My Valentine's " LOVE " Swap Gifts From Claire 💗

Greetings lovely friends & readers

I have been away down to my Mum's again but I will share that visit in another post.     Regular readers of my blog will remember the Valentine's Love Swap that my friend Claire & I did in this Post * Here *     It was time for me to receive my swap gifts from Claire & Oh My ... how Very spoilt was I !!??

-  Flowers picked from my garden for my daughter in law's birthday  -

 

I had planned to visit Claire on my last trip but the slip made me So much later as I took a different (longer) route.        I texted her to say "it's probably too late now" only to be told "NO - I'm expecting you". Upon my arrival she sat me down with a hot cuppa & a plate of home-made pizza bread.  It was just the tonic I needed & next thing ... this Beautiful pink hat box was placed in my lap. 

Claire had been going to donate it but then decided to revamp it to house my swap gifts in ... how stunning & perfect it was 💗

This is what it looked like inside when I lifted the Lid ..........

Four parcels each wrapped in a vintage linen tea-cloth & a Tilda envelope attached, tied up with a big pink bow !

Oh Be Still My Rapidly Beating Heart ..........  💗

These are the wooden letters (above) which Claire painted & decorated.

L stands for Love-hearts ... a beautiful Love heart quilt made using Tilda fabrics ... & quilted with hearts 💕

& a tube of Love Heart sweets.

O stands for "the shape" ... yet another gorgeous quilt made using O-shaped blocks, quilted in O's & even an "O" cross stitch label on the back.  Also a delightful handmade ceramic O-shaped bowl.

(I think about this point in time - I may have cried !!!)

V stands for Violet & for "V"  ... a smaller size quilt made using V shaped blocks (gorgeous vintage Tilda), a Violet-coloured "Scissor wall-hanging" in a V-shape,  some tiny Embroidery scissors & 3 Velour hearts with Tilda Angels attached.

If you look closely you may notice the M & M's packet is empty - I blame that ginger cat of mine !!

E stands for Envelope & Easter Eggs !!!  A square shaped table quilt with Envelope blocks on it & two bags of Easter Eggs. 

Each package had one of these hand-sewn Tilda Envelopes with it & a handwritten notecard inside 

Here are the 4 Vintage embroidered tablecloths once I have ironed them all ... just gorgeous. 

Yesterday was the first chance I have had to even think about how to display my beautiful new treasures & I am sure I will continue to change my mind & re-arrange things.  This is a small display on the edge of my TV cabinet using the Envelope table quilt.

The Love hearts quilt fits perfectly over an armchair & the Tilda Summer pillow, a gift from my dear friend Leeanne,  just compliments it so well.  The V-shaped quilt tucked under a small display of china in similar colourings.

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I stitched a quilt hanger to the Scissor quilt & hung it in my sewing room along with a velvet bow ... but Claire informs me I have it upside down (!!!)  I shall have to rectify this 😉

As you can imagine dear friends - I am just so happy with all my swap gifts - in fact, happy doesn't really do it justice.  Just So Much Love sewn in to each & every piece 💕 Claire's handwork is absolutely stunning!!

Thank you dear readers, if you've stayed to the end of this photo-heavy post. 

Wishing each & every one of you a Blessed Easter ... I hope you get to spend it however you choose.  For me it will be a quiet one & believe me when I say - Quiet is perfectly fine with me !

Thank you as always, for your visits here today,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

A Wedding, An Ambulance, & A Special Birthday

Greetings lovely friends & readers

It has been an eventful week & then yesterday ... we welcomed in another shiny new month ... April 💚

Exactly a week ago today my Stepson & his Fiance got married in a stunning part of the Hamilton Gardens.   If you google Hamilton Gardens Medici Court Images,  you can see much better photos than I have taken.

 It was the most beautiful Autumnal day & the wedding was extra special because this was their 3rd attempt - having been forced to cancel twice last year due to Lockdowns.   Then my Stepson went down with Covid, only coming out of his isolation the day before the wedding.  To say we were all holding our breath is an understatement.  

My photos are not great - I am always conscious of professional wedding photographers & their protocol so I only clicked a couple of snaps.

The beautiful Bride & Groom after the service.

Their wee girl Juno (nearly 2 now) had been given a new rabbit to match her new dress.  She did so well at the service & just sat quietly with the bride's brother without making a peep.

A rare photo of me with my youngest son & his wife.  Kayne & Jared  (the groom) grew up together & have remained close. 

 

After the service we travelled to Hayes Common for the reception. The florists had done a stunning job of framing the entrance with the same sorts of flowers used in the girls bouquets. 

After a delicious meal a pink Icecream Van pulled up outside the venue & we were all to order any sort of icecream we fancied.  We all wanted to loosen our belts after this evening !! 😉

(Again - I forgot to snap pics & the ones I took of the couple dancing have come out blurry.)

On the morning of the wedding as I was heading to a friends to get my hair done I got a phone call to say my 92 year old Mum had had another fall & been carted off in an ambulance.  This did tend to put a dampner on the days celebrations for me as I was so worried about Mum.

The next morning when I learned Mum was still in hospital awaiting a CT scan I decided to head off down there. I was having a relatively uneventful drive until I encountered this huge landslide.  You can read about it * Here *.

I was only the 3rd vehicle back & I was on the other side to this pic.  (this is the newspapers photo I have shown)

I ended up taking a different route going back, then inland - a journey that normally takes me 4 hours ended up taking me nearly 7. It was a long day & I was pleased to arrive safely at Mums house.

After 4 nights Mum was discharged from hospital (nothing broken) & I took her home to her place.  I then drove home again late Thursday afternoon but I will return to look after Mum next week & this will be ongoing until a bed comes up in the Resthome just up the road from where Mum lives.

The reason I wanted to return home was because yesterday,  April 1st - was a special birthday in which 

Sid was turning 5 !!    🎈

I spent yesterday morning wrapping presents & baking & then we had his little birthday celebration in the afternoon.

One of his requests was for a dinosaur piniata which gave all the children lots of pleasure until they managed to get it to burst open & lollies pour out.

And then this sweet little photo appeared in my inbox this morning of Sid with the Crocodile Lego set I gave him.

 I can hardly believe this boy is now 5 years old & will start school at the beginning of May.    

I will miss my Tuesdays-with-Sid. 

I was able to briefly catch up with my dear friend Claire before Mum came home from hospital & she gifted me my swap gifts from our Valentines Love swap that I wrote about in * this post *

Oh My !!! What treasures !!  I shall share those in my next post as I feel this one is already long enough.

Thank You all So Very Much for your visits today,

My posts & my visits to your blogs may be a bit erratic for awhile,

Take care of yourselves dear friends - sending love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Carrots, Fireplaces & Contrary Cats

Greetings lovely friends & readers

It has been another busy week but Oh I am loving these March Autumn days with the chilly mornings & evenings ... I just adore them 💖

I came across this Carrot Treat Bag tutorial free on the Internet & thought what a wonderful idea they would be to make for my Grandchildren & pop a few Easter goodies in.  I was able to get 3 made up using orange & green fabrics already in my stash & thought they looked wonderful with the Easter tags I made in my last post.

 The only thing I needed to buy - besides the choccy - was 1 metre each of green & orange ribbon. 

(The Bunnie tag is to pop away for a rabbit I hope to sew one day)

Then yesterday an Order arrived in the post from Love from Seventeen.  I often buy their seasonal tags to attach to gifts so the wee rabbits will be perfect tied around my Carrot treat bags. 

We have had Tradesmen here most days this past week as we had our old fireplace removed & a new one fitted.  

This is what the cavity looked like once the old one was removed - I did paint around the edges before the new                                                                       one went in.

While I was doing this I observed all the colours the fireplace had been.  When we first moved in 20 + years ago I had thought it was a muddy cream colour but looking at this now I see it was more a dirty pink.  I remember when everyone had gone to bed late one night I found a tin of British Racing Green paint in The Mr's shed & painted it green.  I could not get the pink colour clean no matter now much I scrubbed it.  Then it was a dark burgundy for awhile before I lightened it in this Post * here *

It is a process now to change a fireplace.  Once the old one is removed you cannot fit the new one until a Building Inspector has checked the cavity first.  Here is Blackie checking out the new firebox & telling me there is no need to send a Building Inspector out - he can do just as good a job at checking everything 😉!!

Here is our lovely new firebox.  We have a fan fitted in the bottom grill so this had to be wired in by an Electrician. Tomorrow at 8 am the Slate man is coming as the Hearth needs to be an inch wider to get our building consent.  As you can imagine Miss Pip is beside herself with all these Tradies here every single day & not impressed at all !!

I went to pick up a presciption last week & noticed a new Op Shop in the old Bank building - an SPCA one.  So I went for a look & a purchase as it would be incredibly rude of me not to support them 😉

I came away with the plant stand for $10 - the lovely vintage fabric above left was $2 & $3, & the plaster cherubs were $4 each.  

While the men were fitting the fireplace & I was keeping out of their way, I painted the plant stand with 2 coats of chalk paint - Antique White.  I will show you in my next post what I have used it for.

Some self seeded tomatoes have gone wild in my veggie garden & this is what I am picking every 2nd day.  The cherry ones are especially sweet & delicious. 

I took Sid to our little local Park last Tuesday & he wanted me to take a photo of the clouds - they were so fluffy & wonderful that day & the sky was Oh so blue 💙

Whilst I was still keeping-out-of-tradies-way I made up another batch of miracle spray. You can find the recipe * here *  This is all I use for my cleaning - it is wonderful & a batch lasts me a very long time.

Lastly dear friends -  I had left my (undies!!) drawer open while rushing out the door to an early appointment.  Upon arriving home I found a certain ginger being curled up sound asleep in it.  I posted this photo on Instagram & it got so many lovely comments.  The next day I was contacted by a PetModels Inc. Company telling me they were interested in pets like this & would I be willing to work with them??

And Yes there were ginger hairs all through my "smalls" 😐

Thank You Very much but No Thank You!!  This little ginger friend is already HIGH MAINTENANCE ENOUGH without the thought of modelling going to her tiny fluffy head!!  And she is so contrary I could imagine the whole thing being a complete nightmare!!   So not a word has been mentioned to her about it 😉

Thank You So Very Much for your visits here today dear friends,

I hope the coming week treats you well - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

Craft Group Get-togethers, a Mirror, & a Potty (!!)

Greetings lovely friends & readers

When a New Year rolls around our small Craft Group usually get together & have an informal meeting to work out a rough programme for the year ... things we would like to create/learn/try etc ...

After my visit to The Tree Church in * this post * I thought the ladies might like to get together Here for our first meeting & to work out our programme.  Due to various other commitments this didn't happen until late February but it was a beautiful summery day when we went.

Just look at that beautiful Blue Sky !!!

I had made a slice & some gingernut balls & Gail had made sausage rolls - everyone bought their own thermos flask & we sat in the shade & had our morning tea & wrote down some ideas for various activities throughout the coming year.

There are usually 7 of us but only 6 could make it that day

We also went for a big long leisurely walk around the Tree Church & Gardens.

I could quite easily fill my post with so many photos - it is honestly such a stunning place to visit.  It closes soon for the winter months & then re-opens again in the spring time.

Whenever I go down to Mum's I buy packets of these wooden cut-outs from a Variety Store in her small town.  I had put together some Easter themed tags by mod-podging paper serviettes on to them & thought the ladies might like to have a go at this at our next meeting.  

Also the ladies each had to bring a painted bottle or jar so we could decorate these with mod-podged serviettes.  We all met at my home last Monday - it was such a fun activity & everyone had some tags & a decorated bottle to take home with them.

We had a delicious lunch together & as always, there was an abundance of good home-made food.  The finished bottles all decorated top right.     I forgot to get a pic of everyone's tags at the end.

Another Hospice store find on my last trip to Mum's was this $5 mirror.  The entire mirror panel from the centre was missing & it was all rather sad looking ... however I could see it definately "had potential" 😉

It cost $17 to have a new mirror panel put in the centre which I thought was really reasonable considering they also had to put a piece of board in to attach the mirror to.  I noticed some gaps in the corner joins so I filled these with Polyfilla.  It was a simple job because I had "good help" on hand to assist me & ensure I didn't miss any bits 😉

Then I set about painting the mirror with two coats of Soft Duck Egg Chalk Paint.  Once I was happy with the coverage I lightly distressed the whole piece & then Very lightly rubbed some silver embossing wax over the decorative edges of the frames.

I had thought the hinges looked like brass so I was able to bring a bit of shine back to them with some Brasso ... also the tiny ball feet were brass.  I am So pleased I didn't paint over these but took the time to mask them out first.

I just love my new/old mirror & it fits perfectly in the corner of my dining room with a set of fairy lights wound around it.  My dining room can be dark at times & I find the addition of mirrors helps to throw some light into darker corners.

I follow Kim at Rosebud Collectables over on Instagram & she posts some real treasures for sale but I always seem to miss out on them.  When I saw this vintage chamber pot I quickly messaged to ask if I may purchase it & was lucky enough to be the first.  

It arrived last week & when I opened the box it was bigger, heavier & more beautiful than I had imagined.  

I have displayed it with a maidenhair fern for now but I am thinking that some Easter bunnies in a small group inside it would be rather lovely for Easter ...............

I just adore the flowers on it ... & the colours.  💗 Way, way too nice for it's original purpose !!

Thank You all So Very Much for your visits here today dear friends,

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship To You All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x