Restoring

At last I have found five minutes to do a long awaited blog post! I dont know where the last few weeks have gone, except they have passed in a blur of heavy duty hard work and graft as we attacked our little house with gusto, long awaited renovation work finally underway! However, we managed to sneak in some nice interludes, like trips to the coast and arty crafty things here and there...

Amidst all the building work and heartily in need of a break, we took off to Whitby for the day - it was Regatta weekend and there was cheery bunting everywhere, rescue helicopter & lifeboat displays etc. The sun shone and there was a delicious saltwater breeze blowing in off the water. A lazy afternoon was spent upon the sands, in and out of the sea as Little Daughter finally braved the waves and went in above her knees. Very deep indeed she thought, and laughed wickedly as she soaked all her clothes! What a tonic to be by the sea, and to end a magnificent time of it sitting on the pier eating fish and chips from the Magpie Cafe...oh heaven, the simple things are often all you need....

Anyway, while we have been renovating our home, we decamped to my parents house, ours was swiftly turned into a building site and no place for a little girl. I went armed to the gills with plenty of wool and crochet hooks and finished the cushion I blogged about in my last post...here it is:

Since then, I have begun a scarf for myself - last year my sister, Mum and Little Daughter all received one and I decided amongst blankets and throws that Im still on with, it would be nice to make myself something to keep warm with, so Im getting on with the intention to have it ready before the cold weather sets in...I'll post pics of that soon!

Ive also got another textile picture to show you:

(Sailing Day - available at Little Blue Bird)

Right. Its about time I shared some pictures of the renovation work Ive been banging on about isnt it? Before I do, let me tell you a little bit about this house of ours. It is very old, built in the late 1800's and full of quirky corners and the like. When we took it on, it was just the two of us, and we took it on with every intention of knuckling down to some hard graft and transforming a time weary and sad little place into something cheery and welcoming.

And then our little girl came along. And everything stopped. And for a long time we had to live in this awfully decorated room, where someone with a passion for artex had at some point in time, had a total love affair and gone wild with the stuff! I hated it, and I cant tell you how wonderful it was to start work with a sledge hammer!! ha!

Below is a picture of how it looked before (shudder) I actually feel a little embarressed to show you this as it really is so very, very bad.

Can you see that awful triangle shaped thingy in the middle of the room? Someone had moved the fireplace to the centre, away from the original chimney breasts and that vile object housed the flue. It was constructed of solid brick, the whole way through - as well as metal girders to support the weight.

We filled a 3 tonne skip in a day. Behind all the wooden panels we discovered a stone wall with alcoves. Behind the artex on the walls, were tongue and groove panels, and behind that was chipboard paper stuck to polystyrene stuck to more woodchip...

(finally getting it all down!)





Eventually, our lovely plasterer Danny arrived, and suddenley things started to look interesting...the vision Id had in my mind for so long was starting to take shape!



(the Lounge end, all plastered and Smoooooooooooth!)





In the weeks that followed, we tackled all manner of jobs that present themselves when you take a house back to its bare bones. Electricity and plumbing problems - flooring that needed relaying about six times etc, but finally came the day that we could move back in! We still need to get the pictures up, the bits and bobs out of their boxes and the bookcase and the books back in, but all in good time, and for now, we are sitting back and enjoying our new space.



(Dining Room end)

(Lounge End)

Phew! Im glad we've done it. And now Im ready for a little break away...it just so happens it's my future-in-laws anniversary this weekend, so we are going to be celebrating and relaxing with them. A trip to the coast may be on the cards too, a perfect wind down and much needed time to crack on with that new scarf!

Sending love to you all, I'll endeavour to catch up with you and your blogs now, as things are back to normal - Ive only had stolen minutes to quickly glance at a few here and there so Im looking forward to a nice hour of browsing!





See you again soon,



Julia x

A Moonlight Adventure

'A Moonlight Adventure'

Im all done. Whew! Its always a journey, painting a picture, and this one was no different to the rest in that it was completely enjoyable and fun, but not without the moments of pondering and glaring at it, before launching off on a rocket of an idea to add a bit more blue, to scuff it back a bit, then add some crayon marks and so on, before a familiar feeling of 'its almost done' began to settle.

I was quite determined that this picture would have a feeling of movement about it, that the viewer would have a birds eye view of the landscape that the little boys were sailing over in their balloon...do you think Ive managed to achieve that?

I used my old faithful acrylics for this piece (Daler Rowney Cryla) and sharp watercolour crayons, which come in hundreds of scrumptious shades.

This piece is going to be sent to the Agency, I was asked to do some illustrative pieces for them to add to the ones I already had - in all fairness that was only a handful as its only been the last few months which has seen a move into a more illustrative way of painting for me. However, I enjoy a challenge and Im now plotting what my next picture will be about, Im going to be trying hard to convey all manner of my capabilities along the next few months or so!

Meanwhile...
...on the crafting front...hmmm, confession coming up.

I am officially, a crochet harlot.

Yes, I have succumbed to yet another project, despite being in a fully fledged love affair with my big blanket and my hexagon throw, not to mention a granny square cushion cover, I am now also in the throes of passion with another cushion cover to boot - this time a plain double crochet effort in soft blue which I intend to adorn with several of my seablooms when its completed in its intended envelope style. I think I may have an addiction, and I can hear some of you giggling as you recognise these symptoms yourself - but isn't it just lovely to be able to pick and choose who you hang out with of an afternoon or evening, when you have an hour to spare or relax with? I love it.

My current obsession with all things cushiony stems from the huge changes we are starting (this very friday in fact) to make to our house. I have already picked the colour scheme (very light and bright in comparisson to its lurid terracotta sponge effect of now - (oh, I cant wait to share the photos with you all as we progress!) and seem to have an urgent need to make those necessary accessories which make a house a home, hence a few new cushion covers on the go, and throws etc.

I feel the need to get the kettle on, spend half an hour with my new love interest!!

I shall post as and when I get the opportunity over the next few weeks, as from friday me and Little Bean are camping at Mums and any time I spend here will no doubt see me in dust mask wielding a sledge hammer, or more serenely, slapping on the paint!

I wish you all a happy week, and hope to catch up soon.

Love Julia xxx

Ripples and ramblings

So, Im speeding ahead with my ripple cushion (pattern from the delicious Attic 24) and Im loving it! Ive only a couple more inches to go and it will be complete, time then to trawl the charity shops for a soft lavender coloured jumper that will be transformed into the cushion back! Im also going to pester my Mum and see if I can raid her button tin, she has buttons in there over 30 years old, from little cardigans and dresses my sister and I wore as children so it would be a nice touch to be able to add a few of those as fastenings.

My summer blanket is languishing in a bag for now, Im having a temporary respite from it while I make my cushion...thing is, Ive already got a colour scheme in mind for Lucy's crocheted bag (something else I need to make) and am plotting my next trip to the wool shop to stock up on a vintage colour selection of red, pink, green and sky blue.

I don't know about you, but at this time of year I find myself itching to change things in the house. Im sure its because spring is in the air but Im planning a lighter look in our bedroom without total redecoration and am on the lookout for some curtains, preferably with a floral or butterfly pattern but as yet, havent found any. As we have the lounge and dining room to decorate this year (oh at last, goodbye to the artex!!) we cant afford to totally refurbish the bedroom as it would be way too expensive, so Im making subtle low cost changes to freshen it up. Another plan of mine is to paint butterflies and flowers on our chimney wall in very subtle colours, but like all good plans its a case of finding the time to do this along with all the daily life stuff that needs doing...

...oh, and I also want to revamp the bathroom cupboard with new door knobs and a lick of paint...new towels and bath mats have already brightened that room up and ok, whilst I may have a long list of 'things Id like to do in my house but in reality probably wont get round to doing' it still feels nice to think that even if I dont do it all right away, there is going to come a time when I do have room for such projects and its very satisfying to just have the thought of them on the back burner.

I was looking at my calendar last night and realised with some shock, that the selection date for the art show is drawing incredibly close! To settle my nerves, I sat down to watch a re-run of Coast and was delighted to see them visiting Southwold!! If any of you didnt watch it, they were talking about the work and style of a couple of local artists, and the woman went off to try and capture the essence of Southwold in her studio after doing a few on the spot sketches out and about. Here's the interesting thing that made me sit up, suddenley fuelled with inspiration - although her drawings done at the beach were of things as she saw them, the painting she created back at the studio wasn't! She used the images she'd sketched to make a kind of pastiche of Southwold, that looked nothing like it did in reality. For example, on her painting, the lighthouse was behind the beach huts and the pier was in the scene too - in reality the lighthouse is high up in the town yet by including all the main landmarks of the place and accumulating them in one picture, she'd totally captured the essence of the place, even though it looked nothing like it.

So I suddenley saw the link, between illustration and realistic representations of a place - Ive always been put off doing scenes with lots of buildings etc because it always felt too precise (I think this could be down to the architectural training I had at uni many moons ago) but the Coast program led me to think about doing some work of this nature as it felt very appealing.

I really like the idea of capturing the essence of a place - I suppose there is an element of naivety about it really, as alot of it comes from the imagination, sizes are distorted and things are out of context with how they really are, but I like that! Im going to have to give it a whirl..see what comes of it - and Im not working from sketches as I dont have any, this is going to be straight from the melting pot of the old memory bank...i'll let you know how I get on, planning an art day next week so may even give it a whirl then!! (If I ever finish my submission pieces it will be a miracle!)

Sending you a sunny weekend, a posy of fragrant blooms and lots of love,

til next time...

J xxx

Upheaval

This is just the beginning!
Rainbow beakers, egg cups, mugs, ramekins, garlic jar, bowls, plates....


We're having alot of work done to this little old house over the next week - new windows, a plasterer coming to deal with the horrible artex that has the kitchen in its present state looking like a scary lemon meringue topping! (bless the plasterer!)
Inevitably, things are moving out of the kitchen so the decorating work can begin and slowly taking over the dining area - I didn't realise how much stuff I had!


Needless to say, myself and the little one will be moving up to Nannie-Mums house next week so I don't know that i'll have time to post let alone paint anything for a week or so until the house is a little more habitable!

I'll be in touch - and if by some miracle I have time to share anything arty or faintly creative with you i'll stop by!


See you soon
Creative thoughts are bubbling - back soon x