The Suitcase ............ with definate potential

Greetings from Wet, Wintery Waikato dearest friends & readers,

I have been on a trip down to my Mums . . . most certainly not a pleasure trip .  .  . 

. . . more of a "pick mum up & put her back together again" kind of trip .

It is horrible when your elderly parents have falls & accidents

You feel so helpless & are left with all sorts of mixed emotions about them growing older & life in general .  .  .
It doesn't help when you live 4 hours away either .


Early last summer the Mr & I were cleaning out yet another shed at the farm
I happened across an old suitcase buried under some bags of prehistoric pinecones
The documents in the suitcase were old, yellowed & more or less in tatters
But I thought the suitcase showed  definate potential underneath all that dirt & grime & rat droppings

Though I forgot to photograph the actual suitcase it was identical to this one above - which I use for display in my Cottage.

 I am annoyed at myself for not photographing it upon my return from the farm but quite honestly, it went directly from my car boot to the hose & got a good waterblasting & a scrub . . .
. . . before it was shoved in the woodshed & promptly forgotten about for several months !!
Around the time I was experimenting with chalk paint, I decided to give it a couple of coats of the pale blue testpot I had recently purchased

Once again, it sat for several months in its unfinished state  .... just prior to my trip to Mums I decided to line the interior.
I had earmarked this lovely Tilda fabric "blue doilies" as I thought it complimented the paint colour so well

It was very much a case of make it up as you go along - though I did find a really great tutorial *here*

I completed the bottom part & Pippi very generously tested it out for me for size, softness & squashy-ness, as well as checking that the suitcase clasps still tasted nice worked okay !!

Upon my return from Mums I decided it was time to finish lining the suitcase .... otherwise I felt it was in danger of becoming yet another cat bed !!!!   

Lining the lid was a little fiddlier but I did complete it . . .

hmmmm . . . . . still I felt it lacked something  . . . . . ? ? ?

I added a fine cord to the top & pegged some Tilda Sewing cards onto it with miniature heart pegs . . . 

. . . . then I tied a length of lace to the handle & a Tilda luggage tag . . .

As the lid kept falling backwards, I added a length of braid to secure the lid when up

I love my blue suitcase & look forward to filling it with some special treasures that do NOT include any fluffy 4-legged critters !!!!!!

I was lucky enough to spend some time on the weekend looking after my favourite blue eyed boy - my grandson Alec

He is walking now & loves riding around on his little scooter that his Granny Julie bought him (from the Op Shop!!!)

My friend Sally is one of the cleverest, craftiest, creative folk I know . . . she has recently opened an on-line vintage shop & it is a lovely place to pop by for a looksy
* Here * is the link
I love browsing the "shelves" of Sal's store & look forward to the day she opens her own bricks-&-mortar store.

I hope the week ahead is good & kind to you all dear friends & readers,
I am off to brew a pot of tea & delve into this great book which arrived in the post today . . .

. . . a treat for myself purchased using some birthday money from my Mum.
Thanks so much for stopping by to visit today,
with much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones
x0x0x0

A Large Tilda Doll

Greetings dear friends & readers,

During the chaos of the last several months while we struggled through our renovation, I would frequently pull out my Tilda Books & read them .  .  .
. . . try to breathe deeply & remain calm . . .
I dream't of making a soft pastel Tilda doll for my new lounge room - a really large Tilda doll - perhaps an Angel ??

In my Tilda's Studio book, I settled on the Pink Angel below but I still wasn't sure of what size to make her

One day while browsing a new Variety Store in our town, I came across some child's angel wings for the princely sum of $7  .  .  .   & so they came home with me

Off  I trotted to my local photocopying shop with my angel wings & my Tilda book in hand
The man in there is used to me by now - with my odd ideas & my grand schemes - he enlarged the pattern for me by 200%
When I made the body, it fit the wing size perfectly . . . I was on my way !!!

I came unstuck a little when it came to making the clothing
You see when I was at school learning maths, I was usually the one to be found down the back of the class with my fingers in my ears & my eyes shut tight
Lets just say "I am mathematically challenged"
Trying to work out (& enlarge) all those tiers in the skirt gave me a headache ... it didn't help that I had some unwanted assistance along the way !!!

I couldn't afford to just cut randomly into my precious Tilda fabrics, & then get it wrong . . .
 But we I got there in the end

Click on the picture to enlarge it if you wish

I so love my Tilda Angel . . . she is exactly like I pictured her in my mind's eye .  .  .  soft, serene & peaceful

I must confess I was not a huge fan of the Tilda dolls hairstyle, but decided to stay with this very Norwegian look to keep her a true Tilda creation.

The skirt - when finished, would easily fit a small child

I had difficult understanding the instructions in the book for making the fabric roses - so I found this youtube video 
most helpful 
However, let me just ask you one tiny question ... have you ever tried making fabric roses, following a video whilst you have a small furry being on your lap trying to help you ???!!!
It brings new meaning to the word patience !!

I embellished her neck with a vintage brooch gifted to me by my youngest son a few years back.

My Tilda Angel hangs on a wall in my lounge room beside some pretty things

Early last year when my friend Gail closed her Gift Shop I purchased this cushion from her at half the marked price

It had been locally made & I loved it
But I didn't love the purple crochet "basket" holding the flowers.
I stashed it in a bag & threw it in the top of my wardrobe & promptly forgot about it ...
... until last week when it fell down & hit me on the head & reminded me it was time to do something with it.
I unpicked the purple crochet "basket" & replaced it with a cream crochet doiley .... & while I was there, I replaced some of the brighter, gaudier flowers with softer colours

I love it all the more now & found the perfect spot for it on my couch.

I have had another birthday go by dear readers - 56 years around the clock of life
Goodness me !!!
I received some really lovely gifts from family & friends . . .

Oh how I adore my patchwork mini quilt (made by my dear friend Leeanne) bottom left

. . . & enjoyed my day spending time with my precious grandson.
But I think the thing that excited me the most ... something I have coveted for quite sometime now ... gifted from my eldest son & his family 

Yes - a worm farm !!!! Great excitement indeed !!!!
(& hard to photograph on this rainy dull day)

Thanks SO much for stopping by to visit me today dear readers
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend & find some time to do something special for yourselves
with much love & friendship to you ALL
Julie & the furry ones
x0x0x0x0

Painted Book Bundles ............. A Simple Tutorial

Greetings dear friends & readers,

As promised two posts back, I thought I would share today a simple tutorial for making painted book bundles.

The books I used were 50c each from the Op Shop .... I like to use graduating sizes but you could use all the same size if you wished.
Similarly I like to use 3 books, but you may choose to use more.
I glue the stack of books together & then glue inside the outer covers also ... this stops them slip-sliding around when painting.
Also I glue any rough or torn corners of the books cover or spine down - this creates a smoother finish after painting.

I just used my cream wall paint but any water based paint will do ... testpots are wonderful for this.

A little tip .... when I am painting anything during the winter months, I sit it by the fire for awhile before hand ... this warms the article up & allows it to absorb the paint easier ... if you don't have a fire, sit it by the heater, or even in your hot water cupboard for an hour or two.
My stack of books took 3 good coats as I wanted to cover the red really well & kept seeing a slight pink tinge coming through.
I painted mine over the course of a couple of days - be patient & let them dry thoroughly between each coat.

When you are happy with the coverage, its time to lightly sand the edges to give it a timeworn appearance

I just use a medium grit sandpaper & lightly go over all the edges & the spine of the books.

Now the fun part begins   ......   embellishing !!!!

Firstly I glued a doiley to the top of my bundle

Then I found a length of wire edged ribbon just enough to tie a big bow

In my craft stash I found a small birds nest & a bird ... so I hot glued these to the top

The $2 shops sell packets of small (fake) birds eggs ... so I added some of these to my nest

.... then some ribbon roses to my bow ...

I decided this was enough embellishment for my shabby chic book bundle 
 This got me thinking about all those prim lovers out there . . .
you could easily tea dye your doiley quite strongly, cut a length of hessian, fray the edges & use this to tie a bow, then embellish this with some rusty stars or hearts & a key perhaps ???
The possibilities are endless .  .  . 

Here is the pink shabby book bundle I made two posts back

A couple of weeks ago I taught this simple tutorial to my friend Gails, craft group.  This is what the ladies had produced when they next met up . . .
Liz painted 2 book bundles & used ribbon & buckles to create a "belt effect" to secure them

  
Gail also made 2 bundles - hers were more of a shabby chic style

I loved Joyce's one although my photos don't do it justice ... she embellished hers with a vintage card featuring lily of the valley, then crocheted a lace binding & a butterfly - simple & effective

Sharlaine had missed the meeting so made up her own version of "altered book art"

All really lovely & diverse ideas

My friend Sally writes a blog that I love to visit over here at Covet & Co
For those of you living in, or planning a visit to the Waikato area, she has listed her favourite vintage shopping haunts ... if you wanted to pop over & have a read - Sally has a wonderful blog.

Finally dear readers, Blackie has a "revolving door" attitude to this life & this "home of his"
Though he has baskets & various vintage blankets dotted all over the house for him to curl up on ... he has taken to pulling the cover off my sewing machine & curling up right behind it on my desk (even tho' he can barely fit his rather ample derrier in the small space !!!)

As you can well imagine - this makes sewing somewhat difficult ... & I have yet to find a way around the problem!!
I hope you are managing some creativity dearest readers ?
We are in the depths of winter here now in my little part of the world & it is nice to have some creativity to help keep me sane.
I hope you will be encouraged to perhaps give the book bundles a whirl.
cheerio for now . . . with love & friendship to you all
Julie & the furry ones 
x0x0x0x0

Not Quite ................. but nearly ..................

Greetings dear friends & readers,

Goodness - I did not mean to be away so long & I have missed you all.

I have been lost in a blur of prepping, scraping, sanding, painting, wallpapering, re-sanding, re-painting . . . .  
so it goes on  . . . .

Although our lounge is not quite finished (but nearly), our carpet has been laid & we have moved some furniture back in so we are no longer camped in one corner of the room like squatters!!

There is still much to be done .... but it is lovely to have our lounge room back again.
One of my absolute favourite parts is the large picture window at the end of the lounge ... the colours are ever changing with the seasons & it is a pleasant part of the garden to look out on to.

About a year ago I fell in love with the wallpaper that my friend Jane had used on one wall of her lounge.
When I went into Resenes to inquire about it I described it to the saleslady as "kind of like pastel coloured wood palings in the background with white things like fleur-de-lys on the foreground" !!!
She knew exactly what I was talking about !!! (phew)

Now believe me friends - when you have not wallpapered for 30 years - despite what folks might tell you, it is NOT like riding a bike & you just hop back on & away you go !!!!
Especially when your paper is a pattern repeat !!

I just LoVe my wallpapered wall but I certainly would NOT want an entire room of it.

The haybarn chair above that I revamped recently      .............................................. Cup of Tea anyone ???

My other very-favourite-thing is the cabinet that I painted in this post here
I decided to fill it with some old mismatched china that I used to have stored in the cupboards below

I am so pleased I gave this ratty old brown unit a make-over

We have yet to hang some curtains at the windows
(the curtains have arrived but I am waiting on the rods to hang them)

Pink planter pot was another revamp ..... found lying around at the farm

Another little corner ... another revamped chair from here & table from here

As the Mr's leg gradually heals, he has insisted on installing this ugly thing below in a corner of the lounge with a view to building up his strength as soon as the Physio tells him he is allowed to get on it

Now surely there is only one thing a girl can do when they have to look at such a hideous item plonked in their new lounge room???

Thats right .............. throw a quilt over it !!!!!!!

Another little area of revamped items from here 

I have learnt a great deal from undergoing this lengthy renovation process but probably the 3 most important lessons have been :-

 (1) Although I was more than happy to just draw a few squares & triangles on a piece of paper, the Council required that we get proper Architect drawings done, due to the fact we were changing our roof line.

Proper Architect drawings cost a great deal of money.  
When they arrive they will give you an "estimated cost of extension"

When you read this figure, instead of laughing like a hyena as I did & declaring to all & sundry "they have GOT to be kidding - it will NOT cost that much" ... you should take that figure & probably double it !!!!
 Because it will indeedy cost that much + alot more !!!

(2) Never, ever, EVER use tradesmen who are friends - especially plasterers.  They will certainly give you "mates rates" quality of work but will charge you way more than "mates rates".

They will muck you around & will cause you to ring them up & use your "not nice voice" to them while they give you all the promises under the sun . . . 
When they tell you they will be there on Monday, they generally mean Monday 3 weeks away.

(3) If your Mr is going to break his leg (or any other bone in his body) TRY to get him to NOT do it while you are in the middle of a renovation.

Would I go through it all again ??? ....... not on your Nellie !!!!

The past few days I have received some lovely unexpected gifts.
When I took a large bag of unwanted books to my local 2nd-hand bookstore the lady reached under the counter & handed me this sweet little doiley

"This looks like a bit of you" she announced.
How delightful .... I adore it.

We have had family visiting for the local Agricultural Fieldays & Mum sent this beautiful gift up with my brother ... hand poured soy candle ... the scent is Lotus Flower

And then of course Miss Pippi, who brings me unwanted gifts about every 2nd day lately ..... 

..... & even though she has licked them & tried to give them the kiss of life, they do not come back to life & run around again (thank goodness)!!*!!

Thank you so much for staying with me through this lengthy ramble.
I hope to get around to visiting you all at your blogs again this week.

I hope the coming week is a good one for us all - take care of yourselves & each other,
with much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0x