Attic24

Easter Time

Ooooooh I've just recovered from having a bit of a hissy fit here in the Attic. It was not a pretty sight. I had made myself a coffee and tripped up the two flights of stairs all excited to be writing todays post because I'd taken some lovely photographs during yesterday and was really excited to show you. Push the ON button on the computer and nothing. None of the usual whirring of power. Complete silence. Ahhhrrrggghhhh!!! Straight on phone to J :: WHat HAs HApPenEd to the computer, it's DEAD!!! Try to control my voice, try not to sound panicky, try to hide the rising hysteria and alarm. He calmly tells me he Broke the power switch last night by Jabbing it too hard. JABbING?????!!!! What were you doing JABbinG at the computer, my photos are all on there, all my lovely Easter Decorating photos and now I can't get at them!!! He makes some sort of remark about HA thats stopped me from wasting time blogging today......so I ask him if he Jabbed on purpose, if he sabotaged the computer to deliberately keep me from my blog. Laughter. He laughs, and I feel very silly. I recognise the symptoms of Addiction, and I feel a little ashamed. I am truly addicted to my blog :: yikes, I am an Addict.

So what do I do??? I do what most Addicts do and take STEps to get my Fix that's what. I get my camera. I re-take photos of Easter Decs. I locate J's big laptop, the one he doesn't much care for me using. And I commandeer it. Upload my photos onto it, and here I am, getting my fix for the day, feeding my addiction. Phewwww, it was a close call.

Had a super-lovely day here at Attic24 yesterday. Ahhh it was really great! The weather was glorious, see the view from the Attic window yesterday afternoon, isn't the colour of that sky just perfect?

We didn't go anywhere, it was a stay-at-home day. The Little People played outside almost the whole day with various friends coming and going. I baked banana bread, supplied endless snacks, drinks, sandwiches, and many buckets of soapy water for car/scooter/bike washing. Wiped tears, cheered races, picked up, tidied up, supervised, cuddled, scolded. And in between all that I did Eastery Things.

I was mostly by myself this year, which was kind of bitter sweet. You may remember last years post about decorating for Easter? It was a full-on affair with me and the Little People doing it as a three-some. This year, they were too busy playing outside to want to stop and come in to help much. I was secretly quite happy to be puttering around on my own, arranging things, creating little displays, but it didn't hold quite the same level of excitement without the extra four Little Hands.

First up was my table display. On Friday last week I visited all eight of my town's charity shops, searching for a bowl to plant some narcissi into, but with no luck. So in the end, I found an old tin down in the cellar to use. It's a Christmas tin (with a reindeer on the lid), but the bottom of the tin, blue with white spots, seemed OK to use for Easter. Into the tin I popped a pot of spring flowers (narcissi, a primula and a hyacinth) which I'd bought for a few pounds from the supermarket. Stuffed the rest of the tin around the flowerpot with scrunched up newspaper and put a layer of white decorative stones all over the top.

It made the perfect place to put coloured foil wrapped chocolate eggs (already seriously depleted I might add), along with some beautiful painted wooden eggs and a knitted hen which I bought last week from the gift shop (the shop with the half price yarn). Isn't the hen sooo cute?

Next up I made an Easter Tree, using two stems of fake blossom which I bought a few years ago. Down to the cellar (again) to retrieve the Easter Box and unpack my collection of decorations ::little painted wooden eggs, felt birds and flowers, fluffy chicks and a cute nest.

Little Lady came in at this point to begin helping, so you can see the nest got rather overcrowded, as did a few of the branches...but it looks very sweet I think.

The fake blossom is quite delightful actually (it came from Dunelm Mill a few years ago, and was not expensive at all). And after reading Janes post last week about her collection of fake flowers, I am really seeing artificial blooms in a new light...might have to start looking out for more.

I had been hoping to make some new easter decorations for this year, but somehow the time ran out. I still really like these running ducks though (bought from ebay a few years ago), but would have liked to have made my own. I'm thinking on creating a permanent twigs-in-jug type display to keep up all year round, so that I can make some lovely little birds and flowers to brighten up a corner.

These little felt egg cosy's were also hiding in the Easter Box. I had forgotten about them actually, and was really pleased to see them again. Made them last year on a whim one night, after seeing them on the Yvestown blog.

Ahhh candy-coated chocolate mini eggs....so pretty, so yummy and so very very Eastery for me. I cannot contemplate an Easter season without them. I've been buying them for the last few weeks, popping one or two into the Little Peoples packed lunch boxes every day, and one or two into my own mouth every day too.

I made crispy nests yesterday too look...would like to tell you that like last year the Little People begged me to make them, joined in the melting-chocolate appreciation, scrabbled to lick out the bowl afterwards...but nope, sadly I did this all by myself. And that included licking out the bowl. Shame on me.

And lastly, I finally found time to do some eggs. We (Little Man and I) have been blowing them out over the last couple of days (using the egg to make Frittata, pancakes, banana bread, buns) and last night I sat down and painted a few of them ready for decorating. I used some emulsion paint tester pots to paint them with, which worked out great :: the tester pots (from Focus) are the sort that come with their own brushes attached to the lids. I love paint and paint charts, love the names of the colours. These eggs (clockwise, starting top left) are painted in :: Tea Tree, Raspberry Delight, Raspberry Smoothie, Seychelle Blue, Lemon Fizz and Ice Pink. Lovely.

Will show you tomorrow if I can get the Little People to sit down and apply themselves to decorating them. Or maybe I might just sit myself down and have a little quiet Creative Moment when the Little ones take themselves off outside to play.

Hope you're having fun this week whatever you are up to, hope the sun is shining, and hope you are happy. See you tomorrow...

xxxxxx

Happy Valentines Day

:: paper hearts drawn and cut by six year old hands ::

:: heart confetti, punched out of off cuts ::

::little six year old fingers write Loving words ::

:: little four year old fingers get busy with glue and sequins ::

:: Mummy's forty year old fingers get busy with invisible thread ::

 

:: coloured hearts dance in the air ::

:: chocolate hearts for breakfast (with toasted muffins and fruit salad) ::

:: a mid morning coffee  ::

 

:: and some after lunch lounging ::

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xxxxxxx wishing you all a  HAPPY VALENTINES DAY xxxxxxx

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Cafe Morning

 

Good morning! Yesterday was such a good, happy day for me :: that coat! Yes, that coat, I still can't quite believe it belongs to me. I tell you, I am so NOT a garment person, I just don't usually bother very much with clothes. For example, I can tell you that during this year, the most expensive thing I've bought for myself is a new pair of linen trousers for twenty pound  :: every other item of clothing has come from charity/thrift shops. So spending Fifty pounds on a coat kind of went off the scale for me. Big time. But the result was that the pleasure factor also correspondingly went off the scale too. Crikey, I was fit to burst yesterday!

I pretty much ran/skipped from my house up through the high street to the cafe yesterday morning, bright green coat flapping (with mmmmmmmmm that jazzy red lining, gosh I just love getting a glimpse of that lining) and flower scarf flying. I was late (as usual) for Knit and Natter. Arrived all hot and excitable in my new coat, face beaming.

Knit and Natter, as ever, was pure pleasure. I asked Lovely C if she wouldn't mind me taking some photographs of the cafe to show you, because it's looking absolutely stunningly scrumptious, all decked out for the Season. I find it hugely inspiring to see such beautiful Hand Made Goodness about the place, I really do appreciate the homespun, creative look. And Lovely C's decorations have it in abundance...

...see the gorgeous knitted "paper" chains hung on the peg rail up above there? Well Lovely C made them, and it's wonderful to see them up now after watching them grow on her needles during the summer months. I would love to crochet some for Attic24 in time for next Christmas (just found this), hmm better start around about February for that then.

In fact, Lovely C is a bit of a crafting dynamo. Her fingers have been very busy of late, making the most gorgeous items to decorate the cafe. She has made the most beautiful Christmas hearts from old vintage blankets, hand embroidered with wools. And Angels :: Oh! You have to take a closer look at one of the Cafe Angels....

....Isn't she gorgeous? She's made from vintage fabrics, and is just sooo pretty.

And there are hand made stockings too look, I especially love the red one with the hand embroidery and the vintage buttons. 

Lovely C (Carole), you know already I expect how much I love our weekly meets at the cafe. It's the warmest, friendliest, most inviting,  inspiring and uplifting place to come to and I love it. Thank you for your generous and creative friendship over this past year (xx), so very much appreciated.

Do you know what folks? Seeing all these lovely hand made decorations yesterday really made my heart do that flippety-jumpety excited beaty thing, made me feel creative and inspired and excited to try new things, do you get that too? I LoVe that feeling, that feeling when one gets hit by creative inspiration and overcome by the need to stop what ever one is doing and go like Right Now to create something. Immediately without delay. If I wasn't so damn behind with the business of getting presents together and writing those blasted Christmas cards, I think I would be found hidden away up here in the Attic making little coloured stockings, an angel or two, a crocheted wreath perhaps (I've this GREAT design for a wreath forming in that whirly-gig brain of mine) and some yarny paper chains. Yeah, thats what I would surely love to be doing, but oh poop.....I need to go shop first. Need to get the Little People's presents bought and wrapped. It's weighing on me like a tonne of bricks, can you tell? Why did I not do the bloomin present-buying a month ago????

Anyways...I refuse to get all weighty with my own lack of organisation, sorry about that, I almost had a little self-pitying whine there didn't I? Almost.

Did you notice that amongst all the Christmassy decs in the cafe, there is some beautiful everyday crochet too, did you see? If you look at the above photos, you will spy some old granny blankets about the place, and some of Lovely C's crocheted wool cushions as well. And I love that there is crocheted goodness here in my favourite cafe, love that gradually over the last six months I have helped bring about some hooky inspiration here. Seeing these cushions when I walk in makes me sigh with pleasure, truly.

 

I was busy yesterday at the cafe with my own hooky business too. Busy hooking some small granny squares in shades of greens and blues :: my current project. Colours look quite muted don't they, quite restrained? Not my usual brights? Are you curious about what I might be up to here? weeeeeeellll, you'll just have to be patient and wait till Monday.

This afternoon I'll be putting on my green coat (with red lining to die for) and trotting off to the church for the Little Peoples Christmas Carol Concert, which I'm really looking forward to. Then it's full steam ahead into holiday mode...also very much looking forward to that too. If I can get present-shopping and card-writing outta the way, I'll be up on Festive Cloud Nine. Drinking Champagne. In my Pyjamas. ahhhhh what a wonderful thought!

Have a fabulous weekend one and all :o)

xxx

Deck the Halls

Hello, good morning! Aw it's great to see you, thanks for stopping by. Yes do come in and make yourself at home, we can have a mince pie and a brew and chat a while....

Did you see the wreath on my front door as you came in? I'm ever so chuffed with my wreath this year, I wasn't intending on getting one so big, as to be honest I normally can't afford them, but this one was only £6 from the supermarket. Yes, I know, quite a bargain. It's been beautifully made and looks fresh and evergreeny just like my tree. The ribbon that was on it wasn't very nice and actually it fell off, so I used some wired gingham ribbon instead.

 

I made the little felt and cotton  decorations about three years ago now I think, when the Little People were small (age 1 and 3) and when looking after them was very much a full time, exhausting job. Time for stitching and crafting was pretty much non existent back then, and once they were in bed for the night I was always so tired I never had the energy to get creative. But I can remember sitting  in my old kitchen after the Little People were in bed, stitching these bit by bit, night after night and really enjoying it too.

We did old fashioned paper chain making on Saturday :: very early before breakfast and still in our pyjamas (we tend to do a lot of things still in our pj's around here), and it was a lot of fun.

I was forced to watch the Little People get licky and sticky with these, was told in the strictest terms that they were not for Mummy to do, even though I desperately love making paper chains and even resorted to begging. Note to self :: buy my own personal private for-mummy-only stash next year ;o)

I am thinking that I may well leave these chains up after Christmas, I love the colours and the frivolous nature of them, makes me smile.

 

Apart from the tree, and the door wreath, and the paper chains, my other Christmassy bits are reserved for the two fireplaces. You can look at this post to see what my fireplaces usually look like. One of my favourite bits of christmas is the whole stocking thing. I just love it.

 

At each end of the mantel above our open fire, we have these cheery snowmen-hooks to do the business of holding the stockings. Did I make the stockings? Well....the stockings themselves were bought very inexpensively from a supermarket, so technically speaking, nope, I did not do any stocking construction. But I did do the embellishing. A closer look? Yes, by all means, do take a closer peek at my handiwork....

 

....appliqued cottons with little buttons and sequins. So much fun to do, every bit stitched with love. This is the fourth year these stockings have been brought out now, and I sincerely hope they have many many more years to come. Don't think you can ever be too old for a stocking.

As well as the fairy lights, I do like to have candles along the mantel. I use jam jars with little tealights and some homespun stitchy prettiness.

Shall we look at the other end of the room now, check out my other fireplace??

My table is looking quite festive, my fireplace too...

...I have these coloured fairy lights on the mantel all year round, but the other bits and pieces have been changed. Crochet hearts, Summer photos, shells, feathers, jugs and flowers all packed up to make way for Christmassy bits.

I do love wreaths, love the whole idea of them. I like the way they make a room/home feel so cosy and welcoming. I've got some ideas in my mind for making some wreaths next year :: it's one of those things that I've been meaning to try out and haven't yet got round to. If you like wreaths as much as I do, you have to check out this Flickr group, and this too, for a huge amount of wreathy loveliness :: it's fabulous :: wreath-tastic!

Aww look at those cute wooden stockings! This is my solution to the how-to-display-christmas-cards dilemma. Our cards get pegged onto these ribbon hangers (cute little wooden christmassy pegs do the job) and there they hang without getting in the way of anything else. I find Christmas cards a mixed blessing to be honest. Both sending and receiving has it's issues. In fact I've still got mine to write, they usually only just make it out in time for Christmas.

It's been lovely having you visit, do you think my home is looking Christmassy enough? I know it's taken me long enough to get with it, but I admit I am finally beginning to feel the excitement now. May even have another mince pie with my lunch, put some Christmas music on. Yeah, think I will, think I'll go and sit by the tree, eat mince pies  and crochet a little this afternoon. Hmmm yes, I'm veeeeeeeeery excited because I've just started on something new. Just a little in-between-blankets crochet project to tide me over the holidays. Can't wait to show you

xxx

Oh Christmas Tree

On Saturday the Attic24 boys went to purchase the Christmas tree. They know what a huge fusspot I can be if I am involved in The Choosing Process so they refused to let me come. I trusted them to choose the bestest, freshest, bushiest, evergreeny tree they could find and they did good. They did indeed come home with one big, huge, bushy, fresh, evergreen tree. It looks and smells extremely Christmassy and I love it.

But as fresh as it was, on it's journey through the front door, through the hall and into the lounge, it did manage to shed a humungous number of it's needles. And I'm not just talking a light sprinkling, nope, I'm talking pretty much full carpet coverage. I'm talking down on my hands and knees with a dustpan and brush sweeping up for a very, very long time and almost filling a carrier bag full of them. In fact, for a supposedly non-needle-drop tree, the amount of needles it shed was mind blowing. But no matter, I am not dwelling on it, it still has plenty of needles left on it's bushy branches.

Setting up Tree took a surprising amount of time, and when all the furniture moving, tree positioning, tree straightening, tree securing and needle-sweeping was done, there was no time left for the business of decorating on Saturday. That became Sunday's activity.

Early Sunday morning, still in our pyjamas and the decorating commences. My jobs come first :: the lights get put on, with only one bulb to replace. The Little People watch eagerly, there is much excitement.

Next I hang the beady garlands around the branches, all twelve metres of them, with only a very small tangly-garlandy hissy fit. So far so good.

Then it's my turn to sit back and let the Little People take over.

 

Brightly coloured baubles are unpacked from the bauble-box.

 

Delicate glass ones wrapped in tissue....

 

...and cheerful sparkly ones tumble from the box. Plenty to go round. One or two squabbles over who gets to hang which colour, but all is well.

Next there are bells...

 

...and cones...

 

...and Christmassy characters from years past.

Candy canes and reindeer, hearts and birds...

...cinnamon sticks...

...wooden toys...

 

...hearts and stars and gingham ribbon bows.

These are all my decorations gathered over the past decade or so and I love them all.  I find Christmas decorations so utterly desirable, so hugely hard to resist, that I cannot help but buy more and more each year. And I have to say, that when we unpacked the boxes this year, even I was a little taken aback at just how many there were. And yet I love them all, couldn't contemplate a tree without it's branches laden with colourful Christmas treasures.

Luckily our Christmas tree has many, many bushy branches, and Little Fingers are kept very busy filling them.

It was a joy to watch my Little People so hard at work, concentrating so hard on the job in hand.

I did not interfere once, left it entirely to them. Some of the branches (on Little Lady's side in particular) did get very busy. There are some crowded spots. But I have left the tree exactly as it is and love the slightly chaotic look that it has. Love the way the upper branches are quite bare and the lower branches are jam packed (I was instructed to hang certain things on very particular high-up branches, but only once or twice).

We have a rusty tin star on top of our tree...

...and the whole thing looks quite homespun, rustic, colourful and surprisingly very *Attic24*, don't you think? It is not co-ordinated or themed, yet it is happy and homely.

The coloured baubles go wonderfully with my crochet blankets this year, the colours are almost identical.

And here is a view of the room, it does look very cosy, if I say so myself.

Tomorrow I thought you might like to see the rest of my Christmas decorating efforts?

Yes, please do stop by the Attic for a mince pie and a cuppa and I'll show you around a bit. See you then xxx

 

Those Hearts

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Firstly, just before I launch into a whirl of crochet talk, can I say a huge big Thankyou for all the Birthday wishes that you sent for my little four year old, I was really touched by all the comments. Thank you thank you.

Several of you have asked about the crochet hearts that I strung on my mantle for the birthday celebrations, I had forgotten that I made them pre-blog and so had not had the chance to share them with you when I was making them.
The yarn is Rowan DK cotton, fifteen luscious colours of it. I love this yarn very much, it's soft and easy to crochet with, but it's the colours that make me want it so much. They are beautifully saturated and deep, even the pale colours have depth to them I think.

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And the Sweet Heart pattern is available for you all to try, you can find an extremely generous tutorial on the lovely Bella Dia's blog here. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to try them out, they are just the sort of decorative thing I love to have around my home to bring colour and a smile into the room. They're fun to make because they aren't too big and you can finish one relatively quickly :: instant gratification. But be warned, once you start, they are addictive. You will be crocheting them in every single nook of spare time in your day. Just a quick heart with a cup of tea. One more whilst the dinner is cooking. And oh just another quick one before bed. I know Jane from the Posy blog got caught up in the sweet heart addiction (did you finish the garland Jane?).

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I decided to make little crochet flowers to add to the hearts with shell buttons, I tried a few patterns for flowers from the internet and a book but they were all a bit too big and complicated so I ended up inventing my own small five petaled flower pattern. Aren't I just the crocheting pro eh?! And to finish off I crocheted a long string to hang them from (make a long chain, then sc a row in contrasting colour).

Eh voila! One pretty decorative garland for ones home. Sweet.

First Day of Spring

Above is the view from the Attic24 window :: the hills behind our town are the start of the Yorkshire Dales and they are magnificent in displaying the weather. They sparkle white and frosty in the winter, and on a bright, sunny day they glow with the mixed greens and browns and purples of heather heath and moorland.
Yesterday was the first day of Spring, a day I look forward to with much excitement each year. Sadly the weather decided it was not going to play Spring at all and did a horrid wet grey thing instead.

Can you see the raindrops streaming down the window? Have you noticed how the state of the weather doesn't really bother children as much as it does adults? I was quite miffed yesterday at having my first day of Spring mucked up, I wanted to go and tiptoe round the daffodils or something suitably spring-like. Little Lady carried on doing her thing against the pattering of the rain, making tea and reciting nursery rhymes for Poppy Doll. Very Important Business.

My table is looking quite Springy though don't you think? I love my new table runner and the tiny tete a tete's which I bought a couple days ago to replace the fading grape hyacinths. We have been preparing for Easter this week, hanging window decorations and decorating an Easter Tree.

It was great fun to make this with the Little People. They watched delightedly as I painted the branch in the back yard and got white paint in my hair and all over my hands and clothes. They were curious when I used plasticine and pebbles to secure it in place. Laughed when it tipped over and pebbles scattered everywhere. Followed me up to the Attic to watch me make a gingham ribbon and button flower for the pot. And then it was HIGH excitement when it was finally time to go down in the cellar to Get The Box which contain all our easter decorations gathered over previous years. We like the ceremony of decorating:: the joint opening of the box lid, little fingers diving in to find wooden eggs, fluffy chicks, felt flowers. The exclaiming, the re-discovery from previous years.
And then theres the hanging of the lovely bits and pieces on the branches, carefully selecting a place for each, taking turns and standing back to admire. Waiting excitedly for Daddy to come home so we can show him what we've made. Home life at it's best.

HAPPY EASTER everyone.