June Days & Angel Wings ...........................................

Greetings lovely friends & readers

We have had a week of lovely mild winter weather with sunshine & blue skies some days.

Included in my list of "things-making-me-happy-this-week" are the daphne that is now in bloom 💗 I picked vases of both white & pink & their fragrance is beautiful.  I've been on pet-feeding duties for neighbors & their hens have been laying lots of eggs for me.

 

I counted 4 daffodils flowering in my gardens this morning & many more in bud about to burst forth.  It seems early but I'll take early thanks very much !!

A new-to-me mug purchased on sale from Briscoes ... with the 3 cats on it how could I resist?? 😉

 I made a sticky lemon slice this week using this recipe * here *.  Believe me dear friends - if you like a real hit of lemon you will Love this! 💛🍋💛 I have had to give half away to stop myself eating it all !!

I also made Annabelle's Chicken & Veggie pies from her blog post * here *.  It made a huge mixture, enough for a large square pie for us & a larger rectangular one which went to Sid's family (with dinosaurs on it)  They were hearty & delicious.

I had a dear friend celebrate a birthday recently - we share similar taste in books so I was bold enough to buy her Marian Keyes latest book & stitched her a corner bookmark to go with it.  

I also had 2 orders for wheatbags - one for a male in a Motor X fabric which luckily I had a length of in my stash.  I added a handful of dried lavender to the floral one but not the MX one.

Alec's family have a new furry member - meet Lexie, a wild kitten who was found on the roadside right beside a busy city bridge.  She is settling in & has made herself most at home. My daughter-in-law sent me the above pic of her on my son's shoulder while he slept.  

My friend Gail sent me the above photo last weekend - she works at the St Johns Op-shop & wondered if I'd be interested in these Angel Wings above for $15?  Yes Please!  When I got into the shop to pay for them they were much bigger than the photo indicated (66 cms tall).  And heavy - I am sure they are concrete or some sort of cement.

Here they are on my deck table, awaiting painting. I did not care for the tan colour of them but wasn't quite sure what colour to apply to them.  Gail knew the girl that had donated them & she had sat them in her garden apparently.

Here is a close up to show you the wings which looked like a sandy mixture covering them - also the base was cracked but was quite firm & intact.  I decided not to fill the cracks but just work with them. I applied a coat of Pumice paint, a sort of fawny/cream colour.  Once this was dry I applied a coat of pale grey but didn't like this so tried to wipe it off.  It had dried already so I only got parts of it off despite scrubbing really firmly with water & a brush.  I actually quite liked the effect it was taking on.  So I let it dry thoroughly & then just dry brushed on a bit more pumice paint. (I have no progress photos to share as I forgot to take any while painting the wings)

This concrete urn beside it is sort of the effect I was going for - I thought 😉  I wasn't really sure to be honest.  I am saying all this so you realise that things don't always go tickety-boo to plan & sometimes I have no idea what I am doing.  

The Mr walked past me while I was studying it indecisively ... "I haven't a clue what I'm doing - but I think I'm trying to get a stone effect". I told him.

 "Well"  he said ...... "if it's any help - it looks like something you stole off someones Graveside!!" 

Perfect - just the effect I was after 😮

I glued felt under the base as it was rough & currently have it on Mum's glory box in my bedroom.  But I may put it out on the deck when spring time comes - not sure 😉.  All that to say ... I am really pleased with how it turned out (!!)

I am calling this photo Progress.  You can see the two furry ones managed to actually fall asleep within a close radius of each other last night, while I was sitting by the fire knitting. The ginger one managed to wait at least half an hour before she hissed!!  This is a miracle dear friends - it's only been 12 long months!!  So Yes thanks - I'll take any progress I can get!

As I sit typing this Blackie is still in my fabric basket (😣), Pippi is curled up on my dressing gown in the lounge & Little One is outside wondering what "winged things" he can chase today.

This arrived in my email inbox yesterday from The Mr.  We have a bad case of furalysis going on here.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend dear friends,

Thank you, as always, for your welcome visits here today,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Still Going Green 💚

Greetings lovely friends & readers

I have a small-sized galley-style kitchen with the only light source being French Doors at one end.  Sometimes it can get dark - especially at this time of year.

A couple of weeks ago I looked at the thick curtain ruffle I had hanging up & decided to change it for something lighter - both in colour & in weight.  I'd made this red check one using left-over remnants from the large blind at my dining room window - this was well over 10 years ago now. 

On my last trip to Spotlight I'd purchased this sage green check fabric - tho' it looks like gingham it is not - it's thicker with a denser weave & more body.  I LoVed this shade of green 💚.  I took down the old ruffle & used it as a pattern-of-sorts.  This simple task took me an entire day longer than necessary due to a certain ginger being who insisted on ironing the fabric for me for half a day (!!)

I used the wide broderie lace edging off a thrifted sheet to make an underskirt for my ruffle - this is on it's own wire so could be removed if necessary - but for now I love the freshness of it.  I made the new ruffle slightly deeper & more gathered than the red one.  (apologies hard to get a good photo on this grey overcast day)

Inspired by this I found an old wooden box in The Mr's shed & gave it a wash after removing its rubbish contents.  I oiled it & then applied a simple decor transfer to tizzy it up a bit.

This fit perfectly in the corner of my bench to hold my chopping boards & rolling pins. I had a large round crock here but it took up alot of space that I don't really have.  The slim box is much better.

I removed all my red spatulas & kitchen utensils & put them in a drawer, just leaving the green ones on show.  Yes I do use all these vintage utensils all the time.

Everything got a gentle wash & a polish. You can read about my wall rake in * this post *.

I pulled out this green leaf bowl that was Mums & filled it with citrus fruits from our trees ... then I swapped the red ribbon on my paper towel holder for a sage green one. 

I had a Ripsalis succulent on a corner shelf that desperately needed repotting.  I found this yellow pot under my house & gave it a couple of coats of the Resene Green (Paddock) that I love.  

 I just love how the pattern shows through on the pot & it was the perfect size for the succulent.   I replaced a red                             enamel bowl with a pale green china plate - all using up things that I already had on hand.

While I had the green paint out this red tin heart got a couple of coats.  The sage green mugs were purchased from 

* here * using a gift card that I'd been given & forgotten about.

And then,  just this morning - I washed everything on my enamel shelf above & oiled my benches.  What a great feeling to see it looking so fresh. I try to keep a clean house but sometimes when I put my glasses on ... I surprise myself with how grubby things actually are (!!) 😧

Mums green egg basket painted in * this post *.

Dear friends ... remember in my last post how I said Blackie had taken over from Pippi & was sleeping in my lace box??  Well he moved on & decided the baskets on my fabric shelf were far more appealing.  I could not believe it when I came in & they were both in them ... I guess at least Madam Pip got the basket colour right!!  

Thankfully when I first spotted this I had the good fortune to quickly tuck an old drop-cloth sheet under them ... or there would be quite a pile of fabric needing washing!!  These are not low shelves either - the one they are currently on is about shoulder height. 

After complaining to The Mr about the cats this arrived in my inbox yesterday !!

Thank you dear friends, for staying with me through this lengthy post.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend wherever you may be in the world,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Welcome to June

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Welcome to June - officially the first month of Winter here at the bottom of the world.   

I know I say this every month ... but goodness didn't May go by so very fast ??!!

 On certain mornings of the week Sid gets dropped off here by 7 am,  I give him breakfast & drive him to school at 8.30.  I like to get up early, get the fire going & then walk out to open the gates for his Dad to drive in.   Last Thursday the sunrise was looking so spectacular that I grabbed my phone & took these pics.

Remember in my last post when I mentioned that Madam Pip had taken up residence in my lace box & how I was going to regret letting her do this?  Well dear friends ... guess who is in there now & Yes I most definately DO regret this!!!  Blackie sheds far more than her & all that lace is going to have to be hand-washed.  It is day 6 now & he is still sleeping in there!!  😮

I purchased the blue plasterers trowel from St Johns Op-Shop for $3.50, then remembered I already had 2 of these in my Sleepout.  The middle one was my Dads & the right hand one was $5 from Hospice shop.  I decided to do something with them as once you have 3 of anything ...... you have a collection (!!) 😉

I scrubbed them first but decided Not to paint the trowel surface & to keep the rusty effect of them.

I painted the two with the plain wood handles - one Green (Paddock), one Country Clay ... then I sanded them to make them look aged like the blue handle.

When it came time to choose which transfers to put on them I had really good assistance from Miss pain in the Pippi who kindly helped me choose, & then flattened the rolled up ones for me 😖

I was just using up oddments of transfers & decided to go with a bit of a bird theme.  I also applied some transfer offcuts to the handles. 

 

Once finished I sprayed them all with 2 coats of clear matt varnish to seal them. 

I asked The Mr to drill holes in the top of each one so I could hang them but he tried & tried & could not drill through that high-tensile steel.  So I purchased 3 Disc hangers from my Hardware Store & hopefully these will hold them sufficiently.  I've hung them on the outside wall above my Pansy Planter Box. 

They go really well with the Vintage Saws that I upcycled in this post.

Thank you all so much for your sweet, kind & encouraging comments on Miss Luna Lapin.  Unfortunately she would not stand by herself or even lean against something without being pinned at the back.  I found this old doll stand in my sleepout so I gave it two coats of pale grey chalk paint & glued felt to the rough underside of it.

It does the job perfectly & now she is one fine upstanding rabbit with her suitcase, waiting for her adventures. 

The mystery object that I featured in my last post drew quite a bit of interest as you all tried to guess what it was.  Here it is above on the far left.     It was my friend Chris who emailed me with the photos above (centre & right) - it was a manicure set holder !  How wonderful & looking at the pictures Chris sent I can see just how it would work. I shall now be on the look out for a dainty little set to sit in my holder.  Thanks so much Chris ... this is such a wonderful community we have out here in blogland.  

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

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

With much love & friendship to you all,