Jewellery Organiser

In the last post I mentioned that

we painted our bedroom in January.

It's still not quite finished,

I need to paint the insides of the wardrobe,

and the window frame;

buy some new doorknobs and

eventually I'd like to have some new curtains

and a new quilt cover.

You can see the wall colour in these photos,

it's a soft grey-brown

called Limed White,

by Dulux.

Once the painting is really finished 

we'll get new carpet, too.

But one thing I did get done,

is a jewellery organiser.

Using materials that I already had,

and purchasing only upholstery pins,

it cost me around $5.00

(although I did buy a staple gun for around $20.00,

something I've been meaning to buy for a while)

If I had bought all the materials new

it would have cost about $50.00, I think.

The board is made of canite,

a soft material used for noticeboards.

Canite is ridiculously expensive these days.

This was an old piece my Dad gave me,

with plenty of pin holes and one squashed corner.

I had some cotton drill in a light grey

 that tones with the wall colour

and the ribbons were left over I think from my

first Jane Austen costume.

It was simply a matter of stapling the fabric 

over the board, and then measuring out the spacing for the ribbon

and attaching them with the upholstery pins.

I hang my earrings on the ribbon,

organised by colour.

Below the earring section

I put some pins in for necklaces,

only pushing them part-way in.

I'm loving having my jewellery accessible 

and on display.

And hanging on a picture hook 

behind the door, it's something I can easily 

change in future if necessary..

January to February

"There comes a time when autumn asks,

"What have you been doing all summer?"

- Anon

January passed in a bit of a blur this year.

And February is rushing to a close with

much busyness and long lists of 

things to do.

I've had so many blog posts in my head

that never made it onto the blog.

So this is a kind of catch-up post.

One of the nicest things we did in the holidays

was a picnic at Narrabeen Lake,

and a walk up Long Reef.

It wasn't a typical summer's day,

but then again we don't seem to get 

many of those anymore ...

But it was perfect weather for walking,

and the clouds kept the crowds away, too.

This is such a spectacular walk to do.

Even the girls loved it,

although they moaned beforehand

in typical teenage-fashion.

 Steve had two weeks off,

which divided the post-Christmas period

neatly into two halves.

Before he went back to work

the girls stayed with Mum and Dad 

for three nights,

giving us time to do some good things.

A movie (Les Mis, didn't love all of it),

dinners out

buying a harp

and painting our bedroom!

Something we've been meaning to do

since May, when our upstairs painting was finished.

I'll do a show and tell when it's really finished,

carpet and all.

But let's just say it's a BIG improvement

on the flaky old ceilings 

and faded walls we've looked

at every night for years...

* * *

Then Emily turned 15.

Hard to believe we have been parents for so long.

Emily wasn't feeling the greatest,

so we mostly stayed home,

celebrating with a game of Mousetrap

a visit to the new local chocolate cafe 

and a late outing to Mooney Mooney to

capture the twilight 

with Emily's new camera

(lucky her!)

... although these photos are mine.

 After Steve headed back to work,

we girls settled down for some 

"normal" holidays,

doing not much.

Some shopping, some craft,

lots of sitting and lying around.

Sometimes too quiet for some.

I ran a cardmaking class for some 

lovely young girls,

we baked a little

and slowly got ready for school.

Since school began,

life has been a whirl of activity.

I've been writing a new recorder teaching book,

which took all my time for two weeks.

photo Microsoft

Piano and recorder teaching has begun again,

as has bible study and other activities.

Catching up of appointments

(dentist, hair, chiropractor, podiatrist, optometrist ...)

Lots of reading to do.

Soon I will settle into it,

but's it's been harder than I expected to

get back into it all.

But I must say,

I am loving the quiet times at home alone,

when they do happen ...

playing some piano, and some harp.

Pottering around getting things done.

Just not enough of them ...

* * *

How are you settling into your new year routines?

Two Harps

Since November I've had a harp in the house.

A lovely little 30-string harp, 

on loan from a generous friend.

I've loved learning to play it,

picking out Irish tunes and adding accompaniment.

I even had some lessons!

But a month ago,

I bought a harp of my own!!

Something I had hoped for for years

but never really thought would happen.

The new harp,

besides being my very own,

is a step up from the borrowed harp,

being 34 strings rather than 30,

free-standing

(less floor space needed 

and easier to play)

and a little larger 

(better for my back).

The strings are tighter,

less "twangy" than the smaller harp.

But I love them both.

And tonight I return the friend's harp.

So I thought I'd better take some photos 

to remember it by.

Stay "tuned" for more about my new harp.