Pebble mosaic

It's been a while since updating here, mostly because I'm sharing pictures on facebook..but not everyone has that! so here's what Ive been up to lately.

I have a small courtyard rear garden which isn't very big or private as we have a shared access path running right through it, but lately I've been able to enjoy doing it up again as the neighbouring tenants now know they can only use it for bringing bikes or bins through..so that's reduced the traffic through quite a bit..which has really made my year! There was already some lovely stone slabs laid by the previous owners but they were in filled with gravel which over the years the weeds had taken over..So.. i had this idea to pebble mosaic it and be weed free.
I don't have a before picture with all the weeds but it was pretty unsightly! but I did take a few of removing all the gravel..it reminded me of that limestone pavement you find in the yorkshire moors :-)

After all this digging I'd managed to fill the red trug and 4 bags of gravel!

Ed and I went off shopping for some suitable cement, and more pebbles. I'd read that slow drying cement was best as it produces a harder crack and shrink free surface. I'd got all my other pebbles ready..i'd been collecting them over the years and a lot were scattered around in pots..it was a bit like a treasure hunt! they included a mixture of polished round and flats and quite a lot of glass nuggets.

First we did a test corner.. Ed was the cement mixer and i was the the pebble decorator ;-) 

 It was much easier and quicker than I anticipated..its just a matter of making sure the pebbles are pushed in at least 2 thirds depth. I wasn't too worried about producing an exact level surface as they are not really going to be walked on..but for future projects i would then lay a board on top and tamper down. Its recommended that you cure the cement by keeping it moist and covering with plastic..but we had so many rain showers that week i left it uncovered..doesn't seem to have damaged it.

I finished off with a simple flower design..I really enjoyed making that and loved the results.

I took some more pics this morning.. the cement has completely dried out now and I've dressed it all up a bit with a mosaic table (a Wilkinson's cheapie that I bought a few years ago) and lots of flowers and pretty buckets.

Since making this I've seen another way of making individual slabs by putting wet sand in a container, pushing the pebbles in then covering with cement, turn it out when set and brush away excess sand..and voila! you have a pebble mosaic paving slab. So.. ive had this idea to redo my stepping stone path in the large garden.Its going to take a while and a bit of planning! Here's some recent shots of the larger garden where I want to do it...

As you can see the current path is just a few slabs..not quiet sure if i'm going to incorporate them in the design yet but I'm sure i can use them somewhere.

Here's another project Ed and I did a few weeks before the pebbles..we finally tidied up the area outside our sitting room window..which i had been using a  dumping ground for old pots and garden sundry :-/ It a strange layout in this large garden because it dog legs back onto the neighbours garden..really not sure why..but it is how it is.

The slabs were quite pricey so we saved a little by infilling some with slate chippings. 

Being a fully enclosed garden and not south facing ..i think its east west or something! I have to chose a lot of shade loving plants..but the front does get a good 4 hours of full sun in the morning, so ive been able to enjoy the livinsgtone daisys my grew from seed this year...and i treated myself to some gazinias as well.

I've been trying to cut back on the amount of pots in my garden so I've been slowly putting the ones i know grow well in their positions back in the ground..but i have left this border because i do love my terracotta!

When I manage to tear myself away from the garden.. I have this little project to keep me occupied..quilling!

I found this paper mache bust in a craft shop and had the crazy idea of covering it in rolled up paper..im going to do the top half flesh colours and the bodice in a peacock design..i may just leave some painted though!

It may have to take a back seat for a while as there are house jobs to do..we have to replace the old front door ( its sitting in the garage at the moment waiting for my son to fit it) then i get the joy of painting it :-/ And the downstairs toilet needs completely re-doing..Then the hallway..then the PC roo( the list is scary!) I only have 2 weeks full time work this summer before I look for a new job..so I really need to make use of this free time, stop blogging and start doing :-)

A bit of Boating and Jamming

After a fabulous week on the boat completely chilling out and enjoying the ever changing scenery of the Ouse, I returned with minnimal time to sort out the plum tree which was over laden with ripe fruit. This tends to happen every year! but this year I was determined to get a good amount of Jam made especially as the tree had been so busy making fruit for me :-)
First here are a few crafty snaps I managed to get on the river Ouse.

Brampton Mill our first evenings mooring place.

The resident black swan at Ely..Ive never snapped a sunset in a river before!.

I was very lucky and caught him having a good feather preening session and was able to see his completely white feathers underneath

Dramatic sunset. Ely Cathedral

Posing at Judes Ferry. End of navigation River Lark

Heavy duty anchorage at Kings Lynn Quay

Kings Lynn Fishing boats

Amazing sculpture i found on the Quay

Fantastic view of the Ouse Estuary from the resturant.

A bit of tapestry I worked on while cruising.. its going to take me a while to finsish this one!

Ok so on with the jamming!

Plums on Tree!

Pick a few!

Wash, dry, halve, cook, sugar, cook again till sets on a cold plate with wrinkling ..then jar up while hot turn jars upside down to get vaccumed and voila!

Loadsa Jam!

Playing with Templates

Apologies for hurting your eyes with my busy background! I've discovered a very helpful site for working with the new template designer in blogger. Its here: http://www.bloggersentral.com/
So this morning I've been playing with CSS codes, as i was feeling quite nerdy. So pleased to have got my header centralised and have the freedom to add my own backgrounds... I can play around with it endlessly now instead of sewing :-)

Updates

I've added some new links ..go check them out! I know some very talented people :-)

Last Friday Younger Son and I redecorated his bedroom and I ran up some curtains the next day (curtains were a doddle after the bags I've been doing!) Pics to follow soon.

In the meantime thought i'd upload some slightly different craft pics...
The first one is Phoebe our BBF (thats Best Boating Freinds) dog! I used watercolours on acrylic paper..seemed to work. Still needs a bit of tidying up and then i will frame and pass on to the doting owners.

This is Rea ( the BBF's other dog) which i snapped just as she emerged from the river midway through a really doggy shake. I would loved to have got the water droplets but was pretty pleased with the effect. We've just had it made into a large canvas print and it looks stunning. It's a belated birthday present for them and I can't wait to see thier faces when they open it :-)

                                        

I've been making enquiries about courses for Sept. Still not sure whether to go for Horticulture or Machine Embrodiery, sewing is the obvious choice. It could be that I end up doing both!

Only 2 weeks until my Violin making course in Cambridge.. I'm going to have an awesome time here http://www.makeviolins.com/ I will make sure I post lots of pics of my progress.

A bit of patchwork

Not many pics to add although i have been busy with my machine..i just keep forgetting to snap and blog!

Here's my first attempt at machine patchwork quilting. Following on from all the cushions covers and footstall I recovered for my sister I found i had rather a lot of excess faux swede. I was inspired by my sisters newly laid laminate flooring and decided to base the pattern on the long random rectangle strips. This was a very challenging material to patchwork with! especially as i didn't have a walking foot for my bernina ( and at £70 i was reluctant to buy in case i didn't use it again..so i borrowed my freinds machine who did..Thankyou Claire :-)

Just a few more things

Ok..bit of major update on what i've been up to ( and not neccesarily in this order!) or very tidily blogged either

SEWING
Last year i dabbled with some Free Machine embroidery
Heres a couple of bags i made for people..a combination of appliqué and fme really. I used an open source pattern called the Charlie bag from http://www.burdastyle.com/

My Aunty was really happy with it :-)

Going with the same theme.. i made one for a friend who has a beautiful name and is Maori..
I used a nice stiff cream calico, some rich black yummy velvet and lined with some zebra fur i had already.





PAINT EFFECTS
I havent quite finished the French style Boudoir..but heres what I've done so far...

Starting with my old pine bed and cheap wardrobe.. i just gave lots of coats of white emulsion paint..about 4 or 5.. then gently sanded off edges here and there to give a slightly distressed aged look..then stuck on some fancy bits and ..Ohhh la la..a very cheap version of shabby chic.

My Son cut out some MDF shapes for pelmets and i gave them the same treatment as other furniture. The curtains were made from embroidered dress fabric ( cos i couldnt afford real silk!)
and i lined them with bonded interlining to protect them from sunlight plus it gives them that rich padded texture.

Ok.. i cheated with the chest of drawers! When looking for inspiration on the web i fell in love with the legs and all the fancy carving so i bought it ready made. I think i deserved that after giving the wooden floor 6 coats of paint and varnish!

THE BATHROOM
In Feb this year we did up the bathroom. This was a complete luxury for me as we didn't do any of the work apart from a bit of painting. I commissioned a very talented artist to make the mosaics ( i could never have had done those myself!) See Freshwater Mosaics website her work is stunning! So I became project manager in effect (not a job i would do in a hurry again) But i really enjoyed all the sourcing of materials and pretty light effects.
Here's the results.




Below is the LED 'Northern Lights' show! hehe.. i know its completely ott..but i couldn't resist going for a full on mood effect. It can be programmed to cylce through lots of colour combinations so with the white tiles i can have any colour bathroom i want!

SOFT FUNISHINGS FOR BOAT
Making set of curtains for a boat was a bit of a challenge! Luckily i had the previous ones as a template, however the shapes are so akward and there were 7 sets to make! But I'm pleased with the results.

I cant actually find a pic of them hung up from the inside.. so here's one of the outside. Thats me attempting to fish for pike!



THE KITCHEN PROJECT
This summer we decided to bite the bullet and get the kitchen done. Most credit goes to Son Jon..who is an excellent carpenter and did a great Job. As with the bathroom we paid a plumber tiler and a sparky to do the other bits and me and Ed did the painting and i did a lot of shopping and had great fun choosing stuff. As we already had the welsh dresser and range style cooker i decided to keep up with the country cottage look and just threw in a few contemporary bits. The washing machine and dishwasher are integrated into the cupboards and i just love em!
Catherine from freshwater mosaics is making me an amonite shaped clock..its going to be a real wall piece and she'll be using stained glass that complements all the colours in the kitchen.. i can't wait!




JEWELERY
Sometime last year, things were a bit stressful..so to relax in the evenings i started to make jewelery. It certainly helped and now i have caught the bug! I don't follow any set patterns, just buy beads and wire that i like and come up with a design as i go along. Its nice not to plan anything for a change.

I'm still working on this one..


Time to go pack now.. Maybe update in another year?!