Frosty mornings, lovely days

Hasn’t it got wintry – I love this time of year when the sun bounces off frost covered pavements and people are starting to walk with a spring in their step as they plan their free holidays over Christmas.  It’s so different to January when the nearest Bank Holiday is a way off, summer seems so far in the past it’s impossible to imagine the warmth ever coming back, and that time off you enjoyed so much over Christmas has triggered a period of reflection so intense you’re considering all sorts of crazy options to “change your life”.  I’m sure self-help book and NLP CD sales spike in the New Year. 

Anyway, my point is it’s a beautiful day.  If you live on a big hill like me, then you might have struggled to make your  way down to safety but despite the perils I couldn’t really see a few small patches of ice as a reason to work from home so striding purposefully down the centre of the road, I made my way deftly to the station and into work.  The wander along the river was bracing and lovely.  The little patches of wintry sunshine surprisingly warm although I didn’t linger for long as I could feel my toes starting to curse the December weather.  My sheepskin mittens meant the fingers were safe.

I got home last night to find my craft room finished and the IKEA shelves built – what fantastic builders.  They’d also phoned me to tell me the shelves were extremely heavy so where did I want them as once they were in, they weren’t likely to be going anywhere.  I managed to knock my back out when I went running yesterday but I couldn’t resist starting to move things into the craft room so have hefted all my books, sewing stuff, crochet cache and knitting gear out of the living room, dining room, bedroom, hallway etc.  You get the idea.  The boxes currently conceal a myriad of things I’ve got to sort out.  Hell, the cushion is perched over a shelf of doom that I’m going to sort on Friday but the point is, the flat is gradually looking like a home again and some concerted work on Friday should bring it all together.  Can’t wait.  Ended up propping myself up on cushions to sleep, having taken some ibuprofen and that stuff is a miracle as am no longer doing the Velociraptor walk that makes my colleagues laugh quite heartily at my painful expense.



From this ...



... to this (still a work in progress)



The next thing I must make is Roman blinds – it overlooks the street and I don’t really want to be working in there in the evenings exposed to the nosey gaze of passers-by.  My sister-in-law has some spare cappuccino coloured fabric that I can use, and I’ll need something to contrast it.  I wonder if a blue and white ticking would work as the centre, or if I should go for another plain cream fabric.  The plan for the lights is a dark lime green shade from John Lewis, and then I’m going to repaint the white shelves – which are not very attractive and don’t quite fit anywhere in the room but are extremely handy – perhaps in a green colour like the lampshades or a very dark brown, or perhaps a dark purple.  So much to think about.  I do love a project.  I’m also not sure where to get the actual stuff to construct the things – dowels etc – all the bits and pieces.  Ho hum, I sense some googling coming on and an eagerly awaited December pay day.  If anyone knows any online places to find the essentials and/or good and thrifty curtain making fabric/lining etc, I'd love to hear.