Falling for Tula Pink's Parisville Deja Vu

It’s been a while since I’ve started on a brand new craft project, I’ve been trying (and mostly failing) to finish some of the ones I already have on the go. And then I packed up all my craft stuff before my carpal tunnel surgery in June, we moved house and while I’m getting there sorting out my new craft room, I haven’t really done anything new, until now.

I was really taken with the English Paper Piecing (EPP) patchwork I saw at the Stitch Festival back in Spring, but the thing that stopped me buying a kit then was the concern that my hands would misbehave and go numb while I was sewing, which had happened a fair bit with my cross stitch - and was probably the thing that tipped me into going to the doctors to get them seen to.

I remember making, or attempting to make a hexie patchwork throw when I was a teenager, shortly after we moved house, for my new bedroom. The colours were pale pinks and greys to match my newly decorated room. You’ll not be surprised to learn that it took me a while, and I’m not sure it ever got finished, or what happened to it - I wish I’d kept it now though!

But anyway many years later, another house move and after successful carpal tunnel surgery, I found myself browsing through the Tula Pink materials and kits. I’ve been influenced by my SIL on the Tula Pink front, which I’m thankful for, and I love the bright colours. No surprises there.

So that’s how I found myself the proud owner of a couple of the Tula Pink Parisville Deja Vu Hexy kits. Two because I had no plan, and so I wanted to make sure I had enough, for my no plans, and to avoid another set of shipping costs if I needed more at any point in the future.

AREN’T THEY GORGEOUS?

I was hoping a plan would present itself. And it did.

As I was sorting through and getting straighter in my craft room I realised my sewing box and the pigeon shelves could do with a bit of a revamp. Back in 2016 they were both painted a grey-green colour which was great for our last house, but not so much for our new one.

Our new house has much less colour in it - all the walls are white, which surprisingly I really like, and the other dominant colours are charcoal grey and oak. That means there’s plenty of scope to add colour in our furnishings, which is where my plan started to develop.

I plan to paint both the sewing box and shelves a dark grey - I’ve not found one I like enough yet, but I’m still looking (loosely) and I know it’s out there. As before, I want the insides of my sewing box to contrast with the outside, and I’ve got bright yellow and bright pink in my mind.

I’ll need to recover the top too, and a pop of colour is just what is needed. And one that I’ve put together myself from my new hexy kits, will be just the thing, especially if I actually get it finished!

To paraphrase the A Team, I love it when my no plans come together!

Maximising my shipping costs

While I was browsing, and to make the USA shipping costs truly efficient I also ordered a couple of project bags - in truth I could have ordered a whole lot more and they are just as gorgeous. Yes I know there are Tula Pink resellers in the UK, but they didn’t have the items I wanted, so it made sense to maximise those costs. Let’s be clear though, I’m under no illusion that there won’t be future purchases.

The project bags will be really handy - I’m already using the spotty racoon A4 sized one for an embroidery project which is to repair and upcycle a t-shirt of mine. I’ll share more on that soon as it’s nearly done - I finished my original plan, and liked it so much I’ve carried on!

I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before I find the perfect use for the larger of the project bags either - I couldn’t choose between the two designs, proving once again choice is a dangerous thing!

Post Comment Love 15 - 17 September

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week, posts which are older will be removed from the linky. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

Thanks for your comments and support on the changes I’ve made to my blog recently, I’m really happy with my new space. Now I just need to get around to using it more - it’s true though, somehow time diminishes when you appear to have more of it at your disposal!

This week we’ve been out and about to Nottingham which is about 17 miles from us. Back in December 2022, when moving was on the cards but nowhere near confirmed, we booked tickets to see Echo & The Bunnymen for their concert, to play their album Ocean Rain, with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Our thinking back then was if we hadn’t moved then we could book a trip just for the concert, and if we had moved then we hoped we wouldn’t be too far away.

We had nothing to lose!

As it turned out we weren’t too far away, though there was a fair bit of traffic on a rainy Tuesday getting into Nottingham and it took me about three circuits of the one way system, including a lap of a car park we hadn’t booked, to find the car park that we’d booked parking in. So that was fun!

The venue was great, as was the concert. I loved the addition of the orchestra, which is a good thing as we’re also booked to see a similar treatment of ABC’s Lexicon of Love next spring. Thankfully getting home was much easier, no doubt partly due to my earlier unplanned orientation session, and of course because of less traffic. We were out of the venue and home within forty minutes, which was fab.

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My garden in August

Well August was a funny old month, bringing all sorts of weather with it. Sun, wind, rain - and plenty of that, though I think we stopped short of hail and snow, I think. It’s been another month of getting to know my garden, and sadly suffering the loss of a plant we brought with us.

One that we’d had in a pot for a while, but clearly wasn’t happy with everything nature had to throw at it - we were surprised, but I think it was the wind that the rosemary most objected to. But it was a good prompt for me to move the pots back into the border to give them some protection from the sun and the wind, and to help them conserve water as when the sun’s out it’s been pretty warm.

I don’t think this one’s coming back!

In happier news, other plants have thrived. New ones have started to flower, and a yellow antirrhinum has self seeded itself amongst one of the (many) lavender bushes, and it’s been great to see the garden do its thing.

The pot of mint which I’d cut back before we moved sprang back into life and has at least tripled, as mint does. It too though was feeling the demands of being exposed in the warmer weather, and was starting to wilt a tad. Not wanting this, or any of my other plants from London to suffer the same fate of the rosemary meant the pots are all nestled among the more established plants. Though the morning after I’d moved them all I did wonder where they’d gone!

During August I had a week on my own at the house, and it was great to spend some time getting things straight(er). I’d planned to spend some time in the garden, but the weather scuppered me on my first home alone afternoon. Hmmmn.

The acer, outside our back front door, has had a mixed month. There’s been plenty of bright red new growth leaves, but there’s also been a few crispy and more battered leaves, though thankfully this one has picked up with some more regular watering.

We’d got out of the habit of watering the pots, which wasn’t such a good thing when the weather warmed up again. The outside tap on the side of the garage was a bit temperamental, and if you weren’t ready for it it would give your knees a quick wash as you turned it on. To combat this I bought a short length of hosepipe - because of course we’d left our surplus hosepipe behind as we didn’t think we’d need it - and it soon tamed the unwieldy flow of the tap.

It wasn’t all wind and rain though, there were days with blue skies, cloud and sun and plenty of time to sit and admire and enjoy them too. So it’s not all bad at all, in fact it’s rather good.

The tiny crab apple tree continues to do well. I think it won’t be long before the crab apples are ready to harvest - my plan is to make some crab apple jelly (what else?!) when the time comes. But until then we’re enjoying looking at its branches which are laden with fruit.

The olive tree in a pot is also thriving. Previously it was bald on one side where it had been deprived of sunlight on all sides. Here, it’s on the corner of the path and gets sunlight from all around. I’d cut this back a fair bit for the move, but we’ve got new growth that’s easily 30cm or so. It’s still leaning a bit, but not everything can be fixed in a couple of months.

Last month I shared plans to tackle the buddleia which was growing and growing and taking over one of the borders outside the gate. I’d hoped to pot it on and save it, but when I started to cut it back once the flowers had gone I realised that if I gave it a severe prune then it would probably be ok to stay where it was.

So that’s what I did, and it seems to have gone OK. Which is good news as the amount of bees and butterflies that visited were definitely worth keeping it for. I also know that it aims to self-seed as much as it can, so next year I’ll be ready to pot on some of those seedlings, which were starting to make themselves at home throughout the gravel, along with the weeds!

I’ve a feeling that weeding that gravel will become one of our biggest jobs in the garden, the one that’s never ending but also quite satisfying. You know the sort!