going nuts about the doilies...

i'm all of a dither this morning, i had planned a post and it does tie in rather nicely with the exciting news i have to tell (don't get your hopes up, it's nothing to do with Mossy Shed) but the problem is my typing skills are not up to scratch today, it's my 'shaking with excitement' hands...in fact i need a little of what Miss Ruby had yesterday to calm myself...

firstly though i have to tell you that when i wrote that bit yesterday about 'our #4 being at school'...let's just say it tempted fate, no sooner had i posted about 'Miss Ruby and her disgrace' then the phone rang and it was the health room at school...

"your son has a stomach ache"

"what kind?" asks i "is it the 'i am going to throw up any minute' kind or the ' i just want to come home and rest on the couch and watch spongebob squarepants' kind"...

"maybe you should speak to him yourself"...

anyway the upshot of it all, after not being in school for a full day in the past ten days (thanksgiving and teacher training days) our #4 is reclining on the couch in front of spongebob squarepants...he does have a temperature and is feeling pretty grotty so i am showing lots of 'tender loving care' whilst hoping around in my 'excitement'...

so enough of the chit chat...i had planned to show you a couple of finished items i had been working on today, both featuring doilies. then Jennifer left a comment to tell me i was featured on decor8blog, so i mosied over to take a look...i was bowled over...do you see 'little old me' amongst all those 'lovely' wares. clever creative people, just doing there thing with doilies! it suddenly dawned on me that i do seem to incorporate doilies in most of my work, i knew i liked them but now i think about it, they appear on my slips, my cushions, my bags and my tea towels...and now they are on my dressing table stool.

this tulip stool is very special to me, i remember as a kid sitting on this stool in my mum's bedroom every sunday evening with a hairdryer 'hat' over my hair (you young things out there will be clueless about this one) and waiting for the hot air inside of the hat (similar looking to a shower cap but inflated with air!) to dry my hair into a deranged 'cow licked' mess...when done my mother would attempt to 'fashion' it into something more acceptable to be seen at school for fear i would become the 'playground' victim...

so i have covered my 'tulip stool of memories' in a patchwork of odds and ends along with "a doily" (surprise, surprise). it was easy peasy and you could do the same to any stool, (if it isn't cushioned then add a few layers of batting or foam)...then get busy with some scraps, a doily (of course) and a staple gun (the fun bit)...i have big plans to paint my granny's dressing table and layer under the glass some vintage wallpaper but all in good time...

next up is the knitted cushion cover that i started way back when and then came to a complete stop. my friend Suzanne shamed me into picking it up and finishing it ("think of the cost of that yarn") and so i tried again with it but didn't get very far...so i cheated, i cast off, cut up a tea towel and machine sewed it on to the cast off edge...i then sewed on a couple of doilies (surprise, surprise) and then finished it up by sewing the seams on Miss Ethel...

as usual my 'tension' was completely out and so the cushion has grown from being 18 x18" to a 20 x 20" but all in all it worked out just fine...i have a reversible knitted cushion but have no clue where it will go as it is too big for a seat cushion...small technicality that i am quite sure i will over come at some point..

so this has turned out to be a huge big rambly post (more so than usual) but i just had to share my 'little bit of happiness' with you...

she's thanking you for listening (unless of course you fell asleep like this little one)~ Tif