A just in time handmade gift

In Monday’s post I mentioned the Christmas gift that almost wasn’t ready in time, and which only managed to be under the tree with some last minute sewing Christmas Eve evening. MOH was bemused my by last minute industriousness, even more so when he realised it was for him. I was keen to get it finished, so he stood a chance of working out what it was, and of course to get it finished and wrapped so it could be opened on Christmas Day.

It was a bit out of the norm you see, but I needn’t have worried as he got what they were for as soon as he opened them, phew.

They’re mats for the wheels of his bike, for when it’s wet and dark, and so the bike stays in our conservatory overnight. Up until now he’s been parking his bike on some newspaper, which while it serves a purpose and does a job, tends to hang about for a bit and so I thought something more aesthetically pleasing must exist. Then I realised it probably didn’t, but was something I could make.

The trouble was when I had time on my own in the house, usually his bike wasn’t there so what size? In the end I guessed and cut a leg of an old pair of jeans to be approximately 40cm x15cm - I knew I wanted something hardwearing, but I also wanted something softer for the newly varnished conservatory floor, so a leg of some old pyjamas were just the thing, and I had some batting somewhere I’m sure…

PYJAMAS AND JEANS REPURPOSED

But I also knew it’d need to be more than just two pads for MOH to know what it was for. With a flash of inspiration one night I hit on the idea of adding some lettering, but what: bike park, stay dry, clean floor, no mess, not newspaper and so on, but in the end I went with the simple instruction of “Park here.”

The original plan was to embroider both words, in script, and “here” looked to be the easier and more continuous to do, so I started with that using twine. I’d written the design onto the jeans (and you can still see it in both photos) and it wasn’t onerous to do, and there was lots of tracing where the flow of the letters should go with my fingers, I realised I wanted more of the pyjama fabric on show too.

TWINE EMBROIDERY

So a new plan was hatched for the “park” which involved using my die cutter to cut out the letters from fabric ironed onto interfacing, which I hoped would stop them fraying (we’ll have to see how that works out), then stitched onto the denim. I toyed with the placement and went with a more jaunty arrangement, as time wasn’t on my side, and I preferred to have them clearly not straight rather than trying to be straight and failing.

APPLIQUED LETTERING

I’m rather pleased with how they turned out, with more planning I think I’d have quilted them some more perhaps, and given them a wash to remove the red felt tip lettering, but there’s time for that.

What was more pleasing was that when he opened them, he knew what they were for and sweetly suggested I could make these and sell them, however as they often say on Dragon’s Den, I think this is solving a problem that not many people know they have, so I don’t expect there’s much demand for these. They were fun to make, and to give, and as well as their practical-ness they’ve also demonstrated to MOH that sometimes old fabric can be put to good use, and uses you might not have first thought of!

How were your handmade gifts received?

My garden in December

Last month’s update was all about the leaves, and while some more have come down and blown about (quite) a bit, the headline news in December is the pops of colour and hints of new growth from the bulbs which are starting to show through the soil - yay! There’s still been very little gardening, but there have been a couple of trips out to check on things following some of the windier days and to tie the fleece back onto the agapanthus and secure the patio furniture covers again.

As I was securing the errant fleece I noticed that the geraniums which I’d moved to be shielded by the larger pots were continuing to flower, and looking happy to do so. That was all the excuse I needed to take a wander around the garden armed with my phone to take a few more snaps. On the other side of the patio the jasmine leaves were standing out against the ivy and the metal frame I have hanging on the trellis, doing their best to imitate the yellow cascades of the winter jasmine just a little along the garden.

SUMMER JASMINE IMITATING WINTER JASMINE

WINTER JASMINE ADDING ITS OWN COLOUR

Around the garden our tardiness with the leaves was being enjoyed by the euphorbias, who are already making progress with their lime ‘flowers’ - they’re something that cheers me, but MOH less so, so I’ll need to supervise carefully when we come to clear the leaves around these, just so there aren’t any accidents and some ‘unintentional’ plant thinning at the same time.

Around the garden there were more pops of colour; the hardy primulas determined to put on a good show. This one has self-seeded here and I don’t have the heart to move it just yet. I think when I do I should reward it’s determination with a spot on the patio, don’t you?

By the side of the shed there was another river of leaves to be collected, the wind seems to have rounded them up and deposited them here, so hopefully they’ll stay put until we can tidy up properly, and add them to the giant bag of leaves we already have.

Under the cherry tree an old broken trug has been collecting water. It was broken before this, and I’d used it to hold plants in while we re-positioned them and to stand plants in water while we were away, it’s destined to be thrown out but it’s claiming a stay of execution by providing the reflection of the plants above. The Lords and Ladies by the small Christmas tree and in the gabion baskets are thriving, and enjoying a spot of winter sun. Alongside them there was just the hint of a hellebore bloom and new growth from the bulbs.

Since I took this photo there’s been more bulb growth and more obviously the bulbs alongside the patio are making themselves known, with almost ten centimetres showing above the soil. Let’s hope they’re hardy and haven’t been lulled into a false sense of security by this still relatively mild weather.

Even the strawberry plants are doing their best to add some colour in the garden, and yellow is most welcome in our mostly green garden right now. There’s a few crispy leaves there too, but the garden tidy up will wait for a few weeks yet. The weather forecasters are threatening much chillier weather for the second half of January, I hope they’ve got it wrong, but in the meantime I’ll enjoy the changing colours from the conservatory.

This year we need to do more in our garden. The small shed we brought back from the allotment needs its final home, we need to add slate to the right hand side of the circles - we need to buy the slate too and lay the membrane, and I’m sure some of the trees will need a trim. The patio needs repointing, I need to find some pots to grow some veg in, the greenhouse needs reorganising and we also need to find time to sit back and enjoy our garden and light the pizza oven again - that’s the most important bit, some time to enjoy our garden, that often gets overlooked.

But right now, it’s a time for staying inside, planning what to grow (and what to grow it in) as well as carving out some time in our calendar to do some of those bigger jobs. What do you have planned for your garden this year?

My top 10 posts of 2018

Today I’m taking a quick look at the top posts from this year, and in a slight change from last year there’s two lists. The main part of the post focuses on the popular posts which were created this year, then finish with a list of the top posts created anytime, pleasingly some of my 2018 posts are on that list too.

And yes, the IKEA hack post features again - but despite my reminder to myself in last year’s post I didn’t manage any more this year. So, let’s start with this year’s posts.

1 A map on my wall

I’m pleased this post tops the list because it’s high on my list of favourites too, so you’re likely to see it on that post too. I’m not apologising for that though as the mural wallpaper has transformed the room and I still catch myself heading up there for a peek, and perhaps a virtual stroke. It’s also been quite a hit with our visitors too, even if the decorators were slightly less than pleased when they learnt it was destined for our curved wall.

OUR GLOBE-LIKE MAP

2 Blinds and shutters with Thomas Sanderson

I’m surprised this post is so high up the list on views, but then again Thomas Sanderson is a well established and well respected company. From talking to their people on the stand at Grand Designs it was clear they have a passion, and plenty of knowledge, for window coverings and they’re worth a look if you’re after blinds for your conservatory, they have more than you’d think and the technological advances are amazing.

3 Our space in space

This Beautiful Border at Gardeners’ World Live in Birmingham had more to it than first met the eye with its connection to the Voyager mission in 1990. And the Dr Who tardis, is the blue dot that’s home, that’s us - you’ll have to check out the post for that photo, because I couldn’t resist sharing some bright green succulents against the grey of the slate.

4 A great summer to enjoy our redecorated conservatory

We’ve only managed two house projects this year, the wallpaper which is at the top of this list, and the larger conservatory revamp. 2018 has been a tricky year, but having this work done has made such a difference to how we use this space - and it looks great too! It’s no surprise then that this project features more than once on this list, but reassuring that the “after” is the most viewed.

BI-FOLD DOORS AT EITHER END OF OUR CONSERVATORY HAVE MODERNISED THE SPACE

5 Adding flexibility - and stools - to our dining table

What’s more is that now our revamped conservatory now matches the style of the rest of our downstairs, which while we’ve a house that was built in 1890, is much more modern. I’m keen that our furniture complements our style and each other, but doesn’t have to match exactly. That’s what I liked about these stools, they work at the dining table, but they also work in other rooms including the study, which is where they’re more usually found and brought out when we need that extra seating.

6 Hello February!

Perhaps another surprise to the top viewed list, but then again this pop of colour in February could be just what everyone needed. This post showed the contents of my February stationery subscription box, which was a gift that I very much enjoyed and I’m still making use of.

7 Our conservatory plans

This post captures some of the before shots - note the ice cream tubs above the doors top left in the photo below, catching water from an ever increasing leak, and while it’s not the prettiest of posts, I’m glad I captured it. As well as setting out our plans, it also shows what it looked like before the work started, so it’s easy for you to see how much of a difference the bi-fold doors made, especially if they’re something you’re considering yourself. We’d come to love this conservatory, and making the change was a big one for us, but we’re so glad we did as we love it even more now, and it’s a much more usable space.

THE ‘BEFORE’ SHOT

8 Those pom poms in the Botanical Bedroom

You know how much I like a show, so it’s good to see one of the room sets from this year’s Ideal Home Show in this list. The other big shows I visited this year - Grand Designs and Gardeners’ World Live - also appear on this list, so it seems you like a show as much as I do. The big thing in this bedroom was the pom pom edged throw, and I noted that they were one of the things that I saw everywhere at the show. I’m a confirmed pom pom lover, so that was good news for me and some pom pom edged cushions have snuck into a couple of rooms at home too - I’ll share more of those shortly.

9 Conservatory news - and progress!

Yes, another from the conservatory revamp - this one and in progress post, and where we had quite an open feel to the back of our house, once the oak doors had been removed. It was like this for longer than I liked as there was a mix up with the door and window delivery, which meant that I delayed posting real time updates, because, well we didn’t have a back to our house. And while it was perfectly secure, or so the builders and MOH told me, I felt much better when the doors were on. Although we did get quite used to just wandering out into the garden!

THE OPEN PLAN LOOK

10 The final push

Despite what it looks like in the shot below, it was almost there, there was just the tape to come off the doors and skirting and the floor to be sanded. Like all projects though - including a good sort out - it got worse before it got better, but it was so much better (see above!)

So looking back it’s a good reflection on our year, the new additions and building work featuring heavily along with a post from each of the big shows. No posts from our garden though, but then again, we’ve hardly found time to do much there this year either, which wasn’t quite our plan but other things needed to take priority. But I’ll share more from our garden, and the gardens we visited, in my gardening year round-up post next week.

And the second list

This list is posts created at any time but viewed in 2018, the year in brackets is the year the post was originally posted, as I do like a bit of detail

1. Ikea hack: storage table to laundry basket (2015)

2. Filling our gabion baskets (2017)

3. Let’s talk Edwardian house decoration (2017)

4. Softening our gabion seating area with plants (2017)

5. Tintagel castle and 148 steps for starters (2015)

6. A map on my wall (2018)

7. Making cute pom-pom Easter bunnies and chicks (2016)

8. Blinds and shutters with Thomas Sanderson (2018)

9. Exploring the RAF Oulton Museum at the Blickling Estate (2017)

10. Our space in space (2018)

And looking at the stats, it’s going to have to be a pretty special post to knock the Ikea hack off top spot, but who knows maybe my wallpaper will do it, or maybe there’ll be something else. We’ll just have to wait and see - but in the meantime I’ll be sharing some of my favourite posts of the year split into two parts again, as you know I have terrible trouble choosing just a few!