Potpourri ... stitching ... turkeys & trikes !!!!

Hello dear friends & readers,

My friend Kerryn who owns the beautiful patchwork store The Country Yard have just last weekend celebrated their annual "New Years Launch". 
This coincided with their being in business for 10 years so was a double celebration.
Some of you may have read about this on Leeannes or Raewyns blogs as these girls are lucky enough to work at this wonderful store.
I however, was lucky enough to be asked to provide bags of my potpourri for the goodie bags that were given out to some loyal customers ... 35 bags (I think) in total  :-)

I was honestly so chuffed that Kerryn decided to include a bag in the very generous goodie bags she was making up as I just adore making potpourri & am quite sure, even if I didnt have my little Cottage that I would still make these recipes as it has become a "little bit of who I am" over the years ...

Lean in real close & take a big sniff   :-)

Warmest Congratulations to Kerryn & her amazing team of girls - I would certainly have loved to have been part of these celebrations but (unfortunately) a family wedding prevented this.

Speaking of potpourri . . .  my friend Elaine is celebrating her birthday tomorrow - we usually exchange small handmade gifts as she is a crafter herself.
Last month I purchased from Michelle the pattern for her gorgeous Stitcher"s Alphabet.  I had seen these initials pop up in quite a few blogs & had long coveted this pattern ... as it turned out some family members were coming over from Melbourne & could hand deliver it to me   :-)

Elaines "E" was my first attempt
(I stitched this using a Cottage Garden Thread - "Kangaroo Paw")

I realised I had forgotten to tea dye the calico before stitching, so a quick blast with my parisian essence mixture 
(that I mentioned last post) & I then hand stitched it onto a piece of red cotton fabric ...

... that I had begun to make into a "sort of pouch"  . . .  this was one of those creations that just "evolved" as it went along ...

... & ended up as a lined bag with a box bottom . . .  I had planned to fill it with little chocolate treats but then remembered that Elaine is quite gluten intolerant . . .  so my fresh batch of rose petal potpourri beckoned . . . 

I hope Elaine likes it ... 
(although she is a follower, I know she is not reading this because her computer has recently crashed)

Happy Birthday for tomorrow Elaine  ! ! !

Last post I mentioned I had been working on another "roundie cushion" . . .  to say that my dimensions on this one were rather miscalculated would be an understatement . . . there were many hours spent unpicking & recalculating my measurements
(there were also many words said that I cannot print here AND on a couple of occasions the cushion sailed through the air like a frisbee!!!!!!)

However  . . . we got there in the end . . .

And that my dear friends  . . . is the important thing  :-)

This old cane carpet beater had been lying in the back of a cupboard - it belongs to my mum & she had given it to me many years ago to decorate for her ... more years than I have had my blog in fact  ...
I finally pulled it out this past week ... it was under about an inch of dust so I gave it a good scrub 
(I think it only fair to acknowledge the dust was more likely to be from my house than from my mums!!!)

I decorated it with some silk flowers from my stash plus a couple of different types of cones raided from my citrus potpourri bowl . . . 

I felt it was certainly an improvement . . . & hope Mum thinks so too :-)

These turkeys decided to make an unwelcome return to the garden after being absent for a few weeks 

There are 9 in this flock ... they came in through the front gate & were tall enough to set the gate buzzer off !!!
As it buzzes twice for each entry, you can imagine the noise with it going off 18 times as they sloowwly made their way through !!!

It is so very dry here now & there are only slim pickings left in the garden as I simply cannot water every single thing 
 I did manage to gather together a few dahlias & good old "The fairy" rose to brighten my table this past week

While standing outside watering the other evening, The Mr's friend Dave pulled into the driveway. 
I knew the Mr wasn't home & I must admit I groaned silently to myself (& muttered a few things)
  Dave is a lovely man but he very much enjoys talking endlessly about Moto X ... whether The Mr is here or not !!!
 In other words ... I get to listen to him waffle on ... frequently !!!

  

I was forced to rethink my thoughts somewhat when he reached into his boot ... & pulled this out for me though !!!

He told me I was the only "rather odd" person he knew who would get over-excited about a rusty old trike that his wife had told him to take to the local dump.

I would say by the "baldness" of the tyres this old trike has done many a mile in its day  :-)

I am off to finish picking the last of the strawflowers for the season

I hope the week is treating you kindly dear readers 

Thanks - as always - for stopping by my little corner of the globe

your visits are always so very much appreciated

Love & friendship to you all

Julie x0x0x0

The last of the strawflowers picked for the season