The Wonders of Mactac

Busy little bee. That's me. I have been painting our disgusting laundry room. There are not any before pictures because it was too gross to post. It had, get this, dark wood panelling. Yuk. It is now covered in a very soft white. Positively delightful. My little ironing table that I made ages ago, now looks ever so wonderful against the calm white. I am thinking about some cute vintage glass knobs for the drawer.

I have fallen deeply in love with mactac. I lined the shelves with it and it is so sweet. Did you know it comes in a myriad of patterns now? Not just the ugly fruit ones I remember when I was a wee one. The ones I have here are actually Laura Ashley.

DN2's job yesterday was to adhere the paper to the shelves. She does not appreciate the wonders of mactac. Actually, she hates it. And the little bubbles just about sent her over the edge. No worries, with a little creative adjustments they were gone. Love this stuff. Really.

Break's over. Gotta go.

~~~~~*~~~~~

Hope you are having a productive week, too!

Ask and You Shall Receive...

Tim Tams are the most delectable cookie ever to pass these lips. I wrote a whole post on them a while back and am ashamed to admit, still very addicted to them and am totally guilty of cleaning out a whole store, without any remorse whatsoever. I am such a pig. For those in the UK they should be available at Tesco's.
Skinny Sticks are usually in the organic section. They are kind of chip/crisp like but better for you. Well that's what I tell myself if I polish off a whole bag. Moving on.

I picked this up today. I got a brain wave at 1:00 am while lying in bed trying to sleep that I have a club chair in the family room that desperately needed a new slipcover and thought jeez doesn't Ikea have a chair like this? Don't they sell a slipcover for it? Wouldn't it look great on that club chair? Bob's your uncle. Did I mention we have three (3) Ikeas here within a 20 minute drive?

I think I'm a lucky puppy.

Tagged

By KnittingMania


1. What was I doing 10 years ago:

I had a nine year old and a 6 year old. My six year old was just learning how to play hockey, if I knew then what I know now… Stay at home mum, doing the kid things, still gardening and playing house


2. My five favorite snacks:

Tim-Tams, herbed goat cheese on water biscuits, any nut I can find, anything covered in chocolate, and here’s a kicker, Skinny Sticks


3. Five things on my to do list today:

Ironing, trying to find the floor in the laundry room, putting clothes away, figuring out a nutritious dinner people will eat AND enjoy, weed the garden


4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Charity, Family, Animals, buy large property



5. Five jobs that I've had:

Sample girl at grocery store, cashier, office manager, supply teacher, and still striving for that perfect housewife thing


6. Five bad habits of mine:

Obsessive bed making and adjusting (ask my husband about this one when he is helping me change the bedding)

untimely sarcasm

5 o’clock pm snacker (I become gluttonous just before the dinner hour after not eating all day and consume an odd mixture yogurt, Tim-Tams, and sometimes, pickles or olives while I am preparing another meal to eat)

I am sometimes just a bit too honest

I tend to whistle while I talk to people on the phone


7. Five places I've lived:

Well, the truth of the matter is, I am like a Dixie Chick song, I married my high school sweetheart and moved to a home eight doors away from my parents basically the same postal code


8. Five random things people wouldn't know about me:

I pray every night

I fall asleep thinking of THE most random things like whether the dog food I have for Dibbs is fattening, did I leave that load in the washer and should I let my daughter go to university in the US, what if she meets a guy down there and wants to stay…

I think my nose is the only redeeming quality of my whole face and actually thought of a nose ring/stud at one time

I have an irrational fear of driving over water and on bridges

I get inexplicable cravings for peanut butter and at night, right before bed, I will take a tablespoon, scoop and eat right from the jar but would yell at my kids if I caught them doing such a dastardly act


9. Five cd's I would have on a desert island:

U2 “The Joshua Tree”
The Three Tenors
Oasis not sure which one probably “What’s the Story, Morning Glory”
The Best of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
Andrea Bocelli “Romanza”


10. People I want to get to know better:

I will leave this up to anyone that wants to play

***

Now aren't you sorry you clicked me today?

The Power of the Peony

In the bedroom.

On the kitchen table.

In the livingroom.






~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~






Have a spectacular weekend.

When I'm Not Gardening...

I am reading in the garden. A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this book.
Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll. Sister-in-law to the other famous Jekyll. I haven't really read this one yet but am so looking forward to it.

And lastly, Every Eye by Isobel English.


I am unable to get many of the Persephone Books here. They do not seem to be widely distributed in Canada. So I have to go to the website, get the titles and authors and look in the stores or in the library for them published by other houses.







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






I hope you are all having a wonderful week. The weather has broken here but the humidity is coming back tomorrow. Nasty.

Thanks for dropping by.

Saturday

Sad ~ because it is almost 40 degrees with the humidity and too hot to sit in my favourite spot in the garden
Overwhelmed ~ because my mother picked this up for me at a church sale and only paid 50 cents for it

Happy ~ because the ripple blanket is so beautiful and tranquil to crochet and so very pleased with the yarn

Giddy ~ because things are really starting to bloom, finally

Happy Weekend!

Canadian Home and Country Magazine ~ A Love Story

I am in love with this magazine. Have you ever come across one that has absolutely everything you are looking for? The colours you love, the designers you follow like celebrity stalkers? Canadian Home and Country is like that for me. The colour combinations really draw me in. Like the chair above and the armoire below. Did you see that gorgeous carpet?
This next one is from the home of Nikki Renshaw.

Don't these colours just soothe you?


I love the footstool. And the lamp. And the cushions. Well, I just love all of it, really.

What a delightful workspace.

Who doesn't love daybeds to drink tea, read and contemplate?

Oooh, eiderdowns, yum.

My dream potting bench.

I love the red and pale green combination.

Well how gorgeous is that table and chandelier?

And they give a source guide in the back so you can purchase all the lovely items.

And wonderful tips on laundry, storage, cookery...

What's not to love?

source ~ Canadian Home and Country Magazine

Vintage Linens

We all know how low I was on blankets, so Saturday I rushed out to the Christie's Sale and searched high and low for vintage quilts, comforters and eiderdowns. Thank goodness I found some. What would we have done without them? Especially since today should be a chilly 27 degrees Celsius. What was I thinking?
Seriously, did I need more blankets? I am so addicted it's not funny. And I just could not pass them up. The top one was just so gorgeous with the satin inset and the pattern on the second one with the roses and the greens and blues, well what can I say? It was $20, once told that there was no going back. There is no rhyme or reason, just beauty. They are all washed, clothesline dried and fluffed from the dryer.

The wicker rocker was picked up at a garage sale on the way home. Again, who can pass up deals? I have no idea where its permanent home will be but blimey, it was $15. We also stopped at Hortico on the way back and what a wonderful nursery. I finally picked up the rose I wanted so terribly and spent yesterday doing more planting and moving about. Now I want the temperature to drop so I can sit in the garden with a cup of tea, my new rocker and one of these gorgeous blankets.

Sewing and Pug Pics

As you can see, I actually accomplished something I said I would accomplish. The two cushions from the vintage tablecloth. Done. I really hated to cut up that lovely tablecloth but it had a few tiny holes and I bought it, for two dollars I might add, specifically for this purpose. Another item checked off the list.
And I thought I would show you the cute watering can I picked up. Who can resist pink flowers on a watering can?

And the gratuitous dog pictures. Did I mention there is now well over 100 pictures of this dog stored on my computer? As you can see he is having a difficult time adjusting to the Knitty, Vintage and Rosy household, cough, cough.


I debated whether to show you these photos as some are well, kind of graphic. His bits and pieces are still, ah, intact. If I knew how to photo shop them out I would have.

And for those that are curious the rippling is going so wonderfully. I am awaiting a delivery from Webs for some new yarn for it. My goodness they have great prices. The yarn I am using was half the price than what I paid for at my yarn store. The colours are a bit different than the last one but very similar and quite a bit bigger. This one should cover my king size bed. Vee said I should still take a picture and show it to you all, so I may take the camera to my mum's for a picture. Still ticks me off a bit when I look at it, but as mother says, you can't unring the bell.

*****************************

Have a great weekend and thanks for dropping by.

PS Why won't blogger space?

And the Winner is of the much delayed and overly hyped giveaway is...

Julia from Vintage Heaven. Way to go Julia. Please email your shipping address and I will have your little gift in the mail as soon as possible. I am sorry for the delay guys but I was waiting for the computer most of the evening while DN2 was loading DN1's Ipod. This little endeavor took well over three hours and I just could not stay awake any longer. The prize includes some treats, vintage apron, a pillow cover, some lace and Romantic Homes.

Thanks so much to everyone that posted. It is so nice to hear from new people.

My latest projects are, if you can believe it, another ripple afghan. I finished the first one and gave it to mother for her birthday. I know you are wondering why I never showed you a picture right? Well that was when I was ill. Her birthday came upon me quite quickly and I finished it the night before her birthday and had to quickly block it. It wasn't drying quick enough so... yes, I put it in the dryer but only on "NO HEAT". Do you want to guess what happened? Slightly smalller than anticipated but still beautiful. That is why there is no picture.

I am also going to make some cushions for that iron bench I mentioned in the last post. That's the plan anyhow. It is rather dreary and cold here today so I will also be spending some time with Nigella, making one of my favourtie dishes to warm up the kitchen.

~~~*~~~

Have a great week and thanks so much.

Elegant vs. Shabby Vintage

This is my little family room that is actually just a big kitchen but this is what we call it. As a result the sofa is sat on quite a bit as the moment someone comes into this room they sit on the sofa. There is a kitchen table to the left of this, literally just four or five feet away. But people (my kids) feel the need to sit here to eat their snacks, goop and all around messy stuff. So I pretend that life is all velvet, roses and non staining white wine while I clean and tidy up and then back to reality.
So I always have to have some kind of covering on it. This is what it looks like in real life. At the moment I am using the most beautiful chenille bedspread in a duck eggy kind of blue. The sofa is almost the same colour. This makes me cheery. It also gives me some kind of insurance against the inevitable "spill". But most often it is covered in a white matelasse coverlet. I was going to sell this chenille one on ebay but I just couldn't.

Two charming platters I picked up at a garage sale last weekend. I actually used them so many times already, what in heaven's name did I do without them before?

And a sweet little tablecloth that I plan to make into pillows for the iron bench outside.

The contest will be extended til Tuesday as I totally forgot this was the holiday weekend here and will be entertaining pretty much all three days. So if you haven't commented, while why the heck not?

Have a lovely, peaceful and serene weekend.

See you on Tuesday!

May 12, 2008 A Giveaway

Can you guess what today is? Four! 4! Quattro! Years ago today I began this blog. I actually hadn't really thought about it until Elizabeth at Kittycafe kind of reminded me as we started around the same time.

My blog began as a mostly knitting blog with me rambling on about my less than perfect attempts at needlework. Ooooh there was some doozies I'll tell you! My photography was much worse than it is now, not that there is anything great about my talent now but oh, boy there were some nasty pictures going on. I also had this amazing list of blogs in my sidebar that I completely deleted, by accident, when I switched my blog to the new blogger format. There were some really brilliant blogs on there which I have never been able to find again since the memory is, well you know.

I have since expanded my blog to include thrifting purchases and decorating ideas which seems to have opened up my readership. This I am forever thankful for as I have met (is that the word?) some of the nicest people. I love the blogging world and reading all the wonderful little anecdotes that people are kind enough to post on their blogs almost everyday. I am forever inspired by so many. A few have decided to close down lately, which really saddens me, however, there is one that chose to stay afloat after an incredible response, isn't that blogger love at its finest?

What I am getting at, dear friends, is in appreciation for your loyalty and support I am doing, what else, but a little bloggy giveaway. Please leave a comment (that means you out there in lurkdom;) and I will be randomly selecting a name for a prize that I am sure you will enjoy.

I will close the contest down on Friday to give those occasional readers a fair chance.

Once again, thank you.

And did you notice my title? I was such a novice on my first post I put the date there not knowing each entry would be dated. Duhhh!

Lisa xoxo

PS I hope you all had a simply marvy Mother's Day!!!

PSS Sorry for the lack of spacing today, Blogger just was not in the mood to space!

I Crack Me Up

No, seriously, it's not enough that I have laundry, gardening, ironing, and shopping to do, I have to go play with Hairmixer.
These are my favourites. What a laugh. The first one is Reese Witherspoon. The second is Heidi Klum, the third is Jessica Simpson and the last one is Jessica Biel.

Thanks so much to Happy Loves Rosie for the link.

So, are you going to go give it a try?

I am seriously thinking about that Reese Witherspoon one though...