Wordless Wednesday

A poor pic from my phone!
  I'm playing along with Wordless Wednesday today.
 Leah

thrilling friday's instant images... a mixed bunch

 indeedy, does it get any more thrilling than doing something supposedly for a friday, on a tuesday instead. i think not! and so a mixed bunch of 'false spring' around the shed instantly snapped by our Ivor. 

all kitschy, all fake & all cheering up the shed... and i note upon perusal of the instant snaps, they all have friends close by, how heartwarming on a chilly day. i like to think if i was a mixed bunch of plastic flowers i would have a little friend close by too.

on the mantlepiece

in the downstairs loo

on the kitchen table

in the entranceway

in the family room

however, Little Olive who is nearly 3 and therefore quite wise, (so she informs me), is not convinced by my 'trickery, faking spring ways' and has declared she will not be coming out of winter hibernation just yet...

Tif :)

Simple Country Dish cloth

Hello, it has been a long time since I posted a tutorial. here is another one I'm adding to my list. I love to craft in front of the TV!

Have a wonderful day,
Leah

a 'false sense of spring'...

two months into the new shiny year and i always come unstuck. it happens every year, i embrace the new year with all the wonder of starting a fresh, then by the time february bids farewell my 'freshness' is going stale and i realize despite the odd days of sun, spring is still a long way off. then just like every year, i rustle around my drawer marked 'good for rustling in during blearghy months' and pull out my thrift store kitschy plastic flowers. more often than not they are of the pink variety, happy bright pink and brilliantly peachy pink varieties are in there too.

i then proceed to go around our shed, plonking mixed bunches in likely looking containers to add a bit of cheer. yes springifying the shed is my only way to get through those pesky weeks before Mr Spring truly comes a~calling.

 yesterday my rustling ways unearthed a couple of kitschy strings of flowers which i recall finding at a craft shop a good year or so ago. i have always been rather fond of these strings and their ability to look most pretty. so i hung one up and then proceeded to take a few scraps of my precious Liberty pile of fabrics (kindly donated to me by the peachy Rachelle) and with a needle and thread, added a little bit of dottie to it. not a lot, just a little, but i am thinking one could really add a lot and have quite the time with 'dottie angeling' such a string of flowers.

i noted, little lucky bunny looked in need of a bit of cheer too

and once again, i am left marveling at how adding a few happy scraps of fabric to a little string of flowers does a wondrous job at adding to my 'false sense of spring' within the shed and my head. 

such is my marvelling ways, tomorrow i'm going to pottle around our shed, taking snaps of all my 'false sense of spring' signs i have rustled up with the contents of my drawer and show them right here on my shiny place. yes, that is what i will do, for right there and then, i have made tomorrow, now look most thrilling...

 goodness, who would believe a few stems of fake flowers plonked around a shed, had such power to take one from 'bleargh' to 'less bleargh, more happy'. 'tis a small mircale and those are the besty best kind of all...

Tif 

Salad greens for summer

 I recently came across the 52 Week Salad Challenge, and since my aim when I started the potager was to keep it stocked with edibles all through the year, I decided to join in. I'm not a huge salad eater but I do love having fresh crunchy lettuce in my sandwich each day. Also, if the veges are just sitting there in the garden waiting to be eaten, I'm more likely to try and find something to do with them - particularly if there is feta cheese in the fridge!

 My potager has four quarter-circle beds in the middle, and these tend to be my salad beds. Each one has an upright rosemary in the middle and is edged with chives and carrots, with any other gaps filled with spring onions and lettuces (Freckles and Red Flame). The lettuces are growing well, it's been a cool summer which they seem to have enjoyed, although it did take them a while to get up to size. I've got a few spring onions left but the seeds I sowed a couple of months ago have been very slow to grow.

While I was waiting for the lettuces to fill out I sowed a row of rocket which has been true to its name. I'm not in the school of people who find rocket peppery, it's more... nutty? Earthy? Either way, I love the depth of flavour it brings to a humble pile of green leaves!

My favourite summer salad:

Mixed greens torn into bite size pieces, including Freckles lettuce, Red Flame lettuce, rocket, and basil

Sliced spring onions

Quartered cherry tomatoes

Finely chopped red chilli (flesh only, no mouth-blistering seeds for me thanks)

Crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:

Juice of a lemon

Slosh of oil

Salt, pepper and about half a teaspoon of honey

1-2 tablespoons plain yoghurt

Whisk together till combined.

If you want to join the 52 Week Salad Challenge, see this post for more info.

GIRL CRUSH ~ seattle... having no doubts about it

for most of my life Mr Doubter has lived in the shadows. sometimes he casts his shadow in my direction and other times he leaves me be. the days he leaves me and my creativity alone, those are the days my creative soul gets to shine, the sky is the limit, it is just me, my imagination and my hands to make what we will. 

and the days he looks my way with his shadowy presence, well those are the days i tell myself, i am not alone, i tell myself all creative artistic souls have their own Mr Doubter and the shadow he brings. i have never asked if this is the case, for it is my comfort inside of my head, that on those doubting days, i am not alone and i do not wish to learn otherwise.

and so that is why today i am really rather happy to be introducing my friend Danielle to you. Danielle is the brilliantly creative brains behind The Jealous Curator, an extra ordinary presence in cyber land. just her tagline of  'damn, i wish i thought of that' really says it all. she curates and highlights creative souls from all over the world and she does it brilliantly as The Jealous Curator. however very few folks knew until recent times, Danielle is also an artist of mixed media collage work and like so many, it was not an easy thing to put her work out into the public eye. through talking with other artists and creatives, it became apparent she was not alone. with all the incredible works we see daily, it is indeed very easy for us to let our Mr Doubter slip from the shadows, take position upon our shoulders and question our creative worth.

Danielle's cogs turned and with it a wonderful idea was born. why not talk about this, but not in cyber land, but together in reality, in a creative environment, where we can discuss how we get past staring at a blank canvas, how we can believe what we create is worth something, where we can find confidence within a group of others and in time Mr Doubter can for once and for all slink back to his shadowy corner

GIRL CRUSH workshops & tea parties are in my books, the bees knees!

and i am more than a little chuffed to be collaborating with Danielle and the peachy Andie & Emily from Assemble Shop in Seattle to offer a day of talking, creating & eating fine food. at the end of which, we will have 'assembled' a collaborative, mixed media piece of artwork which will be displayed on the gallery wall for others to see!

you can see all the nitty gritty details here and also the list of fine and dandy artists Danielle has lined up throughout the USA. 

i know for me, this will be a defining moment, i have no doubt on this. it will be good to share with others the 'whys and wherefores' of my Mr Doubter and how i have come to terms with him in my life and how indeed perhaps his very shadowy existence is the very reason why i do what i do. for i love to create. apart from my family, friends and critters, it is the very thing that makes me want to get up out of bed everyday and live. there are no words i can find to describe how much it makes my world happy and therefore i cannot allow that shadow to take 'the fragile happiness' away from me. and so you see, in a way, his very presence makes me even more determined to continue listening to my creative soul, not be riddled by self doubt and to allow myself and my creative soul time to shine

Tif 

'interesting... very interesting' with Selina Lake

oh yes indeedy! i am most delighted to be spending today in fine and dandy company, not only with your lovely selves dearest readers, but with the peachy Selina Lake. what a marvelous way to start off my new 'interesting... very interesting' series! which actually is exactly the same as my 'a question of crafting' series i did a few years back and i thought to myself the other day, "why Tif, it might be interesting to think about doing something like that again" and then i said "now Tif, that is interesting... a very interesting thought indeedy" and so there we have it. quite simple, a little lighthearted 'hello hello' with a 'peachy folk' who is happy to join me here on my shiny place. so hip hip hooray for Selina being happy to do so...

i do think you may have had to be living under a rock to not know Selina Lake, a top UK stylist and the wonder behind the books Bazaar Style and Romantic Style and now just launched Homespun Style. actually just a moment, because now i am thinking, someone might be hurt thinking i have said they live under a rock just because they might not know of Selina and her peachy books. so to make amends, if you are living under a rock, may i imagine for you, a rock with a lovely crocheted cover such as these lovely stones and rocks from the wonderfully talented Margaret Oomen . suddenly i have a feeling we would all rather like to live under rocks if they were as pretty as these... so hopefully now with your imagined homespun rock you are not quite so fretful about not knowing Selina and really, you are going to come away today smiling. for now you will be under your homespun crocheted rock and will have got to know Selina too. so how fabby is that and its only tuesday!

i have been like a child and the run up to a birthday or christmas, the anticipation of knowing any week now Mr Postie will arrive with a copy of Homespun Style has me almost to insanity breaking point. i first found Selina when a copy of Bazaar Style found me and knowing how i have love that book, i can only imagine how much my love will be for Homespun Style, for after all i am most partial to a bit of 'homespinning' myself.

so if we are all comfortable, perhaps favourite tipple in hand, let me welcome Selina to this here shiny place,

 Tif : hello and welcome Selina

(pause, whilst we all put down our tipples and clap wildly and beam a whole lot in Selina's direction)

righty ho, shall we begin!

Tif : beyond delighted you could be with us today Selina, i am quite sure you are in a whirl wind of activity with the release of your new book Homespun Style and it is most lovely of you to take time to stop by and answer a few of my 'interesting... very interesting' questions!

Selina : well thanks so much for asking me Tif

(shuffle shuffle of scribbled notes on papers, a little scrapping of a chair leg)

Tif  : what is your most fabby fav 'homespun' thing to make or come across in someone's home?

Selina : I really enjoyed making all the details for my Wedding last year, I made vintage floral napkins for all my guests, mini cake bunting, tissue paper pom poms decorations, candy stripe favors, knotted hankie bunting, guest book washing line, hand-painted name place tags and even all the Wedding flowers including my own Bouquet! 

Tif : who or what inspired you to start crafting/sewing yourself?

Selina : When I was little I loved making things and my parents encouraged me by giving me my own 'Making Table' at the bottom of their kitchen, I used to sit there for hours, sticking and painting. I loved watching TV shows like Art Attack and for birthdays and Christmas Presents I was lucky to receive lovely craft kits from friends and family. 

Tif : what creative skill do you wish you had that you don't?

Selina : I would love to be able to make my own clothes, I find so many beautiful fabrics at fairs and markets and often visualize them as pretty Summer dresses, my sewing skills stop at making cushions, tea cosies and hanger covers! Perhaps one day I'll do a dressmaking class. 

Tif : if you had chickens in your back yard, what would their names be?

Selina : I'm absolutely terrified of animals, especially chickens - so no-way would I be able to live with some in my garden! 

Tif : what did you wish to be when you were little?

Selina : I always wanted to do something creative, I dreamed of being a designer, of Fashion, Television studio sets and Greetings Cards. 

Tif : if the queen came to tea tomorrow, how would you lay the table and what would you give her to eat?

Selina : I'd style my table the best I know how with mis-matched vintage floral china, handsewn fabric napkins, plenty of David Austin Roses and my best vintage lace tablecloth. I would serve a classic Homemade Victoria Sponge cake with lots of tea poured from my favorite Gold teapot. 

Selina's own kitchen corner, i can only imagine how impressed the queen would be

 Tif : and just before we all have to go and get the dinner on, pick the children up from school or go back under our little crocheted rocks, are you up for a quick fire round of questions Selina?

Selina : oh yes, lets.

1: stripes or spots?

Mini Polka Dots

2: bagpuss or trumpton? (i have a feeling you are way too young for this one!)

Yes bit young!! I used to love the Flintstones & Inspector Gadget 

3: favourite paint colour?

Neon Pink

4: high street or thrift store?

THRIFT STORE!!

5: cyber magazines or paper magazines?

Both! 

6: staying in or going out?

Now I'm the grand old age of 30 it's defiantly - Staying in!!!

Tif : oh many thank you kindlies Selina for being a guest for 'interesting... very interesting' it has been just the bees knees to have you here today and i know my dearest readers will be most happy to have got to know you. i have no doubt your new book Homespun Style will be loved by many, congratulations indeedy!

(pause for lots of 'hurrah hoorays')

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

oh how wonderful, Selina is heading off to her lovely homespun nest but has kindly shared with us not only some very interesting answers but also some peachy pictures from Homespun Style which i have taken a good old ganders at (through slightly squinted eyes, so as not to see too much) and indeed i think it quite true to say, this book looks rather glorious to me! photographs are by the ever-so-lovely and hugely talented  Debi Treloar and text is by the well written and well worded Joanna Simmons

if indeed you would like to find more of Selina Lake and her world of styling, you can follow her adventures on her blog or Facebook and find her wares on etsy, in the meantime i must thank you all for welcoming Selina so brilliantly and also for joining me for my first thrilling 'interesting... very interesting' interview! let us hope there are others just like Selina, willing to share a few happy moments with us... only time will tell, dearest readers, only time will tell

Tif :)

footynote: please note the images in this post were kindly provided by Selina, please do not use without asking her permission, many thank yous for your understanding
edited: just a little matter of great importance i forgot. this peachy book Homespun Style comes from the fabby publishing folks Ryland Peters & Small

Curving edges and late summer veges

I finally finished curving the edge of the back garden beds. After much digging up turf, digging over soil, hefting bricks and hauling compost, the bed is now ready to plant. I have a matching pencil conifer to go in, then I'll just see how it takes me. I've already planted out some pansy seedlings that popped up somewhere else and a couple of baby dahlias. I'm thinking about winter colour now so will probably put in a hellebore or two and definitely some bulbs. Maybe a camellia? I don't want to overcrowd the bed but I do want it full.

I also have to bear in mind how big the apple tree will get (something I'm bad at doing, so no doubt at all that this garden will be redesigned many times over the coming years). The tree is Baujade and it's clinging on desperately to the only surviving apple fruit in my garden this year. Good Baujade, hold on.

Here's a view from further back so you can see the full curve. Hope you can ignore the state of the grass. To be honest, I'm not one of those people who cares much about their lawn, except when dandelions pop up all over the place. There was one morning a few days ago where it was only slightly windy instead of a full on gale, so I pounced on the Round-Up and got spraying. Once they die I'll put grass seed in the holes and wish it well.

This is the little "outdoor entertainment area" (ha ha) that I've created. As you can see we don't have a table, chairs, barbecue, deck, french doors or fairy lights yet. But I'm working on it, in my mind anyway. I'd just love to have a little deck with french doors leading into the kitchen. It's definitely not in the near future, but I'll try to swing the rest of the requirements. I already got an umbrella!

The potager's getting to its overblown late summer stage. Most things are cropping well except the tomatoes and peppers. I'm harvesting spuds, zucchini, carrots, lettuce, spring onions, red onions, runner beans, herbs and silver beet. The drying beans (cannelini and borlotti) are fattening up. In the glasshouse I'm picking cherry tomatoes and strawberries. The two capsicum plants in there have plenty of green fruit, so hopefully it will ripen.

I've got seedlings of broccoli, cauliflower and silver beet nearly ready to plant out. Some of it will go where the spuds were, and I'll also clear out the patch of flowering leeks and phacelia at the front. I'm thinking of spring bulbs to go in the blue pot - crocus or snowdrops.

February flowers

 I'm a bit later than usual with this month's flowers post. I missed out on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day! Oh well. Here it is, and you can see the main colour theme is pink pink pink! With a bit of white to harmonise and a splash of red to spice things up.

This is the driveway garden. It's a hot, dry spot that was formerly planted with hebes and shrubs. Most of them were out of control and would attack you as you got out of the car. They were too big and constantly needed pruning. And, I hate hebes. So I began to dig them up and replace them with camellias. They are fairy blush, with delicate little leaves and flowers and I anticipate no bad behaviour from them. I've underplanted them with sprawling carnations and petunias.

It's really difficult to photograph this planting effectively - it looks much better in person! I absolutely love the softness created by the pastel colours and the cloudlike plant structure, and the pops of red stop it from being boring. The carnations are such giving souls too, flowering from spring to autumn - I pick them for vases all the time, and you can never see where I've been!

I'm planning to continue this planting all down the rest of the drive. I took some cuttings from the camellias in spring and I'm crossing fingers and toes that they took. The carnations are really easy to take cuttings from when it cools down more, just break bits off and stick them in the ground - it's how I got most of these!

Crochet in the summertime

 I've been working on my Summertime Patchwork Quilt Blanket. It still works up as fast as ever, but it seems that the bigger it gets the slower it grows! It's somewhere between a third and a half of what I want the finished size to be, and as I continue to sew the little hexies on it seems that it will never get there.

 I've nearly run out of the ginger coloured yarn, and since it was stash yarn I've been unable to find any more the same. So I'll try blending a couple of strands of thin cotton, it won't be the same but hopefully won't look too out of place.

Here it is so far, about a third or so done. I'm thinking a thin white border to finish, possibly with picots on the pointed corners. And maybe some half round hexies to fill in the obvious gaps down the side? We'll see.

and the winner is... & a note, no, not a note, but a 'thing', yes a 'thing'

well i must say, the folks at MOO, myself and my lovely mother have been most impressed by so much 'brilliant business card imagining' going on over the past few days. reading every single comment made us marvel at how just a little piece of card has the ability to change someone's day, make it a little brighter. thank you also for all the kind wishes on my 5 years of celebration! you are all truly creative, very crafty and without doubt filled with kindness. of course we wished everyone could have their little card dreams come true, however after much pondering with many a cup of tea, we have ourselves 3 spiffy winners of MOO cards and a dottie angel book, ta ta ta da dah! 

in no particular order...

i spy... a MOO card on mossy shed's wall

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

winner 1 : itchin' stitchin'

I love business cards that stand out and can be used in more than one way. I would first get all my trinkets together and take a picture to use for the front and on the back included all the little thing you can spy in the picture - creating an eye spy game (and a sneaky way for people to look at my business card for a long time). It would be great to leave a corner open so I could punch a hole to use them as hanging tags or people could put it on their keys to keep little ones busy.

winner 2 : Dee

I would like my cards to be used as a family keepsake.
Their first mission would be to be as wedding invites ( my hubby and I are getting married this autumn.)
After they have played their happy role in our big day I would make a little cover for each one and use the new blank page to make invites for our children's christenings. (Were planning on having 4!)
These sweet little cards would then be wrapped safely in tissue paper with dried flowers (from both events) all kept in my treasure box.
They could then be brought out for anniversary's such as ruby weddings etc!
When we are on our way to some place other than this world our family will have a special keepsake of all our happy events and times.
Each new page could be stapled in so the card would read from most recent event to the oldest event.
(A bit like a flip-book. Hope you get what I mean!!!)

winner 3 : Emily 

D ear Tiff. I am 7 years old and I love sewing 
collecting 
buttons.

O n a Wednesday I go to my out of school club for 
crafts.

T here we make origami animals, sew patchwork 
blankets and sometimes bake cakes.

T he last Wednesday we practiced making bunting 
to celebrate the olympic games that are in London
this year.

I liked all the pretty colours and cut out shapes 
from magazines to brighten up my flags.

E ven though this week is half term me, my mum 
and my brother will be doing tons of crafty 
things.

A nyway if I was lucky enough to win your 
competition, I would spend from now until 
summer decorating the 100 cards.

N ot so far away is our class bring and buy sale. 
Each class in our school sponsers a charity and 
mine (yr 2) is the 'Help a Hedgehog trust.'

G etting together to help little people I think is very 
important.

E very cupcake me, my mum and my brother make 
will have one of your cards stuck to it. This will 
make the cakes extra special because you make 
nice things and I decorate well.

L ots of pennies would be raised and me, my mum 
and my brother could carry on making stuff from 
your book, all summer long.

Love from Emily Gardiner age 7

P.s My mum typed this because Im still learning my spellings :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hip hip hooray! i will be in touch shortly my fine and dandy winners! congratulations and thank you kindlies go out to all of you from me, my mother and Dan from MOO, for brightening our day with your brilliantly imaginative answers

and just a note (always a note somewhere to be noted). my lads have a couple of days of school and my man has been gripped by Mr Lurgy in the worst way (the scoundrel came back for second helpings), so i am going to take a few days off, to spend with my lads, avoid my man like the plague (although, truth be told i have been wearing my florence nightingale cap for several days now 'cos i'm a softie) and pack up sales from yesterday's shop update. many thank yous for those that stopped by, you are the bees knees....

but wait! there is a another note, a note so thrilling, i'm a little giddy just noting it. i'll be back on tuesday with a special guest. 'interesting, very interesting' is where i invite folks to visit with me on this here shiny place. my first spiffy visitor, oh lovely guest! will be none other than the peachy Selina Lake. do you see why i'm a little giddy now... actually this is so thrilling i feel it should be promoted from 'note' status to 'thing' status and so i shall

thing one:

i'm a little giddy for i will be back on tuesday with a special guest. 'interesting, very interesting' is where i invite folks to visit with me on this here shiny place. my first spiffy visitor, oh lovely guest! will be none other than the peachy Selina Lake. do you see why i'm a little giddy now... so worthy of promotion from 'note' to 'thing' i think you will agree

she will see you on tuesday and hopes your days are a little crafty between now and then... and peachy! yes why not, 'peachy and crafty' is always the besty best kind of days to have ~ Tif
footynote: Dee, if you are reading this, please contact me at tif@dottieangel.com as the email address you left keeps getting returned to me by my MR post master. many thanks!!