Cushioned

Yes, I could have made my way to a local home furnishing shop or browsed online stores, but instead, I made my own cushion covers. This is a much better way to work my creative glands. I found a great website called spoonflower.com that specializes in printing custom fabric (and they now do custom wallpaper too!). I chose some great prints and got them printed on linen-cotton canvas. Check them out.

How does my garden grow

My veg patch is going great guns. A couple of days ago I harvested my first ever broccoli. Needless to say I took great delight in this and have been watching the other broccoli plants with an eagle eye ready for the next chop down. The veg have been slow to grow over the cooler late winter weeks but now the weather is warming they are coming on strong. I'm so ready for a glut of vibrant organic backyard veg.

Restoration chair

A few months ago we bought a couple of beat up retro style armchairs from a recycle centre. We have successfully managed to turn one of them into a nice and clean, fully functioning, aesthetically pleasing piece of furniture. Really must get on with the next one.

After

Before

Anyone for cake?

Okay, it's not very crafty but +some+ skill is required. Today was freezing and rainy, a horrible winter backlash after days of mild weather and sunny days. Excuse enough to do some baking. This is a twist on a standard banana cake, with added lemon juice and zest, polenta for texture, and almonds on top for crunch. Yum.

Power tool Friday

The man of the house busted out his power tools today and knocked together this wooden wheelbarrow. He used wood from scavenged pallets and a few other bits of detritus knocking about the place. Recycling at its best.

Embroider me

Recently I came across an embroidery technique called 'sashiko'. I got a bit excited about this and decided to use it for purse project. Lately I've been dashing out of the house without a bag, stuffing my purse and phone into my pockets, but my purse is too big for this kind of carry on. I made this purse only slightly larger than my phone to comfortably contain phone, cash, and cards in 3 internal pockets. It's a bit rough around the edges (zipper was tricky) but it functions well. The embroidery was fun and now I'm planning more sashiko experiments...

Felt right

I have muddled through many winters promising my fella a pair of felted slippers. Now I can report I have finally delivered! I used the chunkiest wool I could lay my hands on and knitted them 25 percent larger to allow shrinkage. The washing machine did the rest of the hard work turning loose knitting into dense felt. They may be different colours (having had to rummage through my spare wool collection) but they work, and now everyone in the house has warm toasty feet. Take that, bare floorboards!