Day 35 - DIY easy Halloween bat decal

So this is yesterdays blog as it was one of those busy days of work and visitings, and actually I made most of the bats a few days ago. Though I had fun this morning arranging them coming out of the chimney and up the wall. I think it needs more...many more!
Black sugar paper, scissors and bluetac, I had a google image page open with lots of bat silhouette shapes and worked on folded paper to get mostly symmetrical bats. I think mixing up the sizes and shapes makes for a more realistic cloud of bats (or colony, or camp!)

Day 16 - Making a new cushion

The chair I reupholstered yesterday was missing a back cushion, surprisingly the slip took such little time I actually made this yesterday too. I used an old lumpy cushion from the sofa downstairs (which is similarly gross and is begging for the same treatment.) which I stuffed into an old pillow case and stitched shut to stop all the feathers escaping and try and give it some new shape. This done I then lay out pieces for my outer slip, (this one is removable for washing again.) I used a whole piece for the back and made the front up out of three rectangles (mostly because my leftover fabric was just a little bit too small.) I wanted to incorporate this patch, which had once lived proudly on one of The Man's t-shirts but had accidentally ended up in my scrap fabric bag, and, well...used for scrap. As you can imagine, this upset him a bit so I've kept hold of it for about two years with the intention of doing something with it! Well, today is the day. As the surface of the patch is printed it's a bit tacky and my machine was having difficulty feeding it through, so I made a small fabric frame to sandwich it, and actually the result is better than I could have hoped for. 

There are no zips or buttons on this pillow, the back has a longer section which tucks in and keeps the cushion in nice and firmly. 

There it is then, about 3 hours work, no ironing, no zips or buttons, no great skill just a bit of determination. (It's so much easier making clothes for something that doesn't breath, move or have annoying protruding parts!) 

Day 1 - DIY decorating

Good Morning! I have returned after a month and a half of creative freedom, I have thought long and hard about my new project, I learnt a lot from my year on Boats but fancied something more productive but slightly less tangible. So allow me to introduce you to my new 365 project:

HOME IS WHERE THE CHAOS IS!  D.I.Y 365

Throughout the next year I plan to get on with all of those creative projects that are just for me, you know the ones you think, "I should do that one day", yet that one day never truly happens. I have chosen a very broad area to work on, so expect to see homes, chaos and plenty of me, Doing It Myself, (probably while creating Chaos at Home!)

So to kick start my project I have had a thorough cleanse, throughout the entire house. Bit by bit I have banished hoarded junk, broken ornaments and cobwebs from every corner of my home. Rearranged the furniture in every room to maximize space and add to the general Feng Shui I was sorely lacking. My blog begins the day after my Birthday after a fantastic weekend gatherings, epic board games...and bedroom painting. On Friday morning (and for the best part of three years) our room has been a hideous shade of orange paired with a sickly pink. The colour made it feel so grotty that we never really tried to make it homely.

After

Before

After two coats of Magnolia we wanted to add a pop of colour, The Man and I discussed different ideas, he likes graphic lines and minimalism, I am a lover of vibrancy and detail. So we designed a series of horizontal stripes, marked out very meticulously with masking tape. The end result gives a clean, fresh atmosphere with a bit of character from the stripes.