Some March Chit-Chat

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Welcome to March - with that wonderful touch of Autumn in the air  🤎

 Eldest son came to stay a night last week & bought me this stunning bunch of flowers.  There's a girl with a roadside stall not far from where he lives & he likes to support her.  The Roses had the faintest lovely fragrance which filled the dining room.

Last week we finally got our craft group get-together at Liz's.  We painted & decorated bottles & it was just wonderful sitting out in the sun on Liz's porch, painting & chatting together.  I loved Sharlaine's above right, with their dark moody vibe.

Liz & Gail's above left & Joyce's right - Joyce was doing a "bee theme" on her bottle.  

As I'd already finished my bottles I took a pair of vintage shoe stretchers along to paint & decorate.  I used some of the transfer that we purchased on our recent trip to Paint Me Vintage - I'm delighted with how they turned out.  

Gail had some lacquer there so I gave them a coat once I'd put the transfers on.  

Some touches of Easter decor are appearing at Threadbear HQ this week - I was keen to decorate my vintage Singer Sewing table using my bottles & my handmade Easter Tree. 

I am very partial to all the pretty pastels at Easter time.

Though our mornings are Cold the days are beautiful.  Yesterday I painted some old wooden spoons out on my deck table.  If you have unwanted voluntary assistance 😸 remember to give them nap breaks as it is rather tiring watching paint dry (!!)

These wooden spoons can be picked up very cheaply at Op-shops (50 cents each) - I painted one in Pale duck egg & one in Vintage white.  Then I added some more of the transfer remnants.  I like to use every single scrap when I purchase a transfer.

A simple, pleasing Easter arrangement on my kitchen bench  🐰🩶

A plain white tag that I added a transfer to & tied onto a cloche.

On the sewing front there has been very little activity - I found this old Rosalie Quinlan book & decided to make the Petite Thread basket.  I used a remnant of the Peter Rabbit fabric that I'd purchased last Easter to make this hanging hand-towel.  I'm not sure why my photos are appearing yellow-ish today - but it turned out very sweet.

It's made up of 6 segments & a base - I fussy cut the rabbit pictures for each segment & added a bobble trim to the top.  

I think it will be cute with some wrapped eggs in, but we won't do this too soon as they have a habit of ending up in my mouth (!!) 😐

When my dear friend Sandy posted me a birthday package last year she included a packet of Black Scabiosa Seeds.  I grew them in early spring & they have been just so stunning in my garden, even wonderful as cut flowers with their nice lengthy stems.  

As I've been seed saving this past week I gathered a large bag of seeds so I can sow them again next spring.  

Thank you so much for your welcome visits here today dear friends & listening to my chit-chat,

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

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

 

"Playing" With Paint & Transfers

Greetings lovely friends & readers

 Valentine's Day flowers picked from my garden last weekend ... dahlias, cosmos, alstroemeria & some early chrysanths 💗

I saw this verse on Instagram & loved it ... it's okay to give yourself the day off !

For our craft group get together last week we were decorating bottles.  I'd visited Gail to get some bottles as she had a large stash of all shapes & sizes - these are the three I chose.

  Many of the girls were going for a slightly Gothic theme - hence Gail had already painted the medium sized bottle black.  I decided to go for a pastel theme - you can see me deciding on a green shade with the larger bottle. 

My assistant in the background, was having a wee nap  ❤

On our recent trip to Paint Me Vintage both Gail & I had purchased this Redesign with Prima transfer above.  It was a new release for Easter/spring & I adored it.  I decided to use it on my bottles.  

Our get-together didn't actually go ahead due to Liz's husband being rushed to hospital with chest pain .. so Gail & I got together several days later & decorated some of our already-painted bottles. 

 

I first used a paper serviette on the medium blue bottle, but after a couple of days I decided I no longer liked it ... this is the beauty of mod-podge .. I just sat the bottle in a basin of warm water & the serviette peeled off no problem & I wiped the bottle down.  I added this bunny transfer & also an old frame I had with a missing back.  

The smallest bottle I'd painted cream & Gail gave me this wooden frame piece.  It fit perfectly over my bunny & I painted it, waxed it, then wiped it over with a darker wax.  I'm now thinking I may add some gold to the edges of it.  

Here is the frame I painted for my medium sized bottle - sorry my photos are all over the place today  😶

I painted this with Robins Egg chalk paint & then lightly wiped the edges with Antique Gold Rub-n-buff.

My favorite of them all is the tallest bottle which I painted with chalk paint in the colour Country Green.  I added this rubber decal, painted it & then popped a small transfer in the middle.  I glued some thickish lace to the base & painted this the same green.  I then white waxed over the details to make them pop.  I think this is an old Gin bottle as it has Pierre Smirnoff engraved on the back of it.

I painted some wooden tags & attached transfers to these ... the smallest one is an old broken key ring that had a buzzy bee in the centre.   I prized it open, removed the photo, removed the glue, added a white piece of paper & a tiny transfer & glued it all back together again.  Also an old broken brooch has been glued to the rim.  Never throw away those broken bits & pieces dear friends 😉😉

Here are my bottles so far ... I love them all but my favorite is the green one.  

Let me know if you have a favorite dear friends.

The day we visited Paint me Vintage the Owner Carla, was standing at her counter painting plastic eggs to do an Easter display.  

Both Gail & I very were interested as we both had plastic eggs at home in our stashes.  

I painted 6 eggs ... 2 pink, 2 blue & 2 green.  I added transfers to these & then glued thin ribbon to the hole in the top.  I wanted to make an Easter tree.  

Remember the trees that fell down in * this post * ? ... well we are still waiting on the tree men to come & clean them up so off I go with my loppers & cut myself some branches from them to make my Easter tree.  

Hard to get a good photo on this dull overcast day.  

My little display ... Yes I agree, it's far too early to be thinking anything Easter-ish but this can just sit & wait a few weeks until I put my Easter decor out.  I found some crochet hearts in a bag of lace so I painted them with watered down PVA glue & strung these from my branches also.  

(This next part is especially for You Ellie)

Last week I gave my deck table & surrounding areas a good scrub.  I had a new length of hessian to use & wanted to do a late summer/autumnal display.

As you can see dear friends, a certain Little Cat thought this was the most wonderful fun & Mum must've put this here just especially for my entertainment.  

After nearly half an hour of this carry-on I managed to get the table runner down & he just curled up & went to sleep (!!)

I think it was about this point that I gave up & walked away!!!

Nothing is ever easy around here with the assistance of one or other of the furry family members.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend dear friends - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

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

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

A Houseful of Bugs . . . . . . . . & A January Recap

Greetings lovely friends & readers & 

Welcome to February  💗

I did not mean to be gone for so long but we have had a houseful of bugs these past weeks  (the 🤮🤢 kind & not the 🐜🐞 kind)   In the midst of this The Mr came down with Covid !!  But we are all well again now.   

I decided to do a short January recap ... school has returned here in New Zealand after more than 6 weeks break & I, along with the parents, breathed a sigh of relief.  As Alec went back earlier than Sid I drove to Taupo during the last week to spend a bit more time with him.

 Our flowers today are a bunch that I took to my daughter in law, picked from my garden, mainly dahlias & hydrangeas.

As I had no potatoes left I made mashed kumara for the Cottage Pie topping.

Alec & my son requested my homemade Cottage Pie so I made two, one for The Mr while I was away.  I also made fruity chocolate cereal bars which makes up in a large meat dish so you get a good quantity out of it.  You can find the recipe at the bottom of * this * post. (its an old recipe of my Mums)

Alec requested we go mini putt golfing again as he enjoyed it so much last time & I was happy to oblige.  It is such a gorgeous Putting Green with stunning lake views at every angle.  Alec beat me by 9 points but I am sure there was cheating score adjustment going on 😉

We went to our favorite cafe for lunch, Baked With Love.  We even had the same food we ate last time & now we call this cafe "our regular".

Right next door is a huge wonderful kitchen store & I wanted to hunt for a new mug as mine had cracked.  I found this lovely Jamie Oliver mug which I really love & it's so nice to drink out of. 

 I took Alec for a haircut & parked right outside the Salvation Army Op-shop.  I told him I had a moral obligation to go inside - he chose to wait in the car.  My only purchase was this heavy crystal bud vase for $5.  It's just perfect for a few rose buds & I'm delighted with it.

Two days after I got home the craft girls invited me to go with them to Tauranga to Paint Me Vintage.  It's many years since I've visited this gorgeous store & it was just as impressive as I remembered.  So much loveliness in every nook & cranny.

I'll share my purchases in my next post as I have (hopefully) done something with them by then. We had a wonderful day out & stopped in at the huge Tauranga Crossing Shopping Centre for lunch & a wander.  This was the first time I had been here & it was most impressive.  

The lights have 8 different settings but I prefer them just On, not flickering.

I purchased (from Temu) some plug in fairy lights - I'd wanted some for my kitchen for a very long time but could only get a 12 metre length so I ended up affixing them a lot further around my kitchen than I'd anticipated.

  I just LoVe them - as my kitchen can be on the darker side, I turn them on frequently.  I purchased the proper clips to attach them & then ended up giving all my enamel-ware, shelves etc a full on clean, which took me two entire days but everything just sparkled afterwards.  It's funny how this simple $14 purchase can bring me so much Joy.  

I'd left two baskets on my sewing room floor when I went to Taupo & upon my return The Mr had lifted them onto my bench for a certain two furry beings to sleep in.  They started out in separate baskets but after Day 1 Miss Pippi climbed in with Blackie.  

Also note they have both moved to the square shaped basket which is slightly larger

Day two was a nasty-weather-day & they were still in the same basket even though there was very little room (!!)

Day 3 they'd both moved back to the round shaped basket

Day Three she had managed to secure herself a bit more room.  Willie this might be a good one for your Cat Folder.  By Day 4 the Mother here (Yours Truly) had removed both baskets, cleaned the bench & banned furry beings from sewing room (they are taking no notice) 😉

Thank you so much for your visits today dear friends & for listening to my waffle,

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

January Crafting & Creativity

Greetings lovely friends & readers

 On my table this week, a sweet enamel kettle filled with flowers from my Garden ... hydrangeas, alstroemerias. lavender, zinnias & pompom dahlias.  

Using some Christmas money I treated myself to a new length of Oilcloth for my table ... this one is so pretty.  

If you look at the right hand photo, you can see by my arrow that I still have "my display piece" from last weeks 

post  🐈‍⬛😮 !!

On this dull rainy day it is hard to photograph & do it justice - it is the softest dusky pink - called Elise Pink Blush. 

I have made a determined effort these school holidays to restrict Sid's screen time.  Some days I succeed & others not so - we have crafted lots!!  He was gifted some Gem Art kitsets & these have been a LOT of fun to create with.

One of the kitsets made up 3 bookmarks, we finished the 2 on the left & the right hand one is still to complete.  Granny especially enjoyed these crafts 😉

Although it feels like I have done very little crafting myself, looking back through my photos shows otherwise. 

 I found this tray in my sleepout & decided to chalk paint it for my bedside table.  I wanted to be able to pick up the tray with everything on it, not individually.  

Lightly sanding it showed up the detail in the handles 

Using pale duck egg chalk-paint, I am thrilled with how it turned out & lightly sanded it once dry.  A couple of coats of wax & it was complete.  

Since the New Year I have been on a sorting/decluttering mission, slowly going through cupboards & drawers.  This cross stitch was attached to a card & I kept it because it really appealed to me.  I made it up into a simple pillow backing it with some Tilda scraps & then stitched a fluffy yarn around the edges.

 

I filled it with crushed walnut shells so it sits plumply, also added an old broken earing of Mums to the bow.  

I am waiting on my 2026 charms to attach to the back - they are currently in-the-post.

In another cupboard I found this broken Angel, which I still loved. Her dress, wings & body parts were badly fly marked so I removed the dress & very gently washed her body before glueing her back together again.  

I sewed her a new skirt & gave her new feather wings ... I thought she looked so much better.  I have yet to find just the right spot to hang her. 

 I found * this blog post * from 2013 which was when I first purchased her (!!)  

My Hoop measures 33 cms across in diameter

I have long admired the hoop art that you see on Pinterest & often purchase hoops when I see them in the Op-shops.  I decided it was finally time to try & use them up!  I found a piece of old linen to fit my hoop & then sewed lengths of vintage lace across it, leaving little openings to act as "pockets".  I had lots of fun adding bits & bobs, some broken jewellery of Mums & buttons from Theodora Cleave tucking in tags & postcards here & there.  I gave mine a Sewing Theme as I plan to hang it in my sewing room.

This has sat on my sewing desk for the past two weeks while I added bits as I had the time or sat & studied it, changed my mind, removed things.   Once I was happy I sewed all my bits on & then backed it with a piece of wool felt.  Once again, hard to photograph on this rainy day, hence I've taken it to the deck table.  

I love projects like this that just sort of evolve.

So it seemed timely when I saw this Verse on Instagram yesterday & saved it ... I thought it was very true indeed, although I imagine you could say this about any year.

This little collage is titled A Day in the Life Of Pippi ... she moves from my potted Rhodohypoxis, to the suns rays in the lounge, to a drawer in my sewing room ... all in the course of a day (!!)  What a stressful life she leads  😉

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

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week,

Sending much love & friendship out to you all,