Dandelions

I finally got the dandelion cross stitch done and I'm really pleased with it, it pairs up with the plantain very nicely! They're both Gerda Bengtsson patterns. If I had some more of that linen I'd do another one to make a trio, but unless a scrap turns up they will stay a pair. I need to get some more of the Danish Flower Thread though, the DMC equivalents don't have their lovely muted colours - this embroidery is a mix of two. I think I might ask for a proper Haandarbejdets Fremme kit for Christmas, perhaps this one.

One of the reasons I'm so pleased to have it done is that I've been mentally planning on putting up the photos above my desk* in the spare room after they all came down when the room was plastered and painted, and I wanted the two hoops up there. I tried to use those 3M adhesive strips to put up the frames but they wouldn't stick to the walls so I just banged in nails and it all went up pretty quickly. I'm planning on printing off a few more of my favourite Instagram photos and then trying to keep a bit current by swapping older ones out. Or I might just expand on to the other wall I don't know!

*And trust me, the desk is not normally this tidy - far from it!

House before and after

We had the house painted a couple months ago and I actually remembered to take some before and after photos!

The house hadn't been painted in ages and it really really showed! I think the previous coat was put on badly too, with only one coat in places and I bet they used cheap paint to boot. Luckily our painter Les takes great pride in doing a good job and was very much into proper preparation so while it cost us a bit more than it would have if we'd done it 8 or 9 years ago (when, naturally, we didn't have the money!) we've got a paint job that will last for ages if we maintain it.

The front was seriously unappealing - with huge big camellias on either side of the steps (why did we plant such big ones?), really cheap and dodgy steps that were incredibly slippery in the winter, a trellis sort of thing between the two pillars on the right, and the remains of an old and rusted alarm box to the left of the window on the right. The house was shifted onto the section in the 80s as a spec job I think, so has lost the original front steps, fireplace and chimney (sadly).  You can see some interior shots here.

Need I say how pleased I am with it now? The steps are still too narrow and ugly, but they blend in with the porch and the whole thing looks smart and more upmarket. Mat and Les were a bit uncertain about painting the deck and stairs but I had this image in my mind and it ended up looking even better than I'd hoped. Les mixed in non-slip stuff with the paint on the steps we don't need to fear slipping down them to get the mail!

The hardest part of the job was finding colours that went with the rather odd reddish-brown of the roof tiles. The red on the window sills really made the whole scheme though, when it went on the whole house just sang. Someone told us that different coloured sills are 'out' now, but I don't really care, it just wouldn't have looked the same without them! In the garden we're going to get some smaller camellias to replace the big ones, and the garden will fill in a bit along the bottom too, it looks a bit scrappy at the moment!

Hipstamatic bedroom

On Sunday it was just so stinking hot and humid all I wanted to do was collapse. So I lay on our bed and watched Mat rip laserlite off from over the deck in preparation for our house being painted (!!!yay!) and Hazel sat next to me chattering away and sewing a lovebug of her own design and asking me to do help with pretty much everything. In between that I played with Hipstamatic.

I'm not used to seeing the sky out of window like this, it's really very nice! The light floods into all the rooms that open onto the deck and it feels much more open. On the other hand the rain comes in, the shoes get wet, and sunbeams heat the house up. We're liking the openess so much that we're thinking of painting the beams white so they blend in with the house more and don't look so massive when we replace the cover.

On an entirely unrelated note - ever since I was a kid I have stared at ceilings imagining how it would look if the house was turned upside down and the ceiling were the floor and I had to walk around the house that way. Am I alone in this? If I am I'm sure it indicates sheer untapped genius :)

The problem with having these high ceilings would be the getting in and out of doors.  I do love that moulding though, it has the most beautiful changing shadows throughout the day. The print is by Judith Kunzlé, an artist we know in the Cook Islands. I love her dancers but the landscapes are my favourites, they capture Polynesia so perfectly! I should start saving up for an Aitutaki one (where my PhD research was based).