Attic24

Harmony Home Stretch

Last night when I uploaded these pictures, I realised that I haven't really talked very much about my current Blanket-In-Progress (my BiP?!). Which is a bit strange as I usually like to talk a LOT about every single bit of crochet that passes through my hands. So I thought that as I'm giddily galloping along the Home Stretch now, perhaps it would be a good time to show you a bit  more of this beauty.

I started working on the squares for my Harmony blanket in early April (just in time for my Easter jollies down in Dorset), and it has proven to be a wonderfully absorbing project. A touch addictive, these cutesome squares really have had me entranced right from the word go. Unusually for me, I approached the making of this blanket in a very methodical way, which I think has really helped the journey to feel relaxed and pleasurable. I started out by making all the middles first (the fiddly first round), then I worked on rounds 2 - 5 in batches of fourteen at a time (which is one vertical strip) so they never felt overwhelming. There are 126 of them in total (14 x 9) and I can honestly say I never once got bored of them. 

Round 6 is the joining round, and I devised a variation of the join-as-you-go method for this round. I joined in vertical strips and loved being able to watch my blanket grow in this way, it's been very satisfying and has delivered rather a lot of hooky feel-good. Also, I've actually remembered to take photographs of my making process so in due course I'll be able to share a full tutorial for making both the Harmony squares and the joining method. In fact, I've been miraculously organised with this blanket, it's really not like me at all as I'm usually flying by the seat of my pants!

On Friday, I finished the last of the joining, quietly folded up my blanket and immediately began to ponder the business of designing a border for it....

....oh those colours!! Yum, yum, yum!!!!!!! The Harmony colour pack has fifteen colours of Stylecraft Special DK in total (14 main colours, plus the soft Parma Violet shade which I used for joining). I knew I wanted to make quite a deep border to frame the squares, so I set about choosing 8 beautifully harmonious colours to do the job. I took aaaaaaaaaaaaages choosing these colours, endlessly swapping them about until I felt truly delighted by the way they play together. 

Working on the border is pure pleasure, I am in love with making these long, easy rows. Being on the Home Stretch is really rather exciting you know, and needless to say I am feeling rather ridiculously excited by the imminent ta-dah moment. I've got that tingly feeling in the pit of my stomach :)  

This was me on Sunday afternoon, stretched out on the sofa enjoying some peaceful hooky. Funny isn't it, the above photo does look very peaceful and tranquil and for a moment I almost convinced myself that that was the reality. But nooooooo - you can add to the above image the soundtrack of "Guardians of the Galaxy" intermingled with the sound of several noisy children playing. And while you're at it, you can also picture me getting up and down numerous times to help build a Lego Batcave/provide refreshments/see to the laundry/find a lost Lego piece/answer the door etc etc. So not peaceful, but at least crochet has the advantage of being easily pick-up-and-put-downable. It's very accommodating like that, tolerates the interruptions of family life rather well in fact.

And in related home-front news, we have a new sofa. It's grey, but that fact is growing easier to live with each and every day. Our old sofa took us valiantly through fifteen years of tough family life, and after three (failed) repairs to it's sagging underparts it finally gave up and died on us last week. It was rather comical at the time as J was sitting on it when it completely collapsed and swallowed him up, man, I laughed so hard I nearly had an accident.

Anyhoooooow, we took a trip to Ikea on Saturday and chose this Tidafors Three Seater which was pretty much the only sofa available that would a) fit in/on the car and b) fit into the house. I can confirm that this is a very comfy piece of furniture, and I predict many hours of happy hooky time will take place right there. Bring it on xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 EDIT TO ADD for those of you asking about the HARMONY colour pack, I'm hoping to have everything ready by the middle of July, so not too long to wait xxxx

Studio Furnishings

What do you think of this piece of furniture I wonder? Are you like me who thinks it is beautifully mellow and full of character and history and deserves to be loved and cherished? Or are you like J who thinks it is a right ol' hunk o' junk and is only fit for firewood?

A few months ago, we were returning home from an outing one Sunday lunch time and out of the car window I spotted it. It was sat outside a local restaurant near where I live, and it caught my eye instantly. Later that day, on a complete whim, I walked down to the restaurant and boldly went in to ask about it. I asked whether by any chance they might be wanting to get rid of it (it was standing beside the bin), and the reply was music to my ears. Yes, they said, do you want it? You would be doing us a favour, they said, we'd rather you took it and saved us the trouble of putting it into landfill. Landfill???!!! Shock horror!!!!! No no no no no, pleeeeeease let me take it, I will love it and cherish it and give it a good home.

So with some help from lovely friends, this wonderful piece of old furniture came to rest in the Attic24 cellar for a while, and gradually as time allowed I set to work on it. The top was badly stained and covered in what looked like a restauranty mixture of black coffee, red wine and melted candle wax. I gently scraped off the surface layer but it was still badly stained, so I sprayed it with a strong bleach/mould removing cleaner and scrubbed it right into the grain of the wood with an old toothbrush. Left to dry over night, it came up remarkably well. Still retaining it's age and character, but looking a lot more respectable. I gave the door and drawer fronts a good clean with some sugar soap, but left them pretty much untouched. Now for the inside.....

This old piece of stained paper was lining the shelf inside the cupboard, and as soon as I saw it, it reminded me of Liberty tana lawn. As you may remember, I had just had some real success with Mod Podging my memo board, so I thought I could do the same sort of thing with the cupboard and drawer inners. Oh yes! I could line them with Liberty tana lawn, why not?

I have to tell you, I loved buying this fabric. I have always wanted to buy some of these fat quarters but had never had a project in mind until this. They come from a local shop and are heavily discounted, due to some very slight faults in the print in places. But they were perfect for the job.

Just perfect.

It was pretty good fun....

....mod podging drawer bottoms is sooooooo easy. Cut the fabric a few centimetres larger than the drawers, give it a thorough covering of MP (first the drawer bottom, then a thin layer on top of the fabric to seal it). Then once it's all completely dry, the excess is easily trimmed with a sharp craft knife.

I did each drawer in a different fabric, plus used three different fabrics for the cupboard shelves and inside of the cupboard door. Do you like the handles? They are ceramic. Isn't the whole thing completely charming?

Of course, I had no doubt that this amazing piece of old furniture would look incredible in the studio. It looks as if it has always been there.

The old oak book shelf sat on top was a great buy from a local eBay seller, and will eventually be used for displaying lots of pretty goodies.

The drawers just make me go weak at the knees and every time I visit the studio I can't resist opening them to take a peek.

This humble piece of furniture has made me very happy indeed. You can see my basket up there too look, it cost £5 from a local second hand shop.

It's quite large, measuring 32cm across the bottom and about 40cm across the top. I want to keep yarn in it, so decided to make a liner for it to stop the yarn snagging.

I made a basic circle to cover the bottom.....

.....then simply stopped increasing to make the sides go up (much the same as my bag pattern). I added in some increases towards the top edge to make sure it was going to be wide enough....

...then I simply stitched the lining to the basket. Yeah, honestly, it really was that simple!

I just sort of made little stitches through the gaps in the the basket work, every few centimetres or so to secure it in place.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, it looks good?! And er........ta dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really got into those colours, so sweet and pretty and fresh. Even the neutrals are pretty I think.

It's a lovely yarn to work with, a DK weight 50/50 cotton/acrylic mix called "Cotton On" by James C Brett. I bought mine online from here, but I know many online yarn retailers sell it. It's very reasonably priced, and delicious to work with, very warm and soft and pretty.

I've been making something else with this yarn too, which I hope to share with you very soon. I'm having a little struggle on the edging of this Other Thing, but almost there. I think you're going to like it.

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New-Old Furniture

I walk past the above shop window two or three times a week on my way through to the top end of our town. It's fondly called a shop of "Collectables", a very eclectic and ever changing collection of second hand items ranging from large pieces of furniture down to small items of bric-a-brac. I don't often go into this shop because as you can see it is chockablock full of stuff and impossible to enter with a pushchair. But I can never resist pressing my nose up against the window and scrutinising the contents which change almost daily as things get bought and sold.

On this particular day a month or so ago, I was on the opposite side of the road when that flash of gorgeous greeny-blue caught my eye. I was pulled towards it, powerless to resist. I saw it was an old painted chest of drawers and although I wasn't actually in need of a chest of drawers, I just had this  feeling that they were meant to be mine. So I bobbed in to take a closer look although of course I knew in my heart that they already belonged to me. The colour alone had swung it instantly.

Two days later, a white van arrived at number 24, and I became the ecstatic owner of a new-old chest of drawers...yaaaayyyyyyy!!!!!

I absolutely love-love-love this bit of new-old furniture! It's made of old pine, painted in the most gorgeous colour (my Ultimate Favourite Colour of All Time) which I now very poshly call "Tiffany Blue". I love the shape of the feet, don't you?? Darling!!

Because I made this purchase on complete impulse and purely due to the colour-love thing, it was actually a bit of a shock to find quite a substantial piece of furniture arriving in our narrow hallway. For a while we didn't quite know where to put it or what to do with it. At first I thought it might sit at the back of our dining room and provide a home for the rather large gathering of art and craft supplies that belong to the Little People. But then J had the rather ace idea of using it to accommodate our television screen/media centre thingy (which is actually a computer as opposed to a proper television). That way it would elevate the screen, crucially making it out of bounds for Little Hands. The drawers could then be used to house dvd's, remote controls, keyboard/mousey and various other bits and bobbles which relate to the tv/computer set up.

So there it sits now, doing a Very Useful Job and adding a beautiful dash of desirable Tiffany Blue to the alcove there. I do need to re-paint the handles at some stage as the metallic purple doesn't quite do it for me....I'm thinking of making each one a different colour. Of course!

Weekend before last, we also took possession of another piece of furniture, this time in the form of an old writing desk. It's been in J's family for a long while but was no longer wanted, so we did the decent thing and adopted it. I'm not actually a fan of dark wood furniture, or precious furniture that needs to be preserved and treated nicely (I definitely prefer the shabby, worn look that can take some neglect), but this desk is very charming indeed. The fact that it immediately became MY desk has really made me very happy, I hadn't realised how much I missed having a desk-of-my-very-own until this sweet little thing arrived.

So I now have myself a very cosy little corner at the back of the dining room where I can sit and write, and it's also lovely to be able to lay things out and not have to clear them away again before each meal. My wonderful chair is at the back there too and I love sitting here in the evening time...it makes for a wonderful end-of-day hooky spot when I don't want to be in front of the TV.

 

I treated myself to this cute little pink table lamp from Ikea  too, the bright LED spotlight is perfect for illuminating the hooky work at night.

My muscari (grape hyacinths) are growing away beautifully on the windowsill behind My Desk look, the first tight little flower buds are just appearing. And the "green face" propped up behind my paperweights is a picture Little Lady drew me ages ago, it's a picture of Me apparently, with very glamorous looking eyelashes. My eyelashes in real life are disappointingly short and sparse but I try not to dwell on that particular short coming.

Right-oh, time to bob off now and get a few jobs done while Little B sleeps...be back again soon!

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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.