Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Cat Language, making stock & tea drinking . . .

A wilting hot Tuesday "good afternoon" dear friends & readers

Do you find yourself putting on a special tone of voice when you speak to your pets ???
The Mr has commented to me several times lately "do you realise how you speak to those kittens, have you actually heard yourself??"
Usually I take no notice of him . . .  but a comment from my Mum while staying, forced me to listen to myself somewhat . . .

"why helllooooooo my boooootifuuull  Blaaaackie Boy"

"Hellllooooooo my preeeecious little Jinxy winxy girl .... howwww aaarrrre yooouuuu mums preeeecious wee girl "

 Ha ? ? ? ? ? ! ! ! ! ! !        yes I Know, I hold my hand up ! !
AND the Mr tells me I (apparently) use a special "sing songy voice" when talking to them too
Believe me, I wasnt using a sing-songy voice this morning . . .
If you are wondering about the stupid expression on her face, its because she had some of the nest in her mouth & was trying to hide it!!!
This was the "gift" little Jinxy deposited on my dining room floor right after I had vacuumed
If she can't catch the actual birds, she is happy to take their nests away.

It has been so very hot of late that I try to work outside early in the day & then come indoors to the cool of my sewing room.
I packed away my christmas table in the Cottage which left it feeling a little empty with some gaps to fill.


I realised I had no "double ender oven mitts" left so appliqued this bright cheery set last week

When I packed away the Tilda Santa that I wrote about here I thought I might be able to revamp the cute little Santas Elf somehow & keep her out all year round


I decided to try to make her into a kind of "gardening angel with raggedy anne legs"
(does that make sense?? actually, No Julie, it doesnt)
I gave her some wire angel wings first,  then I removed her snowflake embellishment & replaced it with a wooden mushroom button, then I unpicked her "Joy" decoration & gave her a rusty tin birdhouse to hold



She hung on my wall for a couple of days & then, just this morning, after cleaning up rascal Jinxy's demolished birdsnest, a thought came to me  . . .



I fashioned her a nest from the remnants, glued a tiny artificial bird in it & then hot glued this to her wings



She appears most content hanging on my angel wall in the Cottage   :-)

As mentioned last post, I have been endeavouring to fill the gaps on my golly ladder with some new stock
I finished this sweet little girl last week also - she is a pattern from "Angels in Disguise" called Baby Annie & Mammy



I decided to dress her in this pretty lemon floral fabric from my stash, & made her some pink polka dot bloomers
(incidently the actual pattern has no bloomers but I never like to think of them getting cold in their nether regions!!!!)


I often give my gollys a toy to hold in their hands & this little teddybear (cut off a keyring) was in just the right tonings - I added a crochet doiley collar & a cute ceramic dolly button.

Sometimes I make things for the Cottage that I think are just wonderful & spiffy & gorgeous & will sell like hotcakes 
. . .  & then they sit ... & sit ... & don't sell . . .
This was exactly the story with the bath bags I made way back here

Then just prior to christmas I sold 3 jars of them   :-)
Oh what excitement as I still had lots of the mixture left & also 3 of the jars I had bought originally

It didnt take long to run up some more of the little muslin bags & fill ... the lids have plastic stoppers which are removable & I like to fill them with either dried rosepetals or lavender - interestingly enough it is the rose petal lids that are proving the most popular.

Because it is so dry here now, I am finding I need to water every evening.  Usually I am tired & not enjoying an added chore, but late last week, as I came around the corner of the garden a wonderful scent engulfed me



The lilly that my Mum had been hoping would open while she was staying, finally popped open its massive buds
Gosh the fragrance was heady ... I have decided to just enjoy it in the garden & not cut it to bring indoors

Well friends, time to go put the kettle on . . . one of the most thoughtful gifts I received at christmas was from my stepson & his girlfriend.  They gifted me the latest issue of Frankie Magazine along with a tin of tea - "Chamomile & Lavender" 
The tin reads " a floral rapture ... a superior blend of chamomile, lavender & cornflowers artfully blended"

They wrote on the card that it was "enforced relaxation" ... & it certainly is!!  
 Each afternoon, while escaping the heat, I make a cuppa & enjoy a few more pages of the magazine.
I hope you get to enjoy some enforced relaxation in your coming week dear friends & readers,
thanks so much for stopping by today, I hope you are managing to keep warm or cool, wherever you may be
much love & friendship,
Julie x0x

15 comments:

  1. Hello dear Julie
    I do that too - every morning before I go to work I feed the birds - first I Whistle and call them with words like "Tweet tweet tweet" birdie, birdie, birdie ha ha! I do the same thing with the neighbours cats who love playing in my garden and always sleep away the afternoon under my huge clumps of eriginon which is in a raised bed and hangs down to the path! They meow and I talk just like you do - we understand each other perfectly!
    It's a girl thing - the Mr just wouldn't understand!!

    Your gardening angel is gorgeous - you're so clever at revamping!
    Love those lilies and I can almost smell their heavenly perfume from here!

    Hugs and love
    Shane

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  2. I 'get' the cat language. Don't ask me how. ;-)
    Oh Julie, LOVE what you did to the Tilda doll...swooning from this tropical heat AND your doll.
    xxx

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  3. Those lilies look amazing, lovely to catch up with your goings-on... Lisa xx

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  4. can you see my hand up? Well it is I too use a 'special' voice for our cat! What the heck is that all about anyway? Then again when he is naughty there is another voice I use too!! Your Angel revamp is very cute.....I hope Jinxy doesn't try and get that bird! The new Golly is very sweet, only you and your clever creative mind would think to use a teddy from a key ring and give it a new lease of life, that's what I love about your blog. Lovely big bloom to welcome you into the garden.

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  5. Well! I have to confess! Over many, many years,
    and, many, many cats...I was much the same.
    But, only spoke to them in that way as kittens.
    Once they got older it was in a more mature voice.
    And, ALL my cats were bi~lingual...HeHe! They could
    meow in both in English and Italian. They always went
    silly, having a cuddle, with 'sweet' Italian nothings whispered
    in there ears.....Bless!

    Love the dollies Julie...Yes! especially the Jolly Golly...She is
    lovely...!

    And, the expression on Jinxy's face...As if to say..."Not me Mum".
    HeHe! Love It! =(^..^)=

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  6. Wonderful makeover of your Christmas sweetie - and the addition of the nest was Inspired!! Your little golly is so sweet, how right you are to dress her properly! I can imagine your garden (and cups of tea) are smelling so beautiful right now - sucjh a gorgeous photo of the lily. Pet voices are a bit common around here too - and DH is just as 'bad' as the rest of us!!!

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  7. HA!! I talk in a sing song voice to my pets all the time, probably did it to your cats when I visited!! Miss Jinx is a minx making a mess on clean floors. I think the heat makes you tired, just give in to it all and have yourself a nana nap Julie. I have seen that Magazine, is it any good?

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  8. I don't have cats or kittens but I do get into awful trouble from my sons for speaking to my Baby Grandaughter in much the same way! I can't help it, it seems to come so naturally and I don't think she finds it ridiculous (well, at least for now I'm safe because she can't talk back and tell me as such!). Love all your 'makes' as always, Julie. My BFF is visiting at the end of the week for nearly two weeks before she flies off to the Land of the Big White Cloud so I've looked out all the lovely touristy info that you sent to me as part of her bedtime reading!

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  9. I think it's abnormal NOT to speak to animals in funny voices lol! All your makes are lovely as usual, love the Golly and the Angels nest.

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  10. Giggles, I can hear you talking to your cats. I think most people do that. It's a love "thing":) Adore miss golly she is beautiful Julie. Awaiting my lilies too, they are a bit late I think. There perfume is pretty strong and I can't have them inside either.Sweet peas are also too strong for me to have inside. Enjoy your relaxing tea and magazine. Hugs Shirley

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  11. Hellllooooooo my preeeecious little Jinxy winxyJulie......lol.....don't let them
    be mean to you! lol I think we just tend to do that with pets and babies! I believe
    I've been doing that with our little "Tinky baby" Milo (puppy). Love all your gorgeous
    cloth dolls, they are so sweet and those double ended mittens are super cool.
    Have a great day baby waby! lol
    Cheers, Anita.

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  12. Oh Julie the gardening angel was such a masterful revamp. I have just spotted the mushroom button second time through. The birds nest is so cutely inspired...better keep out of reach then or Jinxy might just claim it back! What a glorious lily. Lilies do come in the loveliest colours don't they. I have some double pink ones right by the back steps just opening out...oh the scent. I'll leave mine where they are too, I think. They can be a little over-powering inside. Anything interesting in the Frankie mag? I've been reading a great article in an old edition about collecting "stuff". Phew...very melty indeed over this side of the island today. Watering is quite a big thing in summer really, isn't it. Much love Catherine x0x0x

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  13. I too speak in a different/silly voice to my cats! That Jinxy is so sweet and naughty. Love the dolls.Wonderful idea to put Jinxy spoils on her wing!
    I have an award for you on my blog if you are interested.

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  14. Hello Julie,

    Cat language no way! The bloom on the Lily is stunning, I can just imagine the perfume coming from that. Your makeover on the doll is great, like the addition of the birds nest. Birds are clever creatures how they make up their nests. The tea sounds delicious , I grew some cornflowers this year to put into tea but forgot too put it in.

    Have a lovely weekend.

    Happy days.
    Bev.

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