small steps

Hello there friends & readers

Happy Weekend to you all :-)

It has been a week of small steps & a few finishes this week

though it feels like veeerrry slow progress with this drought we are having, & everything looks & feels, rather bedraggled

. . . including the writer of this blog :-)

A lady from the busgroup last week commented that my suitcase of flowers was . . .

"struggling, but still trying to put on a good show..."

"ah yes" I thought ... "sounds just like me!!"

Someone else, however, is NOT managing to put on a good show

& cant wait for the cooler weather to come

No, I am not a new style of floor mat - step over me, not on me!!!!

I managed to finish dressing the nude boy golly that was waiting patiently in my sewing room last post

His name is Tobias, & he is a Melody Daly design out of an old copy of the Handmade magazine

Hello there . . .  my name is Tobias

He is certainly a cheerful little chap & is made entirely from scraps I had lying around (including his vintage buttons down his jacket)

Seeing the wide embroidered braiding lying on the wool flannelling gave me an idea ...

I really liked the effect of it against the checks 

So I fossicked around & found some ric rac, & made a matching cushion in the Union Jack design

I have always liked the combination of black & red together :-)

I also topped up the bowl of lavender sachets as these always tick along & I had sold a few to the bus group ladies

A lovely group of ladies from Rotorua - the Womens Institute :-)

really nice ladies, loved the Cottage - even loved Mr Fat Fluffy

(even when he peed on the bus's wheels they loved him!!!!) 

I had been sorting out a box of stitcheries & bits & bobs that I had done quite some time ago

there were lots of Country Friends stitcheries in here, completed, but never taken any further, so I decided to start using some of them up in a few small projects

this one made up into a lovely little needlecase

which I lined with a lovely ticking fabric I had

I really enjoy these small projects - they are so achievable in a short time frame & make you feel like you are accomplishing something

My final finish for the week was an oven glove & matching teatowel with gollies appliqued on to them

A bit of a bright splash of colour for a change :-)

In between times I have been trying to "enjoy" the summer sunshine as it will soon be autumn here (I hope!!)

Mr Wolf & I took our lunch out to the deck lots of times this past week & I have been enjoying the latest Molly Makes issue

(which came with a beautiful free Calendar)

There are some lovely projects in it to tempt me :-)

Lastly folks, I hauled another old piece of furniture out of the wood shed a few days ago

I was so sure I had taken a "before" pic of it but cannot find it anywhere!!!????

It is an old wooden plant stand & I decided to paint it cream & then lightly sand it to "distress" it

there were quite a few borer holes needing to be filled & I sprayed it with kerosene to get rid of any "unwanted callers"

I hope to show you the finished article next post.

Wishing you all a great weekend out there - hope its a most enjoyable one where-ever you are in the world :-)

I shall "keep struggling & trying to put on a good show" ! ! ! ! :-)

Love to you all & thanks for stopping by

Julie XoXoXo

Gathering, drying, golly-ing, & horse-ing (in no particular order)...

Hello there friends & readers,

It has been a mixed bag this past week...

I was lying awake one morning at around 2 pm & somewhere in the far, far reaches of my mind (an" interesting place" I might add!!!)

I remembered seeing in a magazine somewhere... a long, long time ago ... ???

something along the lines of a herbal "door hanger"???

hmmm ....  you are shaking your heads I know !!!!

So the next day I fossicked around in my box of bits & bobs

& found my crinolene ladies, (crocheted by my friend Joyce)

I thought it is long past time I put some of that lavendar to use

So it was very much a kind of "make it up as you go along" project

but I am thrilled with how they turned out...

which is your favourite???  Red or cream??

they are both on linen - half filled with lavender - can you smell them???

I thought they would look lovely hanging on one of those dark timber doors ... the one with the handles way up high :-)

I have also been trying to finish some more gollies as my golly ladder in the Cottage was looking very empty

I made another Isabella as I always like to have at least one of her

Why hello there ...

just hanging out with my friend Ted

I came across a pattern I have only ever made once before

This was about 6 years ago as I made it for a friends 50th birthday

Again it is a Lil Blokes design ... say Hello to Mimi

I have taken a pic of her lying down to show her apron detail...

Although it has photographed pinkish, it is actually a lovely deep

burgundy red in colour

I make horseshoes for a local shop & it must be the wedding season

as I have been struggling to keep them in stock

the horseshoes that I cover are actually real ones

they are a lightweight aluminium & are used on racing horses

they are nice to sit & do at nights when I am struggling to see the darker golly fabrics

Plus I love to think about the brides that will receive them :-)

Speaking of horses ... as I sit & type this post I can hear the Polo Tournament from just across the paddocks from me . . . 

You can see in the distance they have erected a huge marquee

it is great excitement as South Africa have come to play against us

right here in lil' old Kihikihi :-)

I can hear the loud speakers & I wonder who is winning??!!

It is that time of year for gathering & drying things from the garden

which I use for my potpourris - there has been plenty of this going on during this hot dry weather ...

fresh rose petals drying in the Sleepout

Strawflowers drying in baskets

Poppy heads drying in the sun


Finally, a couple of snaps from around the garden as late summer kicks in & things are still struggling along ...

I remembered photographing this barrel of petunias in early spring

I must've fed it something it liked . . .

I hope you all have a great weekend, where-ever you are in the world & whatever you are doing 

take care - I am off to make clothes for a boy golly :-)

(the Mr has kindly pointed out I have more than enough girl gollies now !!!)

thanks so much for stopping by & for your comments that you leave me - you have no idea how they brighten my day :-)

Love/hugs/ friendship,

Julie Xox

A shiny new month

Hello there friends & readers.

 

Well it is a shiny new month ... February  :-)

And where did January go to I might ask???!!!

 

I was looking back through some older posts - in particular, this one picture ...

frosts in June

 

& I realised I am always complaining about the weather!!!

So I promise - no more complaining :-)

I shall enjoy the seasons whatever they bring ...

(tho some of THIS would sure be welcome about right now!!!)

 

 

Rain, that is - & gosh look at that green, green grass!!!

 

 

As the Lavender farm around from me have harvested their flowers this past week

I decided I had better do the same

With having over 40 bushes to prune it is rather a large job

but I am pleased to report I am almost finished :-)

 

It has been so hot I havent even hung them in bunches to dry

just left them sitting in cane trays in the sun

Now all I have left is the rubbings to do which is time consuming but rather nice on the senses . . .

 

 

 

I have been trying to stay on track with my resolution to use whatever I have on hand & NOT buy new craft supplies

I pulled this out of the pile last week - I think it was an Op Shop purchase from a long time ago in amongst a pile of doilies

 

 

An old cross stitch of a cow and it looks like someone had sewed bias binding around it at some stage - perhaps it had been framed?

So I unpicked the bias & carefully washed the aida cloth

then I gave it a new surrounding & made it into a little cushion...

 

which I think turned out rather nice :-)

 

It has been a bit of a cushion making week really...

this was another revamp ... it had been in a frame

It is a Country Friends stitchery panel done by me many years ago

I took it out of the frame (as it had never sold in the Cottage)

& stitched it onto some felt borders,

added some buttons, then onto a nice piece of ticking fabric,

& another cushion was born . . .  I have always loved this Wendy Briggs angel design ...

 

 

 

 

 

And then thirdly, while shopping in my local Patchwork Shop

just prior to christmas, the owner was throwing some fabric swatch samples in the bin - she saw me & threw them at me instead

"you can do something with these" she said

I soon snapped them up as they were Lynette Andersons designs

I stitched the 9 squares together & then framed them with a fat 1/4 of Lynettes fabric that I already had

it began its life as a patchwork table mat & then along the way...

it morphed into a cushion :-)

 

 

Also another completion was this Ruby Doll - remember this version I made last winter??

this is a Rosalie Quinlan design out of the Homespun Magazine

 

 

Well I found I had made 2 bodies at the same time

so Ruby II got some clothes this week . . .

 

 

 

Ruby I has already gone to live in a very nice home :-)

 

Lastly I pulled these 4 china mugs out of the back of my craftroom cupboard the other day

& decided to make them into the pincushions that I usually make in the china teacups - coffee mugs can be just as nice !!

 

 

I was rather pleased with the result  - the mugs were in such good condition - I weighted them first with about 1/4 cup fine gravel

 

 

 

Sometimes February can be a quiet month at the Cottage

with school going back & the Lavender farm having harvested

Though I have already taken 2 group bookings this morning :-)

It is good to have a chance to catch your breath a bit

& maybe try some new patterns out -

I am keen to do some more things out of this book . . .

 

 

I shall keep you posted friends.

 

In the meantime, have a lovely weekend all of you

lets hope its a creative one where ever you are ...

& remember this little verse I have on my fridge ...

(so I get to read it lots of times throughout my day!!)

 

Given to me by my friend Sally :-)

It is most certainly true.

(The Mr has just come along & read my draft post & has commented ...

"why dont you just write "this week I made 3 cushions ... why do you have to make such a saga of it all - people dont want to know all that hoohaa" ..."  hmmm, an interesting thought I guess but I LOVE to read all the hoohaa behind other peoples creations & so ... I hope they do too with mine)???!!!

 

Cheerio for today folks,

Much love/hugs/friendship,

Julie Xoxo