(Christmas) Stitching & Painting ................................................

Weekend Greetings dear friends & readers!!

Though I have been absent from blogland I have not been idle & have been making good progress on creating 
for my November market stall.

The two Christmas bags above got the last stitch in them last night ... the pattern on the left is from the 
Lynette Anderson book  "Stitch It For Christmas" & in the book, it is made up into a wallhanging.
 The bag on the right is an old Country Friends design by Wendy Briggs, which I have stitched several times before.
This one is done using Cottage Garden Thread "Mistletoe".

I embellished the bag on the right with some Christmas buttons I found in my stash.
The bags are fully lined & are backed with a striped ticking fabric.

The two stuffed stockings above are an old Mogs designs pattern  ... I make these up most years as I really love the design & they are fun to put together.  The reason one of them is smaller is actually a mistake ... I forgot to use the enlarged pattern & by the time I realised this, I had stitched the design so I went ahead & made up a smaller version.

These handsome fellows below are A Tilda pattern from the book Homemade & Happy
They are called the "Hanging Reindeer" on page 28.

Though I love them 💕 & am delighted I have made them ...... I am So Pleased they are finished!!
I thought they would be sooo simple to make!
 No clothing to make, just teadyed calico bodies ... but I must admit turning & stuffing & shaping those long skinny limbs was no joke at all!!

My grandson Sid & I went for a long walk last Thursday to hunt out some branches suitable for their antlers.
Anything I happened to come across initally was soon demolished by Sid, but I eventually found some blossom tree branches that I was able to remove the buds from.

This little verse I found on the internet made me smile as I have indeed, accidently dipped my brush in my cuppa!!

I bought this white cane mirror home from the St Johns Op Shop to revamp.

I removed the tatty artificial flowers with my hair dryer but unfortunately alot of the glue had hardened & gone down into the cane.  It was a nightmare to try & remove! 
A google search suggested isopropyl alcohol so I went to Bunnings & purchased a bottle.
Rubbing it on the hard glue did absolutely nothing at all so I am wondering if perhaps you are meant to drink it
when it fails to work??!!

After a good scrub to remove the dust, I painted it with my chalk paint Pale Duck Egg ... & then sanded the worst of the glue & gave it another coat.
It is certainly an improvement ... these items belong to the St Johns Op Shop & will be offered for sale.

Now that I look at my photos I can see it is almost an Art Deco style in its shape

I have finally finished the wardrobe I have been working on for the Shop.
I completely forgot to take a "before" photo but it was old dark wood with a shiny lacquer on it. 
It got sanded, two undercoats & two top coats .. the colour is a pretty pink though my photos are certainly 
not doing it justice.

As you can see below, the door, shelf & railing were removed so I could wallpaper inside the wardrobe.

I was happy with the end result but rather relieved it was all done & dusted!
The wardrobe is being priced for sale in the shop.

While I was sitting at the table today stitching some tiny Christmas trees, I had my usual assistant - Miss Pippi.
She often commandeers my threads but I did smile to myself when she fell asleep on the perle cotton while trying 
to hide it from  me. 

Thanks So Much for stopping by today dear friends,
I shall be back quite soon to show you a beautiful Angel I am almost finished! 💗 
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend 
With much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

" To Create Something New From Something Old "

Greetings dear friends & readers

Our Craft Group challenge for this past month was "to create something new from something old"
As is usual for me ...... I left mine to the very last minute!!

I knew the meeting was on Monday so over the weekend I pulled out this wooden builders trug, purchased on my last trip to Mums at the Hospice Shop for the sum of $2, due to the fact the wooden handle had come out & was loose.

I soon glued & screwed it back in, & then decided to give the trug a coat of chalk paint.

I left the base unpainted as I planned to line this using a gorgeous Tanya Whelan fabric that I had on hand 
which matched the paint colour beautifully

Some embellishing then took place to cover the several tiny faults in the trug's wood

Even crochet doilies got mod podged on each end!

Though the photo is showing blue, the colour is actually a gorgeous soft green called "aquamint"

I then mod podged some Tilda sewing cards onto the front to give it a "sewing theme" .... I thought it would be ideal for carting sewing projects around in & plan to put it on my stall for sale at the Christmas Craft Fair.

I hosted the craft ladies at my place yesterday so I baked an apricot slice & a lemon drizzle cake ... 

unfortunately the lemon glaze drizzled off the cake & onto the plate !!!

Sharlaine's project was to take an old frame + a vintage doiley & make it up into a picture using some other small embellishments ... I loved how she fashioned the vintage doiley into a dress.

Maureen had taken a coathanger destined for the bin,  padded it & added satin, a doiley & some silk flowers

I really loved Gail's project ... she had rescued a broken porcelain dolls body from the Op Shop where she volunteers.
The dolls head was smashed in, so she removed the remains & found a tattered rabbit soft toy destined for the bin, then attached the head & made clothing for it.  It reminded me of something you might find if you fell down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland 😉
  

While I had the paint brush out over the weekend, I upcycled this vintage Singer Sewing Machine drawer, gave it a lick of paint & lined the base with Cath Kidston wallpaper.

I have been gathering together some oddments of vintage china cups & saucers & finally got around to making up a dozen vintage teacup birdfeeders, in readiness for my stall.

I have bagged up 12 cellophane bags of Wild Bird Seed & like to pop one in each cup when I sell them.

Sid was delighted last Thursday, when the cows were in the house paddock for a change.  When he wasn't digging in my veggie garden, he happily stood at the fence watching them ... he just adores cows! 💜

Meanwhile a certain furry Miss had built herself a small fortress on the couch & climbed in ... 
no doubt hiding from Sid who is fascinated with her!

Have a great week dear friends ... don't forget to be kind to yourselves & to each other! 💕
Thanks so much for your visits today,
With much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

An Olde World Santa ...... (Catch Up #3)

Sunday Greetings dear friends & readers 💜

Welcome to the last of my "Catch Up Posts"

This half made Santa fell down recently from the very top of my craft room wardrobe

Even Blackie was none too impressed !!!

It had been acquired by me quite some time ago, when I happened to turn up at one of my friend Gails clean outs! 

It seems she had begun to make this Santa, gone no further & lost interest ... so home it came with 
Steptoe Yours truly 😉

There was no pattern for the Santa ... he had been made over a Coca Cola bottle filled with gravel to weight him.
Now I knew from past experience, once I dressed him & put something in his arms - he would topple forward.
So some surgery was performed on my ironing board - I removed some of the wadding & put in more fine gravel 
to make him really upright

I wanted to make him a long coat from some dark red fleece I had & trim it with fur.
I found an old op shop cardigan & used the last remaining sleeve to make him a long pom pom hat

The ribbing from the cardigan sleeve fitted nicely around his head & I made a large pom pom using the fur.

I removed all the hair & beard that Gail had used & replaced it with some beautiful soft hand-dyed mohair fur ... he begun to take on his Olde World Santa appearance
I tucked a bundle of greenery & pip berries into his arms but I felt he needed a sack or a stocking ......

I found some lovely old Christmas panels in my stash so I went about making him a large Santa sack ...I keep a good selection of small toys & decoration bits & bobs on hand for filling my Sacks & Stockings

I boxed the base of the sack but then decided to weight the bottom with fine gravel as well ... I am pleased I did this as it sits nice & sturdy
I filled the rest with wadding & then covered a thick piece of cardboard with calico to sit inside the lip of the sack ... then I hot glued all my toys & decorations to this.

I love him 💗& he sits so sturdily he could even be used as a doorstop.
Olde World Santa is going on my craft stall.

Last week I came across a box of vintage Agee Jars in the sleepout, so thought I would whip up some 
string jars for my stall.
I haven't made these for several years now but they came together nicely with all the bits & bobs already in my stash.

I had homespun fabrics in green, red & blue so made one Jar in each colourway.

I was still putting my string jars together on Thursday when I had Sid for the day so he spent a happy half hour playing with my bag of ring seals & lids ... just goes to show you don't need expensive toys to keep them amused!

When I wrote in my last post about the shelf I had painted/upcycled for St Johns Op Shop I also came home 
with this large wooden mirror.

A clean + two coats of the same grey chalkpaint (Half Absolute) & it totally transformed it!
I just scuffed the edges lightly with my fine sandpaper.

(these items are not mine but are for the St Johns shop to sell)

As you can see, one has not even budded yet & I don't think it is going to.

This year has been my first ever attempt at growing hyacinth bulbs in "bulb forcing jars".  I must confess they are not flowering yet & it seems to have been a long, slow & painful process to get them this far.  If anyone has ever had success with this & can offer any tips I would greatly appreciate it?

Though the sun is shining today dear friends, there is a bitterly cold wind blowing,
But this is typical spring weather for us here!
Wishing you all a lovely week ahead ... be kind to yourselves & to each other,
Thanks so much for coming back to visit me here again today,
With much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

A Cream Christmas Angel ...... (Catch Up #2)

Mid-Week Greetings dear friends & readers!

I picked a bunch of my white daphne yesterday before our wild weather battered the last flowers from the bush

It smells divine 💗

When I made the White Peace Angel in *this post* I mentioned that I had made up two Angel bodies
 & would like to make a cream version 

This was also prompted by the discovery of these two items above ...  a Christmas decoration droplet & 
a vintage pearl earing ... I felt these would be perfect adorning my cream Angel.

This time round I did remember to paint the shoes before clothing the Angel!
Her shoes dried quite quickly by the fire.

I found two cream lace table mats in my linen stash which were the perfect size for her bloomers

The vintage earing became a brooch for my angel, I stitched the christmas droplet in her hands & trimmed her shoes with some braid & dainty gold roses.  I also made her a Halo but added gold sequin stars this time round, not silver.

For her wings I cut up the same bunch of glittery silk flowers & leaves as my white Peace Angel 
& fashioned her a large pair of wings

The Pattern I used is Charlotte Angel by Rosalie Quinlan Designs

Beautiful Cream Angel! 💖

I love her just as much as my White Peace Angel ... I am wondering ... do you have a favourite??



The lady that manages our local St John's Op Shop, recently asked if I would teach a few of the volunteers some painting/upcycling techniques
I told her Yes but assured her I was certainly No Professional when it came to these matters!
I have been going in most days for the past week & working on a vintage wardrobe which I will show you 
in a future post.
On Monday I bought this tatty looking shelf home with me - I decided to upcycle this at home by the fire.

Before painting I masked the 3 tile squares.
Jan had given me some grey chalk paint & I gave it a couple of coats in between doing a zillion other things

The Chalk Paint is Da Vinci's  & the shade is "Quarter Absolute"

A bit of a light sand at the end & Viola . . . . Such an improvement!
I was too lazy busy to remove the hooks but I felt they looked great with a paint & then just a quick scuff at the finish.

I had been feeding chooks & pets for neighbours that were overseas ... I liked to take Sid down there with me as he seemed to enjoy the chooks, ducks, horses & cows.
A bonus was that the chooks were laying this time round - so we got to gather fresh eggs every day!

Sid very much enjoyed his home made scrambled eggs (incidently eaten using fingers & NOT the spoon!) 
Just look at those gorgeous bright yellow yolks! 😊

Two weekends ago my daughter in law Sarah & I went to this beautiful cafe for a High Tea.
My son had gifted us both a voucher for this treat back in May for Mother's Day.
This was a first experience of High Tea for both of us & we very much enjoyed the whole process. 
You get to choose your teas from a selection of 10 different ones

First you are given sandwiches & tiny savouries & then you get a different tea to enjoy with your sweets.
Sarah & I chose Tokyo Lime Green Tea for our savoury course & then Berrylicious Tea for our sweet course.

When you leave you get to choose a handmade chocolate & a bookmark ... just delightful & such a treat! 💕

In fact I enjoyed the teas that Sarah & I choose So Much that I went online this week & purchased 
the very same teas from *this Store*
I have shared them amongst us both,  & made up a little gift package to present to Sarah as a surprise.

Thanks So Very Much for staying with me here folks,
I hope the week is treating you kindly?
I shall be back in a few days with Catch Up #3 .... if you are still with me 😉
With much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x