Freecycle Rainbows

I freecycled some MDF shelves from the shed today, and when I was helping the man to carry them to his car, I turned around and saw this double rainbow. I would not have seen it if I had not been out there at that precise moment. Lucky chance!

The shower was heavy, and my camera lens got wet. This caused some pretty effects, and some rainbows in the raindrops.

Posh Girls With Silly Names

I bought a copy of 'Tatler' magazine yesterday, because I was intrigued by the picture of Christy Turlington, with a make-up moustache, which was on the front cover. But, once I had looked through it, I was more interested in the society pages near the back, and, while not wishing to be rude about the girls pictured there, who are all very lovely I am sure, was struck by how blonde the majority of them are, how similar they all look, and how some of their names are a little silly sounding. Which all made me want to create my own girls. Fedora Nuance, Tabouleh Pilkington-Mohair, and Apollogia Fencely-Barton, are from my imagination, the others are all roughly (very roughly!) based on the real things. The names are all my own silliness.

I had fun colouring them in photoshop.

If you want me, I'll be in the shed

Ha! Seriously I will probably not be in the shed, but last night I could not resist taking my lanterns (I didn't realise how many I had) up to the shed, and taking pictures. My upstairs neighbours, who overlook our garden, were out, or I might not have, as they may have thought I was mad. It was so pretty in there with all the lanterns burning, but then I had to take them out again in case of fire! I will put them back in tomorrow. We have been out all day today, so no shed work has occurred. About to watch a film on filmflex and do the border on my blanket which will then be finally finished!

I got on really well yesterday, and it is all organised and sorted, with plenty of room for more storage. I have got some silica gel to put into boxes to keep the damp out, and have big plans to make the back room into a room we can actually use.
Some good things to look at
The Hermitage

I love reading Rima Staines' blog posts. They are always so informative and poetic, full of beautiful art, photos and fascinating folklore. Today's post is all about her adventures in the hedges near her Devon home, and her quest to increase her plant knowledge.

Cute and lovable(are there any other kind?)cats from the 1870s

Cat inneficiently drinking water.

After

Work in progress-a shed as just a frame with no roof.

I did this part. I used the rest of the Sterling board-or OSB board-Oriented Strand Board-I had no idea what it was-just looked it up-which was used for the roof to make panels, so I can hang tools. I used my hand drill and a power tool! An electric screwdriver my Dad bought for Andy a while ago. It was great!

Lots of painting went on in there today-using up all the old tins, and one completely new tub of emulsion I didn't realise I had.

Cassie loves the shed. The other two have not been in there at all yet.

A crow who is nothing to do with this post, but was being strangely noisy yesterday evening-not normal crow noise but a kind of throaty chirruping. I think it was talking to its mate.

Replaced boards at the bottom.

After painting.

The two pictures I took of the outside were blurry for some reason, but these of Cassie on the roof will do. It looks so neat! I have done three more coats of outside paint and will keep going until it runs out. It goes on very thinly.

Someone asked in the post the other day if it was going to be my studio. Wouldn't that be fun? I would love to have a little retreat in the garden to go and listen to the radio and do something or other creative. I could put all my little lanterns in there, and we could have cups of tea on rainy afternoons. To achieve this I need to get rid of an awful lot of accumulated stuff, both from the shed and from my art storage boxes. I have to admit I have so much stuff I don't use half of it as I don't know what is there. I am going to donate some and sell some. Operation cleanup will start tomorrow, but first I have to get the essential boring stuff back in there-the suitcases, cat baskets, tools and fold up chairs.

Before

Pile one. There is a slightly smaller one the other side of the decking.

Broken corrugated plastic roof. Pointless and broken shelf.

Very rotten wood. On the other side was a concrete slab which is now a step to the shed. It had trapped all the moisture, caused some crossness and grunting when it was removed, and housed a whole city of snails on its back.

The drain pipe had been like this for so long that it had inscribed an arc in the paint.

Cassie testing out the useful cardboard path. It saved a slight amount of mess indoors, though it is still a tip in here-blogging is better than tackling it! I have done most of the outside mess-it has gone to the tip, and will sort out the piles tomorrow. The shed looks great. My brother is so good at all that sort of thing. Will show you tomorrow!

Still Life

Trying to make pleasing still lifes is not as easy as I thought. I have so many lovely natural things and as I was photographing some crochet things for the my shop, I thought I would use my temporary photo studio while it was out. It is a card table, a pile of books and a white sheet. Pushed over towards the kitchen window as the sun was in and out this morning. These are my favourites out of the many I took.I had fun playing with them in photoshop, using some of Kim Klassen's textures. She has a lovely pinky coloured one called 'Dusty Rose' which I used here.

I bought the fan coral ages ago from an American shop on ebay. It is very delicate and stands on a top shelf normally. It is so perfectly tree like. The gourd is one from a few years ago and reminds me of a space ship. The stalk is the remains of my Amaryllis. It has an interestng seed pod. The seeds are very thin paper like black slivers. Fun fun. This afternoon has been all about the shed-well for my brother anyway, after the trip to the DIY shop. It is looking good so far!

Cushion

This morning was spent clearing out the shed. Then I made a pineapple upside down cake. Then I finished this little crochet cushion. All in all a quite productive day, despite the constant drizzle. The mud in our garden is extra thick and sticky, so there are little paw prints everywhere! Tomorrow my brother is repairing the shed so I am hoping for a dry day.