I have been making all sorts this week. Sewing, dyeing for the first time, and painting. Plus I have been feeling a little sorry for myself which isn't a trait I like.
It all started on Monday night. I have wanted to change the lamp shade in my corner of the sitting room for some time; and thought that an old petticoat I've had for ages might do the trick if I dyed it. So on Monday evening I settled down to have a go at dyeing it a pale-ish pink. Coldplay were playing a free live concert at the Brixton Academy to promote their new album Viva La Vida. We were unsuccessful at winning tickets for it (sounds familiar doesn't it!), so the radio had to suffice. Lucy joined me and what a couple of saddos we must have sounded! In between me loudly squealling, throwing my hands in the air, and singing we would say, "Oh, he'll (Chris) be doing this with feet/arms/piano stool now!" (Incidentally, I love what he does with his piano stool - usually in Clocks.) We then usually follow with a little tussle over what song is best, Clocks v The Scientist. I like Clocks best because of it's energy and my fav part where he sings with such feeling..."Nothing else compares" and then .."Home, home where I wanted to go" because I so agree with the statement! Lucy and Matthew (my brother) love The Scientist best out of the two because it is more emotional and they like the line..."; you don't know how lovely you are, I had to find you, tell you I need you, tell you I set you apart" I then got all miserable and started down the 'It's not fair we're not there' road announcing that I was dyeing and dying inside with unfairness. With all this going on I really wasn't paying enough attention to my dyeing and what should have been pale pink turned into cerise pink. Omit small swear word! So I hoped when it was dry it would be lighter. No. So then I hoped when it was made and on top of a lampshade it would be lighter. No.
With lamp on it certainly looks better than with lamp off.
All I did was gather the bottom of the petticoat and place it on top of the boring white coolie shade. Simple. And if I had given the dyeing my proper attention I should have used less dye and experimented a little. Though on one hand I didn't want too pale a pink as I didn't want it to look too feminine - ha too feminine! And as the lovely Amanda said to me yesterday, "That's a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted!" Too true. But I've always wanted a vintage, shabby, white, floral, beach hut look not too frilly and flouncy. I know my corner is waay, way over the top and certainly gives that impression, but I'm not a frilly person, honest. My sense of humour is far too inappropriate to be frilly so I'm told! I think baby pink isn't as sassy as cerise but this is too cerise but I'll see if it grows on me. I am certainly going to dye some more things, despite the faffing around and being a bit scared of getting the dye everywhere, I found it quite exciting. Next time I'll try without Coldplay playing live. Yeah warning, never dye with Coldplay!
And painting?
The fire screen is now magnolia but I received this wonderful picture from Veronica
and now I'm wondering if boring magnolia was right! Isn't she clever? I love all of them, crikey what's a girl to do! The other painting was for the wall of flowers. I have been painting new frames and swapping new and old prints around and now have a slightly more ..er, blooming wall.
Little Posy thought she would stay in shot too.
The small round embroidered picture was a little gift from Niki from Nostalgia At The Stonehouse. Thank you again Niki for your kindness.
And lastly (sorry it's a long one today), my cushions.
I have become doily crazy over the last few weeks and am experimenting. I have had this one for 8 years but have been put off sewing it onto fabric because of trying to match all the colours. Duh - it turned out be one of the most satisfying projects in a long time and really didn't take long. I just used an old calico pillowcase and fastened it with buttons on the back.
This used to be a small tablecloth and I'm taking a risk letting the family loose with it given the treatment our poor cushions usually get but I've given them a talking to this time, so we'll see. It was while I was sewing the buttons on that I started watching Coldplay at the BBC on Thursday night. Oh dear, bad move. Coldplay played another free, live concert this time in car park of the BBC. Aww it was perfect as there was only a very limited amount of people there due to the lack of space etc. All those horrid feelings of self pity flooded back and I'm ashamed to say that I had to turn it off as I just couldn't cope with missing out on such an intimate concert. Tut, tut. I still have it recorded ready to watch when I can and I'm trying to follow Matthew's favourite advice he gives to his patients, (well he tells us he sometimes says it but I doubt it!) which is, 'try to act as normal as possible' but when it comes to Chris Martin singing live in front of me, I find it hard to act normal. I feel bad about my attitude though - why should it be me there. To make it worse I have also lost my ipod and have spent a week not being able to get acquainted with Viva La Vida; so I'm not sure if I like it yet. What a mammoth post, can you tell I am still in my pyjamas and it's nearly 5 pm. No? Good, it's just one of those pyjama days I sometimes have. Ok one last photo and I'm out of here. Thanks for listening!
