Stitching Snowmen & Planting Bikes !!

Greetings dearest friends & readers

A shiny new week AND a bright shiny new month  .  .  .  .

Welcome to October !!!!

The weather here today is bitterly cold with icy showers & a howling gale outside.
The fire is roaring & the cats are tucked up in their basket in the warm ... it is an ideal Sewing Day !!

This morning I put the finishing touches to a small collection of Snowmen I had been working on over the past couple of weeks

The weather has been rather perfect for making Snowmen !!!! 

All the Snowmen were made from the same vintage wool blanket from my stash.

The two Snowy's above were copied from one a friend had gifted me several Christmas's ago ... I do not know who the pattern is by so please let me know should you recognise it so I can give credit to the designer
Their woolen hats are from the sleeves of a 50c Op Shop Jumper!

All the Snowmen are weighted in the base with a bag of fine gravel which I stole pinched borrowed acquired from the metal pit just down the road from me !!

This fellow above & below is called Snowbells & is a pattern by Margaret Hart from an old copy of Homespun Magazine (Vol 6 No 4)

These little fellows were the reason for Sue & I to visit The Christmas Heirloom Shop in my last post as I was wanting the artificial christmas greenery & berries to embellish my Snowmen.

This particular one had snow already painted on it & was just perfect for Snowbells.

My last fellow is called "Chilly Willy" & is a design by Mary Wright ... again out of an old Country Craft Magazine 
(Vol 13 No 3)

When Mum was staying with me I spent quite a bit of time going through my old craft magazines looking for Christmas inspiration.

I have altered this pattern somewhat from the original ... I haven't painted a snowman on his body, I have appliqued the jacket rather than embroidering it, I have given him a rusty tin bucket holding christmas berries & greenery, along with a wooden snowflake button on his scarf
Most of all I LoVe the bird that has made a nest in his hat !!
(& Yes, that IS a real birdsnest that I found fallen out of a tree last month)

Here they are all lined up along my candle cupboard - all looking very festive indeed.
These are all going for sale at my Christmas Craft Stall in mid November.

In between the showers & the winds, I have managed to plant up some bike baskets with snapdragons, petunias & impatiens ... our grounds are covered at present with fallen cherry blossom petals that remind me of confetti.

This time of year my little collection of baby's tears plants are coming along well down the end of my lounge ... I find the dappled light through the french doors is a great growing area for them

 Some vintage teapots received a doiley embellishment mod-podged onto them & a pot of babies tears 
ready for sale at the Cottage ......

...... & this sweet little china jug - gifted to me by my friend Joyce from the Church Op Shop.
They were tossing it out due to a hairline crack inside but I thought it looked perfect with a dainty 
baby's tears growing in it.

Well dear friends - I am off to work on more Christmas Crafts - & fill the wood basket!
I hope the coming week is good & kind to you All

Thank you all So much for your visits today
with much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Some Cottage & Garden Snaps ........ blogging friendships ........ & books ........

Greetings dear friends & readers,

Gosh, I did not mean to be so long between posts ....

 Along with some (more!!) computer issues, I have been spending quite a bit of time with this little cherub below ....

Sid is now 5 1/2 months old  .... loves his food but if you take too long getting it ready, he starts to eat his bib !!!

As promised last post, I am sharing some pictures of my Cottage now I have given it a change around & a freshen up.

 It is difficult to take good photos inside as there is very little natural light & lots of lamp light, hence the photos often appear yellowy

 As you walk into my little Cottage, directly opposite is my "angel wall"

 The mantle piece above my fire surround (above)

Some of the "baby area" (above)

Fresh stocks of fragrant new soaps on my oak dresser (above)

A little sewing supplies area (above) ... needlecases, pincushions, workbaskets

- soy candles made in vintage china cups (above left) -

That is just a small random selection of the different areas in my little Cottage .... soon it will be time to be thinking about a christmas display I think !!

Though my poor old garden has been more of a neglected jungle this past winter, there are definate signs of life popping through the soil again ...

My veggie garden on the other hand, has been amazing with all the growth .... planting by my moon calendar along with copious amounts of worm tea have given me a bumper spring crop of so many different vegetables

Last Easter in the pouring rain, I remember planting 5 pots of bulbs - hyacinths & a variety of tulips 

 Nothing happened for a very long time & I began to despair but I have a riot of colour now that the tulip bulbs are in full bloom on my deck

Some of these were old bulbs I lifted & gave fresh potting mix, & others were new bulbs I had been gifted

Blogging friendships .........

 Earlier this year I wrote about meeting up with Sue from the blog Kiwikids

We had a wonderful time together so when Sue wrote that she was coming over to put some help in place for her elderly Mum & would I like to meet up again, I jumped at the chance.

We decided to meet up in Tirau, a good half way point & a pleasant spot to have some lunch together.

I remembered there was a Christmas Heirloom Shop in Tirau so after a lovely lunch we wandered up the hill to browse in the store
The Shop Owner took this photo of Sue & I amongst the trees !!

Sue & I in the Christmas Heirloom Shop ..... I could've bought one of every thing !!!!!

You can read Sue's post about our visit here

About 3 days after our get together an unexpected package arrived in the post.
Imagine my surprise when I opened it to unfold this gorgeous play quilt that Sue had made for my grandson Sid !!

It just so happened I was babysitting Sid at the time so he got to "test drive" the beautiful new quilt covered in gorgeous Boyds bears .... you can see by the photos how delighted Sid was !!!

Thank You Sue for your kindness & this most wonderful gift.

Another blogging friendship that I so enjoy is with my friend Willie
He leaves wonderful comments on my posts & often sends through emails about the things he loves the most 
..... cats, pink, family & lemon tea !!
It was on Willie's recommendation that I purchased the following book ... I Could Pee on This!!  A humorous compilation of poems relating to cats & Yes indeed, I am sure Miss Pippi is featured in quite a few of them!!

Willie has just celebrated a special birthday so I sent him this e-card featuring 2 of his favourite things, cats & pink !!

I first saw a vintage copy of this next book at my friend Sally's house & fell in love with it ... I was lucky enough to be able to purchase a 2nd hand copy from Trademe for $7.00.

I am sure many of you will be familiar with it dear friends - it is such a beautiful book

Thanks So Much for stopping by today dear friends,

I shall attempt to blog more frequently now we have (hopefully!!) had our computer issues sorted

Your visits are always so very welcome here  .  .  .  . 

old mossy work boots planted with pansies tucked in a corner of my garden

I hope the week ahead brings you many pleasurable moments,
with much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

A Shop Counter Revamp . . . . (shortcut)

Greetings dear friends & readers & Happy Thursday to you all !!

When I set up my little Craft Cottage 14 years ago it was done on such a "shoe string" budget !!

In fact, it was more like a "broken rubber band" budget to tell the truth !!

I needed a shop counter so my son's old desk was to serve the purpose until such time as I could afford a 

"proper counter" . . . . . .

The desk got a speedy lick of paint ("marzipan") leftover from the cottage walls  ... & some stencils were hastily painted on the front.

Fast forward 14 years later & that old desk was still in use & has never been upgraded !!

It was looking tired & tatty -  rather like the shop owner!!!

I had neither the time nor the energy to spend repainting it so I bought it inside & decided to cover the top with some oilcloth that I had rolled up in a cupboard

First I glued a covering of thin wadding to the top of the desk to give it a slightly padded effect

The Mr helped me staple the oilcloth tightly to the top

Then I ran a length of curtain wire along the top & made up a curtain using the green polka dot fabric I had leftover from making the baby bag for Sid

Luckily I had just enough fabric to make a nicely gathered curtain

After 14 years of being behind the door, I have moved my counter so it is more on display now

I often make curtains up to quickly hide or disguise the backs of units that are facing outwards in my Cottage 

You can see below I have done the same with a small wooden shelf that faces end outwards

Though this fabric looks like Sanderson, it is actually an old thrifted duvet cover that resembles a Sanderson print

And then the little apple box revamp that I showed you in my last post just sits perfectly on the end of my counter 

to use as a small shelf for the things I need to keep on hand

I hope plan to re-open my Cottage next week so I look forward to showing you some snaps in my next post as some of you have asked for photos of some displays in the Cottage.

Frequently throughout the year I keep a large cardboard box on hand & randomly toss things into it as I clean, tidy & sort cupboards etc ...

When the box is full I make a trip to the Op Shop to deliver it.

I had tossed 2 tall red spotty coffee mugs & this small matching lidded dish into the box while Mum was with me.

I had an idea the other night & retrieved the mugs & the dish back out of the box again

I found 2 red teatowels in my stash & appliqued them with the words "bake" & "cook"

Then made up a soy candle in the small round dish, scented with orange & clove fragrance

These few little items made up a lovely bright & cheery vignette in my Cottage 

Changing displays & coming up with fresh new ideas is constant & ongoing in the Cottage

 I like to start each new season with a fresh order of soaps in different fragrances ...... usually I take any leftover soaps for The Mr & I to use up, but these stragglers still smelt beautiful so I decided to run up some fabric bags to pop them into using my Tilda scraps

I thought they looked so attractive presented in their little fabric bags & they smell divine .  .  .  .

I hope the week is treating you kindly dear readers & you are managing to keep warm or cool where ever in the world you might be?

Our spring temperatures here have been so bitterly wet & cold that we ordered more firewood at the start of the week.

It was the kind of day that made you want to just tuck up somewhere cosy & let the world pass you by . . .

.  .  .   rather like a certain little fairy that I know !!!

Thanks so much for your visits today 

Be kind to yourselves & to each other

with much love & friendship,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Five Small Projects .......................................

Good Wednesday Greetings dear friends & readers

Five small projects have been completed this past week at Threadbear Cottage .........................

I mentioned in my last post that my neighbour Lea had gifted me a large pile of junk unsold items left over from her Garage Sale

This cute wooden "what not" & the tray below were two of the items .   .   .   .   .

.   .   .   . as were the two oval frames below .  .  .  .

After I had given them all a scrub & a warm up by the fire, I then gave each item 2 coats of pale duck egg chalk paint.

When dry, I lightly distressed the edges of the "what not" & also gave it a good coating of wax

I think it looks rather "french country"perhaps?

In my scrapbooking bits & bobs I found this string of cute paper butterflies & circles which I modpodged onto the tray.

The inner base of the tray was given 2 coats of modpodge to make it wipeable & then I thoroughly waxed the outer & underside 

The frames were also lightly sanded & then I mounted some wallpaper remnants left over from the 
 fifth project below ... 

This wallpaper is Cath Kidston, which I purchased last year from my dear friend Catherine's trademe store

All these items above are going for sale in my little Cottage.

The grubby old apple box above was pinched acquired from Mums shed on my last visit ... it too needed a really good scrub & a warm up by the fire

Last week the sun made a brief appearance for a few hours so I was able to paint it outdoors while Miss Pippi slept on the table beside me.
I only painted the inside edges as I planned to line it with some Cath Kidston wallpaper ..... the same wallpaper as I used in my nail box upcycle in this post here

Miss Pippi very kindly warmed the interior of the box up for me before I lined it with the paper !!
Miss Pippi's help is unfortunately - entirely non negotiable - in other words, she is there whether you want her to be or not !!!

The finished apple box .... which is going in my Cottage as a free standing shelf ... I will show you in my next post.

A longtime customer Paula, dropped out two of her childhood bears for repair while Mum was still with me .  .  .

I am annoyed I forgot to take a before photo as they were indeed a sorry sight .... no eyes or noses, one was arm less & many holes & tears in them both!
Here they sit waiting for Paula to collect them & take them home.

My friend Sally arrived for a cuppa last week & presented me with this cute little box of goodies

 "Happy Belated Birthday" Sally announced !!

Beautifully wrapped inside was one of Sally's handmade dreamcatchers, which I just adored
along with two vintage pomanders to add to my collection

 
I remembered about the vintage tray I had purchased on special from Ethel Anne's so I gave it a polish with some Brasso & sat my collection of china pomanders on it .  .  .  

 *** Just simply perfect ***

 Though it is now spring here in our hemisphere, the weather is telling us this is not quite so just yet !!!
I hope the week is treating you kindly - thank you so very much for your visits today dear friends 
with much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x