Carrots, Fireplaces & Contrary Cats

Greetings lovely friends & readers

It has been another busy week but Oh I am loving these March Autumn days with the chilly mornings & evenings ... I just adore them 💖

I came across this Carrot Treat Bag tutorial free on the Internet & thought what a wonderful idea they would be to make for my Grandchildren & pop a few Easter goodies in.  I was able to get 3 made up using orange & green fabrics already in my stash & thought they looked wonderful with the Easter tags I made in my last post.

 The only thing I needed to buy - besides the choccy - was 1 metre each of green & orange ribbon. 

(The Bunnie tag is to pop away for a rabbit I hope to sew one day)

Then yesterday an Order arrived in the post from Love from Seventeen.  I often buy their seasonal tags to attach to gifts so the wee rabbits will be perfect tied around my Carrot treat bags. 

We have had Tradesmen here most days this past week as we had our old fireplace removed & a new one fitted.  

This is what the cavity looked like once the old one was removed - I did paint around the edges before the new                                                                       one went in.

While I was doing this I observed all the colours the fireplace had been.  When we first moved in 20 + years ago I had thought it was a muddy cream colour but looking at this now I see it was more a dirty pink.  I remember when everyone had gone to bed late one night I found a tin of British Racing Green paint in The Mr's shed & painted it green.  I could not get the pink colour clean no matter now much I scrubbed it.  Then it was a dark burgundy for awhile before I lightened it in this Post * here *

It is a process now to change a fireplace.  Once the old one is removed you cannot fit the new one until a Building Inspector has checked the cavity first.  Here is Blackie checking out the new firebox & telling me there is no need to send a Building Inspector out - he can do just as good a job at checking everything 😉!!

Here is our lovely new firebox.  We have a fan fitted in the bottom grill so this had to be wired in by an Electrician. Tomorrow at 8 am the Slate man is coming as the Hearth needs to be an inch wider to get our building consent.  As you can imagine Miss Pip is beside herself with all these Tradies here every single day & not impressed at all !!

I went to pick up a presciption last week & noticed a new Op Shop in the old Bank building - an SPCA one.  So I went for a look & a purchase as it would be incredibly rude of me not to support them 😉

I came away with the plant stand for $10 - the lovely vintage fabric above left was $2 & $3, & the plaster cherubs were $4 each.  

While the men were fitting the fireplace & I was keeping out of their way, I painted the plant stand with 2 coats of chalk paint - Antique White.  I will show you in my next post what I have used it for.

Some self seeded tomatoes have gone wild in my veggie garden & this is what I am picking every 2nd day.  The cherry ones are especially sweet & delicious. 

I took Sid to our little local Park last Tuesday & he wanted me to take a photo of the clouds - they were so fluffy & wonderful that day & the sky was Oh so blue 💙

Whilst I was still keeping-out-of-tradies-way I made up another batch of miracle spray. You can find the recipe * here *  This is all I use for my cleaning - it is wonderful & a batch lasts me a very long time.

Lastly dear friends -  I had left my (undies!!) drawer open while rushing out the door to an early appointment.  Upon arriving home I found a certain ginger being curled up sound asleep in it.  I posted this photo on Instagram & it got so many lovely comments.  The next day I was contacted by a PetModels Inc. Company telling me they were interested in pets like this & would I be willing to work with them??

And Yes there were ginger hairs all through my "smalls" 😐

Thank You Very much but No Thank You!!  This little ginger friend is already HIGH MAINTENANCE ENOUGH without the thought of modelling going to her tiny fluffy head!!  And she is so contrary I could imagine the whole thing being a complete nightmare!!   So not a word has been mentioned to her about it 😉

Thank You So Very Much for your visits here today dear friends,

I hope the coming week treats you well - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

Craft Group Get-togethers, a Mirror, & a Potty (!!)

Greetings lovely friends & readers

When a New Year rolls around our small Craft Group usually get together & have an informal meeting to work out a rough programme for the year ... things we would like to create/learn/try etc ...

After my visit to The Tree Church in * this post * I thought the ladies might like to get together Here for our first meeting & to work out our programme.  Due to various other commitments this didn't happen until late February but it was a beautiful summery day when we went.

Just look at that beautiful Blue Sky !!!

I had made a slice & some gingernut balls & Gail had made sausage rolls - everyone bought their own thermos flask & we sat in the shade & had our morning tea & wrote down some ideas for various activities throughout the coming year.

There are usually 7 of us but only 6 could make it that day

We also went for a big long leisurely walk around the Tree Church & Gardens.

I could quite easily fill my post with so many photos - it is honestly such a stunning place to visit.  It closes soon for the winter months & then re-opens again in the spring time.

Whenever I go down to Mum's I buy packets of these wooden cut-outs from a Variety Store in her small town.  I had put together some Easter themed tags by mod-podging paper serviettes on to them & thought the ladies might like to have a go at this at our next meeting.  

Also the ladies each had to bring a painted bottle or jar so we could decorate these with mod-podged serviettes.  We all met at my home last Monday - it was such a fun activity & everyone had some tags & a decorated bottle to take home with them.

We had a delicious lunch together & as always, there was an abundance of good home-made food.  The finished bottles all decorated top right.     I forgot to get a pic of everyone's tags at the end.

Another Hospice store find on my last trip to Mum's was this $5 mirror.  The entire mirror panel from the centre was missing & it was all rather sad looking ... however I could see it definately "had potential" 😉

It cost $17 to have a new mirror panel put in the centre which I thought was really reasonable considering they also had to put a piece of board in to attach the mirror to.  I noticed some gaps in the corner joins so I filled these with Polyfilla.  It was a simple job because I had "good help" on hand to assist me & ensure I didn't miss any bits 😉

Then I set about painting the mirror with two coats of Soft Duck Egg Chalk Paint.  Once I was happy with the coverage I lightly distressed the whole piece & then Very lightly rubbed some silver embossing wax over the decorative edges of the frames.

I had thought the hinges looked like brass so I was able to bring a bit of shine back to them with some Brasso ... also the tiny ball feet were brass.  I am So pleased I didn't paint over these but took the time to mask them out first.

I just love my new/old mirror & it fits perfectly in the corner of my dining room with a set of fairy lights wound around it.  My dining room can be dark at times & I find the addition of mirrors helps to throw some light into darker corners.

I follow Kim at Rosebud Collectables over on Instagram & she posts some real treasures for sale but I always seem to miss out on them.  When I saw this vintage chamber pot I quickly messaged to ask if I may purchase it & was lucky enough to be the first.  

It arrived last week & when I opened the box it was bigger, heavier & more beautiful than I had imagined.  

I have displayed it with a maidenhair fern for now but I am thinking that some Easter bunnies in a small group inside it would be rather lovely for Easter ...............

I just adore the flowers on it ... & the colours.  💗 Way, way too nice for it's original purpose !!

Thank You all So Very Much for your visits here today dear friends,

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship To You All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

A " L O V E " Swap For Valentines Day 💗

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Some of you may remember the TILDA swap my lovely friend Claire & I did early last year.  You can read about it in * this post * & also in * this post *

We both got so much pleasure from the swap that Claire suggested we do another one this year ... a LOVE Swap aimed for Valentine's Day.  The objective is that you make things that begin with the letters L O V E. Our swaps are always very flexible with no rules as such, which is what I enjoy (no pressure) 😉

" L is for Lovely Little Lavender hearts " 

I began working on this last year & for some reason, I cannot find any of my photos ... but I took a silver thrifted tray & painted it with Pumice Chalk Paint.  Then I delved into my treasured vintage Tilda fabrics & made 6 hearts which I filled with my homegrown lavender.

The "Good Friends" stitchery panel was purchased from * Here * & is a Natalie Bird Design.  After sewing into a tiny pillow I stuffed it tightly with crushed walnut shells.  The ceramic Home Sweet Home plaque was purchased from a local Gift Store.

" L is (also) for Lovely Large Lace Heart with Pocket "

This  comes from an idea I saw on Pinterest.  I stitched a large heart & stuffed it tightly, then I added a doiley pocket & embellished my heart with vintage laces, braids, mother-of-pearl buttons & a broken earing from my oddments of old jewellery. 

I filled my pocket with a soap, some dried lavender sprigs, rolled up music paper & a tea-dyed tag.

" O is for Overalls "

This is made using a free pattern * here * scroll half way down the page on the Tilda Website.  However the overalls are actually for the Tilda Cow but I decided to didn't want to make Claire a Cow  -   I much preferred the Cat which is also free * here * 

 I sewed the Overalls using fabrics from the Old Rose Tilda range.

I stitched a tiny wooden Theodora Cleave Cat Button button to the bodice of my Overalls  .  .  .  .  

I also used matching Tilda buttons on the overalls straps

.  .  .  .  & then stitched this sweet ceramic heart to its hands  paws🐾 

" V is for Vintage Vase with Candle & (also) for Verse "

I had this wonderful heavy Vintage Crystal Vase in my collection so I made up a soy candle in it,  in the fragrance French Pear.  

This Verse is a free stitchery download from the beautiful blog Nana Company * here * ... this is the 2nd time I have stitched this up & framed using a thrifted embroidery hoop.

" E is for English Paper Piecing "

The Tools drawstring bag was part of my Tilda Lover's Club Mystery Box from Fee Fee & Me ... it came as a kitset in the box.  I purchased some "sewing tools" to pop inside the bag.

The hexagon placemat is a pattern from * Here * which I purchased last year as a digital download.  I made it up using some of my treasured Tilda Windy Days fabrics. 

I sewed some of the pretty bias edging on the back of the placemat & then added in a box of tea & a vintage china cup/saucer from my own collection as I thought the colours all went so well together.  Claire informs me she will Not Ever be putting cups of tea on the mat 😉

To package everything I wrapped all my items in pink tissue paper & then dove into my stash of brown paper bags  ... I decided to tizzy them up a bit as I found a piece of scrapbooking cardstock with lovely Valentines images on it.  

💗 L O V E 💗

Whenever I want nicely shaped applique letters I always go to this free site.  I cut mine out from cardstock then tied onto the bags with a length of stiff white tulle that I already had.  I really enjoy packaging & presenting things invitingly. 

On my recent trip to Mums I was able to catch up with my lovely friend & give her my swap gifts.  Although she had not finished mine at the time of my visit I still wanted her to open hers that day so I could enjoy sharing everything with her.    It was such a pleasant couple of hours drinking tea, eating slice & enjoying each others company.  Here are all her gifts opened & sitting on her window seat above .  .  .  .  

.  .  .  .  and here is my lovely friend sitting with all her new treasures.

I am due to go back to Mums early April so I look forward to catching up with Claire again & opening all my swap gifts from her.  I will be sure to share them all with you.

Thank You all So much if you've stayed all the way to the end.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0