A funny ol' mixed bag of tricks

Hello dear friends & readers,

How has your week gone?? I do hope it has been a good one ...

Mine has been a funny ol' mixed bag of tricks ... but I have had a few finishes, & a very lovely surprise

I managed to complete an order to tick off my list

These two little raggedies are going to 2 little girls who are flying to Australia for a holiday

Their Mum had chosen my Isabella Golly pattern,(from Lil Blokes)  but wanted them made as Raggedy Annes 

Plus wanted all the clothing to be removable ... I also made sure all legs & arms were double-stitched plus hair stitched on etc ... I couldnt resist popping a little teddy in their hands :-)

The 2nd picture that is making me rather joyfull is this ...

"Oh Yes - how very fascinating Julie - a patch of brown grass "  you are saying ... 
but it is great because it shows I have finished another pile of mulch ... & this was a huge one too!!!!

(I had 6 piles to do, now I only have 2 left!!)

A couple of months ago my dear friend Catherine sent me a little parcel of fabric bits & pieces from her stash & I have slowly been using them up in my projects

This beautiful doiley was amongst them & I decided to make myself a cushion using it

Isnt the crinolene lady doiley just beautiful - thank you SO much Catherine

One of my aims hopes this year was to make a collection of wool blanket cushions for along my couch 

I think I might just have room for one more !!!???

I had to take a trip to the city this week for some business & I popped into this rather interesting shop

I know I have been complaining telling you lately how I am fast going through my vintage button stash ... well I knew they had a good selection in here

and I wasn't disappointed (I might add they had rather a good selection of interesting other things that were very tempting to bring home with me also .... but I was very brave)

I dragged this poor old neglected trike out from under some bushes this week & gave it a good scrub up

I usually plant it with pansies for the winter but am rather late doing these things this year for some reason

Last year it flowered right through into February for me ... so I am hopefull again this year  :-)

Plus I think I am only going to get one more year before the bottom drops right out of my rusty old bucket - so fingers crossed it holds on in there !!!

As I sit typing this my house smells so lovely - I had a large box of gorgeous handmade soaps arrive this morning to sell in the Cottage

I have been busy making little home-made labels to tie onto them with some jute - I liked the handmade charm they add to the soaps 

I think they look rather lovely on vintage plates in the Cottage - what do you think ??

I couldn't chose a favourite - they all smell so wonderful - almost edible!!

Finally, in the middle of this week I had the most wonderful surprise ... several months back I had accidently broken my favourite big red bowl that sat on my kitchen bench (actually the Mr broke it but we wont go into details !!!!)  I always give my broken china to my friend Jan as she does really beautiful mosaic work, which I sell in the Cottage.  Well Jan turned up with this ...

This beautiful planter pot which she had made from my old red bowl + one of my polka dot coffee mugs I had broken quite sometime ago

It was a belated birthday gift as Jan has been overseas ... isnt it stunning ??? I was surprised & overjoyed.  Jan has planted it with white pansies so when they bloom, I will share it with you.

(Incidently Jans daughter is my friend Sally - whose home I often share pics of - so you can see where Sallys talent comes from )

Well folks I hope you have a great weekend - I am off to tidy up my extremely messy rather interesting sewing room - I have lost another leg (dollys that is!!!) in there somewhere & I need to find it

If anyone is peering closely at the screen & you spot a dollys leg, please let me know ... thanks so much for stopping by - take good care everyone :-)

much love/hugs/friendship,

Julie x0x0