my weekend project ~ admitting defeat...the silver leaf chair!

Yep, well...remember how I started to silver-leaf this chair? You probably don't...it was back in May!! 

It was more than a little difficult, even after my lovely bloggy friend Kerri gave me a few good tips. Something about white cotton gloves, a soft brush and...oh yes, it's probably easier to start with flat, not curved surfaces Kerry with a 'y'...hmmm.

So I decided, despite the fact that I loved the idea, and the way it was looking, there was no way that I was going to persevere with it.  Shirley Conran once famously said that 'life's too short to stuff a mushroom', but I'm here to tell you mushroom stuffing's a walk in the park compared to silver leafing...and a whole lot less messy!

Anyway, sick and tired of looking at an unusable chair, I skedaddled off to Bunnings, and resorted to spray cans...a primer and a metal look paint..

A big sheet of plastic in the courtyard, a quick sand down and the primer on...this took a few tries to get good coverage (on the left), wait for 40 minutes and then the silver paint which went on much more smoothly than the primer. A couple of pot plants may have a few painted accents that weren't intended, but overall I was quite pleased.

The silver paint has a slightly more industrial look than the silver leaf but I think that's ok.

It's probably going to go here, in the lower part of my bedroom. The black curtain separates the 'sitting' area from the bed. The large mirror will be framed at some stage and there will be a gallery wall in here as well.  And of course the chair seat needs to be sorted...maybe on Wednesday...but this is likely to be the fabric.

And I managed to do quite a bit of reading and get a heap more granny squares crocheted as well. Not a bad effort...balanced weekend :). Now we just have to see what balance our new government will have...bated breath bloggy peeps...bated breath...(and yes that's the correct spelling...I looked it up!)

shadow shot sunday...the vampire slayer

I was told this looking for shadows thing might become addictive! At the moment, the best shadows can be found in my study on a Sunday morning. And where there are shadows, there must be sun. And where there is sun and a warm spot, you'll normally find a cat!

I like that there are shadows on Buffy as well as the shadows she's cast.

Pop over to Hey Harriet for more shadow shots...

...if you're in Australia it might take your mind off the election! Nail-biting stuff. And definitely more tranquil in the townhouse than in Parliament House I can almost guarantee!

As for me, I've got a date with a chair and a can of spray paint! Happy Sunday.

soul food friday ~ poles apart

It's a bit to get your head around isn't it.
Three parts to this. I quite liked the first bit; the bit about being daring, different..and yes, even impractical. But not all the time. Surely that would be too damn exhausting and a great big pain in the butt for everyone else!
The second part: ok, integrity, imagination and vision are all good. Otherwise nothing would ever change would it? No wonderful innovations, no mad ideas that somehow work, no drive to make things better.
But the third: play-it-safers, commonplace, ordinary, used here with such disdain. Surely these things have their place in our lives too. We need steadiness as well as brashness. And who decides what is ordinary and what is extraordinary anyway. In the fabric of our own lives, don't we get to choose that? Everyone has a story as they say. 
Despite Cecil's wonderful photographic and design legacy, if he was still alive I think I might be inclined to debate him on this.
What do you think?
image from here

my creative space...felt cushion with flowers (also of felt!)

Why is it that these things seem easier in your head than they actually are to 'action' as Faux Fuschia would say?

It turned out nicely in the end, but a cushion a day is not quite what I had in mind when I decided to work four days a week and have the 5th day to create...hardly a cushion making frenzy! I got the inspiration from this book...

I loved working with this 100% wool felt...so soft and not in the least bit scratchy...so I'll be sure to do some more. It wasn't really difficult, just a bit fiddly and tedious...easier to show you how to make the 'petals' by photographing the book!

...cutting out the circles, making the 'petals', sewing them on one by one...

And here's the back. I really love the buttons that I picked up yesterday when I was having my sewing machine lesson...you'll be pleased to know the automatic button holer works...but not very well on two layers of felt! Sigh.

So, I'm quite happy with the end result, but it seems the vampire slayer prefers the old cushions! Just as well this one is going to the first-born's then. That cat gets odder and odder :)

As is now my (very) new tradition on a Thursday, I'm heading off to Kootoyoo. Why don't you join me there.

all images by me with the cooperation of felt, books, needle, thread and a barmy cat.

top 10 pictures from the week ~ 17.8.10

It's that time of the week again bloggy peepsters. The time when I remind myself what has caught my eye in the past 7 days...

as my memory is less than reliable these days...

But it seems there may have been a bit of an orange vibe going on this week...

just a tad...

and after a few too many years in the Army, this next one is the only type of camping I would remotely contemplate these days...

and it seems (orange aside) that I may have gone for a bit of a calmer palette this week...

could be all sorts of reasons for that...

but lest you think the pink has gone completely...ah...nope!

but just a bit...not too much :)

couldn't disappoint and leave it out altogether now could I?

Do you have a favourite?

in order of appearance, images from: belle maison, a collection a day, lona de anna, bright.bazaar, white trash beautiful, beautifulism, grace designs, gingerella, white trash beautiful, brabourne farm

p.s. thank you all so much for your 'case of nothing to do' suggestions last week. I managed to achieve that very nicely as you can see by the lack of a 'my weekend project' post yesterday. Very liberating!!

shadow shot sunday...

I was sitting at my desk at home on Wednesday (the day away from my real work, the creating to my heart's content day) and was a bit taken with the light coming in the window and creating the shadows on this framed Nepalese thangka...that yes, I bought in Nepal...and on the wall.

The reflections in the picture are kind of nice too I thought...but please don't look too closely and see how messy the desk is!
I don't normally post on a Sunday, but I thought I might have a go at linking this picture to...

at Hey Harriet...thank you from a first timer!

soul food friday ~ the art of doing nothing...

This came to me via an email...and it made me laugh...out loud...at work

...which is OK of course...we're allowed to laugh where I work...in fact it's positively encouraged.
But then it got me thinking...why are we so afraid of having nothing to do? Why do we feel compelled to fill up our empty spaces? And when we do actually do nothing (is it even possible to really do nothing...), why do we feel guilty about it? Not all the time I know...at least I hope...but even sometimes, feeling guilty about doing nothing is bad...isn't it?
Is thinking doing nothing? No, we're thinking.
Is gazing at our navel doing nothing? No, we're...well, we're navel gazing.
Is this a generational thing? The offspring don't seem to have a problem doing nothing!
I think having nothing to do is a luxury we should allow ourselves every now and again, don't you? And I know it's much easier for some than others. I don't have small people requiring my attention every hour of the day for instance. 
Ann from My Villa Life once described me as a doer, which kind of surprised me as I consider procrastination one of my finer skills! My friend Mary told me when she commented on last week's soul food friday post to do nothing last weekend (and I tried Mary, I really did).
So is 'nothing to do' not actually a luxury, but really a necessity? Every now and then. When we can manage it. To recharge and refresh. It's an interesting question isn't it?
What's your favourite 'case of nothing to do'? I'd like to borrow a few for the weekend if that's OK.
image via stumbleupon