Project : A Mural

A masterpiece it is not...

But when my friend, Jutta said she wanted a mural with grasses on the wall of her physio clinic room, I said, in jest, "I'll do it". And 2 afternoons later, here we are.

Now, you'd better sit in a darkened room if you want to check out the pictures of this project.
The wall is a soft light blue with a spring-like feel to it. The other colour Jutta used on her walls is a light green very close to the blue. And if I had used that green it would not have been visible at all, so I added a brighter green to her original colour to get the desired effect.
Still, looking at the pictures in bright sunlight won't show you much, as I have experienced.

These two photos, Jutta took, with the light in her room off, and on. It gives a completely different feel.

I took this one coming into the room from the hallway.

A few close-ups.

Jutta is very happy with the result and it is just how she wanted it. That'll do me just fine.
Now they only have to finish off their new-build, so they can start enjoying it all.


It has been raining heavily on and off and it feels bitterly cold (I'll have to start wearing socks in my sandals again), The few veg in the garden are starting to curl up on themselves from the cold, as if they want to return to the soil. Can't blame them.

Keep well !
Patricia xxx...x

And We're Back in Autumn Mode

The crochet hooks and yarn have come back from their summer holidays (back of the sofa more likely) 

New projects have been started and the ladies who crochet have had their first get-together yesterday.

Lovely, as ever.

Patricia xxx...x

PS Have a great weekend.

New Sewing Machine.

And I really, really didn't want one. 

I've been best friends with my sewing machine for 27-odd years and I have an emotional attachment to it. My parents bought it for me at the time when I had just moved in with Bert. I wanted to make curtains for the living room windows, you see, because it was right on the road and every passer-by could look in of an evening.

Before all that, I had used my mother's old sewing machine to muddle through various sewing projects. Unfortunately, that was on its last legs.

Anyway, back to the present. In my last few sewing adventures my old buddy has been playing up. When it started sounding more like an old rusty harvester than a sewing machine I dusted and oiled all the cogs and wheels, making for a much smoother running machine.

But thread kept bunching up underneath the fabric, whatever I did to remedy, it would do a good job for 5 cm and start bunching up again.

I had to keep going to finish off the promised Cinderella dress 

Now a few days ago Bert went to the post office to pick up a parcel. It was a new sewing machine !

It's a Toyota Oekaki Renaissance.

And it's red !

And I'll have to go through a uni course of four years to be able to work with it.

It does loads of stitches and can embroider.  

I'll have my work cut out trying to understand the workings of this new machine. I guess the best way to learn is to use it and practice. 

There is this handy contraption, that attaches to the sewing machine, with the various stitches and codes for the 'operation panel'. 

Here they are side by side.

I feel very disloyal to my old harvester, but we will get it serviced and hopefully fixed.

Has anyone of my readers ever used one of these new-fandangled machines ?

Patricia xxx...x

The Latest Project - Guestroom

I've been neglecting the blog world and I have a good excuse. We've been busy.

So yes, the guestroom. 

It's an okay room in general and doesn't need lots of work but there was this useless and lost space near the en-suite bathroom that I thought could do better.

My mother, Irma, arrives later today with my 8 y/o nephew, Mathias, in tow (or is that the other way round). They fight (argue, a bit) when they have to share a bed and bedding and he is getting a bit too grown up to sleep in the same bed as grandma.

To surprise him we made an inglenook bed for him in the forgotten corner of the room.

As luck would have it, the measurements corresponded with an IKEA kiddie mattress (160 x 70 cm) and a bookshelf for underneath.

And then I set Bert to work.

Nil, our last volunteer, painted the wall behind in a turquoise blue. and the woodwork white.

The wall stickers I bought a good while back in Lidl.

What have I been doing ?

I made the curtains.

And a duvet cover for Mathias.

Nil made the design for the hot air balloon and the boat and cut the fabrics for them.

As a side note. Nil has left us in the meantime for  another hosting place and it is her birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Nil !!!

Mathias can enjoy this for one week only. Then his 5 y/o sister Sarah arrives and she'll turf him out onto the air mattress and take possession of this inglenook bed.

I made a duvet cover for her too. And my sewing machine has been playing up big time while I was in the process of all this sewing malarkey.

I haven't even started on her Cinderella dress yet !

Looking forward to a month of family visiting ! I have however, no idea when I'll be back on the blog as there will be lots to do.

Take care and enjoy the summer, if you have one.

Patricia xxx...x

Cinderella

Some fabrics have arrived yesterday.

This to fulfill my duty on some particular request

Now, I am filled with trepidation. Because I am not a seamstress and I have never made a ballgown for Cinderella before.

It didn't stop me from trying to find out what the result might be.

I looked on the internet for Cinderella slippers, but it was tough. In the end I arrived at a Belgian website and found these. Okay, they are not made from glass or even transparent plastic, but they look cute and will fit in perfectly with the dress after a few embellishments.
I had them sent to my mum's address and she took these pictures for me.

Funny mummy tried the shoes for size on Micky or Minnie Mouse (can't tell for sure).

I have another month and a half to cobble this together. Also on the list is looking for a suitable Alice band/tiara, gloves, Sarah wanted gloves, and a whole lot of other stuff that I have conveniently forgotten.

Patricia xxx...x


PS To my sister in law, Joelle.  "Do not show this to Sarah !"

Cakes

I am not into baking cakes and making desserts as I am more of a savoury type of person. In fact,  it could be said that I 'hate' (yeah, I know, it's a strong word) baking cakes.

I'll give it a go if there is a special celebration for a very special (to me) person. It takes me forever and a lot of dedication from start to finish and I'm always relieved when it's done and the end product is half decent.

The first time I ever used fondant icing was maybe 18 years ago and I haven't learnt much since. Ha ha! I can still remember the cake though. We had been living here in Ireland (the first time round) for a year or maybe two, when two of my Belgian cousins visited. One of them had a birthday while here and I made her a cake in the shape of an Irish cottage. With way too much fondant icing, everywhere. Still, it looked cute and the cake underneath was very tasty indeed.

My go to cake is generally frangipane, but I make exceptions.

The second cake was a couple of years later when Belgian friends visited and one of their boys had his birthday. This cake was a Burger, with yet again, a lot of fondant icing. The tomato, cheese and lettuce where all made out of thick icing.

Some really strange contraptions have passed the revue over the years.

 If you can't manage a level 3 tier cake, try and go all wonky like above.

These cakes were for two volunteers who were with us at the time and had their birthdays on the same day.

Still hadn't mastered the fondant icing thing. But it is six years later now and I still have the sugar polar bears.

The cream cheese frosting of my first ever carrot cakes wouldn't have won a price for its excellence, but the homemade marzipan carrots probably would. Lol.

It is not grated carrot on top. It's orange zest !

I have made two cakes in the past of which I am proud, sort of.

The first one was Princess Sarah's christening cake.

There was red velvet cake and frangipane. The third one I am not so sure, but was probably coffee.

The other cake with good results was one for a friend who turned 50.

It didn't come without its problems. Big problems.

 I made a start on the flowers a couple of weeks beforehand. With only a few kitchen tools and my own fair hands I shaped the fondant icing into something that resembled primroses/primulas.

By the time I had finished with them, I came to the realisation that when you start molding and kneading the fondant it becomes more pliable and easier to handle. Finally !

The day came when I had to start on the cake. It was early February 2014. While I was making the cake batter, the wind was picking up and turned into a proper storm. One of the worst we've seen so far. I knew the power would soon go, but I put the cake tins into the oven anyway. Indeed, 15 minutes later there was a power cut. I left the cake in, thinking it'll come back on any minute now. A day later and the power was still off. 

Thank goodness for corner shops in villages where you can buy 12 madeira cakes at a time ! I was already pumping myself up for the chore of making buttercream by hand when the power came back on. That was approximately 48 hours after I had put my cake into the oven !

It was a sprint to the finishing line, but the madeira cakes were a success.

The most mahoosive cake ever was for our friends at Blueberry Hill Farm when they celebrated their 20th anniversary of living in Ireland.

The cake tells a little about their story.

I was lucky enough that the volunteer (Pat) we were hosting at that time was (is!) an amazing sculpture artiste. 

And didn't we have fun with this project, Pat ?

And then there was Nora's cake. The youngest of our crochet circle at the time. It was her 17th birthday and I made her this cake.

What made me write this post ?

Weellllllll. I only ever make a cake for someone I know and love or a very special occasion that I'm involved in. It is something that takes a lot of my energy and creativity. And I really hate making cakes.

Last week however, I made an exception. A friend asked if I was willing to make a cake for the 5 year old son of his friend. And I said okay, without thinking. What about a Thomas the Tank Engine ?

No, he likes Ironman.  Who ?

Two days I worked on this. I didn't know anything about this Ironman. He stumped my creativity and he made me lose the will to live. He gave me a cold sore and all.

I can only hope that the boy and his parents liked him more than I did. I told our friend not to ask me again, because I can't say no and I actually hate making cakes !

And don't get me started on cupcakes.

*Wink Wink*

Patricia xxx...x

PS  Any orders for cakes won't be accepted.

Capiche !?