It's done and I love it!

My sewing room is finished and I love it! 

The wallpaper - which for me was definitely a bit of a bold choice, looks perfect on one wall, and the cream paint on the other walls matches it completely.  It looks so lovely I am absolutely determined not to clutter the room up like it was before.  Feel free to pop by for spot checks.  It'll fit well with my 'make more, buy less' resolution - I won't buy anything else, I'll just use what I've already got, and finish off the multitude of half-finished projects.  I sorted through those yesterday - some go back over 15 years - pathetic or what?  There are some I really should just throw out, techniques that I tried and didn't like, and to be honest, I'm never going to do anything with them, even if I do get them finished.  I might post pictures of them on here, and you can agree that they're awful, then I can bin them. You can be a kind of stitching equivalent of Trinnie and Suzanne.  Feel free to be as rude as you like, I promise I won't cry.

The only things I'm going to have in my sewing room are pretty things - like this beautiful scented candle that my lovely sister  Linda made for me for Christmas.

It's the first time she's ever made candles, and this is very much a limited edition, as she only made six.  She will  have to make some more though, 'cos I keep going in charity shops and buying her more cups and saucers and other receptacles.  What makes it doubly special, is that contrary to the fears expressed by our parents, she didn't burn her house down in the process, which is good.

While I'm on the subject of Christmas presents from my sister, here is the wrapping for one of the other presents she made me -

It's a stitched calico envelope, about A4 size with appliqued baubles and a stitched garland of fairy lights.  I'd like to show you what's inside, but the light's too poor to take photographs at the moment, so I'll do that tomorrow, and show you next time. 

Yesterday I braved arctic conditions to go up to London for an exhibition.  I'm happy to report that it must have been the right kind of snow for the trains, as there were no transport problems.  I went to the Fashion and Textile Museum, with Fan My Flame but I'll let you read all about it on her blog (her pictures turned out better than mine!)  I rather liked this black lace blouse, especially the unusual overlap at the front.  I spent some time sketching it with a view to making it (in another 10 or 12 years, probably)

The trouble is, as Gina and I discussed, lace looks lovely in tiny sizes, but I fear it might look a bit 'matronly' on those of more normal proportions.  And MatronlyRockChick doesn't really cut it.

From there we went to Anthropologie in Regent Street, which I keep reading about but hadn't visited.  We spent quite a bit of time browsing, and it's definitely worth seeing for the decor, especially the fantastic chandeliers made from recycled plastic.  Gina's blog has them looking spendid in situ, and this is a close up of one of them -

I liked this sign at the back of the shop - maybe I should adopt it as my motto?

It doesn't say anything about saving things for best, does it?

My only purchase in there was a couple of door knobs.  I need 13 for the cupboards and drawers in my room, and given the price of them, I definitely wasn't going to buy a complete set, but as you could buy them individually, I decided that I'm going to have mismatched knobs (oo-er missus).  When I'm away somewhere and see one that I like, I'll buy it as a kind of souvenir.  Here are the the two I bought yesterday, fully installed -

a pink glass one, and a white china clock face.  The trouble is, the door to that cupboard is so wide (I think it originally used to house a fold-down bed) that when it came to putting the glass one on I couldn't reach round far enough to hold the knob with one hand , whilst turning the screw on the other side of the door with my other hand.  I'm not sure how a professional tradesman would have coped - but I solved the problem by - if you can picture this - holding the knob in place with my left foot, and turning the screw on the other size of the door with my right hand, whilst standing on one leg. 

It's a good job I started with that door.  By the time I finish my door knob collection, I'll probably be too arthritic to perform that particular manoeuvre.