ScrapHappy November

..........and all I have to show for it is a pile of scraps!  At least I got that far.  

I want to make my son's partner a lap quilt for her birthday next month.  It'll be scrappy in these bright and hot colours of pink, orange and red, and maybe some yellow, which I think she'll like as she loves bright colours. She's an Indian lass, so it might be The Bollywood Quilt. Although I pulled all the scraps out earlier today, I couldn't decide how I wanted to do it, so the afternoon was spent 'researching'

I finally decided it'll be something like this but with only the 3 colours, maybe a bit of darker yellow in it too.

We shall see, I'm sure I'll change my mind before I start to sew!

As usual, I'm linking with ScrapHappy Day hosted by Kate and Gun, have a look at their blogs and see what they and others are doing with their scraps this month. Maybe join in if you feel your scraps are out of control.

That's it, it's late and I'm off to bed now, so see you next time.

Painting

or rather.....*should be painting*

When I bought this house 18 months ago, one of the decorating details that I was keen to be rid of was the wallpaper throughout the house.  I had imagined days or weeksof steaming and scraping it off the walls, but when it came time to remove it, I discovered it was attached to plywood panelling and came off  very easily.  Sadly I have no 'before' photos, they were all lost when I left my camera outside and it rained that night!!

There were lots of surprises under that horrible old wallpaper.....beautiful original teakwood tongue and groove boards were the best, but also gaps above the doorways where transom windows had been.  These were a feature of houses built in the tropics and sub tropics, as they could be adjusted to let breezes through, and to let extra light in, as the wide verandahs, while cool shady places to retreat to, left the interiors rather dark.

Transoms above the bedrooms.

Here's some photos I found online of original transom windows.......the one on the left had been painted over ....I have one like that..........and that's it cleaned up on the right.

 Here's another original,propped open to catch a breeze.

Most transoms were panes of glass, but some were made of wood, carved into fancy fretwork patterns, like this one, below.

So.....the urgency to paint?  Well I have the glazier coming tomorrow to replace the transoms, and before he does that, the frames need to be painted.....that's my job.  There's 4 frames to be done.....the two in the picture above, over the bedroom doors, one above my sewing room, which was originally a verandah, back in the mists of time, and at some point in this house's life, it was enclosed and makes a fine sewing room now.

The other one is in the front hallway. This doorway would've been the original front door, off the verandah, also closed in at some point.

As you can see, not much to do, but I've been putting it off for a while for a few reasons......those frames are fairly high, and I have to stand on a table to reach, then stretch up a bit......this never feels safe.......I've  had sinus/hayfever for a few weeks and the thought of being up close to paint fumes, even though it is low voc,  is not a thrilling idea.  Thirdly, the sun's out, there's a light breeze and it's quite pleasant outside, which is where I'd much rather be.  Someone else thinks that's a much better idea too.

But there's no use putting it off any longer, I have everything ready to go, so it's time to get started.  I know I'll be pleased I did when the glazier comes in the morning. 

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