Paper, paper everywhere

Been busy at Casa Crabbit - but not with sewing. This one's room has been taking up much of our energy recently:

This is the 'before' pic, when all was enthusiasm and no one fell out. The 'after' pic would be of a disappearing pair of heels as she buggered off to phone Granny to play with her... (Note the table in the background, wallpaper cutting AND an excellent sewing table, I love the versatility of my stuff!)

The wee one's bedroom had been stripped back to the bones. At its worst, there was rafters on show and all the plasterboard had been taken off. When we stripped out the old insulation, work stopped for a couple of weeks as 2 wasps' nests were dealt with - and I refused to go into the room and do anything until the wasps were killed as I had the screaming heebies (well, wouldnt you??)

Fast forward to new windows, the joiners coming in and replacing insulation and plasterboard, then the lovely plasterer came in and covered the entire room, and I got total snow-blindness after painting 2 coats of brilliant white on every surface bar the floor...

So two walls are now papered, and that took me all day today. I decided that I wasnt up to papering the alcove and the eaves, plus the finish on the corner of the ceiling is so nice jsut plastered, and papering would have messed up the neatness of it. And too much blue would have made the room too dark. Of course herself thinks it should be different but, meh. She'll be happy once all her stuff is back in :)

This is how it looks so far:

Neither pic reflects the colour, its a blue with a slight green hint, and cream polka dots. The window wall and the alcove side are going to be painted (again, *sigh*) cream, and some matching curtains, unless herself has some other ideas. Carpet has been ordered (neutral) and will be fitted in a few days.

I must say, its fantastic to finally feel like progress is being made on something, Himself has been full of the cold for the last couple of days, and is has floored him, as all viruses do to someone with CFS so I have been tackling the wallpapering myself. Its been pretty straightforward, actually, with paste the wall paper making it so much easier! Ignore the wavy lines at the top of the wall, I'm sure some matching paint will sort out those white gaps in no time :D

Phew! Tomorrow, wood chopping if weather permits, buying the wee one a Beavers jersey, and doing some serious knitting while she goes to play at KidzPlay!

Enjoy your week xxx

variable results

Well I havent been doing much crafting apart from sock knitting recently, thanks to a wee trip to the capital, but have been to a couple of wool shops in the hour I had child-free today :)

First I went along Broughton Street to Kathy's Knits, a basement shop but cheery and bright, especially on a wet autumn morning :). Lovely welcoming music, bright well stocked shop, choice of needles, patterns, sofa and table, with knitted items and samples everywhere. In fact, the blanket on one end of the sofa led me to buy the pattern, in the book Handmade in the UK (luscious lace and artisan yarns), by Emily Wessel, and some Rennie yarn to go with. Kathy stocks all UK yarns and has some excellent names. Check out her website for a list of some of what's available. She doesnt sell online but will happily take any phone enquiries. (not sure if she does mail order but would be surprised if she doesnt). All in all, a lovely knitting experience.

Then I went here. K1 Yarns is on the Grassmarket, recently moved (within the last 2 years I think) from Glasgow's West End. Location is fantastic, and its surrounded by lovely wee boutiques and specialist shops; cheesemakers, tweed tailors, old books, classy clothes etc. ... I am loathe to diss a wool shop, especially as I know how hard it is to make a wool shop viable, but there is so much wasted potential in that shop. Shelves were half empty, it was too quiet (I personally like but of background in a shop) and although there was a stock order being unpacked, it still wouldnt have gone very far on the shelves.

Perhaps I am being v unfair, maybe it was a slow day and she'd sold loads over the weekend, but.....

It didnt benefit from the comparison. Still. I found a sock yarn for the mitre blanket :) Then I had to hunt for lunch for when the troops came back from the City Tour...

So it was an interesting wee diversion in a busy weekend. Lovely to be back home though!

What have you been up to?

Creations - of all kinds

Well, the house has been a shambles these last few weeks. With the cold hitting the household very hard, then a few days of building tear-downs and refits (the Blighter's bedroom) and the plasterer going through the house to plaster the bedroom, then today new windows are being fitted in 3 rooms upstairs.....

The place is a skip. A real mess. Dust, plaster, clothes everywhere, furniture has been moved from various rooms to accommodate the window and wall replacement. The sewing room is full of my last craft show stock plus stuff that has been dumped out of the way (see previous comments) so is also a mess.

Am fed up.

On the plus side, have had a birthday with cake:

There's even the gymball I sit on to sew! Fab, fab and delicious :D Although it looks more like my mother than me - this is what I have to look forward to!

And took the Blighter to pony club on Saturday, as a reward for getting enough stickers on her chart of good behaviour (the only thing we have found to really work).

And have been making wee xmas decorations that have worked out chuffingly well:

Just one of my ideas for the next Craft fair - and will hopefully be putting some up on Etsy once I get my finger out. Check me out at Fankle Quilting :)

And I managed to finish this too, which I really enjoyed making:

Single bed size, stitch in the dicth zig zag quilting, plain turq backing

And got this top finally finished too (Space! On the sewing room floor!):

Single bed size, will be big floral patch backing. Quilting - prob crosshatch.

And here's my boy who is just lovely :)

(Spot the sock mitre blanket in the corner, up to 50 squares now...)

Hope you're all having a good Monday. If that's at all possible.
Cheerie!