Wednesday, March 12, 2014

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






16 comments:

  1. Omgosh how you make me giggle Julie.
    What an amazing amount of potpourri! I can just imagine the smell of the house after that batch.
    Very lucky ladies to have a friend like you. Especially the stitched bag filled for your girlfriend. How lovely.
    So glad to hear the second round pillow worked itself out. I think it should be called crafters mouth instead of sailors mouth, lol
    agree?
    I was laughing so hard over that one.
    And then your story of your hubbys friend, but oh gosh it must have been worth it for that trike!!! What a score!!
    So fun to stop by today Julie.
    Take care
    Amy

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  2. Hi Julie, I was one of the lucky ones to receive a goodie bag (from Kerryn) and guessed the lovely pot potpourri could have been from you!!
    Mine is the rose one and its awesome and I get a whiff every time I go passed. After some garden work and going to try my hand at making "Ruby", I am so inspired by all that you do! Thank you for your posts. Hugs Kerry

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  3. Dear Julie, gosh I giggled with the imagination of all those Turkeys trotting through the gate, what a hoot.How wonderful to receive a goody bag with some of your potpourri in it. I know they are wonderful.Loved your cushion, it looks great.What a treat getting that trike.You will scrub it up in no time and have it looking terrific with whatever you decide to do with it. Hugs Shirley

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  4. P.S. Julie, forgot to mention ( how could I) how lovely your Mums carpet beater turned out. Shirley

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  5. Lovely post, Julie :-) The back shed smelt delicious for several weeks with the pot pourri stored in there!!!! Your E-bag is gorgeous - I am sure she will love it! The turkey tales gave me a good laugh too! How lovely of your mate to hand on that trike, will it be planted up for spring? Well done on the carpet beater and cushion too - gosh you have been busy!!

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  6. I was one of the lucky recipients of your potpourri. Well I guessed it may have come from you. I have the lemon one and love the perfume whenever I walk past. Kerryn had a wonderful celebration and the guests were very spoilt. Kerryn, Leeanne and Raewyn had worked so hard to make the shop look outstanding. Hopefully you will get to see it soon. I am so glad you hung in there with the cushion, it looks wonderful, love the doily in the centre

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  7. Oh I tried so hard to smell that beautiful potpourri!!! I love how you used the alphabet...the little pouch is so sweet! What a little treasure is your trike xx

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  8. Hello dear girl, does anyone actually own the pesky turkeys? I can't imagine going to a "turkey shop" & saying I'll have a dozen of those please! They're quite ugly really aren't they! So if they came in the gate do they wander up & down the road normally?!!
    I do love your "E" especially set against the red background. I thought for a moment there that you were going to say that the rug beater had come out of the cupboard to beat the cushion...great pattern anyway. Love it. Gosh I got stuck with two old coggers this week bending my ear, but I didn't get more than half a handful of beans out of it, no I lie, & some hazelnuts. Fantastic to be remembered as the odd one, at least there were no competitors for the trike then. I do adore straw flowers...the colours are all so lovely. That wasn't very nice that they called the latest cyclone Lucy!...does look like we might get some rain over the weekend though..here's hoping. Much love & friendship, Catherine x0x0x

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  9. Your blog is much like potpourri... a lovely mix of pretties and so colourful...(I didn't mean dry and smelly!) xx

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    1. Thank You so much E.E. I know you didnt mean dry & smelly - I wish these computer screens did have scratch-n-sniff sometimes though!!!! Imagine the fun we could have with that :-)

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  10. Wowsers, that trike is from my childhood.

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  11. I had a trike like that when I was little... I'm sure that wasn't too long ago! Your potpourri must smell amazing it sure looks gorgeous all bagged up like that, lucky recipients! And that carpet beater is too pretty to use ever again that's for certain... you are such an inspiration :O) I'm sure you're looking forward to some of the rain this weekend lets hope its not too windy...

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  12. What a lovely mix of everything on your new post! Lovely bags of pot pourri, wish
    I could smell them. Lovely craftwork and great find with the little bike. That has a
    charm all of its own. Where do the turkeys come from? Laughed about your gate
    buzzer story with the turkeys coming in. lol
    Cheers, Anita.

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  13. Hello Julie,

    A lovely post, your potpourri looks good enough to eat. The Country Yard is a lovely shop to visit. Had to smile at your Turkeys, I thought New Zealand only had chooks that wandered around the place! I remember stopping the car somewhere up north for the Mum Chook and her chickens to cross the road.Now Julie if someone started talking to me about M Cross I would have asked him if he wanted to come and help with the vacuuming.
    Enjoy the rest of the week.
    Bev.

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  14. Oh I am still laughing at the sight of you flinging the cushion & the odd 'word' across the room! Poor ole Dave! At least he knows you are in the 'odd' club! perhaps he needs to know I'm in that club too! I'm sure that is my bike?
    The carpet beater looks fab, but I hope your mum won't use it what it was originally intended for. We have had so many positive comments about our goodies bags! the smells were divine! My car was a wonderful smell for a good couple of weeks.
    Oh those turkeys! Beep, beep, beeeeeeeeep!!!! :-)

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  15. That is such a funny story about the turkey's although I guess not so fun at the time!! You have been super busy, I'm sure the ladies loved receiving your potpourri. Your new cushion is lovely, I'm sure it was worth it in the end :) Hugs Wendy xx

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