Saturday, February 13, 2010

Spoiled again

I forgot to show my belated Christmas present from Mister Fixit - I mean besides the super sewing toolbox/organiser that arrived on Christmas Day, and can I just tell you that Mister Fixit is pretty much the perfect person to buy a toolbox-y /organiser-y type of present. It's a seriously good box! But anyway, this other, belated, present was laid before me on the last day of January, just as we got back from our Canberra visit. Fixit tells me that the framing dude had sworn confidently that he could get it done by Christmas but then had run into difficulties.


Okay, 'nuff history - here is what he gave me dadadaDAH:


teatowel art

I think I squealed with joy when I saw them. There may have been tears too. They just look so ace. (You can see a larger version here.)

Inside the frames are gorgeous tea-towels, featuring self-portraits of each child's 4-year-old Kindergarten class. Climber's year is bright blue, and his portrait was quite advanced, featuring arms sprouting from the body not the head, and proper fingers and feet and even stripes on his shirt. Cherub's is a rich royal purple (which hasn't shown up so much in this shot, but is lovely in real life) and his was just a headshot with magnificent curls; completely fair enough because at 4-years old, Cherub was defined by his lovely curls. The teatowels had been lying folded in my chest of drawers for ages - I could never quite bring myself to use them as grotty old dish rags so I put them aside. Then before Christmas I mentioned to Fixit that I really wanted to get them framed, and he ran with it, and surpassed himself.

My next thing is to work out hanging them. Our house has picture rails which I don't really understand. The hanging string is about a quarter of the way down the picture, and the only picture rail hooks I've seen slip on top of the rail which means the top of the picture is higher than the rail. Is that how it is supposed to look? Or can you get a picture rail hook that lets you hang the picture on or below the level of the rail?

15 comments:

  1. we do it both ways at our house. You need to get the special clear string stuff from a framers, elsevitvlooks a bit dodgy.

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  2. Awesome present - what a super duper fixit he is indeed.

    You could lengthen the wire on the back and then hang them from the picture rail hooks...

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  3. I have 3 tea towels folded in the cupboard too. What a great idea!! They look lovely.

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  4. Oh he is a very clever Fixit. Mahoosive brownie points for him then.

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  5. They're really, lovely presents! Totally worth the wait...

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  6. ooh these are lovely - what a beautiful gift.

    We have picture rails in our house and Mr Finickty About The Plaster won't let me put anything in the walls. The problem I find with hanging pictures on a longer bit of string is that they can lean forward a bit. Which I think looks a bit naff. I keep meaning to ask G to make a picture rail hanger that ends right at the bottom of the rail so that the twine (or string) is sitting flat against the wall. That's what all those tools in the shed are for, right? Maybe Fixit will have a solution sooner?

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  7. I can't make any suggestions about how to hang them - I'm so bad at hanging things - but that is such a great present.

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  8. We had picture rails in every room at our old place. We bought 'brass' picture rail hook thingies that hang from the rail, and they come with lengths of 'brass' wire. Cut to desired length and hang.

    Picture rails are great cos you don't have to attack your walls with a nail and a shoe to hammer it in (I can never find a hammer so just use the sole of my shoe. Which would explain the state of my walls).

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  9. Oh shit and of course I meant to say, I love those tea towels.

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  10. Have you got a fire place with a mantle or something? Just put them on there and lean them against the wall, I kind of think that looks nice anyway.

    Great idea, Fixit is sooooo worthy of our affection!

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  11. Or you could just prop them up in a corridor against the wall of the room they're supposed to be hanging in...and leave them there forever because you never quite get around to actually hanging them.

    Or am I just projecting my own issues onto you?

    Seriously great present aranging on Fixit's behalf.

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  12. Lovely!

    We have similar tea towels from our kids' childhood. Of course we can never use them so they're in a drawer. Great idea to frame them.

    Can I also say how impressed I am with your kids' artistic skills? When you compare Climber's, for example, with some others in the class... well....!

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  13. My kids' primary school do these tea towels as part of Grade 6 graduation with the sixers each doing a little self portrait. It is completely fascinating - some of the girls draw themselves as Bratz dolls, boys have footballs for heads!

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  14. Mr Fixit is just superb! Lucky you!

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