Wednesday 26 October 2011

More scrappy beach huts

Last week I mentioned that I was going to be making a fabric picture of beach huts for my lovely friend's birthday. I know that some of you are big fans of beach huts and indeed some of you are lucky enough to live by or near to the sea. Well, after a trip to the North Norfolk coast, my friend was inspired to makeover one of the rooms in her house using colours with a definite seaside feel and that was my starting point.

I had recently made a cover for a footstool for her,



Not the most inspiring of photos - sorry



......which I was really pleased with, but wouldn't be in a rush to repeat the experience as my poor sewing machine struggled to cope with all those layers of fabric. A no nonsense bruiser of an industrial machine would have coped much better . The footstool belonged to the sofa in 'said' room.



Lots of layers of fabric here


Anyway the point of me mentioning this is to say, I remembered I had some scraps left over from this project and I decided to use one of them as the background for the picture. A lovely, ribbed heavy cotton furnishing fabric in a neutral sandy colour, perfect!








Then came the usual playing around with colours and I did have fun with this one. Getting the combination right and waiting for that 'pop' moment. The weird thing was that when I gave the present to my friend she squealed out loud, as the blue in the picture is the exact same fabric that she also has on one of the cushions in 'said' room. What a coincidence!!










I must admit I loved the way these colours came together and will I ever stop loving this applique thing? I chose a clean white frame to set the picture off.








Then the wrapping. Regular readers will know I enjoy a good bit of papercrafting. I made a box to house the picture and decorated it very simply with white ribbon, linen thread and a co-ordinated gift tag.



Poor picture - sorry



Let's have a closer look.........



Little bit of sponging on the background and around the edge, you can just see it if you look carefully

It was lovely to see the delight on my friends face when she opened up the box and I've seen it in it's new home and she's right it co-ordinates beautifully.





Well, I certainly feel like a bracing walk along a beach this morning, so I envy you if that's on your agenda but whatever you've got planned for today hope you enjoy it and thank you for visiting and saying hello.




10 comments:

  1. Great pic. invoking holiday memories, just the job to cheer one during miseralble winter months. Now your footstool - as it happens a friend has asked me to recover one for her but looking at how great yours looks I might just see if I could do something similar rather than trying to upholster it. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  2. Well it is the perfect day for a walk along the beach here, but we'll have to make do with the docks instead so not many beach huts in view! Love the picture though and sounds like you'll have to take a pic of your friends whole room...

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  3. Hello Caroline:
    We can say with certainty that we should have squealed with delight too. The gift is lovely!

    There are lots of beach huts along the seafront in Brighton and Hove and they have such a wonderful appeal. What is it about them that makes one instantly want to own one when one sees their jolly colours lining the seashore?

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  4. It's an absolutely gorgeous picture and I'm pretty sure you could sell these if you made a few more! What about beach hut cushions too - have you made any of those yet?

    I adore beach huts but sadly don't live anywhere near any - I save the beach hut walks for precious time off.

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  5. Lovely picture, and nice gift wrapping to finish it off too. You should join us on WOYWW - you always post on a Wednesday!

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  6. What a great idea to make this picture and frame. It looks so shabby chic...j'adore!

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  7. What a lovely present and a very lucky friend! And a homemade gift box and tag as well, are there no end to your talents! I'm not jealous - well ... yes I am!
    Jo x

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  8. Lovely present! The beach huts picture is gorgeous and I really like the colours - so fresh looking. Mich x

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  9. The beach huts are simply lovely and so iconic... I am off to the station shortly and will be looking at the local beach huts :)

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  10. Beautiful Gift Caroline, your friend is very lucky!

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