things to note... {again}

thing one:

last week i went a little yarn nutso and ordered some lovelies from here... i threw in some variegated goodness alongside of greens, turquoises and good old granny knicker peachy pink. i am now giddy with the anticipation of a box filled with yarn winging its way to me as i tippity type. i have a cunning plan to make a blanket of thee utmost kind (ummm, nothing new there then, Tif). in my head it looks tres spiffy, i can only have high hopes, in my hands it will look the same

thing two:

 my girls, (photo courtesy of pride of mice)

i did not think i would be seeing my girls for the longest time. its been 7 long months and i thought it would be longer, but nope! someone up above smiled down on me, for in just a few days, my clan will be together again and i in turn, will be whole for a short while

thing three:

my little garden keeps on, keeping on, it would appear from being completely pants at keeping little green things alive all my life, i now not only can keep them alive, but they are thriving and taking over the whole of my world. as my adopted auntie said to me whilst i told my tale of my every waking hour being spent tending to my little green friends. "you have created a monster, Tif" and yes, i have... 

i am beyond proud of my one little dahlia which bloomed this week, i fought hard on the side of my little green friends against the pesty pests and this little yellow sweetie, tells me it was worth the battle. i am hopeful she will have friends joining her shortly

and my sunflowers, oh, my sunflowers... my sweet, innocent trusting sunflowers, i have sadly, let them down. woe is me. they have run out of room, now over 8 or 9 ft and still growing. short of cutting a hole in our roof, i am at a loss as to know how to help them.

thing four:

out and about on a pottle recently, i found a little paper lantern in a thrift store. it was $2 and it spoke to me.

 at the moment i have hung it above the alcove where our table was recently shifted to. 

i am planning to make something nicely dingly dangly to hang from it below. i am pondering what that dingly dangly thing will be so for now, as i pass by, i pause and i ponder and wait for the 'bling' moment to happen

thing five:

our bathroom remodel is officially done! its been nearly 5 weeks and i am beyond delighted with the results. 

i have to do some top coat painting and because of this reason, i have yet to unleash my inner 'dottie angel' upon the space, 

but for now a few knick knacks are doing a peachy job of  keeping things going...

thing six:

there is a heat wave going on in old blighty... well of course there is! just as i predicted. first june/july not to head back across the pond in umpteen years and they have sunshine. it was guaranteed. also guaranteed will be a wet dreary september because that is when i will be flying home

thing seven:

with my clan back intact, i am going to take a few weeks off, actually that does sound kind of silly because i have hardly been online in the past month with school out, my mother in law staying and all that other jazz going on each and every day. summer this year has me completely out of routine for some reason and i just need to go with the flow rather than fight it. so i will... i am off but i will be back, some time, some day, some how

over and out for now

Tif 

an easy peasy 'little string of happy'...

last week if you recall i had the urge to make a grand sized 'little string of happy'. nothing complicated, nor fancy, a quick crafty fix. having seen nor hide nor hair of Mr Pesky Squirrel all spring, i felt confident this was the year if ever there was a year, to hang a grand sized 'little string of happy' between my grand sized trees and have it stay there.

i spent a happy ten minutes cutting out rectangles of fabric, i did not measure, nor do anything precise in the least, i just eyeballed and cut, placing my little rectangles in a little pile which steadily grew. i also chose to make them different sizes to each other which greatly aids things if you are eyeballing.

after which i 'ummm and ahhhed'. to leave a gap, or not to leave a gap? i decided to 'not leave a gap' and go with a prayer flag look for this little particular string, similar to the ones i sold in my store a few summers back.

quite simply, i placed them one after another in a random way, along the twill tape and fed them through Miss Ethel's mighty fine foot

here i might point out, most sensible thing would be to measure the space where you are hanging your string, i did not, i just went with a wing and prayer as i could not be bothered to go downstairs and find a tape measure long enough to measure between the trees.

after all my little rectangles were sewn in place, i folded them neatly so that i did not get in a big old twisted pickle

after which i pottled outside, spent a few moments getting in a big old twisted pickle despite having folded things nicely and attached my grand sized 'little string of happy' to one of the trees. i then proceeded to take the other end of my string and went about attaching it to the other tree, and just as i stepped back to admire the little bit of crafty goodness hanging from my trees, 

that very moment, from way way up high, higher then i dare look for fear of a vertigo moment... came a squeak, a squeak that was undeniable... a squeak that could only belong to one critter, and one critter alone.

 Mr Pesky Squirrel himself

footynote:

if you too would like to make a grand sized 'little string of happy' to scratch a crafty itch, you will only need a smidgen of ingredients

* twill tape (or any other length of tape, ribbon, lace etc)

* various leftovers of fabby fav fabrics

* a handy dandy sewing machine

* thread for your handy dandy friend

* scissors for snippity snipping

and then follow the ramblings up above

:)

things to note...

thing one:

our staycation was most marvelous and magical... in amongst it, we rebelled and went on a mini 2 day vacation across the border. i am wondering if that is breaking all the rules of staycationing? if indeed, one goes on a vacation whilst staycationing, technically you are no longer staycationing and therefore you are on vacation and can no longer claim to be a staycationer. its a tricky dicky thing, because right after we returned from our mini vacation we went back to staycation mode, but is it then a bit like one saying 'i don't eat dairy' and then conveniently ignoring the cheese on top of your Italian thin crust pizza and thinking it doesn't count because you asked for 'light cheese' and after all, it was only a sprinkling, a mere dusting, and thus isn't really dairy after all. "ummmm Tif?"

thing two:

i am surrounded by green friends, inside and outside... i cannot but marvel at how a little itty bitty seed can grow so big and so mighty. i have yet to see them actually grow with my own eyes, but grow they must, when i turn my back, and look again, voila! they are taller than 10 minutes before. thus, i marvel at the wonderment of each and everyone of my little green friends. we have tasted our first crop of peppers and our strawberries i liken to 'truffles' as they are tres rare but oh so magical its okay to only have enough for one each of my clan every few days. in the evening when i have finished watering outside the overhang 'indoor outdoor' area 

and turned my attention to the front patch outside our Mossy Shed. i spend quality time with each and every little new greenie trying its very besty best to root deep down and survive the summer heat. 

 i then pop away my watering-can and feel a little sad because our time together has come to an end for another day. yet, i'm a little giddy inside knowing when i awake the following morn i will get to see what magical magic-ness has gone on whilst i slumbered

thing three:

tomorrow morn i have my first job interview in over 22 years. i am mustering up all my snoopy courage and hoping my crafty soul will shine on through despite my lack of experience with working out in the big old world. my qualifications within my little world are many fold i tell myself and its just a matter of believing in myself and what i have to offer. i will read Mr Wintle's wise words several times before i go to bed tonight and then i will do what i did with my pitiful revision notes when at school, i will place Mr Wintle under my pillow and hope that his wisdom will seep into my cogs whilst i slumber so i awake, fresh as a daisy, filled with thinking big and believing i can. (nope, sorry, no questions taken at this point on if this process worked for my school exams, alas, not enough time)

thing four:

today to distract me from my up and coming interview and to take me back to my happy place, actually, my two happy places. happy place number one is crafting, happy place number two is gardening, i am combining them to make doubly sure i find a happy place today. so i will be making a grand sized 'little string of happy' for the large fir trees out front. of course, there are those who may point and say "fool Tif, surely you have learnt from times before" but i say, 'foolish maybe or ah ha! maybe not, maybe an optimist instead'. yes i am fully aware every single spring when i pop out a garland or two around those large beasties of trees, the pesky squirrel who lives up high above thinks i have done so, just to a) drive him/her batty and b) provide him/her with peachy nesting material. however this year, i have not seen hide nor hair of a pesky squirrel and therefore i am optimistic this is the year to string up my grand sized 'little string of happy' and best of all, this is the year it has a fighting chance of still being strung for the whole of summer 

fighting talk, that Mr Wintle would be most proud of, i like to think...