Busy busy busy…

…worry, worry, worry. In fact, I’ve been too busy to post lately. Has it really been two weeks?

The thing is, I haven’t got much to show you. As many of you know, I work in the art department of a college. This time of year is our busiest by far because they always seem to find a way to do the bulk of their final pieces at the last minute. I can’t really complain, I was the same myself, but it doesn’t half make you tired watching students pulling out their hair with worry! The other thing is that I work with my mum which means we spend half of our home-time planning the following week, and other projects fall by the wayside.

To make matters worse one of our cats has gone walkabout, right in the middle of a course of antibiotics. He’s been gone since Friday and it isn’t looking good. So, when we’re not worrying about work, we’re worrying about (and looking for) Kitten. Our local RSPCA keeps odd hours, so first thing tomorrow is the first chance I’ll have to phone and see if he’s wound up there.

We have managed to find some time for the workshop – the base for the Belfast sink is built and we’ve ordered lots of ‘bits’ like taps and worktops, so we can hopefully fit it all in next week during half term. We’ve also started laying paving in our devastated-by-builders garden, so our guests have somewhere to stand during our Grand Workshop Opening Party.

I also found a morning for sewing. I love this playsuit made by Mena at The Sew Weekly and I wanted to make one too. Using this pattern…

I have so far made this…

Ok, so it’s only the top minus the sleeves. But I have cut them and the bottom parts and adjusted the skirt to make culottes. I made it from an old duvet cover and it’s a wearable muslin because I have some really beautiful fabric, perfect for this project, but I’m afraid to cut into it! It might not work. Can you tell I spent ages matching the stripes? It took nearly the whole duvet cover to cut the pieces for this, but I’m loath to make something I’ll never wear because it’s annoying to look at.

Anyway, the students will be all finished in a couple of weeks and I’m quietly confident Kitten will turn up – he’s an outdoorsy cat and has wandered off like this before and always turns up sooner or later – maybe then I’ll be able to relax a bit and indulge in some more nice things.

Beccy

What do you think of this colour?

So, we painted the workshop table, but we’re not sure about the colour – it really is that turquoise. I’m getting used to it, but mum’s not so sure and we both have to work on it. We wanted off-white walls and splashes of bright colour and we had this unused tin in the shed. What do you guys think? Could you live with it? I think the thing she really hates is that it clashes with the ever-so-slightly-different-shade-of-turquoise stools you can see on the left of the picture. And we didn’t think of that. And they are perfectly worn in all the most fashionable places by years of use so it would be a travesty to paint them.

I also spent hours Tuesdayday notching the legs for the rest of the workbenches that will be going around the corner of the room. I had to do 13 of them (lucky for some) and although I like using the circular saw – you know how I love power tools – it tends to kick up sawdust into my face and make my cheeks hurt. Who needs fancy micro-dermabrasion? The great thing is that this weekend I can start putting them together!

I think I didn’t appreciate just how long it would take to make these benches, even though I knew we’d be only be able to make them in the few hours a week we have spare. Soon be finished, and then the sense of major achievement will kick in!

Beccy

A new home for the chooks…

We don’t spend much time in the front garden these days, so we decided to move the chooks into the back garden, because that’s where the workshop is, and that’s where we always are. We decided that they’d have more room this way too.
We usually grow veggies around the greenhouse, but with a bit of fencing we could put the chooks there instead.

We made the gate to be deliberately ramshackle! We were going for a rustic look rather than ‘The Good Life’ and when we get around to putting the paving back down, and planting in front of the hen house it might just look like that. Or we’ll paint it green.
The old run didn’t have a gate, and it’s heaven to be civilised for a change and not have to climb over a fence to put them to bed!

The inside of the house – note, they have never once used their perch.

To the side there is a fence that is high on the hen’s side, but only 3’ on the other so my neighbour can easily feed them (he likes to collect worms for them). This photo was taken while we were still sorting it out – now they have logs to perch on and a string we can hang green things from. The plant at the front right is spinach, they love spinach so within an hour that had gone, but I’ve got a big spinach bed in the front garden to treat them with.

And on the other side of the greenhouse we attached an old cupboard door. We stapled chicken wire to the open part for extra added rusticity.
Trust me, by summer it will definitely look more rustic and less Good Life!
Beccy