Percy

Ever since I was a kid I wanted a Grandfather clock.  I would admire them in films, drool over them in shop windows, and would write to Santa/tooth fairy/God and all the powers that be asking if I could have one.  At one stage, I even made a jigsaw grandfather clock with a working clock face that I glued together and hung on the landing wall.  It was nice, but at just 5 foot in length, made of cardboard, and minus a chime, it didn’t quite fit what I had in mind.

But then Santa, the tooth fairy and God all got together and gave me Percy the Grandfather clock.  At over 8 foot tall, with a bronze eagle perched on his head, Percy is about 300 years old.  

For just over the last 5 years, Percy has been tucked away in the porch behind the front door for safe keeping where no one ever saw him, let alone knew he was there, but today I decided if you’re going to have a Grandfather clock, then it needs to be situated in a place where, day or night, you can hear his gentle tick and soft hourly chime.  And, in a the traditional manner, I had Ben sit him at the bottom of the stairs next to my oil duck painting that I purchased at a car boot sale in Cornwall for a song.  I think the two complement each other wonderfully.

 

Percy has a sun, moon and stars face surrounded by roses and greenery, and a lovely garden scene, that rotates.  He also has what looks to be a navigation clock on his face and the words ‘Time and tide wait for no man’ etched on him.

 Plus, he has a opening door in his front panel that is narrow, but very deep.  Deep enough to store my wool and needles and knitted squares.  :-)

New Finds!

I LOVE my new find!  It’s a huge crochet blanket that I picked up from my fav charity shop on Queens Road for (get this) just £4.50.  

And, if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day, I also found the lovely multi-coloured crochet blanket Jenny made me.   

With the urgundy blanket Jenny also made me, all three now hang proudly over the backs of the sofa,

 Back to work tomorrow - grumble - so I'm going to spend my afternoon making Chilli and Rice and knit another square to my ever growing blanket.

Kirstie Allsopps Cushion Cover Trauma

Okay, so I’m still on Christmas annual leave and rather than waste my days off work by loafing on the sofa watching Most Haunted reruns, I decided to be Crafty and Creative by making Kirstie Allsopp’s Homemade Home cushion covers.    But, shock, horror, when I opened my sewing box this morning to make a start I almost passed out.  ‘Someone’ (naming no names…you know who you are…) had rooted through it and had pinched the small boxes I used to store buttons and pins in, and had left the contents of the stolen boxes scattered everywhere.   My blind string was unravelled.  There were knots in my tape.  My bobbins were cast adrift.  And my cotton was in a shambles.  It clearly needs to be sorted.

I love my sewing box.  I bought it (along with its intriguing contents) from my favourite second hand/charity shop on Queens Road in Watford.   I only paid £3 for it.  Inside were old patterns and books, some of which were priced at ‘just 4d’, along with old lace and transfers and other bits and bobs with yellowing pages.   

4d seems such a strange price compared to our current currency.  I can’t remember exactly when our currency changed, but I do remember it changing.  I think I was about 6 years old, which make the contents of the sewing box at least 30 years old.  There's even an evenlope filled with old transfers, which I have no idea what to do with.

A few years back I used to love nothing better than to make Roman Blinds and Austrian Blinds.  Austrian Blinds (or Festoon blinds as I always preferred to call them) were my favourite thing in the world to make.  The biggest I ever made were to fit a 16 ft by 8 ft bay window.  I was in seventh heaven and clearly still boast about it now!   But then they went out of fashion.  Typical.  

Anyway, roll on the years….  Twelve months ago I grabbed a bargain at Dunelms.  A lovely, patterned, lemon and gold coloured 20 meter roll of Chenille fabric for just £19.99, which was a brilliant find seeing as it normally retails at £49.99 per meter.  The reason for the cheap price?  The first meter or so had a black ink stain along the outer edge.   So far, I’ve made simple ceiling to floor curtains for the front door to keep out the winter drafts, plus a matching curtain for the landing window.  I whizzed them up in just a few hours, so they’re far from perfect, and in hindsight I wish I hasn’t recycled the old curtains to use as a liner, but hey-ho, they’re okay.

Today, I plan to whizz up some cushion covers out of the same material - what's left of it.  I’ll let you know how I get on…..(once I finish sorting out my blasted sewing box!)