MAY - HOW FAST YOU GO

Well, it's already Wednesday again, the rest of the week will now zip on by at a great rate. Baking has been done, cupcakes for Mother's day, sponge roll for Running Away from Painting group, chocolate cake for the elf.

We have had the builder in again, this time to repair a leaking window. The window area has been doubled, I have a window seat (which is stuffed to the max at the moment as I paint the bookshelves), we now have insulation and most importantly the exposed beams that allow spiders to build ropes that Tarzan could swing on have been plastered away....... remember this started with a leaking window! The painters came in and did the ceilings, but try as we could we couldn't get them to do the walls (very busy apparently) I think the "busy" word came into play when I said I wanted suede finish on the walls. So out came the paint brushes again, and my other half and I got to work. You gotta admire a bloke with a sense of humour. I am reasonably fearless when it comes to wall colours and finishes. I have sueded or river rocked a lot of walls in this house. It hides a multitude of sins when it comes to hiding bad plaster work. I poured over the colour charts, bought sample pots, had bits of plaster with paint strips on them hanging around the room and so off we went to Bunnings (hardware store) to purchase the selected paint. My friend Sue and I often laugh about paint colours (we are both a little fearless in the colour selection department - or we have no taste - whatever) but when folks get all excited about new paintwork and are asked what colours are they selecting and the reply comes back Chalk USA we giggle. I wonder why paint companies go to so much trouble naming all those lovely colours when they get left on the shelf, however I digress. Whilst I am standing at the counter with colour card in hand, the lady in front of me is busy selecting a 1/4 strength beige (truly why bother) and I look at all the other shade cards at the 5 or so folks hanging around the paint counter - all shades of beige or brown. Having lived through the 70's as a child with orange and mission brown - you can call it latte, mocha, cappuccino, - it's brown. So up I rock and order my Corsage Suede. The lady behind the counter offers advice - "now you know these don't come out quite like the colour in the can" - yes, yes, yes, I am a suede aficionado - so off she goes and mixes the colours. The audible gasp from the crowd at the paint counter was hysterical. That's all I'm saying.

My bedroom now looks like the poster child for Cadbury Dairy Milk - this is not a bad thing in my world.

We have a lot of cypress pine walls in our room and the suede is just magnificent against it. I am working on the furniture at the moment and will post further pictures of the room when it is finished. I wanted girlie, and girlie it is gonna be.

The next challenge has been the furniture. I wanted to steer away from timber furniture I got all excited about a bed I found and then was told that it wouldn't be available until the end of July, so I did what any self respecting bargain hunter does and went on to Ebay. I got a fantastic piece. After a bit of sanding it looked like this -

After 5 coats of paint, it now looks like this -








I have distressed it, and beeswaxed it and it looks great. I now need my faithful assistant to cut 10cm off the legs so it doesn't smack into the new ceiling and attach it to the bed (I might add at this point that this is the same faithful assistant who apparently hit the new ceiling with the ladder and I now have more touch ups to do).

Whilst in the painting zone, I have recycled another chest of drawers and purchased the most gorgeous knobs for the drawers (these are worth more than the pine chest they are on I fear) and I made myself a notice board from a picture frame that I got at the op shop for $2.







So before the carpet repairer/cleaner comes next week, I have to find two chests of drawers for the bedside tables and get them painted. This is proving to be a challenge because those new whizz bang mattresses are so high and I like my tables higher than the bed so I don't send my half drunk coffee whizzing across the floor in my sleep. And remember - THIS ALL STARTED WITH A LEAKING WINDOW!!

In my last post I mentioned that I was having issues with a camera lens I had purchased. Well that wasn't the end of it - how could it be. Whilst trying to shoot (in the nicest possible way) my niece's pet rabbit (hereinafter known as psycho bunny), the camera again stopped working. So back to the camera shop I went - tales of - "you're not going to believe this" as I return lens number 2 countered with "we have sold so many of these and never had a problem" (well now you have) - I might have looked like this:-




I couldn't fault the camera shop, after looking at different options, we tried the Nikon lens and so far it hasn't stopped. The camera guy thinks it may have been the way the Tamron lens has the smallest of movement when connected to the Nikon and looses contact every now and then. We will see - I swear they thought I was bonkers, but we will see. If there are problems with this lens then it is obviously a camera issue.




You wouldn't think butter would melt in its mouth would you? This thing growls and even chases, going into the attack stance - balanced on it's back feet like a kangaroo. And yet when my niece goes near it - calm as calm.
There has been some sewing and embroidering going on here, I finally started a small piece that will be some kind of pond, and have been preparing for a Mystery Quilt class that I am hosting on Saturday. The last one we held was a fantastic day - food, lollies, chocolate, coffee, wine and great company so I am looking forward to a good day although I think I will be resting well on Sunday. 10 til 10 is a loooong day.

I might add that my faithful assistant has paid attention this time and is aware that I will be missing for the day - last time I got a phone call at about 5.30 asking where I was and what time I would be home. The elf had said I would be out til 10 (at least somebody listens) but apparently my assistant missed the memo!!

I have to finish off with action shots of "the boys".

This is always a worry. Harv is the cat most likely to fall off or knock stuff over - he is known as "the brain's trust" and that is said with as much sarcasm as you can muster. He was out on the beam watching the ceiling fan spin.

Norman on the other hand "the thinking" cat has decided that my camera bag is ideal for a nap. Doesn't matter that he doesn't fit and oozes out of it.

I think we are boring him!

Bye for now.

Sue