Mummy 1942 - 2016

There are no words that I can say

To make our sadness go away

But memories do ebb and flow

To remind us that our love still grows

You taught us how to see the sun,

The colours, the smells, the rivers run

You stopped us often and said “just look”

And mental images we stood and took

We had fairy paths, and frosty walks

We had golden sunsets, and nonsense talks

We sang along to favourite songs

And if we felt it, we danced along

We had our times of heat and stress

But quick to blow and soon to rest

You taught us strength and independence of mind

How to be generous, and fair, and kind.

We got off light around the home

But somehow, still know, how things should be done.

We’re both good cooks, it’s fair to say.

(But I think my dusting skills went astray)

Our holidays were filled with (I want to say food)

Lifelong memories of times that were good

France and Spain in the long summer months

Bacardi & Coke and a sleep in the sun

In winter time, we skied in the snow

You weren’t so good, if you needed to slow!!
Chair lifts and strudels and big furry hats

Pastas, hot chocolates (with a brandy in that!)

Oz, New Orleans, Mauritius and more

Every continent you stepped on, the things that you saw.

There wasn’t a place where you didn’t make friends

Your smile, your charm, your joie de vivre knows no ends.

We watched you and Dad dance nights away

A Jive, a smooch, eye to eye did you play.

The music was always the beats of your hearts

The love that you danced with, set you apart.

 I cannot fail to mention these last four years

Your strength, your grace, and a few tears.

You taught me more about myself than I could ever know

That I was stronger and braver too, (and I even learnt to sew!)

 Although this is farewell for now, I will see you every day

When I look into a mirror, you’ll look back at me some way

When I see my sister smile at me, your smile I will see too

And my nephew’s laughter will echo, with the things we used to do.

Joyce Margaret Young (née Lowman) 1945 - 2016

Joyce Margaret Young 16.4.1945 - 14.11.2016

Upholstery week 5

I'm just about to head off to week 6, but here is quick run down of week 5.

Firstly all the curved bits were snipped so the fabric sits nicely. These areas will be covered with the outside upholstery but i still needed to be careful to snip enough to make it smooth, but not so far that the snips will show when the outside fabric is put on.

Then I decided to put an extra layer of new 2cm foam on the arms and stapled it down well, and covered it with wadding. The foam is to give it better "squish" (technical term!) as the old stuff was a bit mean! and i can feel the wood of the arms through it. Given that i will mostly knit or crochet in this chair, it needs good arms. The wadding is to smooth over the lumps and where the staples are so you can't feel any bumps.
This week i will hopefully be putting fabric on the arms.

Hopefully back with more photos later
T'il soon ❤️

Upholstery Course - Weeks 3 & 4

Well the wings took me two weeks. Those pesky pleats!

I covered the foam with poly-wadding (like what you put in quilts really) to even out any lumps and just give it an extra bit of squish.  Then cut  2 x rectangles. Covering the measurements of the length of the wing and the width of the widest part right through the back to the frame.

Once I'd got the fabric square on the wings i then temporarily tacked the bottoms to hold it in place then started working on the pleats above.  Of course the first one went quite well, and then the second, which needs to match the first in direction and number and approximate size - didn't go so well at all.  Which is why the wings took me two weeks! I got there though. 5 pleats facing down - pretty much pointing to a central point (if they had all been longer they should meet at a dot - mine was a big dot but it was a dot!)    In the end I stapled the pleats because the tacks weren't holding them very sturdily and that was making it harder. The velvet i am using is a bit thick and the tacks slip if i don't get them in far enough - through all those pleats i'd have needed a sledgehammer for the job!

So eventually, with a lot of gentle persuasion I got the wings looking smarter and then cut a notch in the bottom of the back to be able to straighten and tighten that.  It's all beginning to look a little smarter.

It's still only tacked in the main so there will be improvements as I staple it later in the course.  This week (week 5 already?!) I will be adding extra foam to the arms and hopefully starting to cover those.

T'il soon ❤️

Upholstery Course Week 1 and 2

As i enter my third week of my course - i realise that if I don't blog my progress now it's going to take too long to catch up!  This is as much for my own memory - i feel that 10 weeks is going to come and go so quickly and i wonder if at the end of it i will have any memory of what I did along the way.

So......

I have an armchair, a very comfortable armchair. But, I bought it second hand and i think the previous owner had a cat that also thought the armchair was comfortable. It badly needed re-upholstering.

Other pets have apparently liked the chair too (M&D's dog Bonnie in 2013)

So in searching for a local upholsterer, i found Sarah, who offers a 10 week course whereby you take any piece of furniture you choose and she teaches you to upholster it. Score!

So in our first week we are encouraged to take photos of the Before item:

During my first week I had to make her nude!  I've never seen so many staples and my hands hurt for two days after. I decided to take her home for homework as I didn't finish in the class and didn't want to spend another week doing it when I could be learning the next stage. So........ at the beginning of week 2 she looked like this:

She is quite a modern piece really and quite possible every part of her had been upholstered separately and then bolted together as a finished item. Consequently getting in to some of the nooks and crannies was not easy. But scissors, staple and tack removers and a strong set of carpenters pliers meant that i didn't do too bad a job in the end.

So, in the second week I padded the back foam with a little extra poly-wadding and attached my first piece of furnishing fabric (I was very excited because everyone else in the class has much older and more traditionally upholstered pieces, so they are all busy with hessian,  coconut and cotton wadding, and calico. - I could re-use my old foam in place of the older methods of cushioning  and immediately attach my fabric.  So a quick measure of the back - then a longer measure as i realised I had it wrong *rolls eyes at self*, cut a rectangle and poke it through the bottom and over the top and through the sides. Sarah made it sound so easy - oh no it wasn't.  The middle of the rectangle had been notched so we didn't end up on the squiff, but even so it was tricky to get it straight, and the previous method of manufacture meant that there are big gaps where it's a bit of a surprise, and no gap where one would be useful.  Still, in the end I got there and the back is temporary tacked in to place:

This week- week 3. I will be wadding out the wings and hopefully upholstering them too.

T'il soon ❤️

Hi Honey, I'm home!

I'm back in Guildford. Mum and Dad are settled (somewhat) in a residential home. Their house has finally been sold, and I have moved back to my house.  It's not very nice most of the time if I'm honest. It's noisy and dusty and hot and noisy and busy and did I mention Noisy?  But we have been busy trying to get it to be a home again and not just a collection of somewhat derelict bricks!  I wanted to tell you all the things that we have done, but there's too much and we've done it all a bit quick really!

The first room was the lounge- i needed a haven that was finished. It really only needed a good scrub and a new carpet, so as you can see lady Spot is already installed!







We had gutted the bathroom when my tenants moved out (word from the wise - don't rent to male students!  - bless them, they weren't bad or anything but I guess the generation down doesn't think about things like wiping down taps after a shower, or opening a window to let the steam out (mould everywhere!).  So since moving back a new suite has been installed (a bad buy on my part as it seems it's really a bit big for the room, but it's in and it's fine), and we have protected the wall with bathroom cladding instead of tiles. The room will be finished by the carpet fitter soon, with a vinyl floor.

The kitchen has never been anything much in my home. Don't get me wrong, i've loved it. But it was always a totally free standing affair with a dresser and a range oven and a butchers block and it suited my lackadaisical style. But since moving back i have wanted something maybe more grown up (! first time for everything) and certainly with more storage space as I brought a fair amount of pots and pans from Mum's kitchen (well why wouldn't you she had excellent and expensive taste!) So I got a second hand kitchen on eBay and it's been "Krypton Factor'd" together to fit the best way, and it's looking awesome. Not finished yet, as we need to put a little electrickery around for appliances and gadgetry. And the worktop will be finished off with a splash back. There'll be more photos when it's finished. (there was also a purchase of an impulsive orange fridge)

Of course we bought fire with us (you didn't think we would leave it behind did you?_)

and consequently all patios and the conservatory were pressure washed to within an inch of their lives (and in the case of a few bricks - beyond their lives!)  
















 Roses the shed has been given a new roof:

And finally (for this post - there's loads more going on in the house!), the hen house was renovated with every colour of paint from the shed (geez I have kept some stuff! - luckily i suppose!)  I refrained from buying orange just for the heck of it though!

And these little ladies (and one other) arrived on Friday.  Not laying yet but they have added to help start making it feel home again.














T'il Soon ❤️