Welcome to September ~ (& Spring 🌻)

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Welcome to the arrival of Spring down here at the bottom of the world  💗

Last Monday, the very last day of August, marked 3 years since my dear Mum left this world..  I picked flowers, burnt a candle & played her favorite Topp Twins songs all day long.  Hard to believe it is 3 years.

 The arrival of spring has not seen any improvement in our temperatures & it is still chilly here.  These two have                                        started tucking up together again after a period of hissing & spitting at each other.

Last Friday Alec (Taupo Grandson) had a teacher-only-day & as his parents both had appointments in Hamilton, he got dropped off here for the day.  He had texted me & asked if he could bring his friend Jaxon for the day.  Yes of course.  We went into town briefly as I had some things to collect & then bought pizzas on the way home & had a movie-&-pizza-lunch.  

In an attempt to get them off their devices I told them We are going to make candles (!!) Gail had given me a box of glassware that was being thrown out from the Op-shop where she volunteers.  I got them to choose a glass each, insert the wick, heat the soy wax in the microwave, choose a fragrance (this was interesting - Alec chose lemon, Jaxon chose rose) & then pour the wax in.  Once it began to set we pressed some lavender flowers into the tops.  Here they are removing the wick holders.  I've forgotten to get a photo of them both with their finished articles but they were chuffed to be able to take home a gift for their Mums.  

When I went away to my sewing retreat last June, I wrote about my thrifted finds in * this post *  

I'd done nothing with the wooden mirror (blue arrow) as I couldn't find a space for it in my entire home, being that it was a freestanding mirror & not a wall mirror. 

 I decided to bring in a bow-front china cabinet that I had out in my cottage ... I'd been tossing up this idea for awhile & thought it would look great with the mirror as it was the same wood.  

While Alec & Jaxon were here I got them to help me carry it over (to be honest they were no help whatsoever but we did try)

I removed a half round table from this space & the cabinet fit perfectly.  I soon filled it with china from my home.  I'd also removed a ladder that displayed some quilts on it awhile ago, washed the quilts & I folded some & stacked in the bottom shelf - I thought they looked good.  

The Oak mirror fit perfectly on the top along with the velvet chatelaine I made in * this post *.  I tied some matching velvet ribbons around my candles & was so happy with the end result.

Candle holders thrifted back in this post.  I'm pleased I didn't give them the rust treatment like I'd intended.

This bow-front cabinet came from my sister in law - she no longer wanted it & I got it not long before I closed my craft cottage.

  It is wonderful to finally be enjoying it & I am so glad I bought it into the house.  

There has not been a lot of crafting going on but I do enjoy my dishcloth knitting & the pile continues to grow, which will be handy leading up to Christmas as I love to tuck these into gift packages.

It's nice to have some handwork in the evenings & I fussy cut these Tilda fabrics from last Christmas & made into some felt decorations.  These are nice tucked into a Christmas card.  I absolutely loved this Tilda Christmas fabric range.

A couple of years ago I purchased some pre-painted panels from Barb Smith of Theodora Cleave.  This one I made into a stocking, backed with some gorgeous Tilda & I sewed one of the painted birds into a label for my stocking.  I enjoy these simple projects.

I have a wee tale about a cat named Mittens.   Two years ago in * this post * Alec's parents rescued a tiny kitten from a roadside & gave her a home - Alec named her Lexie.  Lexie has grown but has remained quite skitterish & a very nervous cat so Sarah thought she would get another cat/kitten for Lexie to have a friend.   The family went to the local SPCA & chose this cat named Allie, bought her home with all her paperwork & settled her in.   A week later the SPCA rang them & said we've given you the wrong paperwork - that cat you have is called Mittens & was found abandoned in Taumaranui.   Goodness me!!  Of course they kept her as they'd fallen in love with her but its been quite a long road to settle her & finally - Lexie has accepted her & they've become "mostly friends." 

Sarah sent me through this photo two nights ago of them both on the chair by the fire.  That is Lexie in front & Mittens in the back.  How wonderful - hopefully as time goes by, they will become very-good-friends.

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

I am off next week on a short trip across the pond so I will catch up with all your posts upon my return,

Remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,