A Mixed Bag

Greetings lovely friends & readers

It has been one-of-those-weeks ... a mixed bag filled with good & not-so-good things.  I am choosing trying really hard to focus on the positives.

 I stood out on my deck one glorious day at the start of the week & took this photo of the brilliant blue sky & the autumn colours of the trees down the section. 

Even the shadows looked wonderful  💙

On my way out to babysit Alec I called into The Floral Shed & purchased a bunch of Paperwhites.  Their fragrance is amazing & they are still looking good after nearly a week as I put them outside at nights.  They are sitting in Mum's antique Crown Devon Vase.

I lit a new candle that I'd been gifted at Christmas.  The fragrance is White Lily & Ginger & it is subtle, soft & lovely.  

I planted up a punnet of Antique Pansies into my old tin tub.  This shade of pansies is my absolute favorite  💗

 I parked outside Habitat for Humanity Op-Shop last week & - of course - popped in for a quick squizz.  This little dish came home with me - $2.  I've cleaned it up but am unsure what it is meant for .... the assistant thought perhaps a tooth-brush holder ?

Any thoughts/ideas dear readers ............. ?

Remember back in this post in February when I repotted my two moth orchids?  I was delighted to see healthy looking flower shoots now appearing on both plants.

The white one above has not flowered for a few years, the pink one skipped last year ... so I was thrilled that they seem to be much happier & healthier in their new pots.

I made two loaves of banana bread on Wednesday - one is for Sid's family, one is for ours.  The banana's seem to turn black quite quickly with the warmth of the fire going.

I finished stitching the Sashiko Panel that I had been slowly stitching since the beginning of the year.  This was a preprinted panel purchased from * Here *.  I decided to make mine into a pouch to hold my Journals.  I had bought a fat quarter of Japanese Woven fabric at the same time so I used this to line it & also for the edges.  This pouch kind of "evolved" in my head as I went along 😉

This is what generally happens when I sit at night to do some handwork & watch TV.  Inevitably the ginger girl ends up in my lap & Oh My - does she shed fur !!!!  I have wiped the pouch over with a damp cloth but I can see by my photos I am going to have to vacuum it to get the hairs off.

Using up the last tiny scrap of fabric I stitched a little pocket to the inside flap to hold my pen.  I am really pleased with how this turned out & it was therapeutic to sit & stitch when my eyes are tired at night (despite the cat hairs!!)

Speaking of said ginger cat ... I went searching for a lace scrap in my lace bin last Monday & before I could put it all back in again - she took up residence. 

 The photo on the left is on Monday - the right one is on Wednesday - she is still sleeping in there & I am going to seriously regret letting her do this I just know it (!!!)

When I went to collect Sid from school on Wednesday we encountered bad weather so drove particularly slowly home.  I am not sure whether a small tornado had gone through here but I noticed a huge branch had fallen off the tree onto my rose garden while we were gone.  Underneath it all - in the right photo - is my poor flattened rose garden.

We also lost a huge native Ponga tree by the pond which just completely tipped itself over.  There is going to be some cleaning up to be done at Threadbear HQ !!

Thank you so much dear friends, for your welcome 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,