This week seems to have gone by in a flash!! My daughter has been home for Reading Week (mid-term) from university. She eventually got bored with doing homework, and suggested we paint her room?! I painted her room about six years ago in a brilliant lime green, which you can just get a glimpse of in this photo. It's called "margarita green" ... a bit jarring.
So when she said "Let's paint my room!!" I know she was expecting me to be thrilled with the idea, drop everything and snap to attention! But my inner sloth sort of cringed. I really would rather do other things that are more urgent. I have a stair railing to sand and paint, which is under a pressing deadline. I also have a couple of other refinishing projects that I had hoped to finish up before the cold weather arrived ... oops! too late there! But because I'm a mom, and because I love her, but mostly because I've never really liked the margarita green, we headed out one night this week to pick up the paint supplies.
We had to prime the walls first to cover the ghastly green. And it's been great that my daughter wants to do much of the work herself. I've just had to give a few instructions, and I helped paint the edges where wall and ceiling meet, but she has done all the taping and the rest of the painting! I've helped with the brush & roller cleaning too :P So now we've got one coat of a very pretty, very calming soft aqua-greenish-blue. What a difference! When someone else is doing 80 percent of the work, this painting gig is not so bad!
We had to prime the walls first to cover the ghastly green. And it's been great that my daughter wants to do much of the work herself. I've just had to give a few instructions, and I helped paint the edges where wall and ceiling meet, but she has done all the taping and the rest of the painting! I've helped with the brush & roller cleaning too :P So now we've got one coat of a very pretty, very calming soft aqua-greenish-blue. What a difference! When someone else is doing 80 percent of the work, this painting gig is not so bad!
I don't have any photos as yet, and really there's only a bed left in her room now since all her other furniture went to her rental house in university town. But I'll share that with you next week, when the girl is back to university, and I can attend to the last of the touch-ups ;)
This week I also got some more knitted squares sent off in the mail to Dianne Jones of Lily. I really like knitting up the squares, but haven't made up very many. I want to concentrate a bit more on this again.
I really enjoy knitting up these squares, as it gives me a chance to try out some different stitch patterns along the way.
I was also able to add a couple of hats to the parcel this time too. One adult and one child-sized hat.
And off they go to LILY!
Oh yes ... the knitted rug is still
chugging away to the finish line. I just have to weave in these ends ...
ugh!
Thanks for stopping by!
Wendy
PS I wasted a whole evening playing with picmonkey with some of my photos. An evening I will never get back :[
You may not get it back but with those pictures you have inspired this mom in Chicago to push forward and keep at this knitting thing....your work is GORGEOUS!!!! SO stunning and you have done so much good for people! You had me rolling about the painting bit with your daughter...I can only imagine how many times my mom did things with and for me not because she wanted to but because she is my mom! You are a good mom and having someone else do most of the work is perfect!!!! Happy weekend to you!!!
ReplyDeleteYes! Keep going with the knitting! I hope you have someone to help you, but if you don't you just have to type in even a name of a stitch and there's some youtube video ready to show you how. Most useful! I learned most of my knitting from a book, which wasn't the easiest. Now that my daughter is halfway out the door for good, I don't want to miss any opportunity to do little things for her. Enjoy the rest of your weekend Nicole :)
DeleteHow sweet that your daughter stepped up to the plate and painted her room - well most of it anyway!! The new paint color reminds me of a spa color. Can't wait to see it. Your knitted squares look great and the hats are adorable. Keep up the good work, Wendy! I can't believe it snowed there already, if only for a couple of minutes. I'd have to be in the mountains for snow this time of year. I hope you have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteOf course the mother in me wonders if she's finished her homework before she suggested this!! And it DOES look like a spa colour ... so soothing & refreshing at the same time. Enjoy the rest of your weekend ... mine turned upside down on me yesterday, but has sorted itself out today.
DeleteYou have been a busy bee - well done! I always prefer company when I'm painting too - usually I do the more finicky bits and the hubby gets to brandish the roller on the big bits and clean up afterwards!
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely weekend,
Xx
The painting didn't get finished (of course) before my girl has to head back this morning (Sun) ... hopefully I'll stay motivated to complete it for her this week!
DeleteLoving the cabled squares. And what great work LILY do. Kudos to you for helping :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Annie ... it does make me feel good to lend a hand :)
DeleteHi Wendy-The different patterns you have used in the squares are lovely. I have tried the cable stitch few times never got it right. Seeing these I want to try again. The yarn and the pattern in the kid hat is very nice.
ReplyDelete.. have a wonderful weekend, it has been raining all morning around here.
-Gaia
Good morning Gaia ... I've always loved cable stitches even before I learned how to knit. One thing to remember is to keep your knitting loose by "lifting" the stitch off the needle, rather than "sliding" the stitch off the needle. This will loosen up the tension ... the higher you lift the stitch off, the larger the stitch will be, so when you come to knit the cable stitches, it's not as tight & difficult to knit. This took me a couple of years to figure out, so I hope it helps you!! Good luck in your next try :)
DeleteOh Wendy your knitting is gorgeous ... Bee xx
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Bee ... you have no idea how happy this makes me because I'm still rather new to knitting ;)
DeleteThe rug is looking great Wendy, looking forward to seeing it all done. The squares look great too, especially the one with the cabled hearts, whoever gets it in their blanket will love that one I am sure. Did you make the quilt on your daughters bed? It is lovely and obviously was a lot of work. xx
ReplyDeleteAs a child I remember admiring individual quilt squares & knitted blankets that were on my bed ... made by my grandmother. So I wanted to send something special to LILY with these squares. No, I did not make that amazing quilt. My mother-in-law made it for my daughter's 19th birthday (apparently there's one in the works now for my son in a few years). Luckily the quilt still goes well with the new room colour.
DeleteBut Wendy, playing with PicMonkey is fun and you were able to give your photos a different look. The knitted squares are nice, especially since there are different patterns.
ReplyDeleteWhew! That green is rather bright, isn't it!
Judith
I just want to try ALL the different photo options ... time is against me. I'm glad you like the squares, I wanted to send something special. That green is now a fading memory ;)
DeleteYou're such a great mom and I'm sure her room looks beautiful. Your knitting is gorgeous and it will make people very happy this winter!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jennifer ... I hope the squares make it before winter
Deleteloving your knitting !
ReplyDeleteThank you Erno.
ReplyDeleteI think your picmonkeyed photos are a delight! Did you have fun doing them? I love editing my photos, but so few of them ever make their way to the blog; I use up all my screen time with the editing instead of blogging.
ReplyDeleteYour knitting is wonderful. I love the chevron pattern. And your carpet is coming along beautifully, even with that long line of ends. Actually, I rather like the fringe of ends on it...
And that is my kind of painting!
Thanks Wabi-Sabi :) I enjoyed playing around on pic-m, but several hours on it just seemed a waste of my time. Maybe I should've left that fringe on the carpet! But now that I'm half-way through the ends, it would look a bit weird to leave the remainder. Daughter went back to U before the painting was finished ... drat.
DeleteWhat fabulous squares Wendy and I love your hats too!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear your daughter's decorating is nearly complete and that you are pleased with the results!
The rug is looking fab - soon be finished off!
I'm actively avoiding our new photo software package - I need all the spare time I have! Perhaps in the New Year I'll have a go! I do like your new photo styles though...!
Ali x
Thanks so much Ali :) I'm left with the paint roller in hand ... alone ... as my daughter headed back to U on Sunday, and the room wasn't finished yet. I think maybe if I had fewer photos to play with that would reduce my time on the computer ;)
DeleteHey there Wendy, I hope you were able to get the painting done. I did a really poor job on my kids bedroom last winter, but was tired of the blue so just wanted to get it over and done as quickly as possible. Could use another coat for sure. And lots of touch up around the door frames (since I didn't tape anything).
ReplyDeleteI never have a problem with picmonkey. I'm not really into editing photos. Just sometimes like to make collages rather than posting individual pictures.
Your squares are lovely and remind me that I need to send off my granny squares to LILY. I can't use regular mail so have to send them by courier and can only do that from school, but keep forgetting.
The rug is gonna be beautiful. Best wishes, Tammy
Hi Tammy! I was SO tired of the lime green, so I was actually happy to have some help in painting over it. Now my son's room is looking tired and in need of a re-do (last time I painted it was when he moved out of his crib!!). I'm glad I got those squares off to LILY as I kept putting off getting the envelope ready and take it to the post office. Have a great week!
DeleteYou were a great Mom to allow the margarita green. I was stuck with mint in my teenage years but I did have a lime green bean bag chair! :o) Those are gorgeous knit squares. I love the raised pattern of the cable. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about knitting patterns so forgive my inexact-ness.
ReplyDeleteMore like delusional mom!! But all gone now ... lovely aqua :D I like the cables too, but they're about a 30-row repeat, so I really have to concentrate and mark off each row as I finish ... slow work, but worth it.
DeleteCan't wait to see the painted room! And the patterns on the squares are lovely!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jo ... last coat just applied ;)
DeleteI can identify with what you are saying here but the room will look great when it's finished. I've wasted several evenings re-knitting a sweater back that is still too big!
ReplyDeleteThe room is so calming now, when before it jarred you every time you walked in ... even my daughter didn't like that jolt anymore! I hope you can stick with the sweater and fix up the back to the size you need ... what a pain :[
Delete