Monday 13 January 2014

Who needs a boring black office chair?

I lashed out and bought myself an office chair for my studio so that I could be comfortable and have good lumbar support when sitting at my work table.  And it's got wheels which is fantastic. The only thing is office chairs usually come in boring black like the one below or bright blue or red.


My solution to a boring office chair is to attempt a slight makeover.





I made a semi fitted cover for the back of the chair and for the seat I sewed strips of fabric together into a square shape and then trimmed the square edges to a roundish shape.  A hem was sewn and then elastic threaded through, pulled tight and sewn.  Hey presto a fairly respectable looking seat cover.  The green fabric with circles was from an op shop as is the bold patterned fabric.  The darker green fabric with the red flowers came from my quilting fabric stash.  I'm really happy with my amateurish attempt at making over my chair.

Somehow Sophie managed to get in the photo above without me noticing probably because just at this point of taking the photo I heard a loud explosion type noise followed by a long drawn out rumble.  We apparently had an earth tremor measuring 2.7, about 10km underground occurring a couple of suburbs away from where we live.  Nothing was damaged, the studio didn't shake or move although Genevieve told me the house did.  Just a bit of excitement for a Monday afternoon.

Anne  xx

The trouble with making coffee...

is when your Labrador just wants to be with you.


She's hot, she's tired and she knows what time you are going to make coffee so she's right there in that space where you stand so you can't ignore her.  :)


Love my Sophie who is now sitting on the floor next to me as I write this post.

Anne  xx

Sunday 12 January 2014

Colour

There's something about colour, I've just got to have it in my life.  Fortunately there is a lot of colour in the garden at the moment.











I've finished the first of my boho style curtains for the studio made from scarfs today.  The colours are actually much brighter than shown in the photo.


I hope there is colour in your world to brighten your day.

Anne  xx


















Monday 6 January 2014

Having fun in my new space

Today it happened, I finally got to spend some serious Anne time in my new space.  After moving a few more things such as the sewing machine, fabric and a tabletop ironing board, I got stuck into the enjoyable task of making curtains from the scarfs I've been collecting.





I bought myself a small iron so that I don't have to go back to the house every time I need to press a seam.  I already had the tabletop ironing board, it's just so handing having it set up ready to go.

I've been putting some more bits and pieces in my space, a CD player for those times when I want music.  At the moment though I'm enjoying the quiet.  I also put this display board in today.  I've had this for some time, a collection of photos of things I like.  Hanging on it is a little trinket I made a few days ago just for fun.

Don't you just love the Labrador wearing gum boots (wellingtons)?


I can't remember if I mentioned on here that before Christmas I started having swimming lessons.  I had some as a child but was never competent in freestyle or backstroke which are the strokes in which I'm being taught the correct techniques.  I am going for my first swim in over a month tomorrow and looking forward to getting some exercise after all the indulgences of Christmas and New Year.

Anne  xx

Sunday 5 January 2014

Catch up

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year and from the posts I've had time to look at it seems that you did.

It has been very busy here since I left Western Australia with Mum so she could visit with us here in Melbourne.  The time has gone very quickly and tomorrow she flies home to Western Australia with my sister.  We've loved having her stay with us and the time spent with our family before Christmas was quiet which I think was very much needed after the trip over which seemed to take forever after our flight was delayed by three hours.  It had us arriving in Melbourne at 2.20am which was just little bit late for my liking.  Anyway we recovered and had a very enjoyable Christmas.  

Genevieve took control of the table decoration and I think she did a fabulous job.


Here is Charlotte well and truly getting into the spirit of things.


Boxing Day was spent with hubby's family in Ballarat where we met for a picnic lunch.  Yet more yummy food was consumed and we had a fantastic time relaxing and catching up with family we don't see very often.  It is hard being so far away from family so we certainly enjoy the times when we get together.

We spent New Years Eve at my sisters house and had the most wonderful time.  The weather was perfect and we ate outside.  Mum had a fabulous time enjoying being with family and enjoying the spirit of seeing the New Year in.  We were wondering if some of us would make it though as we were all a bit sleepy.

I've been catching up with Mum while she's been at my sister's house and we went out to lunch at a cafe in lovely garden nursery on Friday.  I came home with two spectacular plants, one I've never seen before and another I've always wanted to buy but never seen available anywhere.  So it was a good day.

I'm very excited to say the studio is finished on the inside and now all my bits and pieces are in their place.  I bought a nice long table, another storage unit and a task light from Ikea which have been assembled and set up.  I also bought an office chair from Officeworks which will not remain black for much longer.  I have much to do in completing this space and making it look how I want it, but the basics are there and it is a truly wonderful space to work in.  My thanks to my wonderful hubby who has made this dream possible and come true.  Here are a few photos of how it's looking at the moment.




We still need stairs to be made to get into the studio but we have something temporary in place until hubby has the time to make them.  The guttering also needs to be done but it too can wait.  My hard working hubby needs a good rest before he tackles those two things.

Hubby made me a key ring for the studio key, a little Christmas gift.  I love it.


I received a beautiful calendar from Louise from Ramblings of a Roachling blog.  We exchange calendars each year which I think is so lovely.  I adore the Christmas paper the calendar was wrapped in the card is just so beautiful.  Thank you Louise, the calendar is gorgeous and is hanging up where I can see it when I'm in the kitchen.



Now that the studio is completed the room that use to house all my craft gear as been removed and made into our guest room.  I was remaking the bed the other day and had to leave the room to attend to something else.  When I came back there was a very suspicious lump under the top sheet.  My suspicions turned out to be correct.


It was Bungee.  This poor baby had to have his teeth cleaned with the possibility of one tooth to be removed at the vet last week.  When I went to pick him up he had had five teeth removed.  I felt ever so sorry for him.  His teeth were in worse condition than what we originally thought.  The good news is he is back to his old self and eating well.


Just one more photo for you.  I planted this pale pink pelargonium only a few months ago from a cutting.  It is flowering profusely and looks so pretty sitting in amongst the blossoms of the pendorea just above.


It's good to be back in blogland and hopefully there won't be such a gap in time between this post and the next.

Anne  xx