I forgot to say

Peony Ring won runner up for Best in Show at Quilts UK back in May. Happy Dancing.

 I went through another episode of having workmen in the house when we had our en suite shower room remodelled. You know how magazines show bathrooms, with no shampoo, body wash or conditioner in the shower? In real life no bathroom is like that, so here it is in all its normal use.

I have managed to get rid of most of the clutter since this photo was taken but not all of it.

Next month all the windows and doors will be replaced except for the front door. I am looking forward to having a draft free home come the winter but not perhaps another episode of workmen......

Then there is the saga of the sitting room.  After living here five years we thought back in April it was time to decorate and actually use the room.... It had an exceptionally ugly fireplace which would not be too big a deal to replace, were it not for the fact the hearth went right round the chimney breast and that would mean replacing the oak floor..... So we thought we would try painting the bricks whilst we got the rest of the room painted. That involved having someone in our space too.....  These guys are all OK but they're in my space.....  Anyway, it was done and painting the fireplace worked and the room looked fresher for a coat of paint. There was just a slight smell of paint so I opened all the windows and did the same the following day.

Wouldn't you know it? A tom cat got in and sprayed. The room stank. Really stank. We removed everything except the sofa frames from the room and placed it all in the hallway. None of the stuff in the hall smelt so that meant it had either sprayed the sofa frames or the walls. I bought a UV torch and went slowly round the room. The only things which showed up on it were a few tiny spots on the backs and the sides of the sofas and the white polyester thread used to hem the curtains (drapes). At this point, I got some kids in who could crawl around and find the smell offering sweets to whoever located the source. They got some sweets anyway.

 I had left the very small windows open to let some air in hoping the smell would fade. It didn't. My only chance now was to get a professional upholstery cleaner in to try and remove the smell from those tiny dots on the backs of the sofas. For 24 hours or so the smell disappeared. And then came back again....  There was nothing for it but to get rid of the sofas. I offered one to my handyman as he has a barn. I thought if he left it in there until Christmas the smell would surely have gone by then. He said if his wife liked it, they would try that, but if she didn't he would burn it. Another month went by and the room still smelt of tom cat.

So I offered our beautiful antique sofa to anyone on the village Facebook Group with a barn to store it in until the smell disappeared. One person took it and very delighted. We had spent a fortune getting it reupholstered. But what could we do?

Then a few weeks ago I saw an article saying the brand of paint we used had a preservative removed and thousands of people had been affected. It was the paint!!!!! I had searched online for paint smelling and the brand we used was recommended as the go to paint for its low smell...... People had ripped out carpets, moved children out of rooms, lost rent on rental properties.... so many people affected. They have offered to replace the paint, supply some primer which will seal in the layer with the smelly paint and pay someone to repaint it. That really doesn't cover it at all. As I write, I still have a smelly sitting room with two replacement sofas in it...... grrrr

Millie and Rupert are doing well. Rupert is just starting to calm down a little, not a lot but a little. Having two is definitely a good thing. 

And they adore Fliss.