Greetings lovely friends & readers
I have been away down to my Mum's for quite sometime & upon my return I've been struggling to blog. I received a phone call from the Resthome to say Mum had deteriorated (again) so I drove immediately down there. Mum has slightly improved but she will not get properly well again now & is very frail. I knew I needed to sell the family home this year in order to continue paying for Mum's Care so when the neighbours approached me about their daughter buying it, I didn't hesitate.
Thus began the looooong process of sorting & clearing out 60 plus years of stuff. I have been home a couple of weeks now but will return next week to finish up & stay on for settlement.
Every time I would sit at my computer to write a blog post - the words just wouldn't come - so I would walk away. Since my return I have not been idle & have found some creative moments in amongst catching up on everything around here. While at Mum's I took 5 bootloads to the Hospice Op-Shop. I have a large vehicle so they were certainly NOT small loads. Even so, I still bought some treasures home with me ... my Dad's old paintbrush was one of them. It was hanging on the hook in his shed where he always hung it. I can still see myself, probably aged about 5 or 6 looking up at it & asking him why he hung that one there? "Because it's my favourite brush" he said. I'm sure I've mentioned before that my Dad was a Painter & Paperhanger for all the years that he was my Father.
The "before" on the left ... I stripped it using the Oven Cleaner method that I have seen on YouTube. It took a couple of applications but eventually got rid of the layers of old paint. I had to sand it a little bit & then I just wiped it with furniture oil. I used a wire brush to clean the bristles out as much as I could.
I love vintage tools hanging on the wall so I've hung it in my dining room where I can enjoy looking at it.
Another couple of "before pics". These wall sconces were in my sleepout ... they were Op-shop purchases from awhile ago, & I decided it was high time to do something with them!!
I cleaned them both before giving each a couple of coats of chalk paint in the colour Pumice. I also stripped all the wiring out as both of them no longer worked.
I've hung the single one on my dining room wall where it matches some frames I've painted. I purchased 3 plain candles from The Warehouse & glued lace around the bottoms to "tizzy them up a bit". These sit quite sturdily on the sconce bases although I'm not sure I will be lighting them.
The double one is hanging in my lounge room. I also rubbed each one with a tiny bit of silver gilding wax just to bring out the detailing in them. So happy with my wall sconces 💕
If you had told me that I would spend 2 solid days sitting at my work-table making Pokemon toys, I would've told you that you were quite insane!!! However, that is what I did last week as Cyclone Gabrielle raged around us here. Fortunately we didn't lose power although the Mr had no power at the farm to milk the cows.
I'd like to say they were enjoyable to make but they certainly did "test my sewing skills". 😉
I used plush fur for the bodies & felt for all the eye details. Some hand embroidery in parts also. The feet & hands were all needle sculpted.
I think the trickiest part was probably the long curly tail ... wiring & stuffing that very nearly sent me over the edge. But Mew is famous for his long curly tail so I persevered.
Luckily I had Blackie to talk me through the trickiest bits.
My two grandsons were absolutely thrilled with their Pokemon toys & Sid has now requested
a Gengar Plush 😐
While I was down at Mum's I worried that my veggie garden would dry out but luckily we had plenty of rain. I am picking courgettes & tomatoes each day & giving lots away. This is yesterday's pick above.
And the dishcloth knitting continues as I work my way through all my oddments of cotton yarn. I know * this dishcloth pattern * off by heart now so I can sit & knit it without thinking too much. I find working on these quite therapeutic in the evenings at Mums when it is so quiet.
Well there you go - I actually managed a blog post.
And if you stopped by for a visit then Thank You So Much!
I hope to get back to regular blogging soon dear friends, & also to visiting you all over at your blogs again too.
Remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,
With much love & friendship to you All,
Julie & the furry Ones x0x0x0
