Merry Christmas Everyone :-)

Hello dear friends & readers,

 

I hope everyone is managing to survive the leadup to Christmas okay??

This past week has gone by in a blur. . .

I have managed to do some christmas baking for some friends

 

Gingernut bites mixture cooling on the stove

 

I like to make little treats at this time of year

& package them up for friends/customers

 

It has been a battle trying to keep things real simple

(& I am not sure if I am actually achieving this!!!)

but I keep plodding on  . . .

 

Lavendar heart from wool blanketting

Lots of the gifts are wrapped under the tree (waiting)

I always try to gift wrap things real quick

cos otherwise I am tempted to Open the chocolate treats

& "taste test" them!!!!!(when I am home alone...)

 

One of my stepsons is coming to stay for a fortnight

so I had to clean the sleepout for him as he likes to stay out here

it was a "bit of a mess"

& took me an entire day to sort out

 

somewhere there is carpet in here I seem to recall??!!

 

Somewhere under all that is a sofa bed!!!!

It is all done now & ready for Jareds arrival

He lives down in Wellington so has a long trip ahead of him to get to us

 

There hasnt been much (any) crafting going on

but the garden is certainly in full swing now

 

 

 

 

Lots of things are in full bloom

& I was delighted to see a little visitor on my swan plant today

Welcome little monarch butterfly  -  please stay :-)

I took my camera down to the pond - things are dry here now
the lavendars have flopped over the pathway
they love the dry weather

Some lillies are coming into bloom by the pond

 

 

The daylillies are flowering away

 

 

& the penstemons all coming out in the rose garden

 

 

 

This little daisy flowers away down the far end of the section

beside an old wringer washing machine

planted with busy lizzies

I didnt plant any of these white daisies,

 they self seeded all by themselves :-)

 

 

 

& the native iris beside them came from Donnas (I think??)

 

 

 

I have to admit that although things are flowering away at present

I am tired of watering (already)

& although the photos all look lovely . . .

there is some serious weeding needs doing here!!! :-(

 

 

beautiful hollyhocks

planted last year - waited patiently - I adore them

although the leaves have rusted, I love the rich velvety colour

 

This will be my last post before christmas

so I wanted to wish you all a wonderful festive season

& may 2013 bring all your hopes, dreams & wishes true!!!

 

 

Mr Fat Fluffy has had a stressful lead-up to christmas

as I am sure you can imagine
(it is quite stressful deciding which patch of floor to chill out on you know)

 

 

Busy, busy, busy - superivising that Mum, she sure is energy draining

 

I wanted to thank you all for taking the time to read my ponderings

your comments always mean the world to me

thankyou so much for stopping by

& have a wonderful christmas

 

 

& I hope Santa brings you lots of goodies.

Take care of yourselves

you are all very special

Love/hugs/friendship,  Julie Xox

 



Some Christmas Spirit . . . .

 

 

Hello dear friends & readers :-)

 

 

Well hooray, yay, yahooo, weehee

this morning I finished the last of my orders for the year!!!

it is great celebration in the house

Maybe if I pretend to be asleep she will stop dancing round like the fruitloop that she is??!!

I have been plodding away on orders for a long time now

 

 

 

It was a cushion making week

Peace sign cushion on wool blanketing

some were for gifts

Oilcloth cushion for a friends new rustic garden seat

 

I had an order for 10 metres of christmas bunting also

 

 

Love the old world Santas in this fabric
 

My last order - finished this morning - was for 12 cream covered coathangers with lavendar bunches on them. . .

 

 

 

Last week while needing a break from it all

with a dark sky & a rainy day

Mr Wolf & I decided to put the tree up & begin some decorating

 

she can flipping well think again if she thinks I'm going to help with that stupid tree

Approximately 17 years ago the Mr & I had a terrible house fire in the sleepout at the farm we were milking on

Because the house was small we had lots of our possessions stored in the sleepout

including ALL our christmas decorations

& so it was all lost in the fire

I lost all the things my boys had made me since little children

those christmas things they make at kindy & you treasure

So I began all over again buying special things & making lots too

 

 

this one always makes me smile when I get it out each year

After 18 years working (part-time) in a gift shop I must confess . . .

to a bit of an obsession with Santas . .  .

 

Some are gifts, some purchased, some made by me :-)

This little spindle legged table holds some of my precious decorations - a bit of a "primitive" look
 

 

note to self  . . .  tidy up messy sewing room on the right!!!!

The beautiful hand crocheted pumpkin & cover was made by the extremely talented Amy from here  . . .

 

my vintage marketplace

Amy is one very talented lady & if I could, I would buy one of everything she makes !!!

This felt christmas card holder was made by me a few years ago
it is a Country Friends design by Wendy Briggs

The beautiful patchwork runner was my craft swap with my friend Therle whom I posted about back in June
We took part in the fionamarie.com great global craft swap
& this is what Therle made me
I just love the colours she has used & enjoy taking it out each year
for my coffee table :-)

I like to put Santa hats on the teddies that sit beneath my tree
in the old violin case . . .

One of my all time favourite Santas (above)
a Woodcutters Daughter pattern (now known as Theodora Cleave)
this guy is called Rustic Santa

A doorstop Santa that I made some years ago with his bag of parcels
(made over a Coca Cola bottle filled with dry sand)

Skinny Minny

How is your christmas decorating coming along??
I have made a couple of new purchases this year -
each year I try to buy 1 or 2 special things
either new or pre-loved
this little guy had to come home with me - he was on sale

I loved the simplicity of him
he just hangs out by the fruit bowl in my kitchen  :-)

Dear Santa  -  I have been very good this year & have not poked my tongue out at anyone or anyones cats . . .

Well folks - I hope you are managing to get into the christmas spirit in your house & that you are not like Mr Wolf -
who just pokes his tongue out at the whole affair -
& dreams "cat dreams" curled up on his blanket

I am off now to tidy the sewing room so I can make a couple of christmas gifts - I am sure there is carpet in there underneath the avalanche that I have had!!!!!

Have a great week out there everyone,.
Love/hugs/friendship,
Julie & Mr (humbug) Wolf Xoxoxoxox



Teacup Teddies & some summer garden snaps

Hello friends & readers :-)

 

 

My Mother was appalled a couple of birthdays ago

when she gave me this beautiful Robert Gordon cup, saucer & plate set

& all I could think was. . .

"I can't wait to make a teacup teddy for it"

 

Hello there

 

I had an order to do 2 teacup teddies so I decided to make 4 so I could have 2 for the Cottage as well

 

this shows the basic shape of the entire body piece

 

 

Could I have a nose stitched on please . . .

 

It feels like they have taken me ages to do  - they are little "fiddle bum" things to make even tho they are a simple pattern

 

 

 

Because they are basically a body with arms & legs all in one

& then a head with a gusset & ears

you can make them out of the smallest scraps of fur you have

I used all mohair for these four

 

this chap was a gorgeous hand-dyed blue mohair - a leftover piece from a larger teddy

 

Hello - My Name is Bluebell :-)

 

 

This was quite a long shaggy mohair fur

it turned out quite tricky to work with on such a small design

but has made up really feminine looking

& gorgeous sitting in the rose cup. . .

 

My Name is Rosebud

 

 

 

 

Gosh what a relief now they are all done :-)

I wanted to add a little note here . . .  I have not done teacup teddies for over 2 years now due to the fact that a lady came to me with 12 different Maxwell & Williams teacups (yes that is TWELVE)-  & I had to make a teacup teddy for each one in a different fur colouring/style etc!!!  So you can well imagine by the end I did NOT want to see another one for a good long time!!!***)

 

I have been working on other orders in between this

 

 

A box of fabric apples went to Auckland in the post

the package smelt delicious with the cinammon clove scent

I think the lady was going to string them from her tree for christmas

 

 

I also had an order for some doiley pincushions

I always love working with my doiley stash & made extra's for the Cottage as had sold a few recently

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes when I am busy working on orders I dont get out to check on the garden a great deal

& when I do - things have shot away on me

My neck was getting sore so I took my camera & went for a walk

 

Lovely terracotta pots of petunias on a window shelf

 

Can you believe when I ordered this punnet of plants

I asked for red petunias & when they came in the label said red!!

The Sleepout attached to our carshed - note to self "trim climber around window" ! ! !

 

but the pink looks just fine :-)

When Kane built me this shelf we glued moss all over it

with the hot glue gun

but the birds made short work of it pulling it all off within 3 days!!

 

These little faces popped out at me in the garden

 

Good old Dublin Bay along the trellis

 

Good old foxgloves still flowering away

 

 

I quite like splashes of white in my native area

this was an old wine barrell given to me by Sarah

(my oldest sons lovely partner)

 

 

You can see where the birds pull at the basket lining for the coconut fibre

 

There is a soft haze of purple as the lavendars come into bloom

on the pathway to the Pond

 

 

Thankyou for taking that little walk around with me

today is our 1st day of Summer here

officially spring is over & its a beautiful day today

but I shall miss spring as its my favourite season of the year

 

I had The Most Loveliest Surprise again this past week

I had a customer whom I had met through my blog from here. . .

 

all things rusty and fabric 

 

 Michelle has written a great post about their huge road trip

do go have a read

we chatted non-stop even though her stop was only brief

Her & her husband were just the most friendliest people

we couldve chatted for hours

with the little goats yelling in the background! ! !

Thanks so much for stopping in Michelle

 

Hi Michelle & Mike - I'm back in my usual spot - guarding the place for Mum !!

 

And this big old fellow says "hello" to you also

  He very much enjoyed meeting you both (& the goats)

 

I am off to pick some veges as there is lots ready all of a sudden in the vege garden too

 

 

freshly cooked beetroot grown by me

 

Have a lovely week out there friends

will be back next post with some christmas decorating (she hopes!!)

Thanks as always for stopping by :-)

Hugs/love/friendship, Julie Xox