March already....

Well, another month has come and gone oh so very quickly, and we are heading into what is supposed to be autumn. It is really hard to tell exactly what season we are in as last week we had a full week of rain, yes everyday it rained - so no washing on the line, no gardening, no cycling - I mean this was consistent downpour. It has gone as quick as it come, and today you could be forgiven for thinking we were in the middle of summer. Lovely hot sunny day, people in shorts and t-shirts, ... and stuck inside at work! Come the weekend who knows what the weather will be doing.

So I have found this basket of goodies, the dining room table has been taken over again, much to rowing man's horror. but isn't that better then being in his study, which I have largely taken over anyway and he is pushed into one tiny little corner. When we eventually build our dream home (hope to do this in Twizel in about 2 years), he says that we must include a study for him AND a largish workroom for me, quite separate from each other... hrmphhhh... but at least it looks like I shall have a good planned space of my own! The lighting is not that great in rowing man's study anyway...

A friend at work gave me some old vintagey buttons that a very dear old friend had given to her. I love rummaging around with old buttons and playing with them, sorting them into shapes, and colours and sizes...something really therapeutic about this activity. They.. the buttons that is, have been out on the table for 3 days now, just waiting for me to decide what I may do with them. Of course the same old lady that gifted the
buttons, made the button tree that you can see in the bottom right hand corner of the top picture, and I have a full picture of the button tree a bit further down also. This one is quite old, but I think that I will do my own version of this and see what I can come up with. And I found this fabric to start making into some goodies also, they are actually some very pretty dainty teacups, and I don't think that you can make it out, but the border is a very soft baby blue self spot


... And this is a stitchery that I did a few months back, this needs finishing off and some fabric borders added, so it will soon be another completed project. I have a number of these and I am very grateful for the "one project a month challenge" that Kris from Tagalongteddies has organised with May Britt. These 2 clever ladies are really responsible for my recent burst in action, to get a few of these things finished. Long may it last ....


This is the older version of the button tree that I talked about above, the photo doesn't really do it justice as it is much prettier then what is actually shown here. It really is rather cute, but very old, and unfortunately, just a little bit stained.

And wahoo, I have finally taken the time to figure out how to make a blog link, and as you can see above (I hope you can), it is actually working, YAHOO!


....... and this last one below is a stitchery called "Two Brown Chickens" this is a pattern from Leanne Beasley. I have an old 2 seater wooden sofa/chair thing, that is currently sitting at the top of the stairs on the landing area. I want to restore and repaint this, and it will be just perfect place to rest the cushions and right beside it I will hang the framed stitching. I have some lovely red and yellow fabric, which is ideal for this project and should look pretty darn Perfect!

When we were in Paris recently at New Years, we found a really very lovely quilt shop just around the corner from Notre Dame (yes rowing man came to the Quilt shop too! - helped by the fact that the Quilt shop, Le Rouvray, was very close to an internet cafe and computer shop) - and I did see some very similar red and yellow fabric there, but there was quite a bit of it and at the time I though that it was too much and as I didn't really have a specific project in mind, I didn't buy it. How silly of me! (I am sure that I really might bought it if rowing man had not been with me, and I wasn't trying really hard to live up to my "I am really going to save money this year" throw away stupid stupid random comment. So I left it on the table and have regretted ever since. No use crying over spilt milk so they say... and I more then made up for it a week later in Canada at this shop in a lovely little place called Salmon Arm. We were stranded about an hour up the road overnight, (actually more like a day and a half!), waiting for the highway to open.We were stranded with a hundred or more other motorists after an avalanche and mud slip closed the road when we were heading to Revelstoke for some skiing. But that is a whole other story.. maybe for another time....

So.... if find some spare time this weekend, in between all the odd jobs and tasks that I have listed in my head to do.. then I might just try and tackle this one too.... the wooden sofa that is....



and the cushions and frame the stitching and hang it on the wall.... so, watch this space!

have fun all,

cheers, Shiree