Teapots

When we first moved into our home I decided to do something a little different in the kitchen, above the kitchen cabinets was a small space, really to small for much of anything, yet it looked liked it needed something. One day while out shopping in one of our discount stores I came across a pretty little teapot, I believe it only cost about 10 dollars, I bought it home and placed it above the cabinets and it looked and fitted perfectly. Then the hunt was on, I gave myself a budget of no more than 12 dollars tops per teapot. It did take quite a few months to finish filling the space but it looked just right when it was all done.They vary tremendously in styles, but somehow they all seem to fit with one another quite nicely.Now and again I take one down and use it to make tea, it is nice that a decoration for the kitchen can also be functional and not just be a dust collector!

Have a super weekend everybody!

Little Panda has her Clothes!

At last the little panda has her new clothes, soon she will be leaving for her new home in Pennsylvania.I think her little outfit is just perfect for travelling, comfy and fashionable!
Now I get to turn my attention to making another little ballerina mouse, from panda's to ballerina's, what fun!As I have probably mentioned in previous posts, my brother-in-law owns a lovely antique store, he also is extremely talented in jewelry making, as well as a lot of other crafts, well I finally talked him into opening up an Etsy store. The above photo is one of his necklaces that I think is just so lovely that I wanted to share, I will let you all know when his wonderful store will be open.

See you all tomorrow!

Yippee!

Drum roll please.....finally after what seemed like an endless wait I have my first ripe tomato! Now I have to decide what to do with it, should I make a sandwich, have it in a salad....suggestions would be much appreciated!The onions on the other hand are doing terrific, I think they like this cooler summer that we have been having.Maybe I could ask this little guy to dinner, his name is Bobby and he is very polite and very well mannered.

Things to do and errands to run, I sure wish there was two of me!

Katie!

Well another weekend came and went so fast, but at least I did manage to get a few things accomplished.
Weather wise it was dismal and grey at times, so I decided to make my own sunshine in little Katie with her sunshine yellow dress!

Now I have to finish up the little panda and then start on another ballerina mouse, thank you Terri and Cindy for being so patient.Between showers my husband took a photo of this little baby bird, he had a mouthful of thistle seed and came to the pond for a drink, I thought he looked so cute and fluffy.He also took this picture of a rose...just for me, what a guy!

Happy Monday, whatever you may be doing!

Oops - Almost Forgot!

My daughter Layla is having a huge Buy 2, Get 1 Free Sale (Mix or Match) in her Etsy shop right now and I thought some of you might be interested in taking a look - she has some lovely items for crafters and for those of you who like to cook and bake like me!

Here's a link to her shop: http://layla.etsy.com

And here are a few of her items - she has nearly 180 goodies in her shop!

Little Panda

Sitting in a sea of lovely oriental fabric's is my first little panda, made for the lovely Terri who blogs at Merrily Musing Mom. She is still waiting for her little outfit to be sewn, which I will hopefully get to this weekend.I shouldn't have bought it but I did! Now I am suffering from severe lack of sleep, thank you Nathalie over at Kennedy and Friends, she recommended this series of books and I am now well and truly hooked, I read it every night in bed til my eyes can't stay open any more. So if one of these days my blogging doesn't make any sense, it's lack of sleep that is to blame.....and Nathalie!This is a favorite area of my home where I love to sit and knit, it has wonderful natural light from the window, and I can also look up now and again to see what is going on in the garden, don't want to miss any good photo taking!
After last weekends hectic birthday barbecue this is where I will be this weekend, most likely sewing, or maybe knitting, or reading my new favorite book....or taking a nap trying to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Lovely weekend to all!

Billy!

Meet little Billy, all splendid in baby blue! What fun it was to use some of my new yarn stash to knit his little outfit.On the table next to Billy is such a lovely children's book, it was given to me many years ago by my Great Aunt Nell. The title of the book is called Mr.Nobody, inside the cover of the book is a poem.....

I know a funny little man,
Who's as quiet as a mouse,
He does the mischief that is done,
In everybody's house!
Though no one ever sees his face,
Yet one and all agree,
Every cup we break,
Is broken by Mr. Nobody.

I had actually given the book to my daughter many years ago and I had to borrow it back so I could share it with you. I am curious to see if anyone else also has this book, it definitely was one of my favorites, and was well loved and used!I made just a quick look around in the garden today as it was very windy and rainy, and like my little hard green grapes my tomatoes are looking no better! There is plenty of them, but unless we get some more sun we will be eating a lot of fried green tomatoes!The one thing that continues to do well are my roses.......they have been an absolute joy this year, and are still loaded with many more buds.

Before I forget,again, I want to say a big thank you toLouise @ Home Is Where The Heart Is...for giving me another lovely award, how lucky am I, it is very much appreciated.

Have a lovely Wednesday!

Busy, busy,busy....

Went to my lovely fabric shop and bought some lovely new fabric.........went to my lovely yarn shop and bought some lovely new yarn........now if I could just find a shop that sells blocks of time then I would be in great shape!A couple of nights ago while I was in our family room knitting I noticed that the room was turning a lovely orange color, I turned around just in time to see the most glorious sunset. My husband with trusty camera in hand was already on it taking photo after photo. At one point he was doing a balancing act on the 4 inch railing of our deck...I told him that he deserved a 9.75 score for not falling off, it was better than the Olympics!I checked on our grapes again yesterday and it seems like they are still where they were last week...hard as bullets and very green, all I want is to taste one little grape before the weather turns and does them in!

I'm ordering a lovely Tuesday for everyone, so enjoy!

A Wonderful Celebration!

Amidst a hodgepodge of chairs, and 93 degree heat our "Oma" Veronika celebrated her 75th birthday barbecue in our garden.

A splendid time was had by all, and all our hard work paid off as it couldn't have gone more smoothly.I found the most wonderful roses to decorate the table which held up remarkably well despite the heat.With some help and a bit of maneuvering we managed to arrange a bunch of tables to seat fourteen, so no one was doing the balancing act of trying to hold food and a drink on their lap..We had two different kinds of desserts, this one is a yummy strawberry torte.
As with our previous barbecues we are always guaranteed to have at least one little uninvited guest...this little frog was quit content to sit on the sleeve of my blouse.

This was probably one of the most pleasant celebrations that we have had at our home, I think in part because we all chipped in with the setting up and cleaning up, it is very true...many hands do make light work!


So now I have to play catch up again, apologizes to everyone if they are waiting for an email response from me, I will get to it very shortly, I promise.

End of week wrap up!

Well the end of the week is upon us and it's about time I responded to a couple of things.

First, yes the cake in the above picture was delicious, this one was made by my own two hands, not bad even if I do say so myself!

Second, a very big thank you to Dyan who blogs at Flower Childe, she was so kind to give me a lovely award, thank you Dyan it is much appreciated, Dyan has such a lovely blog, pop on over and see for yourself.

Third, another very big thank you to Louise who blogs at Louise @ Home is Where the Heart is, she was so kind to tag me, thank you also Louise it to was much appreciated, pop on over to Louise's blog and you will thoroughly enjoy your time there. The tag from Louise has me listing six random things about myself.....hmm, what don't you know about me,

1. I am a middle child.
2. I don't like gravy!
3. I hate thong underwear...it must have been invented by a man!
4. I love wearing pajammas.
5. I love flannel sheets.
6. I don't like pineapple...yuck!

So there you have it, some more little weirdo facts about yours truely!
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Every so often I wonder where and what my little animals are doing after they leave here and go on their merry ways. That is why I was so thrilled when Cindy emailed me a photo of the little ballerina's at home with her.
Well I recieved another lovely email with photo's from a sweet friend named Onya, she has quite a few of my little animals, and by the looks of the photo's they are having a wonderful time.


Well that's it for this week, I hope you all have a lovely relaxing weekend!

I should have been cleaning!

I should have been cleaning the house, but this little corner of my garden was calling my name, and I answered!

It was such a lovely afternoon, sitting on the bench knitting away listening to the birds and taking in the lovely scent of the lillies.I managed to finish an outfit for Bruno the little polar bear, his little outfit is made from cotton and alpaca yarn which is such a joy to knit with, I am quite pleased with how he turned out.I have been meaning to share this wonderful photo for a couple of days, it is the little ballerina mice that I made for my dear friend Cindy, she had her husband make a little ballet barre for her little mice. It is just so sweet to see them all practicing there ballet steps, I think her husband did a wonderful job, thank you Cindy for sharing.Well unfortunately tomorrow I really will have to stay inside and catch up on housecleaning, but I can still take a break every now and then and wander outside, maybe I'll even be able to squeeze in a little more knitting!

One Fish, Two Fish......

My husband wanted fish, not the kind you eat with chips or tartar sauce, but pictures of fish to hang on the wall of his bathroom. As I am absolutely hopeless with drawing and painting, I did the next best thing, I appliqued him two pictures.The nice thing about doing an applique picture is, you don't have to be to tidy when it comes to the back of the piece as everything will be hidden in the frame.
I found these two patterns at our local quilt store and had them finished in no time. It is a really good way to use up very small pieces of fabric that you would otherwise throw away.On the roof of our home we have a lovely weather vane, a gift from my husbands mother, it fits so beautifully with our white house with black shutters, during the winter winds it gets quite a workout!A good indication that our seasons will soon be changing are these little goldfinches, they are not so bright yellow any more, they have now gone a pretty drab color, but they are still lovely. Every year when I see them change color I know that fall isn't to far away.Although I see changes already happening in my garden I still have my beautiful lillies to enjoy.

Happy Tuesday!

Patty!

I have been on a knitting frenzy this weekend, haven't the foggiest idea why though, maybe it's because I can sit on the couch with my hubby instead of being upstairs in the sewing room. I try to do most of my sewing in the daytime hours so we can spend the evenings together, with my knitting I get to create and spend time with him, so it's a win win situation, and that is why little Patty was finished so quickly.What a lovely unexpected surprise I received in the mail on Saturday, my dear friend Cindy sent me two lovely candle holders, some candles and a sweet felt pin. How lucky am I, these little candle holders are just perfect for a backyard barbecue, thank you Cindy you are so very thoughtful.Not far from our home there are at least a gazillion wild blackberry bushes, they are just starting to ripen, there is nothing better than a lovely blackberry pie with whipping cream, I can hardly wait, I hope they don't take to long. Yes, I will probably get scratched by the thorns and have purple fingers for days, but it is oh so worth it!

Archie!

I wasn't much into sewing today, but I did finish little Archie in his new yellow sweater and plaid pants. I really have enjoyed knitting these little sweaters, it is fun to experiment with different patterns and yarn. Hopefully next week I will make some more little somebodies to fit into those other little sweaters!Another lovely cake from my wonderful mother-in-law, this one is a hazelnut cake, and very delicious too I might add!Our kitty Mitzi getting a drink from her favorite place, the faucet in the bathtub! It doesn't matter how many dishes of water we put down for her she always prefers drinking from the faucet.And of course I couldn't end my week once again without another photo of one of our little hummingbirds, I so love these little guys that I will be sorry to see them leave when summer is over.

Well that's it for this week, have a lovely weekend one and all!