Bird house

This little bird house is on the blog of a girl called Laurie Star. It was easy to make ,if you can make a box,you will be able to make a bird house .
Laurie,s bird house is lovely . I shall do another up market property .
Please visit her site, there is more to learn.

Cheaper than the real thing

I love scented drawer liners but they can be expensive . I make my own. Laura Ashley usually have end of line wallpaper at a discount. I had pink toille , I cut to size, and sprayed with Woods Jasmine .
Line the drawer when the paper is freshly sprayed .

The beast is slain

A neighbour called today ,she brought some dvd cases . her husband had been recording Poldark for me . I could not get it on my t,v,it would not pick the programme up. She looked at my garden and saw that the root was still in the soil. " Right " said she " My son has just come for his Sunday lunch , She fetched him , It was a struggle for him. it must have taken him 15 mins, but he did it, he,s about 6 ft 4 ins tall ,and a strapping fellow . I am so grateful . I had struggled for about 3 weeks , plus bluebell had a go .End of the root saga, thanks to one and all .

The root of the problem

Silver Sewer visited yesterday, a good friend and very kind girl , she bought me a pot of her home made strawberry jam, and fresh strawberries from her allotment , lovely .

She went into my garden to view the stubborn root that is proving difficult to remove , the very same root that bluebell blogged about titled Whoops .
Now silver sewer has put her three,penn,orth into the equasion . Her advice is drill the root , and then inject it with a potion she is recommending . No doubt another witches brew ! I,m surrounded .
This is the root .

I tell you that city gels have no idea what country wenches get up to .

Thimble finger

After many years hand quilting my fingers are mis,shapen . The thimble finger is very uncomfortable and seems to be ; infected , at present .I think it is because I use a metal thimble .
My sister has advised me to try a hot bread poultice on it . She explained how to go about the proceedure . I shall try this.. Soak bread in hot water and apply it to the infection . Perhaps she had this concoction out of her witches spells book. I wonder how bad it has to get before I have to boil 3 spiders and bathe the finger in the resulting tincture , while doing a bit of sonorous chanting .

Start the Day

I listen to radio 2 in the morning . at 9,15 there is a short sermon, a sort of thought for the day . One morning it will be a vicar, another a rabbi or a buddist or someone from all kinds of different faiths . I look forward to this few minutes, it,s usually light hearted and always interesting

The joys of living in the country

The farmers are spraying the fields with the residue of the chicken sheds, or it could be pig sty,s or the stables, perhaps a combination of all .
I like to open my front door (which is at the side of my home) and the door at the back as soon as I get up in the morning . This time of the year we are quickly reminded of the other side of eggs, bacon , and the beautiful equines . We get a strong waft in the morning and evening . It brings flies out of science fiction that buzz like aeroplanes doing nose dives .
Last week it was lily beetles giving me the run around , this week it,s blackfly and aphids . Oh, the joys of the garden

Footworks

In 10 min.s this is where I,m off too. The doctors surgery to see the chiropodist .

Open Gardens

On Sunday the 22nd it was open gardens in the Village from 11a,m till 6pm .My friend Elaine and myself went visiting . It was lovely. The weather was perfect , it was a typical English summer day.
The village is very , very old .It dates back to the Magna Carta . All the records of the village from that era on were displayed .I did write in my blog recently of the 800th birthday of the church. Perhaps you would like to scroll back and read that event .
Anyway I digress . We have tiny terraced houses with small gardens bursting with flora and fauna .Some of the soil looked as old as the village itself . We went to a house that used to be the forge. The length of the garen was unbelievable . The manor house the same . Beautiful old houses with amazing gardens . Family houses with rows of vegetables . Ultra modern houses with Yucca,s (ugh!) I have nothing against Yucca,s but they are not people friendly.
There were cream teas in the church hall . Some of the houses had tables with lace cloths displaying cakes and preserves for sale . Lots of plants for sale . Stupid me! I did not check my purse before setting out. I had enough with me for a small plant . I usually go over the top spending at these events . The people who take part work so hard to make sure their lawns and borders look good .
There were no fractious children . In the tea rooms there was a little boy with his cushion that squeaked !! when he sat on it , then so innocently said whenever anyone looked "it,s my cushion"

Slacking

8.30 a,m I should have been getting on with my chores but I keep returning to a book bluebell
has lent me . Barbara Delinsky, : Together Alone: it,s quite intriguing, bluebell is the proof
reader,she tells me what is next . I believe it is Maeve Binchey,s latest . She says it is hilarious .

One of a pair of wardrobes

Nothing shabby chic about these They are just about as basic as furniture can be . It,s difficult to see the hearts I stencilled and glued on but they do look o,k

At long Last, the Wardrobes

Followers of my blog will perhaps remember I bought brown wardrobes from Ikea last year.I couldn,t live with these brown wardrobes so decided to paint them white .They were so difficult trying to cover the brown . 2 wardrobes , 4 undercoats of paint on each one 4 topcoats on each one . I used really good quality paint but it was really difficult to achieve a good finish. The wardrobes were plain, after I finished painting them I painted these wooden hearts (I purchased off the internet) then stencilled them, glued them to the doors, and presto!! customised , just have to make pink hearts now to hang on the doors .

Shabby chic

Yesterday I was looking around for something different to do.
I bought this little drop leaf table when I was 18 years old. It was the first piece of furniture I can remember buying. Believe me that was many decades ago .It was dark oak in the style of furniture of the day. Many times I have gone to throw it out and then put it back into the garage. A couple of years ago. I painted it white and again brought it back into the house .
Yesterday it had another make over . A roll of really quality wallpaper with a vynil coating ! I cut the roses out and pasted them onto my table, lo,and behold shabby chic ! How thrilled I am . Wouldn,t part with it for the world .When it was the original oak brown I tried to give it away , no one wanted it , too old fashioned I was told . Who is happy now ,me, me, me .

Pink

I thought I would join in with the pink business. This is my new pink t,shirt, and it is draped over one of my pink chairs.

I have been trying for a long time to achieve a smooth hairstyle . I was trying to grow straight hair that hung like a silk curtain with a fringe I could peep from underneath . It just would not happen . It stuck out like a floor mop on my head would best describe it.

Wednesday afternoon I was at the hairdressers for a revamp. I now have curls. No one has remarked on the new hairstyle so perhaps I,m blending into the background.

Well into June and it,s chilly at night . the last two nights I,ve put my bedsocks on. I,m still waiting for this good summer that was forcast.

Early night for me .I shall sit in bed reading and sipping drinking chocolate.

The day is now all mine

I can now do whatever I like . All chores done , although on second thought I might have to go into the servants quarters (namely the kitchen) to do a bit of ironing . I,m now off to get primped and perfumed

Happiness

I really feel pleased with my efforts to establish my garden again . My son did my fencing and the scree but the rest is down to me . I,m a one woman band , the little crab apple tree in the foreground is doing well, perhaps there will be crab apple jelly next year.

Come and sit with me under the bramley apple tree

This pretty plant was a present from bluebell, she assures me it will spread it,s seeds and I will have more of them next year

The climbing Hydrangea was given to me by silver sewer about 3 maybe 4 years ago, She was moving house at that time,and kindly passed it on to me. It is the first time it has flowered profusely. I saw her looking at it last week. I wonder what she was thinking. But it came to a good home .

Just under the tree in the corner are lilies, they are well in bud and will soon flower and fill the air with perfume. I have quite a few lilies in pots. I intend to cut down on pots, the watering is too time consuming, I also feel guilty when using water for pots . I cannot re,cycle enough to justify. In the soil I feel roots go down enough to search for moisture and only need help on the driest times. This year lily beetles have been the bane of my life but I am now more brave at picking them off

This is a new garden developing,mostly perenials .

My husband didn,t usually buy flowering plants or bushes but he did buy the mock orange that is just in flower. It had grown into a large tree ,I had to cut it down when the new fencing was done.I said I don,t care if every thing else dies as long as this survives and it is doing so.

The masquerade rose can now have rose feed. The Yucca took the light away. Roses are such forgiving plants.

and there is more

Out in the garden early to remove another Yucca that turned out to be three . That is 5 in total ,the garden does not look bare without them, I should think other plants are sighing,they can now have space to develop .

I look like worsel gummidge when gardening, I shall now prepare to look like a responsible citizen and do ladylike crafts for the rest of the day.I took photographs after I,d taken these out so I could assess the garden again . Gardening is an evolving hobby, taking photo,s helps to put things in perspective.

I shall share my pictures with you.

Searching

I have been searching for a sewing machine manuel,two really ,always at my side for many years in my sewing bag .Two weeks ago they disappeared, Iv,e searched, no luck . I was looking among files and books in case they had been gathered up together,but while I was looking for them tonight I stopped to look in a file that contains poems,verse,musings etc,.and found this.

This is a poem dated 1990, written by the lady who kept the village shop,she was quite an old lady then . Shortly after this she went to live in a home , here is her poem .
Dear daughter
Just a line to say I,m living, that I,m not amongst the dead, though I,m getting more forgetful,and mixed up in my head
I,ve got used to my arthritis, to my dentures I,m resigned, I can manage my bi-focals, but,oh I miss my mind
Sometimes I can,t remember when I,m standing by the stairs if I should be going up for something or have I come down from there, and before the fridge so often my mind is filled with doubt, now did I put some food away or did I take it out .
Sometimes when its night time with my nightcap on my head, I don,t know if I,m retiring or just getting out of bed
If it,s not my turn to write dear,I hope you won,t get sore, I think I may have written , I don,t want to be a bore ,remember I do love you , and wished that you lived near but now its time to mail this , and say" goodnight " my dear
At last I stand beside the mail box , my face it sure is red ,instead of mailing this to you I opened it instead.

Mrs Burdett was a very nice friendly lady, a Barbara Cartland sort of person. Plenty of make up,lace and ruffles.

Well, onward with the searching

Yucca

The beast is down, there were 2 growing side by side, I still have roots to get out but tomorrow is another day. I shall get another one out as well , it is growing in front of my Masquerade rose , when it comes to removing one of the plants I don,t have to think twice.

So sweet

This delightful little set is miniture. Bluebell gave it to me as a present .The dimension of the tray is approx,. 4 1/2 inches x 2 1/2 . It is really lovely .

Which,the wardrobe or the Yucca plant

I have sat on top of my bed since 6am,drinking tea ,dunking my ginger biscuit ,and trying to whip up enthusiasm for two major jobs that must be done today .
The wardrobes must have another coat of paint . I might get away with only having to put another coat of paint on one, I,m not sure .Problem being, one isn,t up to required finish, also I had to purchase another tin of paint to do this final ( hopefully) coat of paint .If the difference is too great then both wardrobes have to be done .

The second job is the Yucca. In the revamp of the garden I decided to keep the Yucca for the height and shape of the leaves but the other day it poked me in the eye , not nice! I know it is a major task because I have recently taken one out of my front garden . The roots are long and as thick as an arm.

Here lies the dilemna, if I paint frst I shall have to shower immediately afterwards then I won,t want to get the vapours removing the Yucca .If I do the digging first to remove the offending plant will I have enough energy to paint! .

I suppose if these are my only problems I am indeed a very lucky person .

Life really is a bowl of cherries

Think I must have had the dithers when I took this photo. The cherries are good though

I think the batteries are going.

These lovely buttons were a fabric guild purchase. just the thing for giving crochet flowers that extra pizzaz. Can you see the little cameo buttons at the front. They are about the size of your little finger nail. Two weeks ago I bought some a bit larger . can I find them,no.

Parley vous francai

This delightful envelope was on my doormat today, and the beautiful postcard was inside it .
It was sent to me by Elizabethd, french village life. Why not visit her blog , it is interesting, I,m always happy to visit and hear from her.
Thankyou for the post ,Elizabethd

This is the plate that bluebell bought yesterday,the shop had no change so she bought the plate , didn,t want it for herself so it came to me.Thankyou .

This bread and butter plate was surplus to requirements and the sugar bowl. lovely bone china. I shall soon have a good stash of shabby chic.Come for tea, the china will be a talking point.

If you are new to reading my blog I will explain to you. My friend bluebell is collecting vintage cups and saucers. Her daughter Kate is getting maried next year, and wants her guests to have a vintage cup and saucer each, except it has now stretched to the plate as well.

We have been the length and breadth of the country looking for for these cups saucers and plates.

bluebell and husband even take the caravan to go searching so committed are they.

Another area of the sewing room . It is really my garage that hasbeen converted