In love with colour!

I know I have shown lots of pics of my tea cosies recently but I really can't get enough of them!  I have made so many lately that I can whip one up in about 30 minutes - the pattern is in my sidebar - then have them in a pile waiting to be topped with flowers or spots (my latest design - talk about cute!).  And it was a good excuse to play around with the photo mosaic!! 

These little spotty cosies were fun to make and look so cheerful.  It doesn't seem to matter how many I make out of this wool - the stash doesn't seem to get any smaller. 

 

But this wee blue cosy is one of my absolute favourites.  Sometimes a particular colour combination really hits the spot.  

 

In my last post I showed a picture of some gorgeous old chairs I'd found.  Well in the same week I managed to find a retro coffee table and this lovely little vinyl footstool for an absolute bargain (the table was the grand total of $2.50 on Trade Me!!) - both of which will go nicely with the 70's chairs.

 

But as much as I loved it in its original condition - it had a wee bit of damage and was screaming out for a makeover.  I had the perfect fabric in mind after spotting it in the shop a few weeks ago. 

 

The colours are gorgeous and I loved that it looks like I've painstakingly joined all these squares together!!   Big fat cheat!

Ta-da - now that looks more like it!  I know it sounds tragic, but this little footstool has made me so happy.  It's a burst of colour in a fairly plain room and it lifts my spirits whenever I walk by.  I had a ridiculously great time playing with upholstery pins and my hammer.  When it was finished, I wandered around the house with hammer in hand trying to find other things that could be covered!!

And best of all there was just enough fabric left to make two wee cushions.  I have been waiting for the perfect project to use some of my pretty trims on and this was it. 

You might have spotted the chairs already but here's a better shot of them.  We will have them reupholstered professionally in the future but it's pretty expensive so I will have to save up for it.  In the meantime I have bought new foam for the seats and backs.  Then I spotted an amazing fabric that was reduced from $100 per metre to only $10 per metre!  How is that for a bargain!  And it was reversible so I've done one chair in each colourway, one with a pink background, the other with a green background.  When I say "I've done them" I mean I've wrapped fabric around each chair and fastened it to see what it looks like and to convince my husband that it wasn't too girly!!  Now I have the challenge of stitching it in place.  I am really happy with the result and am quite happy to have them like this until they can be covered properly.  This new little sitting area has become a favourite spot for the whole family.  Before, it was a space covered in toys but they have been moved to the other end of the room.  The children love sitting here to read, Bella lounges in the sun most days and the grown ups grab a quick sit-down whenever they can!

 

Oh look - there's Bella soaking up some sun.  She moves from one chair to another depending on which looks the warmest at any given time.  What a hard life she has!!  Did I mention that these chairs are perfect crochet chairs?  Lots of room to move my arms but also just the right height to rest my elbows on while my hands are busy.  I'm really proud that we've found these lovely older pieces and given them a new lease of life.  When I worked on the woodwork of the chairs I found the original labels underneath them with 'August 1975' on them!  They're almost as old as me!

And now for something not so old .... I sold a few tea cosies last week so with my earnings I treated myself to this adorable sundress.  The first thing I did after taking this photo was unpick that crazy huge bow on the front!  It looks so much better without it.  It was made with a huge piece of fabric so now I'm thinking of what I can make with it instead.  Now I just need the temperature to improve a bit here so I can wear this little beauty.  I've decided that this summer I am going to wear dresses as often as possible.  I have found some lovely vintage dresses over the last few months at the op shops and I can't wait to start wearing them. Bring on the sunshine!!

Oooh almost forgot - in the height of my current fabric obsession I found a sweet little spotty fat quarter when I was working at the market the other week.  It matches some of the colours in my curtains perfectly and I knew it would make a perfect top for another footstool we had here.  This lime green footstool has been well used, the children jump off it constantly and it has taken an absolute hammering.  So it was time for a bit of prettification (is that a word?).

And here she is - I love it!  Don't you love how a piece of material and a hour or so on the sewing machine can transform something completely.  As with all my sewing - it is by no means perfect.  Probably something to do with the fact that I don't like measuring anything or using pins!!!  I have an idea in my head of what to do and I just go for it.  Sometimes it turns out - sometimes it's a disaster.  Thankfully this one worked out!!

 

And amongst all the pretty colours and girly projects it seems only right to pop this picture in from Mr 8's birthday party.  He had a Trash Pack party and for his birthday cake I made him lots of slime cakes.  It was so much fun to make cakes that are meant to look gross.  The boys thought these were great - they decided they looked like pooh and slime - and they were a total hit.   Hilarious.

I am yet again very behind in my blog reading so apologies if I haven't popped by recently.  I feel as if I'm constantly trying to keep up and failing miserably!  I can't wait to see what you've all been up to.

I hope you all have a fabulous week.  See you again soon. 

Leah
xxxx

She's finished!

Yes, she is finished and I am truly in love with ripples!  The rhythm of this pattern was just what I needed.  It was a pleasure to pick up my hook each evening and do a few rows.  I finished this blanket a few weeks ago but haven't had a chance to do a post until now.  It's school holidays here at the moment and it is crazy busy.  But this morning Mr 8 (yes Mr 7 became Mr 8 on Tuesday - happy birthday gorgeous boy!!) and Miss 5 have friends here to play so I'm sneaking a few minutes on the computer.

I had to sneak a peek of my shoes into this pic - talk about colour co-ordinated shoes and crochet!  I had to replace those cute floral ones I bought recently as they were the most uncomfortable things I'd ever worn.  Cute - but painful!  Lesson learnt - sometimes a bargain is a bargain for a reason!!!  So on to a different brand and now my feet are happy.  Miss 5 got the same shoes too - which is easy when your mother buys her own shoes in the kids department - and she is loving being able to match her mum.  She has waaaay better style than me though!

My tea cosies are still keeping me busy too.  Lots of orders and a few extras to pop onto my wee online shop.  I have got so much of this wool to use up - I'm just glad that these rainbow stripes are so popular!!   I never get bored of making them - the pattern is now etched in my brain.   The one I have on the go at the moment is a plain blue which will be topped with flowers, then the next order is for a plain blue with hearts around the top like this one.   Just as well there is plenty of good telly on at the moment to plonk down in front of with my hook!

 

 Did I tell you that my wee girl used to ask me if I was making a jersey for the teapot?  Too cute.

I have been a very happy girl recently and have had a few days helping out in the Stitchbird shop.  It is impossible for me to leave that store without buying something!  I spotted this fat quarter of fabric and thought it was perfect to make a wee pin cushion.  To all you sewing pros out there - I apologise for my less than crisp corners!!  These are so much fun to make - I have had to make a few and give them to friends.  It was just the simple project I needed to get me motivated to sew again.  Now I have some sewing to do in preparation for our school fair.  Frogs and headbands!!

Oooh, oooh, oooh, do you remember that gorgeous little cafe I visit called Martha's?  There are a few pics of it here.  Well they have opened a new cafe just across the road from Martha's and it's called Arthur's!!

So where Martha's is all bright, white and girly, Arthur's is all dark wood, half pint water glasses and fry ups on the menu.  Instead of flowers on the table there are plants - just gorgeous.  I visited for the first time last week for a cuppa and it was stunning.  It's in an old 2 storey building at the top of Cuba Street and the main eating area is up a tiny staircase. 

Lots of old oak tea trolleys dotted about the place and antlers on the wall.  There were even a few crochet cushions on the chairs!

So it seemed a perfect coincidence that I had brought along a neutral crochet project to work on while I drank and ate (a beanie order) - as it went perfectly with my surroundings.  I can't wait to go back for a proper breakfast sometime soon.

 

Isn't this hilarious!  I popped into my husband's office last week and they have had these funny paintings done all around the place.  This giant mouse hole made me laugh.  Clever ay.

Want to see what I'll be working on tonight?

I have been looking for an old chair for ages so I squealed out loud when I spotted these two beauties in the Salvation Army store on Monday.  The upholstery is absolutely revolting but the wood and the springs are in excellent condition.  While they sit in my hallway waiting for me to work on them, Bella has decided that they are just perfect for her day long snoozes.  She flits from one to the other and is one very comfy cat. I am going to work on the wood myself then send them to a professional to replace all the foam and recover them.  As much as I'd love to do it - I think they are beyond my abilities. The hardest thing will be deciding what material to use!!  We also have a retro floor lamp and coffee table that we have our eye on - fingers crossed we win those online auctions.  We have cleared a space in our sunroom now that the children aren't playing in there so much and it will become a lovely, sunny reading spot.  Can't wait!!!  The best thing about them is that they are the perfect crochet chairs.  My short legs can touch the floor and my arms rest perfectly. 

Have a fab weekend everyone!  We are off to the WOW show tomorrow night and I am really looking forward to it.  I've only been once before and it was amazing.  It's soooooo cool.  There are some incredibly talented people on this planet.  Wellington is really buzzing at the moment with lots of out of town visitors and international tourists for this event.

See you again soon,
Leah
xxxx