Attic24

Roundy-roundy-Hooky-hooky

Last week I was forced to remove myself temporarily from Big Blankie's embrace as I'd run out of two crucial colours which stopped us in our tracks for a while. Luckily, I've developed a very good relationship with my LYS (Local Yarn Shop) and they immediately placed an order with the Rowan rep for more yarn in the colours I needed. They recognised my desperation, nodded knowingly and told me they would telephone me the very minute it arrived (which they duly did yesterday, prompting me to drop everything and drive rather speedily down the A56 to screech up outside the shop, rush in and get my hands on the much needed balls).

So anyhow, while waiting for the Lavender and Pier pure wool to arrive last week, I embarked on a small project using up some of my Rowan Cotton DK to tide me over until I could get back together with BB.

I am wondering if you can guess from these pictures what on earth I have been up to?

Is it another roundy-roundy cushion?

A circular mat?

Oh Ok, it has sides....is it the beginnings of another bag perhaps?

Or a container of some sorts?

Ahhhhhhhhh, it's a HAT!!!!

Yes, a beret stylie hat!!! (that was the Little People's guess)

But no, it's not a hat.

ok..let me give you a bit more of a clue....

.....let me show you a bit of tatty old furniture......

......an old painted bit of furniture I bought some time ago from an antiques centre....

....an old stool look......

I just adore old stools, the older and tattier they are, the more I want to rescue them and cherish them. They call to me, beg to be given another chance to be given a useful, appreciated life. I love that they are multi-purpose and can be used either for sitting on, or as little side tables to take care of a pile of books or a mug of coffee or even a plant pot. That they tuck in neatly to small spaces and demand very little.

So this stool has been painted in that rather gorgeous pale duck egg blue that makes me go weak at the knees (exact same colour as the Lloyd Loom chair) and I just had to bring it home with me. As you can see from the above picture, the seat is really quite knackered and worn, yet it didn't feel right to repaint it :: I rather like the distressed look of the paint-chipped little legs, but the seat top just looked down right dirty and didn't clean up very well.

So.....

Here it is.....

My latest hooky project to share with you......

It's a Crocheted Stool Cover look....

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the lovliest things that I am frequently told here in Blogland is that I am "Inspirational". That my crochet projects and use of colour have inspired many of you to create your own little colourful works of hooky goodness. I am hugely flattered by this notion, and just LOVE the idea of so many beautiful ripples of Hooky Creativity spreading out across the world, it really, really, really gives me thrills to think of that!

And I know how fantastic it feels to find Inspiration, to gaze upon something created by someone you've never met and feel an instant zing of appreciation and awe, and feel that hot spark of creativity ignite. Its one of the best feelings in the world I reckon.

 

So today, I'm happy to share with you not only this latest creation of mine, but the source of the Inspiration behind it too.

Let me introduce you to a lady who I have never met, who's work and the glimpses into her life gives me major heart-flutters and sends hot sparks flying. 

Her name is Ingrid, she is a talented Dutch designer/maker and her little company is called "WoodWoolStool". I invite you to take a most delicious stroll through her Photostream on Flickr where she shares the most wondrous glimpses into her daily life, her beautiful home and her fantastic crochet creations.

I just love everything about this lady, she Inspires me so very much.

Alas she doesn't write a blog (and I wish many times over that she did), but she has been written about on some lovely blogs, which you might like to visit with here and here and here.

So this is my own little take on the Wood-wool-stool idea, excepting that mine is wood-cotton-stool.

And I am really rather chuffed with how this roundy-roundy-hooky-hooky thing of mine turned out.

It looks right at home amongst the growing collection of hooky blankets and cushions around and about the place.

Right, I am off to go do some stitchy-stitchy stuff now.

Have a great day, don't forget to make time to stop and sniff some roses at some point, I can highly recommend it.

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A Chair Story

Once Upon a Time there was a pale blue Lloyd Loom chair. She was a little drab and old-lady-like when she first came to live with me in March. A tad sad, a tad neglected. This chair has a great deal of sentimental value because of the very special Lady that once owned her. So I really wanted to feel good about the chair, to love her and adore her and make her pretty again. And I think there's something really special about breathing new life into a sad old chair, a chair that has had so many bottoms sat upon it over so many years. 

So I started out thinking about how to prettify this chair, and a couple of inspiring images had really firmly lodged in my mind. The first one was a post on Vanessa's blog. And the second one was a post on Jane's blog. Both inspiring ladies, showing us inspiring chairs. Chairs to make yourself comfy in. Chairs to relax and create and dream in. And as I badly wanted my own comfy-relaxy-dreamy chair, I set about creating just such a thing. With yarn and fabric and love and joy.

First up, my chair needed it's own blanket. Without a doubt, it had to be cloaked in colourful hooky goodness or else it just wouldn't be my chair now would it? And so the circles-squares throw was started....

....and it grew....

....and grew some more...

...and then to dizzy appreciation, it gloried in it's ta-dah moment. 

My chair also need a cushion. And so the whirly, stripy, circular cushion was started...

....and it grew....

....and grew some more....

...and it too enjoyed it's Ta-dah moment.

But even with her crochet cloak and her plumpety-plump cushion, the chair was still sporting her dowdy mucky velvet seat. And I just knew that One Piece of Fabric would never ever do. I had a vision, and to me it was as clear as day. I could see this chair so perfectly in my mind that it was as if it already existed. The seat would be made of patchwork.

Yes, patchwork!! It has to be this way, I can see it so clearly!

So I gathered the fabrics....

....discovered the delicious joy of cutting and piecing....

....and a Patchwork seat cover was made, Ta-dah!!

I am rather pleased with it. Well no, that is an out and out lie actually. I am not pleased with it, I am absolutely THRILLED with it!! It gives me palpitations, makes me hop and skip and clap!

I introduced The Patchwork to The Crochet. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh so harmonious! 

Such Perfect Partners!

They will be so Happy together.

Now considering that I've done no patchwork before, and no upholstery before, I think I did pretty OK with this, wouldn't you say? I made a calico template and cut the seat top to shape, then made a loooooong length of patches to fit all round the sides of the seat in one continuous strip. Then simply stitched the two together, keeping the calico as backing for extra strength.

Ahhhh I really love love love love love love love LOVE this seat!!!!

And I really love love love love love love love LOVE how yarn and fabric, crochet and patchwork all come together in a rather whacky, lovable concoction of Attic24-Lucy-stylie creativity.

Slightly bonkers it has to be said.

But oh so very me!

I had a vision for this chair, and the vision was as clear as day in my mind.

And this chair became exactly as I imagined it.

Exactly, yet more so.

I hope we shall live Happily Ever After together, Me and Chair.

The End.

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Shelves and Cupboards

A few of you have been asking if I'd show you more photos of my home. Well I don't suppose this was exactly what you were expecting?! You can see how my photos up until now have been veeeeeeeery carefully selective about precisely how much they show of my home. Truth is, I am slightly embarrassed to show you the above photograph of our dining room in it's current state, but I'm throwing caution to the wind here and hoping you won't think too badly of me.

In my mind you know I live in a light, spacious, warm, appealing family home. A pleasure wherever you look, calm and serene vistas of sunlight-filled lovliness. But the reality you see is a little different. The reality is that for one thing I am a grade A hoarder, a messy, unorganised individual and the rest of my family tends to follow in my footsteps. And for another thing, we are in the middle of trying to deal with a serious lack of storage around here, trying to find a way to deal with all the accumulated stuff of daily family life which simply has nowhere to go. We are living amongst dangerously teetering piles of books, magazines, catalogues, craft materials, colouring books, stationary, crochet, documents, files, directories, bills, letters, photographs, wrapping paper, writing paper, leaflets.
Some sort of method is needed in here to keep dangerous piles under control, in other words Shelves and Cupboards. One thing about houses with fireplaces, the alcoves either side of the chimney breast are taylor-made for built in storage solutions.

When in need of interior inspiration for just such intended storage solutions I turn to my collection of magazines (in a huge, teetering pile, naturally). I spend a whole weekend dragging them around, rifling through the pages in search of pictures of shelving. I snippety snip pictures out and study them intently, show them to my rather disinterested other half. And gradually over the course of a week or two, we come up with a design for our alcoves. Good size cupboards at the bottom, strong shelves to hold books and pretty things above. A bit of beading on the doors, pretty ceramic knobs, and maybe an arch over the top like that one there in the magazine. And painted white, yes lets paint it white and make it look all light and bright and wonderful.

I take the clippings to my father-in-law, the man who can do wonders with wood and scary tools. He has been champing at the bit for months, waiting for us to get our act together and ask for his assistance but not wanting to rush us or interfere (wonderful man that he is). He loves nothing better than a project on the go, some woodworking and DIY, yes, he's our man for the job. Straight talking Yorkshire man that he is, he tells me upfront that he doesn't like the arch idea, but says he can do it if it's what I really want, and I say yes pleeeease, its what i really want. We study the magazine clippings some more and make pencil sketches on bits of paper, do some measuring. Wood is brought in and a temporary workshop set up in the cellar.
Work eventually gets underway and I am drafted in for frequent quality control ("ooo you're a fussy-britches" he says when I tell him it's not quite level/smooth enough/high enough). I'm consulted on shelf spacing and the such like, and then I get on with my job which is priming and painting. I don't mind painting really, I got me some new paint brushes and used a water based satin paint which is nice to paint with and easy to clean up. I'm a messy painter and get a lot of paint on me. I also frequently lose track of time and end up almost forgetting to collect the Little People from nursery/school on numerous occasions, dashing across town in my painty clothes and arriving hot and sweaty and well, painty. Then of course I have to stand amongst a group of well-groomed Mummies knowing full well that I look a total mess. But it's oh-so-worth-it because I know I am making progress.

And finally last Wednesday, ta-dah!!!! The first alcove was finished and I am mighty pleased with how it turned out. Time to put stuff on the shelves :: Oh, I did enjoy this bit, yes I really, really did! My lovely books which were still in their packing boxes in the cellar have now got a beautiful place to live.
Books, books, don't you just love 'em? This alcove mainly has our non-fiction books in :: gardening, wildlife, travel, he-books (war/universe) and she-books (domestic/interiors).The alcove on the other side when we finish it is going to have all our cookery books (we have a LOT of those), a small stereo and the fiction books. We decided that my craft/art books and his computer/geek books are all going to live in the attic because that is where we respectively do crafty/geeky things.

I do love my little collection of domestic books very much and have read every one of them cover to cover. See how when the roses are gone there is a cleverly left decent sized space for oooh maybe eleven more books? Which is the current length of my Amazon Wish List. A girl can dream.

Paint power

Over the past few weeks I've been working with my wonderful father-in-law on some home improvements.  He's been building us some shelves and cupboards into the alcoves either side of the chimney breast in our dining room. He does the skilled complicated stuff with wood and scary tools and I follow on behind with a tin of white paint and a brush. One of the alcoves was finally finished last  week (I'll show you  pictures tomorrow) and I found I had really gotten into the painting groove. Sometimes I find painting stuff a chore, but last week I was loving it. What I should have been doing was dealing with the humungous pile of papers and books and general chaos in our dining room which is seriously hindering our movement around the room, but instead I really had the urge to paint. So inspired by Clairey's newly painted Duck Egg Blue wall I toddled off to Laura Ashley to look at the paint.  The colour pallette they have is not huge, but oh so lovely! Really easy-to-live-with colours that are just suited to my taste :: not too wishywashy, not too sludgy and generally very tasteful.

First up for the paint treatment was a small wooden Ikea side table. I can't tell you how much the finished result pleases me, it was hard to photograph to show the true colour, but trust me it is beautiful. The duck egg blue is not too blue, and not too pastely with a sophisticated hint of grey. Normally this little table is covered in newspapers and library books but I did a special tidy up for the photo and put my jug of roses on it for good measure, I guess you could say I styled it. But it was only after I'd uploaded the photo's onto the computer that I noticed the windowsill in the background. Look, there's Snow White galavanting with some Sylvanian family members and a toy car or two. The Little People always find a way to remind me of their presence.

As well as the duck egg blue I also bought a tin of pale eau de nil, which is similar to the DEB but with a slightly more green tone. I decided to have a go at painting a bit of wall in my nastily-decorated kitchen. The kitchen, like most other parts of our house it's in desperate need of some TLC. Actually, I don't think TLC will cut the mustard here, a complete overhaul is needed. No doubt the previous owners thought the scheme was tickety-boo but quite frankly I think it sucks. You can see the dodgy wall tiles in the picture, which are beautifully complimented by vinyl wallpaper in a silvery grey with textured silver streaks running through it. Nice.

Anyways, back to the point...remember on my shopping trip to London last month I bought a clock from the Conran shop? Well I really wanted to put it in the kitchen because it goes so well with my crockery and I thought it would cheer the whole room up a bit. But I simply could NOT bring myself to stick my lovely, funky clock on such dubious wallpaper, hence the eau de nil. I am pleased with the way it came out, although it makes the rest of the kitchen look even more drab. Maybe when I've finished painting my second alcove I might have an eau de nil fest and paint the rest of the kitchen walls. Maybe I might just put the kettle on instead and go and look at my lovely new bookshelves...can't wait to show you them  tomorrow, there's something really satisfying about a Before and After project that actually reaches the After stage.