A Bed Headboard, A Lampshade & A Tree Church

Greetings lovely friends & readers

When I repainted my bedroom almost a year ago now, one of the things I'd always planned to do was to somehow raise my bed headboard.  

You can see from the photo above left, that when I stacked all my cushions on my bed, you could not see the headboard at all .. only the end spindles poking out at the sides (right hand pic).  Our headboard was purchased second hand from Trademe & tho' I liked the style,  I'd never especially liked the orange tinge that the oak wood had.  

 I asked The Mr to cut some blocks of wood to affix to the base of the headboard - he asked me "what length ?". 

This is how I measure things dear friends!   Because I am a visual person I needed to stack old red bricks under the headboard in order to get a rough idea of how long I wanted my pieces of wood to be ... a tape measure was of no use as I could not stand back & look at it & get a visual feel for it.  The Mr thought I'd gone quite insane by this point!

I was working on it down the end of my Lounge where there is good lighting

I think it was late spring before I actually got the blocks of wood cut to size.  I simply pushed them under a table & there they stayed until after Christmas when I found the time to tackle this project.  Now my thoughts were that I would attach the wood, paint the headboard & it would be back in my room in 3 days maximum!!!  Famous last words 😉  In the end it took nearly a month to finish this project!  

Although I bought strong wood glue for the legs The Mr still insisted upon drilling holes & adding dowel to each piece before gluing on the new lengths.  Then leaving it for 24 hours to dry.  I washed the headboard down with sugar soap & then wanted to attach these decals that I'd had for this project for several months. 

I measured out the 3 sections & didn't just eyeball where they went as I am prone to do  😉

I wanted to paint it in the same Linen colour that I'd used on this mirror,   Mum's Glory box & Bedside Cabinet.  I gave it an undercoat of white to tone down the orange wood first.  After I'd given it 2 coats I ran out of Linen paint 😖 ... No sorry, we're not making that brand any more!   I ended up having to buy Linen in another brand which turned out lighter but thankfully I had enough to finish the front & just use the lighter shade on the back.  Also the new paint took 8 days to arrive from Auckland, a journey of less than 2 hours away !!

Finally, yesterday I was able to put it back in position in my bedroom.  I used white wax on the decals & clear wax on the rest of it - I love how the white wax makes the decals really pop.  

Despite the hiccups along the way, I am thrilled with how it turned out & love that it is now visible above my bed cushions.  The plain Euro Cushion in the middle is my next little project as I am making a cover for it using more of the French General fabrics.  And the little cat on the left hand side is most certainly not meant to be there (!!)

While I was waiting for the new paint to arrive (8 long days!) I decided to revamp this old lamp which I used to use in my craft cottage.  It's not showing up well here but the shade was discoloured & fly-spot marked.  I washed it gently in warm soapy water & dried well in the sun.  I wanted to make a pleated shade for it & used this tutorial * here * as I'd seen this technique on YouTube.

The fiddliest part was cutting & ironing all the lengths of fabric.  My dear friend Shirley had given me some fat quarters of this gorgeous French General range called "Antoinette" & I thought this blue tiny floral one was perfect.  Instead of hot glue as the tutorial suggests, I preferred to use my craft glue as I find it less messy.

My shade ended up taking 42 lengths including the top & bottom one.  I had thought to add a fringe to the bottom but decided I liked it plain & simple.  💙

My original intention was to paint the base a pale duck egg shade but I thought it looked just fine left as the white ceramic base & I rather liked the slightly retro look of it.  

It is now 3 years since I first visited The Tree Church with my friend Sue.       You can read about that visit in             this post * here *    

Sue & I decided we were long overdue another outing there so we met up last Sunday, on the most gorgeous blue sky day.   Although I took many photos I thought I'd try & share these videos, taken by Sue -  the first one approaching the church & the second one inside.  I hope they come out okay dear friends as I've not shared a video on here before.   

Click the small square bottom right to enlarge & turn your sound volume right up  😊

Sue calls these topiary cloud trees "Dr Seuss Trees"

I baked an Oaty Caramel Slice & took a thermos of boiling water so we could drink tea & sit & enjoy the surroundings.  It was just a wonderful morning, the birds were singing loudly & it felt so peaceful, serene & relaxing.

                                                  Plus it was wonderful to catch up with Sue again  🤍

We are getting light rain here today friends - the kind of rain you could stand in & barely get wet.    Yesterday I got out my lace box to look for vintage lace trims for the Euro cushion cover I am making ... it didn't take long for Madam Pip to find it & curl herself away 😕 - luckily I quickly tossed a pillowslip under her first.

Thank you as always dear friends, for your welcome visits here today,

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week ... remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Happy New Year Snippets

Greetings lovely friends & readers & 

Welcome to a bright shiny New Year -  2025 💚

I hope the year ahead is good & kind to us all & if the very best thing that you did last year was simply to survive it ...... then well done !!

Yesterday I picked pink alstromeria & 2 jugs of sweetpeas ... I can always hear Mum in my mind when I'm picking sweetpeas - telling me to keep on picking them in order to keep them flowering. 

I sat a teapot full on my kitchen bench where I can enjoy their perfume more.   If I can have a small bunch of flowers on my bench it makes me very happy ... lifes simple pleasures 💗

We had a real cold snap at the weekend where I found myself back in winter clothes!!!  These two tucked up together on the dining room couch so I knew it must be chilly!

Since Christmas I have managed 3 craft completions.  This delightful kitset was a gift from my friend Gail ... "Alices Tapemeasure".  It came with everything required so I sat over a few evenings & stitched the beads onto the felt.  I especially loved the Alice in Wonderland charm that you attached at the end. 

Another small kitset - this one was purchased at the Quilt Show in * this post *.  It's called a Miniature Japanese House Pincushion ... it made up so tiny measuring just under 2 inches in height.  

I've shown it next to a frixion pen to give you an idea how tiny it is. The base is a button which it sits upon.  Everything was included except the crushed walnut stuffing that I filled it tightly with.  I purchased it from Annie's Country Quilt Store who had a stall at the Quilt Show.

And then just last night I finished stitching the binding to this wall hanging which was another kitset given to me, I think 3 Chistmas's ago now.  This is a pattern by Gail Pan designs & I plan to attach a wire hanger to the top, ready for hanging next Christmas.

This kitset was all done in Tilda fabrics.  I'm not sure why my photos are appearing yellow-ish today. 

It took me 8 days to display all my Christmas decor & One entire day to pack it all away.  Usually it takes me 2 days but this year I just kept plugging away.  Once it was done I tried to do a couple of fresh new displays as the house often looks quite bare after Christmas.   I felt my coffee table needed something fresh & lighter as we are in mid summer here so I used plants & white vintage linens that I already had on hand.  

The only new item is the diffuser which was a gift from my daughter in law.  Everything else I already had & most of it are thrifted items.

And of course .  .  .  I did remember to leave a space for Madam Pip to sit & do her meditation  😉 

Sid came for 2 days while his parents worked & we crafted quite a lot of the time.  We had a large black dinosaur join us on the craft table which Sid found amusing (!!)

And later that day when Sid & I watered the veggie gardens we had visitors of a different kind ... jersey cows are such gentle, inquisitive creatures.

Well dear friends, I am off to try & mow some lawns now the heat has subsided a bit,

Thank you as always, for your ever welcome visits here today,

With much love & friendship to you all,

A Christmas Gift . . . . . . . . To Me - From Me

Greetings lovely friends & readers

(apologies in advance - VeRy long & photo heavy post)

I bought myself a Christmas gift, something I have always wanted & - of course - second hand/preloved  😉

Photos taken at my eldest sons house

 I'm unsure if I've said this already on my blog, but back in September my eldest Grandson Alec & his family moved down to Taupo to live.  When I went to help them with a carload I noticed this mobile Greenhouse/hothouse that my daughter-in-law had purchased secondhand.    Sarah never found the time to utilise it & had just sat it on their concrete driveway with a few plants in that she wished to take to Taupo.  When my son Aaron said she was going to sell it my radar immediately went up 🠉🠝

I have always wanted some sort of hothouse/potting shed to work in ... truth be told I would LoVe an Edwardian Greenhouse but I've long given up on that ship ever coming in.      I was able to buy it from Sarah & then, there it sat until The Mr was able to find time to bring it home here.

It was right at the end of November when he finally hired a car trailer & bought it home.  One wheel axle broke getting it off the trailer but thankfully he was able to weld this back together & we wheeled it over to where I had visualised it in my mind's eye - right by my veggie gardens.  You can see above right the messy area I had here, where it had become a bit of a dumping ground.  

I did not want the hothouse to look like it had just been wheeled into place & left there - which was exactly what it did currently look like!  

Firstly I dug up the lawn to lay some brick edging - I had a fairly good stash of red bricks so I laid these in a curve, sprayed the grass, then began laying mulch of which I once again, had a very good stash.  

This is the back area of the hothouse, again I curved the edging around to meet up with my raised veggie garden. I had some old carpet which I laid under this to help kill the grass before applying the mulch.

I'd decided that inside I wanted a no-dig garden along one side.  I googled no-dig gardens & found out what to do, building my layers up with paper, cardboard, grass clippings, pea straw & compost until I was happy with it. The macrocarpa sleeper along one side was purchased from my local Hardware Store (bought home sticking out my car window & nearly giving The Mr a seizure when he saw me !!!)

For the main "floor area" I lay more cardboard, old carpet & then a thick layer of mulch.  I planted my no-dig garden immediately & am currently growing cherry tomatoes, basil, parsley, chillis, teddy-bear sunflowers & one spinach plant all in that small area.

I scrubbed all the lower walls inside the hothouse where it was turning green & it came up beautifully.

Everything is growing so well being so sheltered inside the hothouse.

It was around this same time that I received a wonderful surprise early-christmas-gift from my sweet, kind & generous friend Sandy.  She mailed me this stunning Gardeners Journal/Planner ... so I immediately sat & drew up a sort-of-plan for my hothouse & the surrounding area.

Here is the back of the hothouse which faces onto the paddocks - along the side I planted a trough of snow peas & was able to use this old bedhead which I'd purchased from an op-shop over a year ago now & never done anything with it. 

I purchased a half-round wine barrel planter & dug all my herbs out of the veggie beds as they were taking over & becoming quite invasive.  I wanted to contain them more so cut them all back & planted them in some old pots I had along with the wine barrel.  Already the area was taking shape . . . .

I fed both my raised gardens with sheep manure, compost & garden mix & also used some lawn clippings to top them up.  Currently I am growing lettuces, spinach, silverbeet, 2 varieties of cucumbers, chillies & courgettes which I am picking every day.  My sweet peas are growing at the end up a trellis & I'm picking these most days too.  

I have some gaps as yesterday I harvested two punnets of beetroot & cooked them up, so I'll replant these areas again soon.

I wanted something eye catching to sit outside the front of the hothouse ... I found this old concrete urn of Mums in the garden undergrowth.  I scrubbed it well & then used the Resene Faux Rust FX treatment on it that I've previously used on plastic pots.  

It turned out wonderfully & I planted it with a native box shrub & sat it on a tree stump.

I dug some wood rings into the mulch as stepping stones.  The Mr made me oil these several coats first as he is fussy boring particular like that  😉

I have a large selection of old wire baskets under my house so I purchased 2 new liners & filled them with petunias & Lobelia.  Although I only planted these under 3 weeks ago they are flowering away so happily in there & I love the pops of colour  💗

The interior has solid metal shelves all along one wall which are going to be ideal for growing & potting up seedlings when I get organised.  I've styled a few cloches & things in there as I always believe that functional spaces can also be beautiful.  But I have a lot more to do here yet.

It also has 4 misters along the roof so I only have to plug the hose in & shut the door & everything gets finely misted for however long I wish.  Some hot days I am very tempted to stand in there myself with the misters going!

I ordered myself a lovely new sign from Temu & they even spelled my name right (!!) 😉

And I have finally found a home for all the bags of potting mix & seed raising mix that used to sit alongside my deck area.  Every single day a small cream cat (Little One) comes to check out what I am doing in the hothouse. 

Finally dear friends, if you are not all asleep by now ... this is the view of it from the bottom of my deck steps ... I just love how it kind of peeks through the trees & I'm so pleased with where I positioned it.  The green mesh curtain can roll down when the door is open - I am guessing it's to keep the white butterfly out once they are on the wing, which will be very soon.  

If you've made it to the end - well done!

Thank you so much dear friends, for your ever welcome visits here today,

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year - I shall probably be in bed by 9.30 with at least one cat 😉

With so much love & friendship to you all,