Finishing touches

Brrr, it's been a bit chilly today.  Way down into low single figures and windy to boot.  But, the washing dried outside which was a big plus.  Taking advantage of good drying days saves having damp washing hanging around the flat.  I know there will be many winter days when I can't get the washing outside, but in the meantime I shall make the most of the days that I can.

N and I have had another great day pottering through a whole raft of little jobs around the house.  The wallpapering is now finished - yay!  Step-ladders have returned to the shed/greenhouse, rags washed and brushes cleaned.  N has made a little shelf for over the radiator out of an off-cut of wood he had, and the brackets that were previously used for a corner shelf which we've now taken down.  

He used one of those little tester paint pots to paint it, just the right shade green to match the leaves in the wallpaper print.  It is ideal for the few little ornaments that we couldn't find a place for, and it just gives a little homely touch that we like.  (The wood is slightly bowed, it's not an optical illusion, but what the heck, it doesn't bother us!)

I've cleaned out and polished up the old TV unit and that will go to the furniture warehouse of one of the local charities.  I also cleaned off the bay window sill and washed all the vases that seemed to have collected there.

These three glass vases are where we keep our holiday souvenirs - shells and stones we have collected from various beaches on our travels.  We're not ones for tacky tourist tat, but as we inevitably find ourselves walking along beaches I will pick up just a few interesting and colourful stones and shells as a momento.  In these vases are pebbles from Thassos and Spain; shells from Thailand, Orkney, various Caribbean islands, and my own Island; pumice stone from the Canaries and there is even some wool from Orkney, too.

As I was cleaning and dusting - everything had got very dusty - my next sewing project became clear.  I need something to keep the dust out of the vases and I think something like a weighted milk-jug cover would do the trick.  And maybe some patchwork mats for the vases to sit on.  I need to check my fabric stash, methinks ;-)