Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Giveaway Winner & Other bits . . .

Good Tuesday Afternoon dear friends & readers,
Last night I put all the names of the entries in the Spring Angel Giveaway into my old enamel teapot & the Mr drew out a name


The Spring Angel Giveaway Winner is . . .
Jenny of Elephantz

Congratulations Jenny -  The Spring Angel will be winging her way to you at the end of this week.
Thank You to all who took the time to enter this Giveaway
I was delighted with the response & the number of entries - Thank You all for taking part.
And a special thanks to dear Shane for putting it on her sidebar for me. 

Some nicer weather has arrived at long last & there have been many outdoor activities to catch up on


I waterblasted & have been re-staining all my wooden outdoor furniture ... I have had some unwanted "help" along the way & Miss pain in the Pippi is currently sporting the lovely spring shade of "Redwood" on all 4 feet !!!!
I was slightly speechless last weekend when some customers arrived while I was mid-stain & commented "oh those look nice, how much are you going to be selling those for ??!!"

With some birthday money last winter I ordered myself the book below written by Amy Sinibaldi from the lovely & inspiring blog nanacompany

Photo borrowed from Amy's blog
Though there has been minimal sewing recently, I managed to complete my first projects from the book last week.
  The Baby Bear Rattles .  .  .  One for Alec to test run & one for the Cottage



These were able to be made entirely from my scrap stash.  The rattle is encased in the head part & has a nice loud sound to it.
I am looking forward to trying some more projects from Amy's Book

The garden is finally bursting into life & there is much to be done as I tend to hibernate from it all over winter & then am often overwhelmed by how much I have to do come spring.
I took my camera for a wander this morning . . .
Fat Blackie photo bombing my picture.
I only planted this clematis last spring just before the Garden Ramble.



This Rhodo was gifted to me by my Aunt who is sadly no longer with us, so I call it Margs Rhodo.




I am so pleased this little succulent is finally growing down by the pond area.  I acquired this urn when I helped a friend shift house. It had a large chip on its rim but I liked the shape of it & visualised it lying down with something growing/spilling out of it.  Before it became established, 9 out of 10 times ... the Garden Circle ladies would stand it up & then tell me "oh I stood your pot up over there, it had fallen over" !!!  Umm Thanks .... I think !!!???


The bluebells & the mauve blue-bells (??) are flowering away happily by the Cottage Garden.


The cherry blossom trees (prunus awanui) that have not been bashed by the wind are in full bloom & providing a wonderful home for the Tuis & other birdlife that live here.

On a sad note, we lost a beautiful girl last week .... my eldest son & his wife had to make the difficult decision to have their beautiful girl Mina put to sleep

Mina was my first ever fur-granchild & she was adorable - she lived a wonderful life with Aaron & Sarah & 3 other female dogs of different breeds ... plus 1 cat & numerous hens.



She would have turned 9 this month, which is a great age for dogs of this breed

Rest in Peace beautiful girl
You melted the hearts of everyone who ever met you.

Thanks so much for your visit today dear friends,
While the sun is still shining I am off to weed some more round the pond area.
I hope the rest of the week is kind to you all,
with much love & friendship,
Julie x0x0x

16 comments:

  1. Oh Julie your garden is looking, bloomin' lovely!! Sorry to hear about your sons dog, like loosing a member of your family! Actually it is worse. How cool that Alex gets to test drive the new rattle.

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  2. Ah! Shame about Mina...She looks a lovely looking
    lady...And, yes, l agree with Sue, above, loosing a
    family member is bad enough, but a family pet!!! :(.

    Well it ALL looks lovely Julie...Love the cracked urn,
    and how you've displayed it....HeHe! "What's a Greek
    Urn...."??? "About 5 Euros an hour"!!!
    (Sorry, but it is a bit early). :).

    And the garden seat looks a bit special too...Ideal for a bit
    of shade for a special young lady.....'Paws for thought'. =(^..^)=.

    Well...that's me done....nowt else to say....think l'll just 'rattle' off
    for another lemon tea....and watch the rain through the Paddington
    Bear curtains! Bless!x

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  3. Hi Julie,congrats to Jenny your lovely doll has gone to a wonderful home,I am so sorry to hear about your prions dog.,and your garden is looking fantastic,I hope you have a lovely evening my friend xx

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  4. so sorry for your sons loss, she was beautiful looking dog
    love your garden! pippi displayed the garden furniture beautifully! hehehe
    your post gave me a really good laugh ( except for losing Mina, that was sad)
    wish i could get even a smidgen of a cottage garden going here, much too hot & dry :(( but i am trying!
    thanx for sharing

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  5. Yay, it's springtime...(wet and cold here)...hope you get a chance to relax on that lovely chunky bench, even your free weeds look pretty.xx

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  6. Your garden is looking beautiful! Hasn't it been nice having some sunshine although it looks like it's back to rain today! The new rattle is gorgeous, such a cute pattern :) Mina looked a beautiful dog, it's always so sad loosing pets.

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  7. Congratulations to Jenny for winning!! I couldn't think of a lovelier person to win your giveaway Julie! So sad about Mina. :(
    Hugs, Sue from Cyprus xxx

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  8. Awesome for Jenny! One of your beautiful dolls off to Aussie. Your garden IS so beautiful. I too would like the wooden furniture. Your clematis looks much happier than mine. The new book looks a goodie. Always tough when we must say goodbye to our furry friends.

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  9. Hello Julie,

    I love the baby rattles you made, so much character to them. Congrats to Jenny, the Spring Angel will love the Queensland lifestyle. Your garden is looking lovely, we have had so much wind earlier on in the week you would have thought it was Winter.
    So sad to hear of the dog passing, big dogs don't have much luck with getting old do they. Had to laugh at the garden ladies putting up the urn again for you.

    Happy days.
    Bev.

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  10. Congratulations to Jenny for winning your lovely doll. She is a deserved winner. It is absolutely horrible losing your much loved dog friend but rest assured he is very busy with new friends over the rainbow bridge. It's a great time of the year for your garden (spring). Don't the blossoms look superb and so alive with the Tuis in amongst the nectar and getting positively drunk. Love the baby rattles you made. Hugs Shirley

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  11. My goodness everything looks fresh and springy there. I love that others dont have the vision for your pot laying down. LOL I love how it looks spilling over.
    OOOH, I am so sorry you have lost a grand fur baby. It is just not fair to lose our pets this way. Time is too short. My friends have that same breed and totally a gentle giant.
    enjoy your Spring in the garden. It still always messes with my mind our weather upside downs. LOL

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  12. Congratulations to Jenny on her wonderful win! The rattes are adorable - what did you use to make it rattle-y? Your garden is looking beautiful as always, haven't we had some cracker days lately? Sad to have to say goodbye to loved pets - I'm pretty certain Mina had a wonderful life with your son :-)

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  13. Oh, Mina is adorable. I'm so sorry they had to make such a tough decision.

    Your garden is thriving beautifully. Spring seems but a distant memory to me now :)

    Congratulations to Jenny on winning such a gorgeous prize.

    Cute Miss Pippi has grown so quickly!

    Enjoy your weekend ♥

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  14. Congrats to Jenny. She will be very happy. The clematis is gorgeous, and the pot spilling out its plant is perfect. Funny people want to stand it up. Sorry to hear about Mina -always a hard decision. love the rattles!

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  15. I love all the colours in your garden. Sorry for your loss, animals truly become part of the family and the pain is all the same x

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  16. Goodness, I know...isn't there so much to be done in spring! That's nice to have Marg's rhodo out in flower. I love that particular red one. It makes such a colourful impact in the garden. Pretty clematis. They are very quick growers that's for sure. Mmm a water blaster would be useful. I bet Pippi didn't get too close to that job. Just in time with Alec on the rattle front I would think. He'll be in to duplo in no time at all & then on the move. Nice to see your bluebells. The mauve ones are very nice colour too don't you think. I noticed that I have just a few white ones the other day.
    Sad for you all with the loss of Mina.
    Much love for a happy but busy spring week, Catherine x0x0x

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