nifty & nice... #5

Mr Spring is quite the tease these days.

flashing bits of himself here and there,

then disappearing again...

i imagine he's off, 

flashing someone else

however, i know

there will come a time

when he stops his flashing ways

and just gives us a bit of full exposure

i need to be ready,

i need to be ready indeedy!

being ready can be involve all manner of things,

for all manner of folks

i wish it involved having clean windows

inside and out

but alas after 5 years

and a gazillion fir trees

i do not have those.

my man did do his besty best last year

(i dared not voice it out loud)

but he was fighting a losing battle

from the beginning

however when Mr Spring comes around

for an extended stay 

i will not note the crappy film of dirt 

across the windows,

nor the need for fresh paint upon

the 'less than white' walls

after 5 years...

no sirree!

for i have a plan,

a plan where

i will distract myself

and any others that may happen

to be in the vicinity,

by pointing and saying

in quite a knowledgeable tone

(secret to folks thinking

you many know what you are talking about

and hence pay attention.

my clan are wise to it,

after all these years

but i'm hopeful

random passing strangers

will not be so)

"oh goodness, 

how marvelous and magnificent,

to see Mr Spring

and gosh, what a coincidence,

i just happened to be ready

with 2 very spiffy springy 

new cushion covers

upon the settee"

and of course

i have no doubt

those passing bods will exclaim.

"oh hurrah hooray, 

how extraordinarily nifty,

and may we be so bold

as to add,

quite simply, perfectly nice.

yes, Tif

without a doubt

nifty and nice!"

i might blush,

i might look at the ground

and not catch

any passing bods eyes

but inside 

i will feel a little happy,

just a tad

to know i was ready

for Mr Spring and his

full on exposure 

if perhaps you wish to be ready too,

if you live with high hopes

that Mr Spring will one day soon

expose himself in your direction

and need some springified cushions

in your springified nest

 you can find 

all you need to know

over here

to make similar

'patched and pieced'

cushions

or

your could be just like

little olive

forget the business of patching and piecing

and just find the nearest

handy dandy blanket 

and be

ready and waiting

to welcome 

Mr Spring

into your home

the best way you know how

nifty & nice... #4

in my 'make kitchen ship shape, tippity top' again mode, i thought it rather grand to add some display storage due to all cupboards having doors. as we saw earlier in 'nifty & nice... #2' this was achieved under the island. i also achieved it opposite the island in the bit that is supposed to be a kitchen knook and house a table but our table is around the corner, thus leaving a wall free for a medley of free standing kitchen storage. (and now also little olive and her suitcase)

so i heaved and i hoed a very battered shelf from Gladys into our kitchen and plonked it 'a top' an old sideboard which has seen all four clan members through as babies and now resides as handy dandy storage for waifs and strays of china bits and bobs. i was tres delighted with the results. spent a happy few hours arranging my pyrex collection (other treasures) on view, after years of being kept in the dark. 

do note: little olive in her new little space, perfectly situated for surveying all that goes on at mossy shed
do not note: little olive's rolly polly pudding look, left over from winter...

the next day a little thought came to mind. "well yes it all looks most lovely but in a few more days it will be caked in a layer of dust and floating dog hair no doubt". i banished the little voice. several days later it piped up again. "gosh, doesn't that big old jumbly bumbly lot of clutter on those shelves do your minimalist head in". hush, be gone i cried....

3 days later i needed several pyrex bowls for dinner... darn, drat and double drat. that pesky voice was right, a layer of dust and other floaty around bits that happen to have past on by and plonked themselves in my bowls were laughing at me. now i had to clean the bowls before i could put the food in them. then again i could not, but i knew what i had seen and in all conscience could not do such a thing... the little voice could be heard loud and clear. "dust and jumbly bumbly clutter will be your undoing. it will send you to the funny farm within a month". this time i listened

so i pondered as it required rather a lot of pondering i felt. not able to return everything back to behind doors having shuffled other stuff into the 'behind doors' space, i was having to come up with some nifty thinking, yes this called for a cunning plan if ever a cunning plan was called for. and there it was, just as it always seems to be. something prompts something else and before you know it, you arrive at a tippity top solution you wish you had thought of in the first place, thus avoiding dust and jumbly bumbly things to have happened in the first place.

yes i needed some kind of doors (irony of it as it was the doors in the first place which prompted me to wish for an open shelving space) but i did not have any random doors lying around my shed. its just not a thing i collect... so fabric would have to do. 

after a little bit more thought, a bit of dabbling with Miss Ethel, some pinking shears, a piece of old curtain fabric and 2 springer rods later, i had myself 2 fabric doors.

 i did not hem the sides, i did not fret nor lie awake at night worrying one fabric door was wider than the other. no i did not. all i cared to see was the jumbly bumbly piles which had at first looked so delightful and in turn, became dust catchers and a dizzing array of clutter, had been 'abracadabra-ed' away by some rather natty looking fabric doors which i do believe any granny worth her granny chic salt would be proud to have in her kitchen.

gosh, not only nifty but extremely granny chic nice...

what's that little voice? "don't those curtains make it a little tricky dicky to remove bowls when you need them?" 

i'm not listening, not listening, fingers in ears, can't hear you....

nifty & nice... #3 {wordless wednesday}

nifty & nice... #2

find an odd little shelf in the thrift store.

bring it home, hide it in a cupboard.

have an epiphany 3 months later.

drag little shelf out,

lop off its top

(with a bit of care and consideration.)

disguise dodgy treacle brown stain

with same paint as kitchen cupboards.

ask very nicely a little doggie

who lives in a suitcase

if she would care to move

from her little space

after 3 and a half years.

marvel at how quick

your little doggie 

is to take advantage of the move

and in turn

question if life living under an island

had not been quite so thrilling 

as you had thought...

shuffle shelf under island,

if not quite fitting,

do a bit more loping

and deny it was anything 

to do with your pants measuring.

and voila! some display shelves

for knickity knacks

and knackity knicks

'nifty and oh so nice'

nifty & nice... #1

do your stems feel a little top heavy?

are things weighing you down a little?

thinking you may need a helping hand?

good old vintage plastic knitting needles!

not only nifty

but extra extremely nice looking too

footynote:

* this nifty & nice idea came from my adopted auntie

* use only knitting needles you are not too bothered about 

as some can go a little squiffy below the soil

a gigantically ginormous pause...

we interrupt this gigantically ginormous pause 

to announce normal rambling service will resume, 

come high or come low,

come rain or come shine, 

on monday 22nd april

with a most thrilling event

'nifty & nice' week!

till then, Tif is finishing off

the longest dance ever to take place

with Mr Lurgy

and doing her darnedest

to keep her little light flickering bright

despite it being switched to pilot mode

without her permission.

there can be only one culprit

and he goes by the name of

Mr Lurgy, the blighter...