Pinspiration.

I love pinterest.

For a hoarder like me it means I can collect as many

ideas, patterns and pictures as I like without have shelves full

of folders and box files cluttering up the place,

although of course I do still have a few.

Well this week I had to clean up some jars to be used

as garden night lights at a wedding.

 It's a job I hate as it usually takes ages to get rid of

that sticky residue left by the labels.

So on to Pinterest to look at some of the weird and

wonderful home cleaning ideas that are on there and 

see if there is an easier solution.

Of course there was, how did I doubt it. 

The solution turned out to be mixing 

equal amounts of bi-carbonate of soda and vegetable oil,

Paint it onto the jar, make a cup of tea and catch up

on some blogs.

10-15 minutes later wipe the jar with kitchen roll

and pop in the dishwasher.

Voila

 beautiful shiny jars

which is wonderful as I have quite a few to do over the next

few weeks.

One of the other things I love doing is browsing charity shops.

This week I found this wicker basket which I 

knew would be the perfect size to put herbs in on my kitchen windowsill

but felt it was a bit dark for what I wanted.

So out came the left over white emulsion paint from the garage

and a couple of coats of paint later it looked much better.

While it was drying I remembered something else I

had seen on Pinterest and as the paint was out

I thought I would give it a go.

These two baskets have been used as waste paper baskets

and needed a bit of a lift.

Put the paint in an old washing up bowl and dip

the basket in the paint.  Then you sit there for ages in the sunshine

holding the basket and 

letting the excess paint drip back into the bowl. 

Then just leave them to dry.

Parsley, basil and coriander fit nicely

in their new container

With my lovely ceramic plant labels.

And

It might be back in the same position but it looks

a lot nicer I think.

So thank you Pinterest for the inspiration.

And to finish

 some flowers from the garden

Gillx

A Trip Around The World

This is where I come every other week to my Patchwork group

with the wonderful Jane as our teacher and problem solver.

It is a collection of old barns which has been turned into

a collection of little shops housing all sorts of craft artisans such

as stained glass and pottery as well as a great patchwork shop

and workshops above. 

This photo was taken in the morning before the public 

where allowed in.

As well as the patchwork there are all sorts of other fabric

related workshops such as dyeing and free machine embroidery.

The class I did this week however was creating a quilt called

" A trip around the world"

I sure all you long time patchworkers are familiar with

this pattern but being fairly new to patchwork it

was new to me and I loved it.

We get a list of requirements before the day and in this case

the cutting instructions so some of the work was done before we

started.

It is made from 10 different fabrics which you cut into strips

stitch together then cut into strips across, it is very easy but you have to 

pay attention to make sure you get them in the right order.

An essential piece of equipment is a seam ripper.

The variety of fabrics and colours we had all chosen

was wonderful to see.  My friend Caroline went with

these wonderful zingy limes and lemons.

Next to her was a collection of marbled effect.

I went with blue and white, it's a colour combination

I have always loved and wanted to try it in a quilt top.

This was the first lady to finish

Closely followed by the marble effect fabrics.

I love this colour combination of turquoise  and white

and here is mine with just one strip left to put in

but I put it in up side down twice so decided I was

too jaded and left it there for the day.

I have finished the top now but need to layer and quilt it

I promise to show it to you when  finish.

Another thing I have had a go at this week is

natural dyes.  I started with onions skins which don't need a mordant 

to fix the colour. I have been reading  blogs about natural dyes

with incredibly talented ladies ( Here and Here) as well

as browsing pinterest to find out how to do it  and 

this was the general consensus of opinion. 

I have collected white onions skins for a while

and put them in a pan with water and boiled them for an hour.

then I drained the skins off making sure to keep the remaining dye fluid.

I'm one of those people who would have strained it over the sink

and then realised I had just thrown away the dye.

I then put some wet white linen, these were pieces of vintage

linen from my stash of damaged and stained tablecloths and napkins.

I left them in the dye for an hour and this was the result.

There are so many things you can use in natural dyeing.

I'm now saving red onions skins to try them.

The other thing I have done is turn this pretty pottery flower,

which was 50p from one of the open studios I went to,

into a pretty summer brooch.

Oh and I've signed up for a couple of swaps as well so a 

very crafty week.

Hope you have all had a good week and

have a great weekend.

 I'll see you all soon.

Gillxx

Better Late Than Never

I should have written this post last week but life,as per usual,

overtook me and before I knew where I was I had to 

post my Scavenger Hunt photos.

So here is my catch up on my days out from last week.

This lovely lady is Lynne from Textile Treasury,

a blog I have been following for a while and

who is doing the Norfolk Open Studios this year.

I think quite a few places do this where local artists

open their studies or houses for 2 weeks every year

for people to come and view

their work. I love going around mainly either textile

artists or potters studies.

My friend Chris and I thought we would have 

an afternoon out and pop along to say hello to Lynne..

She was every bit as nice as I thought she would be

and the 3 of us had a good old natter about life in general

before Chris and I "Ooohed and Aaahed' over Lynnes work.

It was a dreary day so the photos aren't as good as

they could be but there are some more on Lynnes blog. 

I love the real mix of fabrics on these quilts which remind me

of a Kaffe Fassett quilt book I have and who I know

Lynne is a fan off.

These I think are really fun.

It's great to meet fellow bloggers who you feel you already know

and who turn out to be someone you want to meet up with again.

We must have that coffee Lynne.

Saturday I returned to the part of the world where I spent

my childhood.

Mr T and I went to see the Rugby Union premiership final

at Twickenham Rugby ground.

We were a couple of hours earlier than we needed to be

so we walked through some of the places I remember as a child.

The park I used to go to has planted a huge swathe of 

wild flowers which looks fabulous and was a totally 

unexpected sight.

We had an ice cream walking along the Thames tow path

looking at the boats and watching the crowds. 

it was such a lovely morning I'm not surprised so many

people came out for a walk or cycle although alot

of them were rugby fans like us killing time.

I had forgotten how nice the Thames is this far up.

This is Richmond Lock which I had to walk across as a child to 

get to the swimming pool. Not sure parents would let

their children go out on their own now like they used in the 60's and 70's.

I must have been quite young as we moved to Devon 

when I was 11.

Having had a lovely walk down memory lane it was

time for the main event and watch the rugby.

World Cup next year so here's hoping we can get tickets for that.

Thank you for all your lovely comments, I love receiving them

even if I don't always reply to them.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

See you soon.

Gillx

Scavenger Hunt For May

It's time for this months Scavenger Hunt 

courtesy of Green Thumb at Made with Love.

1. Reflection

Taken at Cromer Beach

with the reflection of the sunset on 

the sand.

2. Hidden

My Rhubarb forcer hiding my rhubarb.

3. Gadget

My little one playing with her mobile phone.

4. Antique

A lovely old desk I saw in an Antique shop.

5. L is for ---

Lilac.

6.  7pm

Table all set for dinner

7. Puzzle

My favourite puzzle is  Sudoku.

8.  Fresh

For sale at the side of the road

fresh asparagus.

9. Left

We went to watch the rugby Aviva Premership final at Twickenham yesterday.

This statue was on the left side of the old main gate.

10. Tiny

The players training on the pitch looked tiny in this picture.

11. Letter

this is where we sat, block M

12. Demolition.

A skip full of demolition rubble from a house being 

revamped.

Looking forward to next months.

Gillx