Go on say it....

ABOUT BLOOMIN' TIME you old crow..I hear you shout. Yes, I know, I've been gone an absolute age but you know how it is some days, life comes charging by and sweeps you along at warp speed, (that, and the fact I lost yet another very old kitty which made me a bit sad and I'm not very good at doing anything else when I'm doing sad)
Thanks for the emails asking if I'm dead or alive. I think I'm somewhere inbetween so I'll make this one a big post about nothing in particular as no doubt I'll scoot off again, doing two highly knackering jobs with funny hours dependent on the weather makes you do that sometimes.

::Weird freaky stuff
Now you might think I'm two sandwiches short of a picnic when I tell you this, but this is how it happened so I'll just come right out and tell you.At the height of my feeling down and tearful and thinking that the whole world and it's wife hated me, I had a visitor.
I woke up with a start to find a lady stood by my bed. Just stood there looking at me. Needless to say when you wake up to find someone unexpectedly stood by your bed it freaks you out slightly.I freaked out big time and hid under the covers, waking Pete up with my absolute freaky-outy-ness. Maybe it was a dream, I dont know, but I do know that this strange perfect heart shaped mark appeared on my arm a few days later.

It usually takes a huge whack to bruise me and I haven't bumped into anything heart-shaped or been stung by a horse fly or anything like that. It was just there, not hurting or anything.It stayed for a week and vanished as quickly as it came.(It had faded a bit when we took this photo, believe me, it was a perfect heart!)
Weird and freaky indeed but strangely it did lift my mood, I feel ok again and feel like the world isn't against me, which is why I'm here blogging. Ok that really makes me sound like I'm barking mad, what a way to start a post!!

::The paper knickers saga

A couple of people have asked how George's nose is after his reconstructive surgery. It's very good thankyou and you can't see the join where they stitched it back together with a bit of his ear...very clever stuff.
It was a bit weird seeing him with a slightly different but very nice 'textbook' nose, no-one else could tell the difference from his pre-accident one but I could because I made it in the first place. Being the right wuss that I am, I must admit I shed a secret tear for the old nose.
We wont go too much into the saga of the surgical paper knickers he was asked to wear but eventually after such a blooming hooha and delaying the surgery he was allowed to wear his own boxer shorts. Vanity? My son? Naaaah.


::The Marmite chair

I bought a gold metal and nylon velvet 1950s chair for £6, took it home sprayed it red and am in the process of covering the seat. It spins round. I love it. Basil loves it too especially when it spins but then he's always been a bit odd..he also like to be hoovered with the vacuum nozzle. Did you spot him in the White Stuff catalogue in his spectacles? Fame has gawn to his head and he finally has his wish of posh princess sachet food..(well there's only two kitties left now so I think they are allowed)
Everyone else thinks this chair is vile. A bit like Marmite..which I can't stand and everyone else in this house loves. Urgh.


::The Rainy day lampshade

I spent ages hunting for a cheap large white linen drum shade for the £4 standard lamp base I renovated ages ago, only to end up covering it on a whim one rainy Sunday afternoon with some fabric I'd saved for a deckchair.
Mmmmm, 1950s painterly lushness how I adore thee..

::Things you thought you hated but have now decided you like

I grew up with things like this, 70s bubble glass and G-plan furniture.Funny how you can change your mind about stuff isn't it?

::Square balls.

Remember my round-but-take-forever-to-clip box balls? well they are now slowly becoming a hedge.
There's been a lot of changes in the garden, the extra cold winter we had killed off a lot of plants front and back so I took the opportunity to change a whole border in the front, taking out large shrubs and replacing with my favourite perennials, it's all still a work in progress but then that's how gardens should be, an ongoing thing.

The first year is always the crappiest as everything tends to be the same height.


I'm far better at doing other peoples gardens than I am my own, if I'm redoing a flower bed for someone, I've got a budget, a colour scheme and a soil type but when it comes to my own plot, well that's another thing altogether. I'm a bit like a kid in a sweet shop when I'm at the garden centre and buy the pretty stuff I love with no-where suitable to put it! oops!

::Chickypoos

It wasn't only our 21 year old cat Winnie, that died, I also lost several of my old ladies this year including lovely old Big Bessy so there are 3 new lovely young chickypoos joining the flock; Florence the Barred Orpington and a Black, feathery legged Cochin/Orpington hybrid who looks like she's got 70s disco flares on and a jacket of the most amazing beetle-black colours, she's called Fanny (after Pete's Granny incase you're wondering who was neither black nor had a pair of 70s disco flares but there you go) and a Lavender Orpington called Beryl. The Barred one is HUGE and still only a baby. They came from a fabulous farm near us that takes chickens in for boarding, they sell beautiful,friendly, healthy birds in immaculate pens (often occupied by an oblivious Bacon the Jack Russel too) a farmhouse looking like it's straight out of Country Living and to die for Shepherds huts, made on the premises to order. Needless to say, I rather like going the 5 minutes down the road for a chicky-fix. (there's a link HERE if you'd like a peek)

::London

Pete HATES London. Only because he has to drive a 44 ton lorry through the hoards of traffic cutting him up at every opportunity and giving him more verbal abuse there than anywhere else he goes to in Great Britain. It makes him grumpy and it makes him sweat alot as there are hundreds of low bridges and narrow streets down there that his Sat Nav always seems to miss and if you come to one of those it means a lot of slow manoeuvrings, hooting, being sworn at and hassle all round.
I on the other hand have rather fond memories of our capital city.We used to live on the London /Essex border so trips to see that huge blue whale in the British museum and the Changing of the Guards were commonplace. I had my 5th birthday at London zoo when Chi-Chi the panda came over from china and it causes a heap of excitement, (poor old Chi-Chi is a stuffed exhibit in the aforementioned museum these days) then there was my 10th birthday at Madame Tussuads and feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar square.My first proper visit to London with Pete was to go to Johnsons on the Kings road for a pair of much hankered after biker boots, a visit to Flip for some 50s American bowling shirts and a milkshake at Eds Easy Diner.
Although I haven't been there for years, I do rather like London.

Don't think my other half will be too impressed with this though when he gets home...
I, on the other hand, love it. A kitschy 1950s London souvenir tablecloth.

::Swimsuits
I am trying to find a swimsuit with a retro look. Not an easy feat when you are shaped like a baking potato...this is the lush list so far:

Laura Ashley

For Luna

Cath Kidston

Ideally I would like to be able to just appear in the water without having to do 'The walk of shame' to the pool, but if you're going to look like a walrus, you may as well look like a walrus with style...

::Mollie Makes

Oooh this is the most fantastic magazine ever in the world, like, EVER. I've canceled my Country Living subscription and subscribed to this one instead.For the first time in months I've actually wanted to make stuff and this is what has inspired me.AND, you get to see in some of our favourite bloggers' gorgeous houses so it's not only making things. Go get it, you really do need it in your life.


So there you go, see..told you, nothing exciting, just some stuff to waffle on about but I thought I'd better show my face sooner rather than later.

Cheerio for now x

stuff and nonsense

I've been doing something to keep my brain activated and to stop it thinking about that other stomach-flipping horrid stuff. I can't really say it's relaxing though, as it generally gives me a headache,hurts my neck, strains my eyes and my thimble-less finger. It's rather time consuming, so I have to fit it in after work, putting the ducks to bed and making the tea but I have to say, it was quite good to be doing it when I didn't want to watch the nasty, eating bits in 'I'm a celebrity' on the TV.
No money in the entire world would make me eat that vile nonsense...although Pete did say he would in fact eat a poo sandwich for half a million quid..cheapskate. (He's going to kill me for sharing that, such intelligent conversations we have between us here at Shabby Towers)
Anyway, changing the subject quickly, this is what I have been doing of late, patchworky stuff. Patchwork is one of those things I have wanted to do for absolutely ages and ages and could never be bothered. It looked too fiddly and time consuming but all the inspiration on flickr and those clever, crafty people out there doing it on a whim has made me finally give it a go. I'm what you would call an impatient seamstress, so don't look too closely as my hexagons weren't too perfect. I normally want anything I make finished there and then but for some reason I have managed to beaver away with my hexagons and faff about with pretty fabrics for the past week or so. Here's a little peek of the ones I've already stitched together...It's eventually going to be a cushion cover, I dont think for a minute I could manage something bigger than that! I'll show you when it's finished.

One of my sisters brought this round today ...woopy-do! a proper Christmas tree with a proper Christmassy smell and sheddy needles..hooray.
Please can somebody tell me why cut trees are so expensive in Malvern (£40+) and so cheap in Gloucestershire (£8!) ? I was beginning to think I might have to decorate a house plant this year and my sister, Nikki has saved me with a present of a tree.
Then there was this surprise box of goodies posted from my other sister up northSo now the tree can do it's job properly and guard a present or two, it would have looked rather bare around the bottom otherwise! I bought these felty toadstools several weeks ago from the shop I work in. I knew they were destined to hang from our tree the minute I saw them, along with some teeny polka dot glass baubles. They're from Germany and I think they are fab!Harry decorated the tree again this year, it helps that he's at least a foot taller than me, as it's a HUUUUGE 8 foot one this year. Job well done stinky boy..Random baubles and a bit of madness thrown in for good measure, very 'us'...well, who else would think of having a plastic giraffe sitting in the branches of their Christmas tree?

Our other news is that Pete has obtained some work with an agency, it's odd days, poorly paid,very early starts and almost verging on part-time compared to his last job, but it's work and work pays bills.
I keep telling him to stop moping around with a face that looks like a slapped backside and think of it as time off to do much needed jobs like clearing out the guttering and painting rooms that so desperately need doing, as well as filling in application forms. I'm a bit of a slave driver but I think he would slip into a deep depression and become addicted to daytime TV if I didn't poke him with a stick now and again. We are trying our hardest to stay positive and think of it as something other than a horrid and worrying time. It's pretty demorolising having to borrow money off your kids for food but to be honest I'm past caring now!

Before I sign off for another week or two, I promised this lady I would tell you about her fab blankets. For those of us who aren't crocheters, she will make one for you if you'd like her to.She made all of mine and she made some of the gorgeous ones for the VW campers for hire on www.snailtrail.co.uk. Do drop her a line if your interested, she's lovely!

Cheerio for now xx

hit the decks

weh-hey the sun came out... it's time to hit the decks!
These are two of my four revamped deckchairs,the 'newer-old ones'..a housewarming present from Pete's mother 19 years ago. I remember she couldn't get over the fact we wanted old fashioned wooden deckchairs instead of a metal padded garden recliner!
Handily the deckchairs doubled up as our first chairs for the lounge too..ahh those were the days.


They are a bit 'Cath' so if your not a fan look away now ..


Ta-da!
The boys managed to get the original red and white stripey fabric covered in oil (they were probably used as a convenient hand towel whilst repairing bikes in the garage..which is just the sort of thing teenage boys do) So it was time for a change.
A staple-gun, spare paint, one and a half metres of cheap, heavy duty, spotty fabric (no, not Ms.Kidston's) and a few minutes sewing in a straight line..the best kind of sewing!


I did however, like the impatient numpty that I am, manage to staple the fabric on the blue one to the wrong side of the bottom bar, so guess what I'll be doing in five minutes time...

See the big new cushion? well being a bit behind the times here in middle England, we had a new store open called Homesense which I no doubt guess you all shop in already and I'm just the dimwit who had never heard of them.
Amongst the trinkets and lamps and lovely things,they had a proper Jan Constantine cushion in there for £35 instead of £73.
A big union jack blue one.A rather lovely big union jack blue one.
Just the one left.I nearly peed my pants.

Domestic bartering ensued.
Pete gets a bit more tattoo than I hoped he would and I got a proper JC cushion.
Oh well it's his arm after all.And yes it is lovely and soft and hand embroidered!

I'll show you the other two deckchairs another time, they have the original scruffy 1950's paint which I love.
Cheerio for now x

D is for Dog

Well I stopped faffing about and painted those two wooden dogs last night. They do still need a bit of adjusting as I don't like the ball and the eyes and some of the furry lines,but hey-ho they are only test dogs.
This is Archie..the bigger bossier dog and he wants to play ball..(Except his ball looks a bit like a pumpkin at the moment!)
I would really love to keep those little vintage blocks at the bottom;but, I'm too precious and didn't want to ruin the set so they are bluetacked on for now, making him a bit like a peg rail.
Then I had the idea of these toadstool pegs I used to hang my Christmas cards from last year...so he becomes an instant notice hanger-peg thingy for all those important messag..um..cute postcards.Then this is Wilf; long lost cousin of Stanley (his claim to fame)He too may end up with pegs..although his eyes need to be sorted out, he looks a bit worried if you ask me.
I think it's all down to this book, My favourite from when I was little and we visited my other Granny.A rather well read 1949 edition of Ginger's adventures that belonged to her.
Little tan and white scruffy dogs are just so cute.Oh dear, someone's feeling left out..and big stinky black dogs are cute too.yep, I thought that would make him smile.