Tag: country life

Watching paint dry

PiaChit Chat

Literally. Is what I was doing yesterday.

First, I forgot to give my boards (for the painting wip storage thing) their last coat of paint the other night, so I had to do it early morning (6 hours’ drying time). The garage is too cold and messy, so I’m doing this on my dining work table in the living room. Which means, cats are going to investigate – so I had to sit and watch (until I quit, locked them in the kitchen and went for my shower).

wallboards

Then I wanted to try matching the wall colour where I’d filled in holes. Most of the holes were only pin pricks from nails, but you know, even if you wipe, some filler gets onto the wall (structured wallpaper). I was a bit scared to use black in my mix, so I definitely did not get it in first attempt even if I tested on a small portion elsewhere – must have faded a bit there. Each time I tried a new layer, I made the circle slightly wider, to blend it in a bit, right? Not. So I ended up with multiple large splotches on the wall in varying shades of “cream”. I’d like to renovate the room whole house and just paint it white, but that was not today … Of course we all know that most colours dry up a bit darker, so I was having a hard time containing myself from trying new layers and also anxious to know when I’d hit the mark. Perhaps it dries a little faster if I keep an eye on it? I did, just in case. To the point of burning my omelette – which I had to go eat in the bedroom would you believe it, because the cats were very much asking for a third breakfast if I tried to sit down.

Molly can't sleep without rearranging the entire sofa. I didn't have the heart to wake her up and tidy up before taking a picture.
Molly can’t sleep without rearranging the entire sofa. I didn’t have the heart to wake the old girl and tidy up before taking a picture. It looks like this all the time. Now you know.

Anyway, I eventually broke out the black and it went a bit better. I can’t match the gloss, but it would be nice if it’s not the first thing you notice about the room. I even resorted to using “glazes”. And now it simply has to be good enough. Most of it will be covered in pictures anyway, which was the whole point of the board exercise: To be able to store, dry, hang various small paintings out of the way, to be able to move and rearrange without making new holes every day, and make it slightly decorative as well.

wallpaint

The idea is to hammer nails into the boards instead of the wall, basically. And not have to measure the height every time, just the three options, take it or leave it. I couldn’t find my box of little nails for the purpose, so I have yet to show you the finished result.

wallend

G casually asked me if the house is going to end up looking like hippies live here. I didn’t have a definite answer. It’s very much a Danish thing that you should conform, the norm is good enough and no reason to want or be more. While I’ve never really conformed, I have felt restrained at times, both physically (tiny house) and otherwise.

Well, I’m fed up with being less than me. It has nothing to do with feeling better than others, simply that I want to be all of me. Not just some parts of me, the acceptable ones, the managable ones, the inconspicuous ones. And if being me right now involves turning this tiny house into a workshop with looms on the wall and arranged for storage space rather than a modern show home, so be it.

Spry old kale

PiaChit Chat

kale2I actually thought kale was an annual thing, but these have never looked better! Looks like they’re going to flower – does anyone know if the rest can still be eaten? (if not, I’d like the space for the orange cosmos that Mary Jo sent me)

Going to be a headachy day (and then some) for me today, probably not a whole lot getting done. Or perhaps I won’t be able to contain myself to begin my project “new picture storage space”. Got the lumber yesterday, next step sand and paint.

It’s 6.30 am as I type this, G is going to some guys out thing with the neighbour (no, not a drinking thing), so unless the headache works itself into a migraine I will need to find entertainment for myself. We usually do house projects over the weekends. Perhaps I’ll molest some wood and build a loom?! Yes, you can have ants in your pants even if you’re feeling poorly. 😉 Then again I may just try finishing my holey sweater. So I can start a new one.

Would you believe it my sewing pile has grown again? And yesterday I added 4 pairs of jeans that need hemming, found at the Red Cross shop in town for 45 kr./£5/$8/€6 each. But I’m not going to look at that today. Sewing needs a special kind of extra energy …

And that’s my Sunday in spe. Will be interesting to see how it really turns out! I may have some kale for lunch.

(And before anyone is impressed with my morning skills, the headache woke me up around 5)

Busy

PiaAcid Dyeing

As I mentioned we’ve tried to do a few house things during the winter holidays this last week. What with an early, temporary spring – open jackets and all! Awesome.

We never quite finish my the list and I can feel that I’m getting to the end of my “go” where those things are concerned, I know I need a break. But a good chunk has been completed, including improvements on my tapestry loom, last bit tomorrow I hope. Bushes moved, that kinda thing, the house will be pretty orderly come Monday = room to play again. And there’s a reasonable view of what still needs to be done. Focus!

Today, just a few colour bombs for you all. Pretending this is indeed the first day of spring, not just on the calendar.

I thought I’d do little snippets and teasers here until I have time to talk to you again, but then I realized most of my wips have already been presented. So there will be limited entertainment until I can finish my drafts! Here’s a purple spacedyed warp that I was asked to show. More on the project later. I think I expected a bit more indigo, but that’s how it goes when you just wing it.

purple01

No dig

PiaChit Chat

Well, my pony post obviously wasn’t a huge succes 😉 so I’ll try a bit of Sunday gardening instead.

As previously linked, I’m going to try making a no-dig bed in the garden. I’m making it with fresh manure as I empty the horse boxes, so it may not be ready this year, I think I started in November. I put a layer of newspapers under, to kill the grass, so I can only top it up when I have enough papers! (We get a ton of free locals each week). I may scatter some carrot seeds just to see what happens, and I know potatoes will do well in nearly anything. Perhaps I’ll just cover it up to keep out weeds.

newbed2

As you can see, I’m nearly done according to my markers! I’ll top it up a bit as it sinks, to end up with a good layer of soil. We have heavy clay here, and our lawn is seriously compacted, so this should be interesting on many levels.

nodig2

Other than that, I’ll try to keep gardening at a low this year, it took too much of my creative time last year, so I’ll weed as much as possible, sow a few annuals and the only other new thing I’m creating is a grass free lawn under the hammock. Starting with moving some thyme from the barrels, in which I’ve instead put some bulbs that should have gone in last October, but I didn’t have the pots ready where I wanted them to go. And time passed and it was cold and I tend to hibernate… But today is such a lovely, sunny, balmy day I thought I’d get started!

thyme
Thyme for the grass free lawn.
Getting all the dead coreopsis out and the bed ready to move my black currant bushes from the jungle.
Getting all the dead coreopsis out and the bed ready to move my black currant bushes from the jungle. And the grass free bed along the fence.
Weld is doing fine
Weld is doing fine
And so is the kale, which I'm not allowed to eat on a FODMAP diet.
And so is the kale, which I’m not allowed to eat on a FODMAP diet.
kitten
Leo is my new garden helper and assures me the mystery plants I found last year are doing well up until now.
kitten
It’s their first day outside and Emil started out with a fright when the ponies came galloping straight at him down the hill. So now he’s having none of this garden business.

And now I still have half the day for: ?? I know I shouldn’t overdo it with the physical stuff, I have to stop before I’m tired. Otherwise I just push on once I get going and then pay for it by sleeping all week. Paint or weave perhaps. Oh, the dog needs walking and the stable needs mucking. Always something, isn’t there. 😉 I think I’ll save it for later though – when I’m tired anyway.

Goofballs

PiaChit Chat

To help with bandwidth and server maintenance, I’m in the process of moving some of my old self hosted websites to WordPress. I don’t know if I’ll actually keep them up and running long term, but I still use them as an image bank to show old stuff rather than dig out old cd’s with my backup files.

That and Dre’s statement “horses are goofballs”, I thought I’d make a little goofball compilation here for everyone’s entertainment. Happy weekend, all!