52 weeks of happy: 8/52

Joining in with my friend Gillian and Jen at little birdie, here are my simple, happy moments from this week:

1. My favourite shop-bought cake and a cuppa after a long and stressful day at work. Iced coffee cake from Sainsbury's is just delicious. The icing on it is something else!

2. Snuggling up in my big blue cowl and my pure wool jumper. Very cosy. I hope spring comes soon though. 

3. It's been a tough week, so I'll be grateful for a long weekend. Hence the lack of happy moments this week, but thank you for your comments on my desk space. 


Hope you are having a lovely week. 


 

Operation desk makeover: planning stage

I have decided that I would like to try and overhaul my little corner in the lounge, where I have my desk and sewing station. I would like to be able to sit here, to blog, write, sew, get inspired and feel calm. At the moment, I don't want to sit here at all, because it's not inviting. This picture shows you why:

 

And a slightly different angle, taken at desk level:

What is not working: 

• The clutter levels
• Lack of colour
• Wires everywhere (my pet hate)
• Big blank wall above the desk
• Poor use of the space
• Beech/oak veneer (IKEA) overload 

 

What is working:

• Having the bookcase so close for awesome storage potential
• That's about it.

Some ideas for improvement:

• I have a yarn stash in beautiful colours that is currently stored in my partner's "man-cave". I have a feeling he's not too bothered whether it's there or not, so the plan is to swap his books with my yarn. This will add some much needed colour.
• Spray paint the lamp a fun colour.
• I want to make some wall art for the big blank wall. Something that represents who I am, and what I'm passionate about. 
• A cork board to pin reminders etc. 
• Attach a wooden front to the keyboard shelf on my desk, for extra small-item storage. Perhaps I could make it a pretty colour to break up the beech veneer. 
• Bring some of my craft supplies in from the "man-cave" so I can have my girly corner in one place with all my favourite things. 
• Find a way to hide the printer and the sewing machine. Fabric curtain perhaps? 

And some inspiration:

This post over at my friend Claire's blog, sparked the desire to create my own little corner, just for me. 

I've been "pinteresting" over the last few days, and have found some great pics to inspire me:

Source

I love the colours in this picture. The fresh greens and bright blues appeal to me. 

You can see my whole pinterest board here (as I'm wary of copying other people's images onto my posts)

I'm aiming for a clutter-free (or as clutter free as possible) look, and some much needed colour to balance the beech/oak veneer overload. 

The plan:

• Empty the bookcase, or at least all except the top shelf.  Clean it.
• In proper minimalist fashion, keep only the essentials. Hint: all craft supplies are essential ;)
• Get some of these magazine holders. I have a few craft magazines without a home!
• Find a place for everything
• Make wall art
• Enjoy the space!

This project will take me at least two weekends (although I'm already so impatient to start and will probably try to do the whole thing (except the wall art) in a day. I will be posting on this as I go, so you can see my progress!
 

Have you got any big projects planned? Any tips on how to tackle a big project like this one?

52 weeks of happy: 7/52

Joining in with my friend Gillian and Jen at little birdie, here are my simple, happy moments from this week:

1. A lovely stroll through the park on a Sunday afternoon....

2. ...and then home to cook a delicious roast dinner with all the trimmings. Yorkshire puds, nom. 

3. It's still light when I leave work, and not quite dark when I get home. This brings immense joy, as it signifies that I have survived another winter. The dark evenings are finally retreating. 

4. I've moved desks at work, and immediately feel more relaxed at work. Plus, when the sun shines in the afternoon, I am basked in a warm glow through the window. Lovely. 

I hope you are all having a lovely week! 

2013 in 2013 challenge

You may have noticed the little gadget on the top left, called "2013 in 2013 challenge" and a little progress bar. 

That is a marker for my challenge in 2013, to declutter up to 2013 items in 2013. I'm not sure if I even own that many in the first place, but I will certainly give it a go. 

My lovely friend in the blogosphere, Brooke, came up with this challenge. You can see all the details here. 

It is a year long challenge, because the point is to do it slowly. To not get too caught up in the rush of decluttering, and then feeling exhausted afterwards. 

I will update the progress bar every couple of weeks, or if there has been significant progress in the challenge. 

Wish me luck!! 

52 weeks of happy: 6/52

Joining in with my friend Gillian and Jen at little birdie, here are my simple, happy moments from this week:

1. Waiting in the forest for our turn on the next Go Ape section. It was so nice to be outside in the fresh air and smell the gorgeous pine forest.

2. Being treated to earl grey and homemade cake on arrival at our B&B for the night. 

3. A game of scrabble in the guest lounge in front of the wood burning fire. So lovely. 

4. Stopping at Tintern Abbey on the way home, quick jump out the car to take a photo and get back in the car to escape from the cold and pouring rain.

5. Visiting Chepstow and seeing the castle.

6. And finally, some crochet. This is a long term granny-square project. I have made 36/230 so far. They're all labelled because there are 33 colour combinations!! 


How has your week been?   

52 weeks of happy: 5/52

Joining in with my friend Gillian, here are my simple, happy moments from this week. 

 

1. I bought two lots of daffodils at the weekend, and I'm greeted by bright yellow beautiful flowers when I walk into every room. I love it. Spring is on its way. 

2. The birds were chirping and chattering away this morning as I was making my breakfast. So simple, but smile inducing. 

3. I've been practising my photo-skills, after finding this article on taking better photos with digital compacts. I have a long way to go yet, but I've started. 

4. I sat on the sofa on Sunday afternoon and watched Harry Potter, with crochet hook in hand and pretty spring colours. Lovely. 

How has your week been?

Rescuing the dining table: part 2 (+ tutorial)

It's time for Part 2 of the infamous dining table rescue!! 

Remember, I started out with this: 

 
Part 1 of the rescue involved sanding the top down and applying some fresh varnish. See the post here. 

I read once of a table cloth made out of tea towels, and the idea stuck in my mind. I toyed with buying one because it would involve less hassle, but I'm glad I chose to make my own. I can't remember where I got the inspiration from, but thank you www for providing it!

I designed this table cloth myself, with no pattern at all. I made it up as I went along. My dining table is a double drop-leaf table, which could sit about 6 people comfortably.

To make a table cloth that is roughly 52"x60" (132x152cm) you will need:

6 tea towels 20"x25" (65x50cm)
A long strip of fabric for the middle "runner"  14" x 62" (36x158cm)
Fabric scissors
Sewing machine
Sewing supplies

1. Select your tea towels. I bought these and two of these. I had a big bit of gingham fabric for another project, so I chopped off what I needed for that and was left with a long strip for this table cloth. Perfect!

2. Iron your fabric. 

3. Cut each tea towel into 3 bits, width-ways:

My patches were roughly 24x50 cm. Don't worry about cutting the hems off them. I left mine on. 

4. Lay out your patches and decide how you want to arrange them:

You could have the two sections either side of the runner identical, or mix them up like I did. I did stick to a 2 blue + 1 red rule though. 


5. At this stage it's a good idea to take a picture of your design laid out like above, so you can refer to it when you're patching them together. 

6. Take two patches, and put them right-side together, pin and sew along the length (the 50cm side), leaving a 1/2" seam allowance. Then take the next patch and pin and sew it to the two you just sewed together, according to your design. Don't worry about ironing the seams yet. 

7. Continue until you have 2 long strips of patches. 

8. If all has gone well, at this point, you should have two strips of patchwork that are equal in length (mine weren't).

9. Take one strip, and sew it to the middle-runner fabric, with right-sides together. Then add the second strip of patchwork on the other side of the runner-fabric.


10. I am a massively impatient patch-worker, and will skip steps wherever I can. So, I didn't add wadding/batting or backing to this project. Too much effort!!! 

Instead, I hemmed both ends of the table cloth. The long sides still had the original tea-towel hems, which means less work!

To do this, flip the whole thing so you have the wrong side facing you. Fold about 1/2" in around the edge, iron it down, and then fold it over again, and iron again. Then pin in place. Sew along the inside edge of the hem, so it is nice and secure. 

This made the cloth all lovely and finished-looking, as I decided to skip the wadding/batting and backing fabric. 

11. Finally, I ironed all the seams to one side. 


12. and yay! Your table cloth is ready!!

And a few more shots:

 

Total cost of the project: 

Sanding and varnishing the table: £2.90

Tea towel table cloth: 

- Tea towels: £2.70
- Gingham fabric - leftover: Free
- Sewing supplies all pre-owned: Free

 Progression shot:

                                                          
This project was completed for a total of £5.60, plus some hours of happily-expended-effort and some materials I already had or acquired for free. Result!! 

 

Now I just have to wait for my daffodils to flower to complete the look.