Monday, July 29, 2013

And on Monday it All Went Too Far......

Happy Monday!
I'm feeling mighty cheerful for a Monday.  
Determined to stay smiling, despite another long work week ahead.
Mrs. Spudinski (I call her that because after finding out 'he' was really a 'she' the Spud name was stuck, but it just didn't seem right) has enjoyed her Monday snoozing in the window.  She's on a quest to meet the boy cat next door, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.  Five weeks till the vet takes care of *that* issue.
Sorry, blurring photos taken with my work phone.
 A lovely little posy of flowers from my wild and crazy garden.
 And here's when my Monday went too far on the side of crazy....
 Another cute polka dot dress.....
OK so that's not too crazy.....
But spending your evening making tiny socks to go with the cute polka do dress most DeFiniTely IS.
Yep, tonight I'm smiling and working on the other side of crazy.

Wooo....hoooo!

Pretty sure I'm not alone.

Toodles...L x ♥

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Sunday Stitching Gone Bonkers.....

We had a lovely, although a bit wet weekend away this weekend in our caravan.  It really was a blissful weekend by the creek and I thoroughly enjoyed the very cool cold night on Friday. Nothing better than being bundled up in crochet blankets in our caravan. I've had it up to my ears with stinky hot weather.  Unfortunately the grey skies and rain made for little photo taking.

Little Man made the most of every stick and log in sight and put his new knife and whittling skills into action.  I lost count of the number of times I cringed in fear he'd take off a finger or two.
 Big J cooked up the most fantastic spuds on his new little stove.  It's teeny tiny little thing, but it is fantastic for cooking.  The best part of it is that it all folds down in a lovely little wooden box for transport and it is beautifully handcrafted.  Big J was not amused I snuck up and took his photo.
 The little creek near our campsite is really very lovely and picturesque but the grey skies didn't help my poor photography skills.

 We were literally less than 10 minutes from home, but after spending my days working at home it is a real delight to have a change of scenery.  There is a small fairground and this weekend there was a little train going around the track.
Of course while the men folks built campfires and fished I spent a few quiet and very enjoyable hours knitting and crocheting in the caravan.  Running around in the rain was not my thing.  I'm making very slow progress on my latest cardigan.  Trying very hard not to give up!
Of course it frequently gets put aside to make things that come together very quickly.  Items on a small scale that make me grin from ear to ear.

After whipping these teeny tiny dresses up in just a few minutes, when I got home I couldn't wait to do some sewing machine stitching on a tiny scale.
A little package arrived all the way from Hong Kong while we were gone and I knew these ridiculous, but adorable shoes needed a matching polka dot dress!
   Seriously, aren't these the cutest shoes ever?  I'd love a pair in my size!
 Ok so I might have become slightly obsessed with this girl, but it is SO much fun to create these tiny dresses in just a few minutes.
 Of course when Big J inquired as to what had come all the way from Hong Kong in a little brown envelope with incredible stamps and I showed him, I got the "Oh Mum" and then a few words that maybe things were getting a little out of hand.


Yes, maybe he is right, but for now I'm having fun and smiling.

Do your children think your crazy?

I think mine do.


Toodles...L x ♥

Friday, July 12, 2013

My Garden in July

Sorry, loads of rather boring photos of my garden in this post.  I like to try and keep track of what grows and when each year.  
I also found it entertaining to see how many times I would swear when trying to get the macro button to stay on with my silly camera.  No point stopping to read the silly manual.  My neighbors found it quite amusing.  It puzzles them as to why their silly neighbor is out taking photos of her garden and swearing like a long distance truck driver.
I do like to keep folks entertained.
On to some rather bad photos of my garden in July!
Enjoy the photos or take this opportunity to use this post to bore yourself to sleep and have a little nap compliments of me. ☺
Oh before we go anywhere with the garden, this is my amaryllis red lion that I grew over the New Year. I threw it outside when the weather got warm thinking I would try either dry it (or whatever it is you do) so I could start it again at Christmas or kill it. It's been dug up by the cat, knocked over by the neighbor kids and fallen down the stairs.  There's barely any soil left, but unbelievably it has decided to flower again!  This is one tough plant!
Onto the garden.
Lovely cosmos....first year growing these.  I bought this bottle, yes it was a bottle, of wild flower seeds and spent a silly afternoon in April sprinkling them willy-nilly all over the garden. Then of course I couldn't tell the plants from the weeds and ended up with a very wild, messy looking garden.
Cosmos were in the bottle apparently.
         
I think this blue flower is a cornflower, but I could be wrong.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a cornflower before.  Anyhoo, they were in the bottle too.  My macro setting on the camera hated these flowers, but I quite like them.
 Ahhh....Zinnias....my F♥VORITES.  
Not in the bottle, but 25 cents a pack from the dollar store. 
They are only just getting started and I can't wait till I can cut them and put them in a little jug in the house.
 Nasturtiums to remind me of home.  They grew like weeds in our garden when I was a kid.  The leaves I remember being much bigger and my sister and I used to like to watch droplets of water turn to silver on their leaves.  I have a devil of a time getting them to grow in my garden now.

  Mystery flowers from the bottle.  No clue what they are, but they are very pretty.


 Onward to vegetable plants.  
Little peppers finally flowering.  
We bought some lovely non GMO seeds from Seeds Now and the one thing I have noticed is they seem to take quite a bit longer to get going than the regular store bought seeds.  They were brilliantly priced and the service was very good and I like to know we'll be eating veggies this year from seeds that haven't been 'messed' with.
  Little watermelon plant which doesn't seem to have grown at all in the last two months.  We'll be harvesting watermelons for Christmas at this rate.
 Zucchini plants that seem to have the plot wrong.  They are teeny tiny but have enormous flowers!  They seem to have forgotten to grow a little before they start to make zucchini.
 Crap Carrots. This is our third attempt at carrots this year. Last year they did marvelously, this year, utter crap.  We've tried store bought seeds and non GMO with pathetic results.
Grow Carrots....GRRRROOOOWWWW
 At last, flowers on the tomato plants. I'm not entirely sure if this plant is one we planted this year or self seeded again from last year.  It was close to where we planted seeds, but only a foot away from where we actually put the seeds in.
Only time will tell.
 Attempt number 2 at raddishs. Still doesn't look promising.  We've read up on raddish growing and followed all the directions, but I'm not hopeful.  Our third attempt lettuce (in the pots) however is looking promising. The first batch we put directly into other group and our rather naughty sausage dog decided to hop the garden fence and dig them all up. Second round went into pots which again when jumping the fence she knocked over.  Third times a charm? Fingers crossed.
More peas too, since our resident G-Pig has developed quite a taste for them.
 Lovely marigolds.
 Our little front garden veggie patch.  Our neighbors are always entertained by our antics in the garden, them being non-gardening type folks. On the one side they  have turned a lovely, but very small front lawn into a boggy muddy baseball field and on the other side they're more interesting in growing beer cans or bottles.  Ahh yes, delightful folks.  Fortunately they are relatively harmless and don't cause us much bother.  

 A little patch of zinna and wild flowers.
  Lavender going strong for it's third year. I just love the smell of lavender.  My Mum grew all sorts of lavender in her garden back home and every Christmas my Dad would give her a boxed set of Yardley Lavender soap and perfume.  The smell always reminds me of her.
 And here it is, the grand finale.  
Are you still with me???
One very messy front garden.   
Compliments of a bottle of wild flowers found on sale at the end of April and me spreading them willy-nilly all over the place thinking they would look like some lovely english cottage garden.
Ha!
Pretty much looks like a bed of weeds.
I'll be in total shock if you actually stayed with me on this one.  
I've pretty much bored myself to sleep.  
So, I'm off to bed!

Toodles...L x ♥

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

WIP Wednesday - Hexagons

Enjoying the quiet of a Wednesday evening stitching a few hexagons.  Smiling that the week is already half over!

Toodles...L x ♥

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Finishing Up an Old Project

A couple of weeks back when rummaging through a box of half finished projects I came across a little bag (YES another one) that I made a few years back, but never quite finished.  I wasn't too keen on it when I finished it, but after rediscovering it I thought it was worth a few minutes of my time to finish the handle and add a lining. 

Once it was finished I decided to give a test run, see how I liked it.  I have to say, for a person who has as many bags as I do (call me the 'bag lady') this little bag has become an all time favorite.  I switch my bags out regularly and this one I have stuck with over the last two months I love it so much! 
 The bird fabric has been hoarded for a VERY looonnnng time.
I l♥ve this fabric and it was perfect for this project.
 Love those little birds.
 The bag is made of two strands of crochet cotton thread - either red with purple or red with pink.  I had spied a SAK bag at the store, fell in love and figured I could easily make one. Of course it didn't turn out quite like the one in the store, but it did cost about 1/5 the price.
 Of course it took two years hidden in a box and the lining for me to love it.
The photos are realize are total crap, but this bag is really wonderful!

Toodles...L x ♥

Friday, July 5, 2013

July 5th - A bit of this and that....

Hello! 

I hope this day finds you happy and smiley.  Thank you for stopping by to visit, your little page views and comments are greatly loved and appreciated.   

I've been far too absent of late *again* and I fear the black cloud has been following me around far too much.  It's a devil of a thing that black cloud.  This morning, after a lovely 4th of July with friends I have decided to turn my back on that  wicked black cloud and look for the smiles and sunshine in my day.
A quick tidy up after yesterday's festivities were in order this morning.
My lovely new enamel pot and bowl of apples had to be returned to the table after being replace by hot dogs, fruit salad, mac cheese and cake for yesterday's little party.
 Then I popped outside to see if there were any green beans ready for picking. Just a few, which were devoured by our resident G-Pig.  There was a little surprise however, a delicious slug free strawberry!  Of course the photo has decided to load upside down, as you do.
 On further inspection, a little gathering of slug free strawberries were picked.
 Back to the kitchen to rescue my first loaf bread from this recipe.  It's perfect!!! I'm smiling from ear to ear. I have another in the oven as I type.  I've finally found bread that doesn't taste like cotton wool.  The one thing I miss from home is good tasting bread (and sausage rolls, but don't get me started on how much I miss those).  The kind of shop bought sliced bread that's only good for a day or two, but that first day is delicious. So good you can eat it plain and the next day makes the perfect slice of toast.  Not like the unfortunate american bread with a shelf life of 4 weeks.  Tastes like nothing and as the texture of cotton wool.  
What's up with that?
 It's getting hot already, so I'm back into the dining room to crank up the air conditioner. Boy, it has been stinking hot here the last few days.  Well not so much hot as humid.  Ugghhh...can't stand the humidity.  Give me a dry blistering heat any day over humidity.
Smiling again at my new enamel jug now in place on the table.  Then realzing the day after the 4th that the table cloth I picked up at the flea market a few months back is very 4th of Julyish.
 Unfortunately my american history knowledge is not up to scratch. You'd think after 22 odd years year I'd have figured what started the old 4th of July celebration!
 Love this table cloth.  It was new old stock, I'm pretty sure that since the package was lacking a bar code it was from the seventies.
So despite the black cloud that has followed me these last few weeks I have managed to keep either something on my needles or something on my hook.
 Nothing too exciting, just a little something to use up some scraps and try and keep the sunshining for me.
 A little bit of playing with different stitches to keep things interesting.
 And I now have *another* colourful bag!
  It still needs lining so stuff doesn't fall out the holes.  It only took a few days to wip up and I'll tell you, despite the fact that I have absolutely NO need for another bag, I made it anyway.  It help shoo away that nasty black cloud and bring me back to sunshine and smiley days!

I do hope the sun is shining over you and the weather is treating you kindly too.

Thank you for sticking by the rather long and disjointed post and I do hope you'll be back to visit again. Please drop a line and say hello, your little words are much appreciated.


Toodles...L x ♥