Being busy indoors

Above and below:  sunrise this morning.  We had a smattering of snow last night, but fortunately it didn't head up to us after it hit the West Country and went North East instead so we missed all bar a few flakes.  All the same, it has been jolly cold and I had no great inclination to linger outside, although Keith is made of sterner stuff and was outside cutting up and shaping pieces of wood to restore the little child's play chair - the coopered one - which had neither.  He's made a very good job of it.  Today he was out there making me a big wooden display stand for the gigantic Japanese charger I bought at auction this week.

Above and below: sunlight across the paddock.  The Black UFO in the bottom picture is probably a Crow . . .

I kept in the warm yesterday and as I had some blocks left over from the Random quilt, I turned them into something more useful - a blanket-lined curtain for the little window over the kitchen sink.  I had had a roller blind up there, but took it down last year as I thought I needed a smarter one (but never got around to buying one).  In this weather, we are losing heat in that corner, so I made this instead.

It looks quite pretty and is very efficient.  Today I have continued the vacuuming I started yesterday (keeps you warm), did some ironing (makes you hot), polished furniture (ditto), painted the wooden plate rack for the charger, and as I had the paint out, put another coat on a little bedside table which is here to be sold.  I also gesso'd the first layer into some gaps on a detailed picture frame.  The gesso was quite runny, so will need several layers.  All in all, a useful couple of days when the cold made outdoor jobs not look very appealing!