Some Post-Christmas Finishes ..................................

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Although I had the best of intentions, December seemed to go by so very fast & I did not manage to complete all that I had hoped.        But that's okay - that's what these slow after-Christmas-early-New-Year-days are for. 

This cloth doll has sat, unclothed, on my Sewing Room floor for two years now - under a pile of fabric & other unfinished items.  It was high time I dressed the poor girl !!

 She is a Very Old Pattern by Wendy Briggs of Country Friends, who stopped designing several years ago now.  

She is called Christmas Angel & I adore her. 💗

I had purchased a gorgeous Lynette Anderson fabric a couple of years ago so finally I made her skirt. The wings are from a scrap of Sandcastle fabric that I had just enough of. 

I had left some greenery out when I packed away my Christmas decor so I made her a twig wreath & then a garland for her hair.  I embellished her with some wooden buttons from Theodora Cleave

                      Painted shoes & torn strips for bows. 

 Once finished I decided she needed a frame to hang in - like the one in the pattern.  I had the perfect size frame with chicken mesh on it but it was too olive-y green in colour so I painted it with my pale duck egg chalk paint. 

Yes - of course - I had the usual ginger assistant who is currently sporting several smudges of Pale Duck Egg on her ginger fur 😉😐

(I have left my Angel out for awhile longer to enjoy, before I pack her away til next Christmas)

I wanted to make some new cushion covers for the old cane chairs on my back deck area - this is a nice place to sit out in the afternoons with a cuppa & the old chairs are very comfy.  I removed the old covers & found the inners to be still in very good condition.  I wanted something Vintagey looking so I hunted in my stash & found an old table cloth with big blowsy roses on it - just perfect 🌹

I sewed an envelope closure for the back & tied it together with a big red bow, also found in my ribbon stash.  The cushions are wonderful to sit against - especially now the sun has decided to grace us with its presence at long last.  

On my last trip to Mums I took some stitchery work to do but completely forgot to include my embroidery threads.  Luckily I had tossed quite alot of fabric scraps into my bag so I was able to sit in the evenings & make yo yo flowers ... simply cutting a circle of fabric & drawing it up.  I find this quite therapeutic.  On my return home I decided I needed to actually do something with all these yo yo's!!  

I'd purchased a polystyrene cone from the $2 shop prior to Christmas - I painted it Pale duck egg.  Also the red candleholders were a 50 cent bargain from one of my Op Shop trips. I painted one of these too as I wanted to tone down the brightness of the red.

I simply glued all my yo yo's over the cone, slightly overlapping the edges - you will notice the lower ones are a medium size & the top section I have made a bit smaller in size.  No two fabrics are the same & they are all made using Tilda & Liberty scraps.  I hadn't intended to have a red & blue theme but this is how it has turned out.  

I glued the cone to my candlestick base & then tied a snowflake charm to this, & tied a bell & heart to the top.  I love this & would rather like to make more in other colour-ways.  💙💗

I thought you might enjoy this little Cat Collage I put together & hopefully it will make you smile .... if I don't smile at these two's antics then dear friends, they will surely drive me bonkers!! 😊

My 3 pots of  Rhodohypoxis were late to flower this year due to our wet spring so they were still looking pretty after Christmas. I found a certain Furry Ginger Fairy curled up asleep in the middle pot just last week.

A glance out the window shortly after & this is what I spy .........

Fat Blackie must've wandered by & thought Oh what a nice comfy spot that looks ........... 

I ran & grabbed my camera ...........  she is trying really hard to look innocent but is not fooling me !!!

Shortly after ......... just like a couple of nesting hens.  I wonder if I look underneath, if there'll be any eggs laid there ??!! 😉😐

Thank you as always dear friends, for your visits here today,

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

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the naughty furry ones x0x0x

HaPPy NeW YeaR !!! 💗 ............... & The Tale Of The Little Red Car 🚩

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Welcome to another bright shiny New Year  💗

Lets hope 2023 is a happy & healthy one for All of Us.

I saw this verse on Instagram & thought how VeRy true & how it certainly does sum things up!  Sometimes the Awful bits go on a bit longer than the Amazing bits but I don't think any of us get to miss those bits out.  Personally I rather like the Ordinary & Mundane bits - the routine parts of life suit me just fine. 

We had a lovely Christmas with Mum in her room at the Resthome. My eldest son joined me, along with my Brother & his wife.  We were amazed the staff had gone to the effort of setting a proper Christmas table for us in Mum's room - just wonderful.  Mum is looking very frail & hardly ate anything but did enjoy the company. 

My eldest son's wife Sarah arrived late Christmas Day from visiting her family further down the Island.  Sarah & Alec were able to visit with Mum on Boxing Day & Alec read Mum a story. 

I took home an old Orange pot on my previous visit to Mum's.  Though I forgot to take a "before pic" I painted it black & then stenciled a Bee onto the side of it.  My sister in law just LoVes black & white pots on her deck area, so I planted a lovely white Impatien into it before gifting it to her.  She was delighted.  🖤

A couple of months back I purchased this wooden blue car from the St Johns Op-shop for $1.50.  When I went up to pay for it the lady said to me "Oh I guess you're buying this for your grandson".    No I was not .. it was for Me!    I had a plan for this little blue car. 

You can faintly see in the right hand pic, I've traced a black square in the back panel - I got my son Kayne to cut this square out for me as I wanted to make another "window".  

I painted the entire car with red chalk paint in the colour Raspberry Beret.  I had not used this colour before but it was the perfect Christmas Red that I was after.  Then I applied some Iron Orchid design transfers that I'd had for a couple of years.  I wanted to make it look Christmassy. 🎄

I poked some greenery & berries in the rear window & then a small size bottlebrush tree in the "new window" in the back.  Originally I painted the wheels black but didn't like them so I painted over them in red.  

Having worked in a Gift Shop for almost 20 years, I do have a tendency to turn every thing into a display.    I could not help myself with the little red car.  I found some miniature rusty tools & then decided to make a sign . . . .

I glued a piece of dowel into an old wooden cotton reel & painted it red, then glued on a wooden disk which I'd painted black ... a couple of cut-up transfers added & then I could write on my sign with chalk.

This little red car prompted an entire new Christmas display.  I used the table that I revamped in * this post * & then added vintage books, bottle brush trees, greenery & berries.  The beautiful Christmas book was a gift from my dear friend Sandy & blended perfectly on my table. 

The tiny red car had lights that came on after I added batteries

Everything was already in my stash apart from the small red car with a tree on top, which I purchased from my local Variety Store. 

A strand of Christmas lights & it looked just like a winter village/ Christmas tree farm.

You see, once upon a time there was a girl named Julie 😉 who drove a little red car for many, many years.   And many a December she actually drove Home with a real Christmas tree sticking out the rear window!! (& two sons in the back!!)    Even after she met The Mr & he eventually purchased an artificial Christmas tree - she still drove that little red car for many years to come. 😊

After fluffing for ages I was finally happy with my Christmas Coffee Table display.  I dragged out my op-shopped silver trays (polished them) & filled with freshly made citrus potpourri.

During the year I collected old amber coloured glassware whenever I saw it in the Op-shops, & I made some of these up into soy candles & displayed on another vintage tray.  I have yet to burn these - I like to let my candles harden for at least a month as they burn much better.

And YES dear friends ... I had the usual scenario  ... hadn't left enough space for a certain 4-legged fairy to plonk herself down on the table !!! How Dare I Indeed ???

This is Her Not Impressed Christmas Face !!!

                                              Thank you as always dear friends, for your visits here today,

Remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x