Handmade Gifts & "A Mexican Standoff " ............ Catch Up Post #3

Greetings dear friends & readers &
Happy Monday to you all !!

April & May are my busiest months for family & close friends birthdays - I have 10 altogether over a 6 week period.
Although I purchase some gifts, my budget certainly doesn't allow me to buy them all & besides - I really LoVe giving handmade 💛

This year I had two close friends having special birthdays - the first was my friend Carolyn 

Now by the time you reach "certain ages" your Homes are full of things & the last thing you need is more "stuff"
So I decided this year to give my friends useful gifts.

I used Jenny's wonderful tutorial * Here * for the decorated teatowels, Fee's amazing tutorials * Here *  & also 
* Here * for the decorated rubber gloves - & the beeswax wraps 
The knitted scrubby cloths are a free pattern download from * here * ... I have knitted these before & the yarn is great value as you get at least 4 cloths from one ball!
As I had recently made up a large batch of Miracle Spray I filled a spray bottle to tuck in with Carolyn's gift & also printed off a copy of the instructions 

My second friend having a special birthday in May was Donna who is turning 60.
I made Donna up a red themed gift for her kitchen using this gorgeous kiwiana fabric - I knew Donna loves native birds so this was perfect for her.

Once again I trimmed teatowels & matched the gloves .  .  .  .

.  .  .  .  & knitted cotton/bamboo dishcloths, scrubby's & filled this sweet little pot with a handmade soy candle 
Lime, basil, mandarin scent.

Both these gifts were posted to their recipients, who were delighted to receive the handmade goodies 💗

My final special birthday for May was my grandson Alec - a robot obsessed little boy who was turning 4 !!
I had bought a metre of this lovely robot fabric a wee while ago on sale at Spotlight

As Alec is now in a bed, I made him a pillowcase using this great Tutorial from Tiny Happy
As the fabric was especially wide, I had quite a chunk leftover so I decided to make him a book pillow

Though I had not much of a clue what I was doing .... I made a simple pocket on the front 
 When I came across this robot motif I decided to embroider Alec's Bed on it & applique it to my pocket

The finished book pillow top left - a trip to my local Paper Plus did not unearth any robot books but I decided 
Dragon's would suffice instead 😉

As Alec is currently having swimming lessons I purchased this cute wet bag from a lovely home based business 
for him - the robots on it were just perfect!

My daughter in law requested my usual sweet platter which is popular with the grown ups as well as the littlies  -  & I also made a plate of salmon rolls for the party

We had the most wonderful time & even the sun came out so the children were able to get outdoors.
Alec had a chocolate cake decorated with an edible picture - Transformers of course 😊💙 !



Phew - now that I have finished with the run of birthdays for a wee spell, perhaps I can get back to my Orders again.

Last week I gathered a large box full of walnuts from the front yard ... after a day or two I noticed Blackie sleeping in the box, on top of the walnuts.       Can't be very comfy I thought ??
So - kindly - I tipped all the walnuts out & placed a nice wool blanket in the box & gently lifted him back in.
He immediately hopped right back out, gave me a filthy look,  a flick of his tail -  & huffed off  !!

Two hours later & who do I notice sound asleep in the banana box ??
Miss Pippy  😸💛

Roll forward to the next day & His Lordship decided perhaps he could "suffer the banana box after all" !!??

So no words are needed to show you what happened next . . . . . .
I think you call this  A Mexican Standoff ??!!!

         .  .  .  .  .  .  suffice to say, I am currently on the look out for a second banana box !!! 😣

Have a wonderful week ahead dear friends,
Thanks so much for your visits here today,
With much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0x