More New Additions

Well we have two new additions to The Rat Pack in one day! Firstly little Joseph who came from Pets At Home as a rescue rat. He had apparently escaped in the store and lived around the store for some months before being recaptured. We shall need to keep an eye in him. I wanted to call him Houdini but we already have an 'H' so he needed a 'J' name to come after Ignatius. Joseph has fitted in right away with the other boys and is a very friendly rat.
Whilst we were in the store, a man came to place an advert for another rat who needed rehoming. This one came with a huge cage and an outdoor run. He is called Freddy, and as he knows his name we have not changed it. As yet he is only having short periods in with the others as he has been alone for a while and is being a bit annoying towards the other boys. I am sure he will settle down though. On a positive note he is very good with people and loves to be handled.
We cleaned out the cage and rearranged it so now our boys have an even larger home and all seem to like it very much. As this one goes up rather than along it takes up less space. It is on casters too so we can wheel it around if we want to move it.
Our Rat Pack now numbers five - I think that is big enough!

Joseph and Freddy

Elna Supermatic

A very kind lady on Freegle has given me an ancient (1950's) electric sewing machine. It needed some tlc from Sam but now seems to be running ok. A slight quirk is it is operated with your knee not your foot - a knack I have yet to master. However it produces a very nice neat even stitch and I will be able to finish my table runner. Here is an old advert for it and a picture from the internet of how it looks - mine is a little more worn. The case makes into a work table - they thought of everything in the old days!

New Job

Yay at last I have a new job - Support Worker in a Children's Centre. It is a part time position, 20 hours a week which is what I was looking for. Start in a week, once I have checked out the T&C's. Very exciting times!!

Sofa Revamp

Sam and I would like a new corner sofa for our new house - but at the moment that is on hold. So as a cheap, temporary option I have dyed the sofa covers brown so that they match the room better than the navy that they originally were.
It was a long process - even using the washing machine, but I am pleased with the results and the sofas will be fine now until we buy a new one. The wall looks very orange in this picture - it is actually red but the sun was setting when I took the picture and it has altered the colour.

Early Birthday Gift

Lucky Sam opened her Birthday gift from her mum and Jerry today - an ipad. She unwrapped it whilst chatting with the olds in Oz so they could share the fun. Sam was very excited with it and couldn't wait to start using it, and has already downloaded several apps. I think she has been very restrained because she collected it from Pip and Liam's house last night and didn't open it till late afternoon!

Family

Had a chat with Robin in Jersey this morning which was lovely. Miss him very much but he is hoping to come over to the UK some time over the summer. We thought it would be good to have a big family BBQ when he does so he can catch up with everyone all at once. Feels like ages since we last saw him.

Dining Chairs

I have re-covered Sam's Grandma's dining chairs - and I am very pleased with them. They have a retro yet modern look to them now and I think that fits in with the room very well.
I tried the fabric both ways and decided I liked the vertical stripes best.

I then had to strip the chairs down and replace the foam with some new padding. I held this in place with some double sided tape.

Next I centered the fabric with the pattern on the chair and stapled it in place pulling it tight as I went. I used the old cover as a cutting pattern and cut all four out using a similar stripe as the centre point. It was not possible to use exactly the same stripe as this would have wasted too much fabric, but each pair of chairs matches.



















Finally I tacked the original hessian back on to cover any raw edges - and there it is: a complete chair - repeat process three more times and I am finished!


I am going to spray the fabric with some scotchguard to help protect it. I have some fabric left so am thinking about making a runner for the table - maybe something like this -



This is how they used to look - I think May would approve the new look!

More Growing

The second pot of herbs has now sprouted too - the chives. Just the parsley to go. An old wives tale says that parsley goes down seven times to the devil before growing and that is why its germination is so slow. Lets hope mine comes back and starts growing soon!!

Growing

The first of my herb pots has just started sprouting - the thyme which surprised me as I thought the chives would be first.
It has inspired me to get planting - although as I am working all week I won't have much time.

Spontaneous Purchase

Its not really like Sam to make impulse purchases, but today in Milton Keynes she bought us a beautiful original piece of art work to hang on the living room wall.
The lady in the gallery wrapped it all beautifully in brown paper which made it look all the more exciting - like a surprise gift!













The painting is called 'Our Little Piece of Heaven' and is by an artist called Sarah Louise Ewing. We have hung it on the wall and it looks great - just what the room needed! The photographs really don't do the painting justice so I will take some more in a better light. The artist has used metalic paint and even glitter to create texture and light, and has put a lot of detail into the trees and houses.

I also purchased some fabric to re-cover the dining chairs. Not such an impulse buy - more a careful consideration with the help of a very nice lady in John Lewis. I will take some photos once I have finished the chairs.

Evening with a friend

Had a lovely evening yesterday with Claire. She came over for a good natter and a fish n chip supper. It was great to catch up and get some gossip - she had a nice juicy bit about someone we used to work with!
We will definitely make the effort to stay in touch.
She bought Sam and I a gift of some herb pots for the kitchen window sill as she thought I would enjoy growing them and Sam cooking with them. I have planted them, so waiting now for them to grow.


A lovely evening was rounded off to perfection by finding out I have a job interview on Thursday morning for a position at a Children's Centre, just a ten minute drive from home. Fingers crossed for that!

Star of the Day

Charlotte and Ian's new puppy, Snoop, was definitely the star of the show! Everyone fussed and loved him to bits - and he was very good with a large crowd of people.

Charlotte's 26th Birthday

Yesterday, on Charlotte's Birthday, we had a lovely family BBQ in her garden. The weather looked decidedly grey and wet in the morning, but brightened up by the time everyone arrived - we even got some sunshine.


Ian was a dab hand on the BBQ and we all enjoyed burgers, sausages and eventually kebabs!
Mum had made Charlotte the most wonderful Birthday cake - very rich chocolate with chocolate curls on top and chocolate bunnies all round the edge - 500 calories a slice! Most of it was gone by the end of the afternoon!


Charlotte's garden lends itself well to games so badminton,football and frisby were very popular. Steven and Shaun enjoyed a water fight - but an unfair advantage was had when someone started using the garden hose!

Is it Summer?

The weather has been beautiful through April and now into May. So is this summer? I think that we should enjoy this early part of the year as I'm not sure it will get any better than this!




The fields are a glorious yellow as far as the eye can see at the moment, so very English looking.

Sewing Machine Cover

I said at the beginning of the year that I would put my makes on this blog too - but so far I have only put the flowers for Pip's Reception.
So here is my make from yesterday - a new cover for my sewing machine. The old cover was plastic and had split, but using this as a pattern I have made this lovely new cover. The fabric is a remnant from Dunelm which cost me 50p. I added some pockets to keep scissors and tape measure etc safe and in one place. I am very pleased with it!

Furniture

We collected some furniture from Sam's Grandma's house yesterday - table and chairs, matching sideboard, sofa bed and a few other bits and pieces. It seemed strange seeing her bungalow empty and ready for someone else to move into - the end of an era!
The furniture has fitted into our home very nicely - and I am sure that May would get great pleasure from knowing we are using it and loving it. I am going to recover the seat pads for the chairs in a modern fabric, which I am sure she would greatly approve of.
The safa bed too is in need of recovering - a much bigger project and one that will have to wait for now. It is a great sofa bed - long enough for even Ian I think - very 60's in style and goes nicely in our spare room making an extra guest bed should we ever need it.

Here it is in May's house - I will add another picture once I have recovered the seat pads.