Fungi Fun!

The dye pots have been out again and this time we have a perfect excuse (not that we need one!) as we have been dyeing all sorts of textiles for Jane Southgate to use in her artwork.
Sam whose alter ego is Peg the Dyer at Kentwell Hall has been leading the dyeing and working with Jane to get the correct colours. We love to dye with plants at HH and are particularly fond of the purple feather reed heads that grow around here. They are ready to use in the summer but the season is so short that we have been experimenting with drying and freezing the heads so that we can dye with them all through the winter too!

The dyebath made from the reed heads looks just like Ribena!
We are extremely proud to be sponsoring Jane's latest projects at Thornham Walks and Lackford Lakes in Suffolk but we made it clear from the start that we would expect her to join in when we came to dye the yarns and fabrics...

Here she is supervising the madder dye bath, that fleece hanging on the line behind her is from the Gedgrave Flock www.gedgrave-wensleydales.blogspot.com a lovely curly fleece!

Even though the reed head dye bath is the colour of Ribena the shade you get at the end is this - actually my camera struggles with this and it's much greener in real life!

As well as the fleece and yarns from the Gedgrave sheep Jane is also making good use of the Colinette 'Point 5' yarn that we sell at Halfpenny Home and this is the shade 'Turquoise'. I'm pretty sure that it's not what the Colinette designers would have expected their gorgeous hand dyed yarn to be used for...

Jane is planning to make a hundred of these...can you imagine them all swaying in the breeze? The star of the show (so far) for me has to be this bracket fungus, the bottom part has been dyed with woad and the curly lid is the fleece that we dyed with madder. Everyone who meets it wants to hug it!

Jane is using natural fibres only as the artworks will stay in situ for a year while nature does it's own recycling...

The moss which is knitted in moss stitch!

Mushrooms!

The mushrooms knitted with Colinette 'Skye' in the colourway 'Star Anise', lovely! Jane wants us all to knit a mushroom for this and has written a pattern for them, so if you would like to knit one let us know and we'll send the pattern, yarn (and if you need them, some double pointed needles!) to you.

If I had to choose…

If I had to choose my favorite house that’s cropped up in blogland over the last year, it would have to be this one. 

The farmhouse’s owner is non other than Emerson from EmersonMade.  See the tell-tale sign on the leopard print coat?  She makes and sells these smashing  colorful blooms. 

White kitchen, open shelving, naked window.  What’s not to like?  Well… maybe the butcher knife and his little scissor friend.  They’re a little scary.

Would you believe this is their pantry?  My daughter would really dig this one.  Ha!

Sweetness. 

And this one = perfection.  Ahhhhh, I love it!

To see more photos of this spectacular home, the article is here at: Designsponge. 

All pictures courtesy Designsponge.

Tick Tock Makeover

 Happy Wednesday! I didn't mean to be gone so long...I hope none of you were worried that I killed over at my race this weekend. LOL

I'm sure it didn't even cross your mind.

Hubby and I had a great time during our run! Hubby got 2nd place in the 5 mile. A very fit 60+ year old man got 1st! I finished my 2 mile in the upper 2nd 1/2 of the group, so I was thankful for that.

Killer hills and RAIN, I'm blaming my "slower" time on! It looked like the rain was letting up as the race started. But as soon as we started to run, it started up again...along with lightning and thunder.

It felt like a scene from the "Wildcats" movie as Goldie Hawn is racing her football team in the rain and guck!

But I survived and we're ready to sign up for another run that will be in February. I'm sure a blizzard will be in the forecast that day. :)

I got some goodies at a couple garage sales this weekend that I need to share with you this week. Lots of projects floating around in this head of mine. I just need a few more hours in the day...don't we all?!

I did a quick makeover on my cute clock I bought at the 400 mile garage sales for $1.

It was cute before but there were some green tarnish areas and the clock didn't work.

I wanted to attempt to take the clock apart without shattering the curved glass (which was my favorite part).

I don't know what this came off off but it isn't a hanging clock because the clock element stuck out in the back. Seems like it was attached to "something" back in the day. But I loved the design, so it was going home with me!

One thing's for sure...they don't make things like they used to. That clock was a bear to disassemble!! It was WELL put together. Too bad it didn't work anymore.

Funny story. It took all my "man power" to get even the hands of the clock off. The hour hand went flying over my head...which I thought. I looked all over for that darn thing. It couldn't of went too far because I was sitting on the couch with a wall behind me. After several minutes of looking, I gave up...when I went to bed, the hour hand was in my bra. Nice, huh? I don't know how I didn't feel that metal thing in my undergarment all day!

Well here is my clock today!

I spray painted it with metal primer, then heirloom white, then added some asphalt glaze to it to make the detail pop!

I also added a new clock part from Hobby Lobby. I was tickled to bring this thing back to life!

I added a simple ribbon for easier hanging.

Don't you love quick and easy makeovers like this? What have you been working on lately?

I have a list of things that I need to work on!

THIS WEEK

Makeover:

Dresser

Stool

Firescreen

Light Fixtures

Surprise Trash Find

Stay tuned for project updates!