A White Peace Angel

Wintery Greetings dear friends & readers,

While cleaning out the large wardrobe in my sewing room I came across two items that inspired me to 
create a new Angel

The Christmas decoration on the left was purchased last year from the "bargain bin" in the Christmas Heirloom Shop ... it was marked down to $7.
The bunch of glittery silk flowers/leaves were passed on to me by my friend Gail ... unsold product from when she closed her Gift Shop ... the first thing I thought when I saw them was "angel wings"
So I felt inspired to create an all white Angel & decorate her using these two items 

She came together rather well using fabrics & trims I already had on hand ... I used an older Rosalie Quinlan pattern called Charlotte, though I have decided to name her "Peace Angel"
The christmas snowflake decoration sat perfectly in her hands &, after dismantling some of the glittery leaves & removing the bobbles, the "wings" worked out just as I had envisioned.
I hung her on my door for a day or two to walk past her as I like to do with my dolls ... often another idea will come to me - which is exactly what happened!

I decided she needed painted shoes ... I didn't like her bare feet.
Deciding to paint shoes at this stage is somewhat tricky ... also not having any pale grey paint on hand can be a bit tricky, so I tentatively mixed the white & black paints I did have until I was happy with the colour.

Although I loved her hair & her silver bows,  I felt she needed some sort of halo.
 Halo's are rather short in supply around here so ...... I needed to construct one.
 I found some welding wire in the Mr's shed which I bent into shape & hot glued some silver sequins onto it.

I was happy with her pale grey shoes which I trimmed with some lace & dainty silver bows 😍

I am delighted with her Halo & felt it just finished her off nicely

My Peace Angel measures 75 cms tall

Beautiful Peace Angel 💜
(I am pleased I cut out two bodies as now I would like to make a Cream Angel.)

Miss Pippi was ecstatic last week when I came home with a brand new ball of knitting cotton that she somehow decided was just for her!!

I have been enjoying making up these Waffle Knit Dishcloths & because there are 4 rows to a pattern, they seem 
to grow quite quickly.
The pattern is a free download from *here* if you should like to have a go yourself

Over the weekend we had two glorious days where the sun shone & the washing dried on the line for a change.
I managed to spray paint some coathangers out on my brick path in the sunshine.

(these are to create some more wool blanket coathangers)

As the Mr was away riding Moto X I even took my lunch out onto the deck & drooled over a magazine on loan 
from my friend Sally.

Today however, we are back to arctic temperatures & the two are nestled in their basket on my work table, the fire is roaring & I have just rung & ordered another load of firewood to be delivered!

This morning I made Oaty Ginger Crunch ... I can put the kettle on if you would like to pop by for a cuppa?

I hope the week is treating you kindly dear readers,
Thanks so much for your visits here today,
With much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

Home Again

Greetings dear friends & readers.
Another month has slipped on by & we have only one month of winter remaining before we welcome
 my favourite season - Spring!

I had a good trip down to Mum's but it is always lovely to be home again ... these two below missed me & as well as refusing to eat, fat blackie went missing for a day & a night while I was away

He has slept most of the time since my return, so I am guessing he covered a fair distance in his wanderings.


I had a large box of junk unwanted treasures in my car to deliver to one of the Op Shops in Mums town ... I knew Mum had a few things to add to this box.
These two items below were on the top of the box ... they were miniature clotheslines that had been for sale in my Cottage for a very long time.

Just prior to my journey I pulled them back out of the box as I had an idea for them 😉

I had this lovely Christmas panel in my stash so - upon my return home - I made each clothesline a simple hanging "quilt" from one of the squares in my panel

I tightened the strings & gave the wood a polish with a slightly darker oil - they came up well.
I attached my "quilt" with some festive pegs, then made 2 small buntings from hessian scraps & filled the cane baskets with greenery & pip berries.

I attached a wooden "flag" to each pole with a small brass nail.
I thought they turned out rather well & would look lovely adorning a small Christmas table.
Hopefully they will sell at my craft stall.

Just prior to my trip away, I put the finishing touches on another (condensed milk tin) flower
You can read about my first attempt at these flowers * here *

This one was made in some pretty Tilda fabrics in green/blue tonings 

I now have two flowers for my craft stall but if they don't sell, I am quite happy to keep them as I love them both 💗



My friend Donna had made me this gorgeous handknitted & felted pot for my birthday 
& decorated it with felt pom poms

Mum gave me some birthday money so I purchased a shiny, healthy Peace Lily on my trip home
 which just sat perfectly in the pot.

Though there was definately no time for any shopping this trip, I had to spend time waiting for a prescription for Mum at the one & only Pharmacy in her town.  This just happens to be beside & opposite a large Hospice & SPCA shop ... so of course, I felt compelled to go for a quick squizz!

These treasures above were from the Hospice Shop ... doileys, mother-of-pearl buttons, a wooden trug & a good novel - & below were my finds from the SPCA shop

I could not leave these epp flowers & hexies behind ... someones lovingly stitched handwork ... all for just $4 a bagfull

These dainty little dishes were $3 each ... Oh how I love them so ... they remind me of cross stitch

I have put backs on each of them & hung them beside my Tilda Angel so I can look at, & enjoy them 💗

Speaking of gorgeous vintage treasures, my dear friend Sally has opened an online store Hollyhock Vintage
You can visit Sally to have a browse at the shelves of her store or go Here to visit her facebook page ... she has some very tempting pieces in there that I could just see living at my Home !

My sister in law Leonie gifted me this beautiful soy Kearose Candle while I was down at Mums ... I had helped her with a large cleaning job & she wanted to thank me.
The fragrance is French Pear + Vanilla & it smells so divine burning in my lounge.

Finally dear friends, 3 days before my trip away, I got to spend the morning at my eldest grandsons Daycare for Grandparents Morning.
It was a wonderful time ... he is a busy little boy & was quite delighted to show Granny all the activities.

Just wonderful & such a special time 💜

Thanks so much for your visits today ... it is always lovely to have you stop by,
Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead ... be kind to yourselves & to each other,
With much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

Candle Mats, Christmas Angels & a Pathfinder Vest!

Greetings dear friends & readers
I did not mean to be so long between blog posts but life, & a visiting relative, just kind of got in the way

Earlier in the week my lovely friend Sally (the florist) popped by for a visit & gave me these gorgeous flowers which are still looking picture perfect today

They are such a wonderful splash of colour these gloomy winter days.

After my last post where I wrote about the candle mat I had made  I sat at my work table & decided to cut out another one .... Miss Pippi very kindly helped me choose a colour scheme

Although the pattern for this mat had Bee Skeps on it, I decided to try & make it a little more christmassy, so appliqued wool felt hearts in place of the Bee Skeps

I also added some rusty tin stars to my hearts .... these candle mats are definately becoming addictive 😉

Prior to my Uncle arriving, I found 2 doll bodies I had cut out last Christmas ... these are the Rosalie Dekker pattern "Linen Angel"

I finished the doll bodies off & made them some clothing using Tilda fabrics. 
 I found 2 felt star christmas decorations which I added a small Tilda heart to & attached these to their hands.

As I wanted to make them just a little christmassy I wired up some small berry picks ...... I decided to just slip these into their arms with the thought that they could be removed & the Angels left out all year round if desired.

Sweet little girls that they are !

I have finally finished my rose pruning for the year !
I gathered lots of rose hips & have been drying these for potpourris ... I do LoVe rose hips!

Whilst outside I gathered bowls of citrus fruit as The Mr had somehow knocked a branch off the lemon tree 
while mowing!
I made another citrus slice but the rest of the fruit has been shared with friends & family .... & eaten!

My friend Desiree ordered more herbal mothball sachets when I next made a batch, so I made up another 20.
Although I had the mixture ready, it was sewing up the muslin bags that took the time.

The whole house smelt lovely & fresh & minty while I was filling the sachets.

Approximately 2 months ago I ordered The Pathfinder Vest Pattern from the TwigandTale website with a view to making Sid a vest.
When I downloaded & printed off my pattern I saw that it was 61 pages long due to the fact that this can be made up to fit sizes 1 to 14.
Though I had measured Sid, I had somehow lost my measurements & didn't know where to begin.
I "filed the pattern away in the too hard basket"
Finally last week I got the pattern out again & with a clear head, had a good read of it & then proceeded to cut out the size 3 ... I guessed this would be on the largish size but would fit him a little down the track.

I finished the pattern quite quickly ... Lisa's instructions are always so clear & concise ... I tried it on him yesterday & quickly sewed on the toggles.
I was so thrilled that the vest fit him perfectly.
Incidently the entire vest was made using fabrics & vintage wool blanket remnants already in my stash, including the wooden toggles ... the only thing purchased was the pattern.

We had a little "modelling session" inside but decided to go to the Park in the afternoon to give it a proper test run.

What delighted me most was that Sid seemed quite happy wearing the vest & not at all finicky about having it on.
Because it was a cool day, the vest kept him snug & warm & he was even happy when Granny put 
the Pixie Hood up 😊

I hope you all have a lovely weekend dear friends,
I am off to Mums for my 3 montly visit so will "see you all" on my return,
Be kind to yourselves & to each other,
With much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

A Trip to the far North (Catch Up #3)

Greetings dear friends & readers & Happy Weekend to you all !! 💚

I met my dear friend Leeanne about 6 years ago through our blogs & we very quickly struck up a rather close friendship 

Each Year Leeanne would tell me "you must come visit me in the far North"

Yes! I would reply ... with the very best of intentions ... but somehow never quite got there.

This year with the closure of my Cottage, I decided it was a priority.

So last week I put on my big girls panties & drove myself 5 hours away to visit my friend in Northland.

This was my room at Leeanne's beautiful Home ... & even though I tried really, really hard ... I did not manage to smuggle the quilt on the far right into my car & bring it home!!

Her Home is a testament to her amazing creativity & is filled with handcrafted treasures everywhere you look ...
 I felt right at home 💜

Simon, Leeanne's cat, who sometimes features on her blog, joined us when we sat by the fire stitching & chatting.  
He blends right in when he sleeps on the giant biscornu Leeanne has made him from vintage wool blankets.

The Country Yard ..... the most beautiful patchwork shop set in stunning grounds

High on my wish list of things to do & see, was to visit this gorgeous Patchwork Shop here
Kerryn, the Owner has been to my Cottage a number of times & I had always wanted to visit her beautiful shop myself

There was so much eye candy everywhere it was hard to take it all in.
(& yes, some purchases definately came away with me)

Early the next morning we drove up the Coast to a beautiful spot Helena Bay Gallery & Cafe

You can just see the coastline in the distance of my photo ... though the air was crisp, we sat outside on the deck & had delicious coffee & cappucino cake

Next door to the cafe is a stunning Gallery filled with local artisans work.
 I always like to bring a small momento home with me, so I purchased the red pottery heart above ... it sits perfectly on my small "heart wall" at Home

Back in the city again, we decided to do a trawl of the local Op Shops because ............ 

well,  just because ............

I gathered a small collection of junk treasures in the Hospice Shop ... some for making into birdfeeders & some for candlemaking

But my "treasure of the day" would have to be this cute little vintage enamel Tala Pastry Cutter set ... complete with all 4 sizes of cutters ... for the princely sum of $5 ! 😊

I knew it would look perfect sitting on my enamel breadbin with some other junk vintage treasures

While sitting stitching/chatting at Leeanne's I worked on this wool felt candle mat ... I had cut it out before I left home.
The pattern is by Barri Sue Gaudet of Bareroots designs

I love how it turned out & LoVe the primitive colours! 

I keep these glass containers for my candle making - they are great for tipping any leftover soy wax into - so I wrapped one with some pip berries & added a tealight
I hope to make some more of these for my Christmas Craft Stall.

And my final completion has been another two cotton dishcloths ... these are made using leftover yarn & are destined for the present box.

Well dear friends ... that's me ... all caught up! 😉
I hope you have a wonderful weekend & the coming week brings you only good things,
Thanks - as always - for your visits to my blog,
with much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0x