Just 'Garden ' Really .. Pretty Pic's ...

 Hello there folks ..

All quiet and peaceful here .. just as we like it.

Not a lot to tell you .. but here are some garden pic's .. lots of loveliness springing from the earth.

Just look at these Hellebore's .. I have just the one clump .. 

but what a show this year .. 

and they have been flowering since mid January.

 They are just so pretty ... an amazing shade of pink.

 And these creamy coloured ones are forming seed pods ... 

anyone know if they are easy to grow from seed?

 Hubby P managed to find me some garden chairs .. 

not new (of course) ... 

but with a touch of the Hubby P treatment they will be just great .. now all we need is some nice sun to sit in.

I was looking at new garden furniture on line ..

 Gosh what a price !

Sometimes I get quite a shock when I venture into the 'real' world and see just how much things cost.

 In our simple world ..  it is one of working with cash money .. only buying what you have enough cash to buy .. 

mostly secondhand/locally sourced .. 

but good old fashioned face to face trading .. 

buying locally ..

 keeping the money circulating within our community.

I don't know that I would fair very well in 'the real world'.

 My big pot of Tulips are on their way up ..

 And the Forsythia is flowering .. pretty .. pretty.. sunshiny yellow.

I've done a bit of reclaiming vintage fabrics .. 

its so nice to wash .. iron.. and stand the maiden outside in the sunshine to dry off.

 This is a nice bit of Jonelle fabric .. 

curtains that had seen better days as curtains .

But lots of good fabric still.

All 'come up lovely' as they say .. after a good wash.

I've tried a bit on eBay .. but I will probably sell most of it to my my crafty ladies at the boot sale.

I just love the blue colour.

Sweet little terracotta pots in the sunshine ..

 just gearing up to flower their little socks off all summer.

That's all for now folks .. take care ..

Bye for now xx

Thrifty Doings .. With The Dashing Young Mr Poldark ....

 Hello there .. just a quick 'Hello' tonight 

.. the sun has been shining again today .. although a trifle cold.

Do you like my little blanket .. you've probably seen it before .. 

I made it a while back.

I just love these little Thrifty blankets made from all the odd scraps of wool .. 

they appeal to the very basic core of thriftiness .. 

or meanness ? .. in me.

In the wintertime they keep my knees warm sat by the fire ..

 and in summer they are handy to drape over the outside chairs .. just there ready to put around your shoulders as the cooler evening draws in.

Last week .. amongst the 'stock' that came in was a little old hand knitted jumper .. 

rather sweet but unfortunately it was coming unravelled at the back .. too far gone to repair.

 Not to worry ... not to waste .. its all still good wool .. 

and will look just fine given a new lease of life amongst the squares of a blanket.

So I sat down to unravel the jumper .. no hardship really ..

 my attention was fully taken up with the dashing Mr Poldark ... such a pretty young man .. 

maybe a touch too pretty for me .. but maybe I am just getting a bit older ..

And I can't get past thinking of him as a vampire ...!

Do you remember him as the vampire ..?

The end result .. apart from him marrying the redhead ... 

well some rather nice balls of wool in a pretty shade of blue.

Its rather thin wool.. 4ply I should think

 .. so I will knit it up .. or rather crochet it up .. two together.

And as I sit of a winters evening with a blanket over my knees ..

 I will see the blue squares and forever think of Mr Poldark.

 The sunshine brought Hubby P out of his workshop again.

 I caught him manfully wrestling with this large bench.

Its a repair and refurbish kinda job ..

it was built (by local carpenters I think) for a lady in remembrance of her late husband .. 

she asked Hubby P to pick it up from the rest home where it provides a welcome resting place for residents .. and give it a good sanding down and treating with .. er .. 'stuff'

 .. so it will withstand the wind and the rain for another few years.

A nice little job .. we do allsorts of everything here .. 

Just to finish with  a bang ....

How's this for a dollop of colour ...

 This is real Retro flower power.

Fancy waking up to this bright blue number on your bed ... 

I wonder if they did wallpaper too ..

This little bedspread came in last week .. just a single bed size  .. good size for a throw I suppose.

Its in excellent condition so I will bung it on eBay I think.. 

the fabric is fabulous even if the thought of waking up to the bedspread might be a touch to much.

That's all for now folks ..

 off to crochet a couple of Poldark squares ..

Bye for now x

A Day Playing Out In The Sun .. Lots Of Little Jobs Done.

Hello there ... hope you are all well ..

A real Spring like day today .. wall to wall sunshine .. 

a day to play out... 

and grab a bit of that lovely sun.

Well ... not so much playing ..

 more like 'at last' getting some outdoor jobs started ..

 I rooted about in the shed until I found a tin of undercoat .. 

I sanded down the conservatory windows and gave them a goodly coat of paint.

This conservatory never seems to get finished .. 

its still waiting to be sanded down and sealed with linseed oil ... Oh well .. one day.

 The Girls .. and George of course .. 

had new shavings in their deep litter shed .. and the outside scratch pen was forked over for them .. 

this causes great excitement as it turns up all sorts of worms grubs and other goodies. 

Their day was complete when I tipped a trug full of dead leaves into the scratch pen (sweeping up around the paths and whatnot) ... a look of pure bliss on their little faces ..

 Ahhh to be a chicken with leaves to scrat around in ..!

 Hubby P was his usual industrious self .. 

doing a bit of make do and mend ... here he is repairing an interesting little table .. giving it a new lease of life.

 A lovely little coffee table .. it is level and straight .. really

 ... its just me with the camera that's not altogether level ... 

and on many levels I should think !

 Here's the little trolley he was painting (on the last blog post)

 it looked more blue in the last pic ..

 now he has shabbied and waxed it it looks ...

well ..worn and shabby .. as it is supposed to do.

I really quite like this .. but I really do not have the room .. anywhere .. I've checked.

I thought you gardeners out there might like to see these .. they are the bees knees.

Nice little vintage .. cast (iron/metal?) Herb plant name plaques .. there are eleven in all ..  lovely things ..

 I think these are quite special ..

 I had a good old tidy up of my pots and containers .. 

and the old ladder/shelving thingy ... I like my old ladder it gives a bit of height and interest to my galvanised baths and pots garden. 

I or rather Hubby P .. with me doing the important 'pointing' bit .. moved the containers to the other side of the garden .. 

I fancied a shift around .. new season .. new look.

All looking ship shape around the pots bit.

And look what I found .. (no .. I don't want your rude thoughts!)

How thrilling for a Girl .....!

The first of my asparagus spears ... I have a little pot/galvanised bath actually.. of asparagus plants ..

and they are coming on really well .. 

of course it will be a few years before we see any real crops .. 

but hey ho' .. small things an all that!

Its getting to that time of year when everyday you find something new in the garden ...

So whats new with you ? 

I hope you have something to look forward to .. 

wherever you are ... 

whatever the weather is doing..

Take care x bye for now x

Thats It ! ... I've Had Enough ! .. I've Decided That Spring Is Here ....!

 Hello there ... 

Its been a lovely sunshiny day here ... and all in the garden is blooming its little socks off ..

.. and the sunshine .. streaming in through the windows ...

is showing all the dust!

 Well ... I made an attempt at the dusting .. but today all seemed dark and dull with the heavy winter curtains still up at the 'rather small' cottage windows.

So .. I made an 'executive decision' ...and decided that this sunshine was the beginning of Spring .. 

thus.. Spring Had Come ..

Out came the summer curtains ...

I had a bit of a wipe around the windows .. removed the dead spiders and whatnot .. we're not big on housework in this household ..

 I gave the heavy velvet winter curtains a jolly good brush and hung them over the slate fence to air.

They are old cotton velvet ... they don't lend themselves to repeated washing .. so a good stiff brush usually brings them up. 

Mind you I noticed they are showing signs of wear and fading .. getting past their best .. so I will keep an eye out for something to replace them with .. perhaps a warmer colour for a change .. a nice rich red velvet might be nice.

Later I put them away in their box .. well labelled .. then I can find them when the evenings lengthen and the weather cools... and again we slide into winter.

 But for now .. fingers crossed .. we are heading to warmer weather ..

 sunshine and long days in the garden..

My light lacy curtains have been blowing in the breeze and it was wonderful to get some of that Spring air into the cottage.

 Hubby P had rather a 'blue' day ... 

he was doing his make do and mend .. repairing and recycling/upcycling and whatnot ..

 and he had the blue paint pot out.

And yes .. 

I managed to get one of the big quilts washed and on the line.

Tis my Birthday quilt .. bought for my 50th by my lovely fairy Godmother x

And it was a bit Handbags and Glad rags for me  .. 

I polished up a few handbags .. not the best quality  but someone will enjoy them ..

 cheap and cheerful vintage...

And a little collection of silk handkerchiefs..

they just needed a gentle freshen up and a warm iron.

The Teachers is for later .. my bad chest you know!

Is it Spring like with you ? .. I do hope I've not tempted fate .... lets hope the sunshine wants to stay and play.

Bye for now x

A Good Sort Out .. And Back To It ..!

Hello there ...

Well we seem to free of the germs .. at last .. 

and feel more like joining the hurley burly of everyday life .. gosh what a nasty flu like germ-y thing it was ..

As you can see (above) we have had a general sort out at the unit ..

 'Clara Bow' has had a change of outfit .. 

I rather think she looks like she is attending a Wedding.

She welcomes customers at the door.

In between sniffles .. Hubby P .. being Hubby P .. 

and fighting these germs with a vengeance .. 

not giving in .. not giving an inch .. 

and certainly Not collapsing on the sofa with a hot water bottle...

 (like most of us would/did)

He decided to work in the workshop ...

 hammering and banging and hum 'swearing' .. just a little bit.

He rebuilt a little old dresser ....

 it came to us rather in bits .. 

so it suited him to fiddle about and remake .. rebuild ..

 a bit of Make Do and Mend ...

helped to take his mind off the sniffles.

He painted it a rather nice blue colour .. and gave it a protective wax and polish.

 And guess what .. it fits into our kitchen .. just beautifully!

We had to take some cupboards down off the wall ...

 and it will mean we need to re decorate .. 

but the kitchen .. quite frankly is in dire need of a freshen up anyway.

 The photo's are not great I'm afraid .. 

we have just sort of plonked it in place .. 

but you get the idea.. 

lots of handy .. warm wooden shelves.

 And quite the cutest Deco style knobs ..

 Ooh .. a Girl just loves a nice (cupboard) Knob ..

 could have been quite rude then .. 

and Shocked you all...!

Anyway enough of that sort of thing ...

Had a good old de clutter of the house whilst I was at it .. some old friends are off to the sale.

 I've had this little mannequin for ages .. 

sweet as she is its time for a new home. 

She is an infant/small child size .. and shape .. made from plaster .. very shabby chic I suppose.

 I've loved these egg boxes too .. they date from before the war and are in such excellent condition..they were used to transport eggs. Just recently they have been pushed to the back of the shelves gathering dust.

Someone will appreciate them.

And Tins! 

Really ... just how many tins does a Girl need ..?

I've had a good thinning out .. and .. hard as it is too let go .. it does feel better .. the house feels lighter ..

that's not to say I wont go about filling it up again....!

But that's the joy of collecting .. treasure hunting .. seeking out the old and quaint .. 

the wonderfully shabby and interesting ...

 the cast aside .. 

the sad and unloved ..

So much more Thrilling than a trip to the High Street.

Don't you agree ...?

Bye for now x