's looking wonderful. 

I think the cardoons are aiming to take over this year too.  

This is Tully Doo 2 who always smiles rain or shine. 

The acer Crimson King on the right was almost up to my chin when I put it in in 2008 and it's now over 20 feet glowing in the sunshine.

We put the rose ropes in to help disguise the greenhouse and they are just starting to look, and smell, fabulous. 

There's always plenty of room for doggy playtime. 

The build is starting to show shape.  All the what were ceiling joists had to be replaced with flooring ones and, as the space is 35 x 14 feet that took some time.  Most of the walls have gone up, the steels are in and the roofing joists are just beginning to grow.  A tricky job as three roofs have to meet and the old one across the middle of the photo behind the chimney is far from square! Andy the builder has the patience of a saint. The worst of it is now done and hopefully the rest should, should be plain sailing. 

The security lights come on when the dogs trip the sensors.  Do you think they can see us from outer space?  

Last weekend we had a fabulous walk out with Pointer doggy friends.  14 Pointers and 3 wannabes!! It was wonderful and they all were beautifully behaved.  

One of the ladies took a quick snap of me and Ellie when were were having lunch in the pub afterwards.  A very, very rare event me being on the other side of the camera! I look a bit windblown though. 

(PS You can't see the grey but it's coming along quite well.  About 1.5 inches showing now and I've just had 4 inches cut off).

Summer is trying hard to arrive but Spring just won't let go yet, still a little chilly.  I hope you have a good weekend.

Sigh

I have made something totally whimsical just because I can.  I layered some of the nails I used for rusting between some white cotton and silk and stitched merrily away. 

It's about 12 inches square.  Lots of different types of nails.

I know the silk will probably rot from the rusting so I added a few extra stitches to secure them. 

Echoing the lines was quite theraputic, almost like a raked Japanese garden.  And the rust is starting to let itself be known.  A naturally growing piece of art. 

Well, what a few weeks.  I've been suffering with being so exhausted and huge waves of depression lately. Normally I manage to battle through but this was getting silly so off to the docs I went.  The tiredness is down to me being anaemic yet again so I'm in hospital next week for more checks.

The depression?  As it's been quite a few years since I've had a bout as bad as this and it could be a number of things but probably an accumulation of all of them. The delays and fighting constantly with officialdom just to try and get simple things done.  Even this week they've lost yet another load of files and this morning (the 21st May) we had a letter assuring us we would have our decision by 11th May!  Oh joy. The build is very wearing, we live in constant gloom and dust. Bathroom planning is proving to be tiresome with me having to change the plans several times to actually fit the space and they, those who know it all in the showroom, still don't 'get' it. The weather refuses to warm up and I'm usually dressed like I'm going on an arctic expedition, another anemia side effect. Obstacles are raining down on us with the trip to Australia least of which the workshop I was booked on, and the whole reason for the trip, was cancelled let alone the constant changes to the itinerary we've had to look into and adjust everything too and the timing with the build delays is not too good now.  There are also a few issues with work involving solicitors that is dragging and we all know the only winners are the actual solicitors! Why can't people be logical, sensible and just do things properly!!! 

My coursework has been sitting on my desk for three weeks and I've been forcing myself through it, it should have only taken a couple of days to my mind but it's my mind that's not absorbing the directions or any input enough to create anything. Today after a big three day push I've managed to send it off.  I couldn't even tell you if it's right but it's gone, out of my hair and I can have a few days grace to do some things I want to do or nothing at all if I wish. 

So, that's all off my chest and I can hear John cooking dinner so I'd better go and join him. 

Have a great week end.  Yet another long one!! 

Fergus and Finishes.

I've managed some good finishes this past week.  

Meet Fergus! Yesterday I put the final pieces of his fishing rod together.  

He looks rather proud of himself! 

His snazzy little hat.

 The fishing creel has his catch of the morning all safe to take home.

Don't they look a yummy pair of trout?

I also put the dragon bag together.

 Sorry for the dreadful photos, it's really dark outside even at lunchtime.

Just a bit of the scale work done. 

I put the button on this this morning so that's gone off to Olivia now. 

We had an interesting couple of visitors the other day.  a pair of French Partridge. 

There have been plenty of pheasants but we have only had a partridge once before.  They were being very nosey.  Pretty little things aren't they.  

And Ruger and Ellie say enough of the building work, how about us!  This is with their friend Ruby who we went for a walk with the other day. Tully was still rooting around in the undergrowth for mice.

Have a great week!