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Check out the Cherry Pit website. Mom's banners are online and ready to be purchased. There are 12 banners in total. My favorite is Road Trip (on top) and then I love Bear Necessities (on bottom). Check out all 12 and begin making these beautiful pieces today!


a perfectly peachy weekend...


my dearies were everything my high hopes could wish for
and so much more...
they came from illinois, california, texas, montana,
louisana, canada, hawaii and even old blighty.
suitcases crammed with their own
high hopes,
vintage fabrics,
sewing machines,
yarn
and
crafty souls.
it would be quite true to say,
upon the moment i met
jessie, rita, debee, lou, diana, lyn,
i knew the handcrafted gods had smiled down on me.













as the weekend past,
holed up in our big old house on capitol hill, seattle,
we not only spent our waking hours wisely,
crafting apron wraps, vintage slips, bags, wall hangings and stools the dottie angel way,
but we also learnt
* everyone is important, even chickens
* random and wonky but never squiffy
* it is okay to keep canned pumpkin in vintage suitcases
* it is okay to be a vintage fabric geek
* granny chic is grand
* there is method to the madness
* never look left when going through customs



for me this has been an incredible experience
and one that i will never forget, a bit like a first love.
to be given an oportunity to meet like minded crafty souls en masse
after years of living in cyber world was such a treat.
since returning home to the shed,
i have been experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
for in the space of a few days,
my 12 'dearies of the utmost kind'
filled my world with their uniqueness, kindness and craftiness.
it would be quite true to say,
now they are gone,
i feel a little lost without them by my side...

of course we could not have 'beavered away' without nourishment.
angela, along with mary, whipped up a storm in the kitchen
and to everyones relief, not an orange meal insight.
indeed when mary was not in the kitchen
then she was my trusty assistant.
i think we all secretly wished to take mary home after the weekend.
even three days on,
i am still working on a cunning plan to have her move to mossy shed

there are plenty of photos for those that may wish to ganders.
i am quite sure many more will appear over the coming days
but for now you can take alooky
and

i am still a little gobsmacked even after a few days of being home...
to think so many lovelies took a chance on me and my dottie angel ways,
packed up their high hopes along with their imaginations
most peachy perfect indeed


she is thinking a nice dose of quality time with Miss Ethel will help cure her symptoms ~ Tif

More thrifted linen creations



Hello, here is my latest op shop find, 4 of these very cute sheets at the Merbein Red Cross Shop! I have been cutting them up and using some of my vintage sheeting and pillow slips to make some new cushions. Have a wonderful week and take care ♥ Leah

Here comes Santa and Elvis?


What a great week this has been in the quilting world. Monday began meeting with 18 wonderful quilters here on retreat. They were working on glorious projects that were a great joy to see. Tuesday we meet with another group in the home of their fearless leader. She had a Christmas theme and had her home decorated to reflect the theme. As we were eating lunch, there was a knock on the door. In walked Santa Claus bearing gifts. What fun and laughs we all had. After lunch the announcement was made of their "Quilter of the Year", Renee. Renee has been fighting cancer all year and we are happy to report she is doing well. Boy, can she ever quilt! Hardly had the announcement been made until another knock came on the door and to present flowers to this year's quilter was none other than Elvis himself!!! What a day! Quilters are so o o o o much fun!



a little crafty...

Miss Ethel developed a rather raspy rattle this morning,
whilst beavering away on some goodies
for my dottie angel dearies...


after my initial panic,
i calmed myself,
knowing this in turn may aid Miss Ethel.
for i did not need my panicking ways
to be caught by her.
i suggested she have two days of complete rest
and with 'high hopes' come saturday morning,
she will be back to her usual beavering ways.
(sometimes i think i was an ostrich in an earlier life)

piles of fabrics, lace and a lot of 'whatnots'
lay all around the shed,
ready for friday.




for friday is thee grand day!
it truly is a big thing for me.
i am giddy in a good way,
not a Mr Vertigo bad sort of way
but a slightly lightheaded,
terribly exciting giddy sort of way.
and indeed, i am a little nervous too.
however i am without doubt,
quite positively sure as sure can be,
this coming weekend,
12 dottie angel dearies and i
will be getting a little crafty...

she will be back next thursday,
until then,
she is wishing you a little crafty time too ~ Tif

Gradually catching up!


Hello, my computer has finally been repaired, YAY! I am busy catching up with some large orders for vintage chenille this week. If you would like a chance to win one of my cute little heat packs, or some other wonderful prizes, please pop over to Kid Independent Thanks for visiting ♥ Leah

Real Gardens #1 - Rae O'Connor

In Rae O'Connor's Timaru garden spring is blooming. The walkway along the north side of the house, which leads to the back yard, is flanked by red and white camellias and vibrant purple primulas. A lemon tree is tucked into the sheltered nook created by the glass conservatory and a mandarin tree nestles in behind it. A wooden cartwheel supports clematis and climbing roses, which also twine along the railing of the ramp leading to the conservatory.

If you follow the walkway down you will reach this sheltered seating area. Sheltered by tall trees, it provides shade and privacy. The trees are underplanted with daffodils and white primulas, making a sweet woodland area. In the background you can see the heritage apple tree 'Peasgood Nonsuch'. (The apples make lovely cider!)

This area has been personalised with hanging garden art. Rae made the heart ornament from chicken wire bent around a wire frame, and filled with white river stones.

Close up of the daffodils in the early morning sunlight. The pots are filled with cyclamen and other tiny flowering treasures.

Look at this magnificent glasshouse! Built by the previous owner of the property, it has a wooden frame and several windows which open for ventilation. Rae grows tomatoes, peppers, early potatoes and 'Kentucky' climbing beans.

In front are three raised vegetable beds, built from concrete blocks. The blocks are slowly but surely being filled with strawberry plants, propagated by runners, which provide an ornamental and productive edging.

Alongside the glasshouse are more strawberry beds. The fruit are perfect to eat freshly picked and warm from the sun. Rae makes strawberry jam with the excess.

The beds are bare at the moment, but soon they will be filled with an assortment of vegetables including potatoes, lettuce, carrots, peas, sweet corn, pumpkins and beans. In the background you can see a grapevine trained along the fence, which produces an abundance of black grapes.

The space behind the glasshouse is useful for hiding compost bins and items which are not currently in use in the garden. Compost bins are made from concrete blocks, and a plastic drum with holes drilled in it to let air through.

Also along the back fence is the wire support for thornless blackberry canes. This way they get full sun and are easily accessible to pick. Along the side wall of the shed are red and blackcurrant bushes. In the bottom left corner of the photo is a gooseberry bush.

The clothesline has been made decorative as well as functional by planting a small flower garden around its base. The old metal peg holder has also been given new life as a planter.

I'm on the lookout for one of these for my own garden!

And so ends the first Real Gardens tour. I hope you've picked up a few ideas. See you back here next month for another tour!

(Click on the photos to view them larger)

42 and 1 day...

(warning : this post contains pictures from my local thrift store)

first and foremost,
thank you most kindly for your lovely birthday wishes!
you have been most thoughtful to me and my 42 year old self.

yesterday was a most peachy perfect day indeed.
Debbie's secretive secret work in the shed's kitchen
resulted in the most loveliest of lovely birthday cakes
complete with Cadbury's chocolate buttons.


we decided as it is not every day one turns 42,
it would be perfectly acceptable for us to not only
go to the local vintage mall,
but then pottle on down to the thrift store.
it seemed a most decadent thing to do...
and it certainly was a jolly good job we did

soon after entering the vintage mall
we stumbled across a little lost soul,
the little lost soul appeared most bewildered
upon close inspection it appeared his bewilderment was warranted.
his little pull along thread had been cut!!

'gasp, shock and a little bit of horror'


i said
"little lost doggie, do not cry nor be bewildered any longer,
come home with me to mossy shed
where i think i have a friend who will make you feel most at home."
and indeed since arriving back at the shed
little lost doggie with the cut off string is settling in most nicely.


Carlos my trusty camera, insisted on coming to the thrift store.
he felt it most important to capture the true size of my thrifty local,
for my lovely dearest readers.
as we were pottling around trying to get the best angle


it soon became clear we needed to disguise our intent,
therefore other thrifty folks would not think us complete bonkers.
pushing a cart along with us and filling it with goodies
seemed the perfect foil...

a nylon 'granny bed cover' kept distracting me from taking photos.
Debbie said i could ignore it no longer
it was speaking to me in the only way a granny chic item can.
i 'ummmed' and i 'ahhhhed'
then i thought
"well tis my first official day of being 42"
after making my monumental decision


we popped the contents of our cart
back on the shelves of despair,
(except for a few lovelies)
apologizing as we went about it.
Carlos then did his bit and we left homeward bound.

today it would appear Mr Lurgy has turned his attention to Debbie.
it is a horribly horrible thing to think Mr Lurgy
will now get a free ride on British Airways
and think of all those poor dearies in their seats
unknowingly becoming best friends with Mr Lurgy.
gosh he truly is a rotten scoundrel

we have tried to not think about such awfulness
and instead donned our 'elf workshop' hats.
Debbie has been in charge of cutting, pasting, typing and folding laundry,
i have been in charge of running around the shed like a headless chicken,
trying to find my 'dottie angel' workshop hat...
Debbie kindly ignored my headless state of mind

alas tomorrow my soul sister leaves and despite my heavy heart,
i must spend my day wisely
finishing up getting all my dottie angel goodness together
in preparation for this forthcoming friday

she is thinking next week will be a grand week to look back on her handcrafted secondhand year ~ Tif

42...


a little bit younger
a little bit foolish
a little bit silly


a little bit older
a little bit wiser
a lot more silly

she is thinking there is no better way to spending her first day of being 42,
then with her soul sister ~ Tif

the day before...

please excuse my unexplained absence...
when i awoke on friday morning, Mr Lurgy had me in a vice like grip,
thus our plans for the day were scrapped.
Debbie had to make do with crocheting in our lounge
instead of the 'blah and beige' waiting room of the DOL.
she kindly made no comments about my horribly horrible state of lurgyifiedness,
other than to offer me medicinal cups of tea and comforting words.
we watched several movies and put the world to rights.

today we made up for the little hiccup in our agenda
and headed into Fremont, Seattle.
i was still rather foggy brained
but we managed to pottle around the place quite happily
in our matching Clarks clog sandals.
(which my mother kindly gifted to me this summer)
upon seeing them, Debbie recognized them for what they were,
pretty sweet and comfy.
as one gets older,
words such as 'comfy' for footwear become spoken more frequently.
shortly afterwards we became clog twins who pottle well together.



i have no idea if the word 'pottle' exists
but i felt it described exactly our movements of this morning,
therefore i am now adopting it as my word of the week
i shall be sure to say in a loud voice every day
things like
"oh, how lovely the mail man has been, i shall pottle to fetch the mail"
or perhaps
"little olive, why do you look so suspicious, do you need to pottle outside for a visit"
then again
"gosh, is it friday already, i must pack my bags and pottle into Seattle to meet my lovely dearies"

now we are back holed up in the shed,
i am watching the rain turn into a small river outside my studio window.
indeed i am thinking i should say
"oh, i see the rain has pottled into a river outside my window"
whilst i am watching water pottle
Debbie is doing secrets in the kitchen.
secrets to do with my birthday tomorrow...
this is terribly exciting,
for it is not often someone does secretive secrety things in my kitchen
on my behalf.

she will be back tomorrow, another year older and perhaps quite possibly a little wiser ~ Tif
footnote: i am thinking in future to not cause light headiness for some readers, i will place a warning sign above any photos taken in my local thrift store. it has become such a norm for me, i did not think about what a shock to the system, aisle after aisle of such bounty, could cause.
so be warned before you read the next line... particularly if you are a Brit.
my thift store is the size of a medium Tescos or Sainsbury.
there are others i frequent that are the size of Tesco superstores.
quite unimaginable really...

Off Line!

Hello, my computer has been broken since Monday afternoon! I am typing this on a friends computer, but I still can't access any emails. If I owe you an email and/or a parcel It will be on it's way asap! I really hope to be online again soon! Leah

yipee!!

after braving the freeway in the rain to get to the airport,
Debbie, Our #2 and moi arrived safely back at the shed last night.
upon arrival i made Debbie a nice welcoming orange meal...
since getting up this morning we have
nattered,
drunk tea
and nattered some more...
then dearest readers,
i am delighted to report
we got down to the business of thrifting.


i am not quite sure what Debbie will have to say
when she sees that Carlos my camera was stalking her
whilst she pottered along the aisles of forsaken china.
but this week i am in 'roving reporter' mode
(as we know, Tif likes her modes)


i was most delighted Debbie wore her green sweater
for there was no fear of losing her amongst the shelves of despair.
quite often i am unable to see what is lurking on the top shelf
but being lovely and tall, Debbie is most handy to have as a thrifting buddy


our little cart was soon filling up with treasures


so we discussed the merits of each and every find,
putting some back and spending our pennies wisely
for our week of fun has only just begun.

tomorrow, i am taking my soul sister to the exciting sights and sounds
of our local Department of Licensing 'beige and blah' office.
it has dawned on me with less than a few days until my birthday,
my drivers license will run out and then i will be in trouble.
i am not sure what kind of trouble
but none the less, the worry of possible trouble
is enough for me to drag her along for a morning of sitting in a waiting room.

however we will be wisely armed with our Mr Hooks to pass the time
and when the 'new license' is in my little mitts,
we will 'hoppity skip' it out of there
and straight to the thrift store i know of several blocks away

it may be raining outside the shed, but the sun is shining inside ~ Tif