Grow wee veges

As spring creeps closer and the days get longer it seemed appropriate to plant some veges and hope that they may sprout.  Now except for a few lettuces planted when we first moved in (thats them there) and years of owning low maintenance house plants, this is my first attempt at really growing anything substantial.

I have jumped in with both feet and only time will reveal the results. Currently I've planted one wee tomato (fearing it might be a bit cold I am going to keep one inside also), a capsicum, some broad beans, some peas, some silverbeet, spring onions, beetroot and a range of lettuces. Add to this a cape gooseberry and we are good to go. I love my wee garden boxes and I'm just hoping its not too cold at night for the little seedlings so they get to start growing.

I'm certainly no green thumb but keen-ness and positive vibes count for something, right?

Wallpaper Victories

We did it.

In true death-defying style we've finally completed the neck-breaking parts on the high walls above the stairwell.

Now I'm ok with heights, but there were a few moments that I can do without reliving. Balancing up a ladder that is itself balancing on a wooden beam, that is itself balancing on a window ledge was perhaps not the most pleasant experience. I was muttering through my teeth and making sure the stronger of the two of us held on to that ladder. But .... lets focus on the good bits! Its done and I feel we deserve a few victory laps of the hallway.

On to the plastering and then I'll be ready for another health and safety nightmare again for the painting portion.

My learnings on stripping that 70s wallpaper

In May I mentioned that we'd be redecorating our house. That was back in the glory days of wilful blindness when I thought painting over the wallpaper would be achievable and a quick and easy cosmetic change to revamp the internals of the home. Ah, I miss those days.

It since revealed itself that painting over wallpaper was not a viable solution and therefore it needed to be stripped and the gib skim plastered. 

Wow - just like when I was a kid .........

The first area to tackle has been the hallway. The wallpaper often generates cries of delight from people who say "ooohhh, we used to have this in the living room when I was a kid". Well that's all very nice people, and great for you, but its still the length and breadth of our winding hallway while your childhood living room has no doubt had a face lift since.

A few things have revealed themselves to me during this process.
- the glue used in the 70s was of exemplary quality
- this wallpaper was made to last
- it doesn't wanna come off.

Being DIY novices we read the blogs for wallpaper stripping which tell the same storey: (i) score the paper with a tiger claw do-dacky, (ii) put on stripper solution (iii) wait (iv) steam or just peel off. Safe to say, this is an optimistic version of events. Our version was a bit more like: (i) score that paper like its the last thing you'll ever do, until you think there's more holes than paper (ii) lash on super-strong stripper (iii) wait (iv) curse in frustration as you achieve millimetre by millimetre of peeling.

The lesson we have learn - and I share this in case there is some other poor soul out there trying to remove wallpaper of the same extraordinary quality as ours - is as follows:

1.) Use tweezers (crappy pair you don't want anymore) and find that little bit of peeling wallpaper. Catch hold and rip. Yes, this will only take the top patterned coat off - it is true - but it is this top coat that is making life a living hell. The paper will prefer either an up or a down ripping action but should come off in large strips. If you have previously been moving at snail's pace, this type of activity will be extremely satisfying. (It also means if you have a vague sense of silliness, you can save a piece of wallpaper for posterity. I shall be framing a piece in the hallway as a memorial to this work.)

2.) Now you are simply left with the under/backing paper. It is porous to allow the stripper to soak in and absorbs water well. We have attacked this by rolling on a stripper solution, leaving for a few minutes, and then going at it with a scrapper, armed with a spray bottle of stripper solution when it dries out. I won't pretend its not still a long process, but compared to the previous tear-inducing progress, we are rolling along. After 2 months of on/off efforts we are nearing the end.

An etsy pearler

Like many people, I receive those daily updates from etsy which are full of delightful thumbnails of people's craftiness. Being in NZ, I get my email about 3am in the morning and so it is sitting there when I come into the office. I always scroll through as I munch on my breakie.

Today's included a picture of this fantastic cushion by Yellow Bug Boutique. It made me laugh out loud and it certainly reflects how I have felt about my projects to date. Love it!

Toddling about

Made this sweet wee set for a friend.

The bib is backed with navy towelling and it makes it nice and thick and soft. It has a velcro catch and is simply overlocked together so is almost embarrassingly easy.

The rompers were a touch more difficult. However they are quite cute and hopefully will fit.

I love the fabric - its very sweet with the little turltes without being overly kid-like.

Landscapes

Sometimes you just have to appreciate the beauty that New Zealand allows us to live within. The last few weekends have been uncharacteristically sunny and pleasant (not just for Wellington, but for anywhere in winter). We have made no inroads on the wallpaper stripping as it just seems wrong to be inside on sunny winter days. Plenty of time for rain.

Last weekend we spent a lovely morning up Makara hill munching on bacon sandwiches and reading, and then this weekend we wandered round the coast to Red Rocks and made silly noises and daft conversation with the seals. (I love the way that each seem to have a personality and look at you like you're being very tiresome when you disturb them - which is probably true, but still funny).

Watching thugs looting the streets of Brixton - 2 minutes from where we used to live only a wee while ago - just underlines how very lucky we are. To be so far away from that kind of grey and desperate environment and to be immediately close to this type of landscape is just such a privilege and surely fixes the soul.

Open Studios - a treat

I treated myself to a new book. Another pearl by Lotta Jansdotter (she just keeps producing crackers). This one is called Open Studios.

Whilst it sometimes reads a little like a series of adverts for her similarly very talented and artful friends and acquaintances, the photos are really wonderful. It explores the working environments of these creatives and each page is just full of wonderful images. I found myself getting nose-to-nose with each page in a desperate attempt to get a little closer and further into the studio I was viewing. I have spent many a happy moment scanning each image a thousand times to take in every morsel of every shot.

A very pleasant treat.