A good start to the new year

Hahahahaha!!!!! Ooh yeah, ooh yeah... (etc etc)

Much of the first day of the new year spent rewatching The 1940s House and handstitching the final final FINAL seams and edges of the LAST curtain.

Did you catch that? The curtains are FINISHED! At LAST!

Please excuse the emphasis. This has taken me almost an entire year.

Check out the living room windows in all their glory:

The red colour works so well in here - it looks so warm, and the relatively plain fabric (there is a pattern but it's subtle) helps create a calm space. Me happy!

However, having finished this lot, I've recently been looking hard at the kitchen windows, currently in denuded state, and considering the potential impact of net curtains in the bedrooms, both as an insect screen in the summer when we sleep with the windows open, and as an extra layer in winter, as we are definitely still losing quite some heat out of that wall and are getting some mould build-up around the window frame. Maybe Curtains: Year 2?

That's to come. First I want to make some more tablecloths and napkins, and maybe some cushions to adorn the sofas. Perfect timing to hit the fabric sales!

Whoop whoop!

Another pair of curtains!! I'm starting December off with a whirlwind of creative energy, in the hopes of completing all the curtains before Christmas. I also want to have enough time before the Longest Night for my carrot - my reward for completing the curtains - planting my first crops! I am still planning to plant garlic and some winter bulbs, if I can find varieties that can be planted this late.

These only took a Sunday afternoon, in the end. All that procrastinating, for a few short hours of sewing. And now every time I draw the curtains in the bedroom, I feel just a bit smug.

I'm already working on the fourth and LAST pair. Did you hear that? LAST.

And I have absolutely, definitely not been the slightest bit motivated by my friend Katie's claim that she could finish her curtains in her new house (not yet moved in) before I finish mine. Not in the slightest.

Singing the praises of curtains

Last night Brussels saw its first snow of the year. I love winter. I love the snuggly-ness you get inside, with blankets and hot water bottles, cocoa and mulled wine, and lots of pies and stews and solid, hearty, wholesome food. I love listening to the sound of the rain and wind outside, while burrowing deeper into the duvet. Inside seems even cosier when outside is so inhospitable.

However, keeping inside cosy while outside gets colder and colder is not easy. Or cheap. This is our first full winter in our new flat, as we moved in last January, and the one thing I have to say is: Curtains make a HUGE difference. First snow last night, we still haven't turned on a single radiator. This is inducing a probably appalling level of smugness - ooh check us out, we still haven't turned on the heating. I need to tone this down, I think. Of course, this is not a massive feat of endurance, as we have occupied flats above, below and either side of us, so the insulation is high from the start.

So. Five things we are doing to keep the heating off, and two things I want to add.

1. Curtains.

Curtains curtains curtains. I can't stress enough even how much difference hanging a thin pair of net curtains made when they finally went up last spring. Lined curtains are orders of magnitude more effective yet. Hang curtains. Ours are homemade, and cost me a total of €350 for four pairs of wall-to-wall floor-length curtains, two of them lined. And €120 of that was the first curtains, before I figured out the shortcuts.

2. Blankets.

I know I'm all about the decluttering these days but I still think you cannot have enough blankets. Heaped on the bed or draped invitingly over the sofa, snuggle under blankets anywhere and everywhere. Soft, warm, and a warm glowy feeling of 'I made that'. I have several crocheted blankets and the warmest by far is the one using Lucy's Ripple Pattern (from Attic24), which has the added benefit of being super easy.

3. Jumpers.

An old but a classic one. Put a jumper on over that t-shirt. Or if you're already doing that, add a vest underneath. No picture unfortunately - but it's on my to knit list.

4. Feets.

We lose much heat through our feets. House shoes, slippers, woolly bedsocks. Keep your tootsies warm and the rest of you will be fine.

5. Opening windows.

Yeah, might sound crazy, but make sure you open your windows at least once a day and get a good air flow through. Cleaner air means better lung health for you, less moisture creating mould you'll just have to clean off, and lower moisture levels also mean that it takes less energy to heat the air in your home. I know, the heating isn't on. It still makes a difference - the impact of the warm water passing through pipes to the bathroom, of having the oven on etc are magnified.

Still to do: Rugs.

I've been looking around at rag rugs and so on for a while. Definitely something I want to have a go at. Even with socks on, I can feel we're losing a fair amout of heat through the floor especially in certain places (ie where you can't feel hot water pipes serving as free underfloor heating).

Still to do: Draught excluders.

This is something I hope to get around to sooner rather than later. I can't feel a draught under the door to the rest of the building, but I can see light under it. Just not yet sure which side is warmer... This is an important point to ascertain before adding insulation.

Progress and a promise

Hahahaha!! I have FINISHED the spare room curtains. Did you hear that? FINISHED! Only, what, nine months after they were due to be completed? But they are FINISHED!

And don't they look luvverly? (Also, you can see from the second photo that there is definitely a lot of decluttering needed...) If I ever replace these curtains, I think I'll look for a stronger colour. We have silver-grey curtains in the main bedroom and deep red in the living room, which both work rather better. These bleed into the walls slightly... 

But given that these are part of my first ever foray into curtain-making, they're not half bad. And, of course, they serve the main function of keeping the light out and the heat in. When I first hung all the curtains (with pins in) in the spring, I was astonished at how much difference a pair of lined curtains made - or even a pair of net curtains - to the temperature in the flat. In fact, despite the temperatures outside and the fact that we are almost into November, we still haven't turned the heating on.

I have finally managed to motivate myself to make some progress with the curtains because I have made myself a promise. I have long wanted to start growing something on the balcony, but am reluctant to begin another project with so many half-finished, so I have promised myself that I can plant my first pot when I have finished all the curtains. Of the four pairs, two are now complete, so I am half-way.

Any suggestions for my first plant? If I manage to get started in November/December, I am currently thinking of garlic and tulips - something useful, something beautiful - but any suggestions are welcome!

Slow living cannot be rushed

There is nothing more tragic than having to throw away an entire unsliced loaf of fresh homemade bread.

Totally screwed up by rushing and/or being overambitious this week: one pair of net curtains, almost finished but now hours of unpicking and resewing away from completion; one loaf of homemade bread which was not given enough attention; one Saturday afternoon which should have been relaxing but wasn't.

I'm back - with a new challenge

Well, it's been a fairly long gap, and as you can see the Simples challenge has been temporarily suspended.

There is a reason for these two things. My boyfriend and I have spent the last few months sorting out paperwork and other items - because we have bought our first flat, and will be moving in the next month.

This is of course massively exciting and massively stressful. I have in my head a picture of the flat as I want it to be - filled with homemade and preloved items, each with their own story, and set up to facilitate more homemaking. I want to cover the little balcony with potted plants and put a reflective mosaic on the wall to make it feel lighter and more colourful. I want beautifully crafted home-made curtains hanging at all the windows, with patchwork quilts and crochet blankets on the bed, and cupboards stocked with preserves and home brew etc etc.

I want, I want... I have had to accept that with our limited budget and limited time - and limited transport options, as we have no car and the flat is several floors up - many things are beyond our reach and we have to accept stop-gap measures as a temporary fix. So the Simples challenge will be carried over to the new flat and my challenge to myself in 2013 is to make this house a home. A simple home.