A Little Birdhouse For My Soul !!

Everyone Jolly? Enjoying the Sunshine? I do hope so!

Well!! Very exciting Treasure at the carboot sale today!

I couldn't believe my luck - I could have sold it again three times over, people (obviously women) were sighing, and exclaiming over it, and wanting to buy it! - although I did get some funny looks too.

What do you think of my Little Birdhouse - it feeds my soul!

Its ever-so battered and shabby - I think it was taken out of a rubbish skip - but I just so love it for all its faded beauty. It fits in so well in our garden, amongst the other interesting, fading, shabby pieces - living the last of their lives, among the flowers!

I managed to haggle the seller down to a reasonable price (£4) luckily he knows me well and knows I haven't a lot of fancy money - he smiles at me (an I just know he's thinking 'what on earth is she going to do with that old thing'! ). Hubby P was just as 'thrilled' for me as the seller - he had to go and pick it up from the seller - too heavy for me to carry, and he lugged it all the way to the van.



Again, appreciation of the birdhouse was somewhat 'lukewarm' when I got it home - Richard's remark was - 'well when you have painted it, tarted it up a bit - you ARE going to paint it?' - what is wrong with these people??

Anyway needless to say Hubby P set to and put it up on the fence - I wanted it nestled amongst the Honeysuckle - this involved Hubby P being 'nestled amongst' the Honeysuckle too, hammer in hand - things got a little - Umm Heated?
Hopefully the Honeysuckle will grow up and around it, making it a really romantic little hide-away!
Thinking about it, its a bit Swiss chalet meets Dallas, rather Grand! It has two compartments - one either side - so two families.
Of course at the moment both 'homes' are vacant, we had of course thought of the Geoffrey's, they may wish to upgrade to something a little smarter, although I think it may be a little too ostentatious for Geoffrey, he comes from Humble stock - never-the-less, we may yet be surprised!

On to Crafty News!

Do you remember I mentioned the big curtain I bought last Tuesday, well I took it apart (the lining had 'gone') and washed it. I got one full width - and a decent length too, which I may try and sell on ebay, and a half a width, which I will keep for my own crafting.



I found some pretty little bamboo handles, and cut myself a rough sort of bag out of 'my piece' - made a newspaper 'sort of' pattern.




I wanted a lightweight, but roomy bag for carrying the necessities (purse, phone, tape measure and stacks of tissues at the moment!) around the carboot sales.

I think its turned out quite well - it does the job splendidly!

I lined the inside with some of the bright and breezy, yellow cotton fabric that Hubby P brought home the other week. An altogether comfy, roomy (its amazing what junk/treasure you can get in it - everything but a Birdhouse!) - snazzy little bag!


And last, but not least by any means Thankyou Soooooo Much to Twiggypeasticks, Solsticedreamer, and JuicyFig for this lovely Award!!

You are all so kind to an Old Girl who sits here in her little out of the way corner of the world - waffling on about the nonsense of her life!

Thankyou again, you know 'Simple Things' !! an all that.

I know I am supposed to pass this on to other people, but it does seem to have done the rounds quite swiftly - perhaps I should widen my circle of Blogs I follow, but you know how it is when you get comfy. Still I should browse a bit more - there are wonderful blogs out there and I enjoy finding and 'meeting' new bloggers - I am waffling now. If you would like the Award and somehow have missed out, Please do take it as a gift from me, paste it up on your Blog and

enjoy!

xxxx Take care for now xxxx

A Load Of Old Rope!! Treasure Indeed-y!

Hello there - hope everyone is enjoying the spring sunshine.

Just thought I would share my 'treasure' with you - although I got a few funny looks snapping up this bargain at the car boot sale yesterday!

Yes indeed-y - a load of old rope! Saw it and had just the place for it.

Its the kind - I think anyway - that is used as 'fenders' (is that the right word?) on boats and quay's and things. At least in my mind they do - you folk who live in seaside-y places may put me right - anyway its chunky, knobbly and real bit of eye candy as far as I am concerned ( you know me by now - bit of a lost cause!).

Well I wanted it to hide the ugly edge of the woodshed we put up last year. I wanted it to look something like our summer house - of course I cant find a photo of the summer house right now to show you - now when I want one (note to self - label the photographs!) Anyway if you really want to see the summer house there are lots of photo's on past posts.

The rope weathers and fades and ages really well, giving a home to lots of interesting wildlife and the most amazing moss and lichens.

Here it is fastened to said woodshed - with some very big nails ( please don't look at all the 'stuff''! I know it looks like a junk yard - not very Country Living I'm afraid!

Here's Hubby P grappling with my 'little bit of rope' - give him his due, he didn't complain, and he put it up when he came home from work - tired and rather frustrated! (work - another story!!)

Mind you we both agreed - it is nice now its light enough to mooch in the garden.

Another 'eye candy' kinda pic - I just love the texture, the knobbliness of it - just need get some interesting climbing plants to grow through it now. I will keep an eye out at the car boot - there are usually some interesting plants at my kinda price.

Another 'find' yesterday was this huge curtain - so pretty. The lining was torn, so I removed that, and washed the fabric - and its come up really well.

Its made in England by Cravendale - a print called Louvaine, anyone know anything about it?

Its a heavy cotton - curtains and soft furnishings weight.

Think I may do the usual keep a bit for me ( make an interesting bag I think ) and try to sell a bit on ebay - cover the cost of my habit!

The colours of the fabric, hanging on the washing line echoed the colours emerging in the garden beds - I just had a mooch about with the camera.

All the blues are coming out, quite lovely set against the fresh green of their foliage.

Some little hyacinths planted in a slate box (made years ago by Hubby P)

Pretty delicate Borage - flowers throughout the year.

A pretty Periwinkle climbing up the rock.

Forget-Me-Nots the garden is full of them.

And just pushing their way through - the Bluebells - not long until they give us a mass of brilliant blue.

And last but not least one fat, podgy baby rabbit! You can see his eyes are just about open - I will start cuddling them now - get them use to 'people'. So cute and squirmy - not be long untill they are running madly about and driving 'Mum' nuts!


xxx Nite nite xxx

Bunnie's, Babies, and Teatowels!

Say 'Hello' to Whitney - she's very friendly when you cuddle her, but just a bit shy of coming forward.

Whitney is a first time Mum, and she is doing very, very well.

The babies are very well looked after in a nice big warm nest, she needed no help from me, and they appear to be thriving.

I haven't disturbed them much - just peeked in to see they were all ok. I looked today and Mum had uncovered them a little - she must have thought it a bit too warm for them, anyway I think I could count five little heads.

I will keep you posted.

Teatowels! - well you know my thing at the moment - making teatowels out of interesting old fabric, well I did it again.

I found this old sheet at the carboot - lots of excellent, good strong fabric - and wonderful colours! Again I wanted to be able to 'use it' and look at it - so I made a couple of teatowels.

I made them double thickness, and kind of quilted them a little - to help hold the two sides together, and it looks pretty.

I love the whole Retro flowery look to it.

And of course I shall try my luck with one on Ebay - may get some pennies back to cover the cost of the fabric in the first place.

Isn't this sunshine so nice - doing my flu the world of good!

Here's a pretty little flower for you - it made me smile today! x

xxxx Take care xxx

Just an Allsorts mostly Picture Blog - Sickness Prevails!!

Unfortunately these have been my constant companions these last few days - a bit desperate I know, but its all that's got me through - this Flu thing has laid me out!

I'm feeling a little better tonight, I'm sure i will be fine in a couple of days - what a pesky thing this little bug is - its amazing how unwell it can make you feel.

Anyway enough of that.

I took these photo's last week before I was slain - afraid its mostly a Piccy blog - I'm not at my best!

Firstly - Yes, I remember - it was Easter! Hubby P treated me to a visit to the plant nursery and a few flowering bulbs for Easter - they last a lot longer than a chocolate egg, anyway I got to share his egg - too much chocolate you know - not good for Hubby's!

I thought these looked so nice, and just the ticket to go in my new trough. I got loads well 17 pots of flowers for £10, some were only 50p a pot - (I know - a bit of an expensive Easter egg, but 'He Love's Me' - Sigh!!!). Just goes to show it pays to go to the Nurseries rather than the posh Garden Centres - although the latter do have cafes - and cake!

Spring is officially here at the Allsorts Garden -




We have Toad spawn in the pond, and lots of it - yes, all that Romancing did do the trick.

Little Blackie has started sunbathing -yes I know - original name!

The Aquatic shop swore he would change colour to a nice orangey colour - but he has steadfastly refused to do so for the last couple of years - so who are we to say!

His mate in the pond - Elvis (he has a black quiff! ) is not so friendly - although being orange easier to see!


Hawks!

Yes great excitement here, we have been sitting outside watching fantastic aerial displays, we think they are Buzzards - very big Hawks!

You can hear them calling and amazingly all the little birds disappear, you can see them hiding in the hedges, and they are ever so quiet until the Hawks have moved on.

I managed to get a pic of this crow in the tree - he's probably a bit big for the hawks to bother with, but like hubby P said ' He probably thought - I could do with a breather, I'll just sit here for a while - very still!'


Crafty wise - Birdcages!

Don't know why - I think I may have seen something similar on a blog, and then I found this amazing reel of wire!

Don't you just love this old battered reel - just imagine if it could talk! What tales it could tell!

I have no idea what it was used for - have you?

But I felt it would make a nice birdcage - the sort with the ever open door - a refuge for the fluttery little ones - if they have a mind to share a little of their lives with us!

I put some red silk bindings to the door and hoop - for luck, and made a dangly little swing inside!

I just feel it needs a couple of sweet little felt birds - perhaps one on the swing and one fluttering on the outside, when I can get my creative brain to think outside this flu-ey fug!



BOOTS

Hubby P has worn out another pair of boots - so the old ones get planted up and 'planted' in the garden.

I put them at the front of the house with some of my flowering bulbs in for now - brighten up the front a bit!

Having lots of men means quite a few boots, the big Tree Surgeon ones are great - big and roomy they hold lots of plants and don't dry out the same in summer. I like having something as personal as my families foot wear scattered around the place - maybe I'm odd - okay well I am! I know other people make do with photographs!

Pretty though!

These are the big Tree Surgeon boots waiting to be panted up with something colourful for the summer - just look at that wonderful moss growing on them - it sparkles like jewels!


And Here's Geoffrey!

Everything is 'hunky dory' in his world - he's having Chinese for supper tonight - Hubby P brought us Chinese for dinner, so The Geoffreys are having rice, prawn crackers and wholemeal bread

He's been this evening to have a 'catch up' with Hubby P, Mrs Geoffrey is up and about - it must be said she is looking very well and has done wonders to regain her slim figure - maybe we could sell her post baby diet to a Celebrity!

Earlier this evening we had a visit from two of the tiny Geoffrey's - un accompanied by Mum or Dad, they were a but nervous and didn't hang around too long. Hubby P will try and get some pics once they have settled a little.

So all goes well here - or it will do once I have shifted this flu!

Another happy event - we have baby rabbits! Still in the nest but doing well - will post some pics next time -

Oh! Yesssss! S'alll Apinin Ere!!!! Springs come!!

xxxx Take Care xxxx

Hot off The Press _ Geoffrey Update!!

Just a very quick Geoffrey Update -

Great excitement here at the Allsorts household - Hubby P had been keeping an eye out for Geoffrey, he has been absent from the treehouse for a couple of nights ( Hubby P hadn't seen him) - so a relief to see him tonight.

And whats more - not just Geoffrey, but at least one Geoffrey Junior! Yes! there was Dad, proudly showing his son/daughter the way up to the treehouse and the different food options - we do like to give good service here and offer a varied and nutritious menu! that's if the Collared Doves haven't been and scoffed the lot - they usually show up around Supper time - just before it goes dark.

Hubby P is - as I write this - outside communing with the Geoffrey's - and what hardship that is - you really must know - he has The Man Flu!!!!

Yes! I have to know all about it - repeatedly - So I feel you All Should Too!

Lets just hope he doesn't give it to the Geoffrey's!

Hopefully a more varied and interesting post tomorrow - lots of pic's - visitors gone home, back to 'normal' - although with the Man Flu an all - I will try my best!

xxxxxx

And Lo There Was A Miracle!! (or maybe we just got it wrong!)

Well - its that time of year - Easter, special to many people, and a time of miracles.

Well we have our own here in the Allsorts garden - or more likely we were mistaken and jumped to conclusions, putting ourselves through agonies!

To celebrate Easter and all that is just lovely, bright and beautiful - and Spring 'Just Must' be here soon - here for you lovely readers are a few of our Daffs picked this morning.

Lovely just!

And the cause of our celebration, our very own miracle - Geoffrey lives!!

Ohhhhh how happy is Hubby P!

This is Geoffrey tonight - on usual form pinching peanuts.

We have decided that the unfortunate dead mouse we thought was Geoffrey must have been a visiting cousin - most probably Stanley, always to be known from now on as 'Unfortunate Stanley'.
Hubby P had toyed with the idea that Stanley was known for his fighting prowess and had been intent on taking on the evil that was/is Charlie Cat - somewhat Jihad style - but there is no video evidence of this, and Geoffrey is not forthcoming with any information. So it is still all a puzzle. The only sure thing is that Unfortunate Stanley lies still and cold under a pot of daffs.




Here is Geoffrey peanut in his mouth taking it back to his nest.
Hubby P tells me he is certain this is Geoffrey, earlier he sat in the treehouse munching away on a peanut - quietly communing with Hubby P, they have a very Man-ley/Mouse relationship!





With a flick of his tail he was gone back to his nest!

I've been having a night with Judy Garland - Hubby P found me two of her LP's at the carboot sale on Tuesday.




Lovely romantic - slushy stuff! but what wonderful stuff - she had a lovely voice and can knock spots off her daughter Liza Minnelli. You can however hear the similarity in their voices - I suppose that's because they are Mother and Daughter - dough!!

Time i went to bed! All this excitement with Geoffrey is too much!

xxx Take care xxx

Dreadful, Dreadful News I'm Afraid!

Yes, I'm afraid its the worst! It was bound to happen I know, but its still so awfully sad! The cat Charlie got Geoffrey, there was nothing we could do.

Hubby P is so upset, and angry with Charlie Cat - but he knows really that its just nature taking its course. If Charlie Cat had brought us a nasty dead rat - really what we keep him for, we would be patting him and saying what a good boy he was!

Its us humans that are fickle!

But like I said so sad, I just hope he has left a little family behind, and we may have more Geoffrey's in the garden.

So the Allsorts household is a sad little place today - missing our little friend. Hubby P buried him under a pot of daffs.

We'd had such a good day, Hubby P had the morning off work and came with me to the Car Boot Sale, we got a few nice bits and pieces.

Some nice Shabby Chic pieces.

And this wonderful, delightful musical box - for £3 I couldn't resist.

Just look at the delightful ballerina, she twirls in the most alluring way to the tinkly music of The Blue Danube.

Its mirror had come unstuck,and some of the original manicure tools are missing (replaced with oddments) - I shall look for matching pink ones, everything turns up at the carboot sale eventually!




I simply stuck the mirror back in place with good old PVA glue.

Found this little green boot too - I just thought it sweet.




And laced it up with some pretty pink ribbon - a bit 'Shabby' too perhaps?

An unusual find at the weekend was this plant trough, its part of the vintage 'Better Maid' ware. Its something else I collect, the old blue and green ware reminds me of my Grandparents house, and their overflowing collection of Geraniums.

I think I shall have to find some colourful Geraniums to put in the new trough.

Part of my other collection sits on a shelf in the conservatory, I particularly like the little watering can.

Its awfully cold and wet here today - as I think it is everywhere. Just the sort of day to drink lots of hot tea and get the crafting stuff out.

We have a younger friend staying with us this week - college holidays and all that, so its nice to have someone to share the crafting with. Hubby P still doesn't 'get it' - the crafting stuff - even after all these years - I fear he is a lost cause!

Just as well he's happy trawling ebay for obscure and unusual things!

Zoe's busy covering one of the old vintage cardboard folders I found with a montage'/collage of images with a modern celebrity twist.

I've been lining this little basket with some pretty floral fabric, and of course a few buttons!

This is a bit of an upside down image - the glue sticking the buttons is drying.

And this is the culprit - the cause of much distress to the household.

Of course he's not a bit concerned !

That's all for now folks - back to the crafting!

xxx Take care xx