little string of pom pom dingle dangle~ness ...

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

good grief! 

where oh where has march run away to?

did you think i had forgotten? did you think old Tif was beginning to wander from her little stringy path. well i would not blame you for thinking such things. for indeedy, i have gotten March's little string of happy giveway in by the skin of my teeth /////////////////////////// oh! do you see that little pattern, it just happened, when i was trying to delete, instead i did this ////////////////////////// well that is quite peachy looking and so i think i will leave it just as it is

so there we have it, right on the very last day of March we have a 'little string of pom pom dingle dangle~ness' to give away, and not just one, but three. 

how marvelous indeedy.

these little strings are quite easy peasy to make, i do not have pics to show how you do so, but its quite easy to explain.

make 2 pom poms leaving tails (one larger than the other)

thread together

add a vintage cotton spool

add a button onto your thread

add a little saying typed on paper

add a little crepe paper flower or more if you wish

at the top of your itty bitty paper, tie another string for dingle dangling

so if perchance you think your nest may like a little pom pom dingle dangle~ness going on, then please do the following things

1: leave your name and a way to get hold of you. an email address or obvious link through to somewhere that has your email or contact details within easy reach, so i am not on a wild goose chase

2: tell me the nicest thing that happened to you this month, or perhaps the nicest thing you did for another

3: do not fret if you do not see your comment appear at once for i moderate my comments and will check in from time to time to publish them. please, just one comment per dearie.

4: ummmm, ///////////////// nope, cannot think there is anything else i am missing

5. yes! silly, there is! i have 3 of these little strings this month to give away so there are 3 winners and i will announce them this friday

6. this giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere around this old world of ours

righty ho, upwards and onwards to April it is ....

/////////////////////////////

things to note of the little critter kind ...

thing one:

last night whilst watching a spot of telly i noted a scrabbling noise, i also noted Mister Muchly and Little Olive were entranced by the telly 

and thus it could not be them. 

on close inspection after lots of "shhhh, hush, be quiet, listen" it has become apparent Samuel Whiskers is back for a visit and a sneaky 'you can hear me, but you can't catch me' visit, for he is living in the wall. i have voiced my dislike of his company quite loudly through the wall and told him i hope this will be an end to the situation. however if its the Samuel Whiskers who visited a few years back, i have a feeling he will be staying for a while and bringing his clan with him.

thing two: 

alas and alack, a few weeks back Twiglet Piglet came to stay, (well that bit was not alas and alack, for we wanted her to come and stay. the alas and alack bit happened shortly afterwards) 

all things were going most marvelously until Twiglet Piglet sneezed, (known hereafter as TP) 

ummm, seem to be missing half of this, but quite amazed, half of it even appeared!

then she sneezed again and in a few days was no longer staying with us but back where once she came from, receiving daily care, until she got better. every day after school Our #4 walks over to see her and he has noted, her hair is growing daily. he then looked it up and exclaimed TP could have hair as long at 36 inches and explained in great detail how we flatten the hair with cardboard and string just until the moment she is judged at the competition... ummm, what competition would that be then?!

thing three:

alas and alack again. a few days back Mister Muchly did a sneeze to end all sneezes. (known hereafter as MM) those sort of sneezes send a little piggie into the air. we laughed it off, we told ourselves, twas nothing to worry about, MM was just having a bit of a giggle, twas all. 48 hours later MM is now on meds and we have high hopes his sneezing and wheezing will come to an end soon. sadly we are no longer laughing.

we have high hopes 

'Mister Muchly and his trusty side kick Twiglet Piglet' 

will be reunited at some point soon. 

thing four:

i have mentioned to MM in-between the sneezing that although TP indeed makes for a trusty sidekick when adventures come their way, he might want to consider the fact TP might not be able to see when danger approaches or pesky criminals need to be chased, for her hair may well get in her eyes. i am also fearful when they take chase, TP could in fact not get very far having problemos not tripping over her hair. MM says he will not hear another thing about it and will cross that bridge or small stone when he comes to it. 

thing five:

we are in discussions about TP, her hair and the unknown~ness of how long it may grow (we being me and my lad). 

if she is to be a show piggie, we will need to groom her each and every day and accept wherever she walks, she will walk whilst sweeping. i thought this was quite good and wondered just how much floor debris a small piggie can gather under her skirts and then do you collect them up and give them a little shake (a kindly shake, please please know, no piggie was harmed in my thought process) above the kitchen bin, and then set them down to go about their piggie sweeping ways. on the other hand, long locks are quite the responsibility and i pointed out to Our #4 that neither of us were tres good with long hair responsibilities. after some research it has been determined if we are to not show TP (which truth be told, i do not think i am cut out for the piggie circuit) we must trim TP every month. having cut my 'lads of three' hair since two of them first roamed this earth the responsibility of TP's monthly haircuts has fallen into my care... oh

thing six:

for all those who may be thinking, "ummm, Tif, hello, MM is a laddie and TP is a lassie. do you not think it might be a match made in heaven and more than you bargained for?" rest assured, we have no worries, for Mister Muchly despite his name and being called a he, is really a she! 

righty ho... shop talk again

i am thinking this little lot of handmade-ness will be the last for a while to be in my shop. 

the next few weeks are tres busy with 'this and that' 

and then i am going on some travels of the utmost kind.

i would like to spend all day every day making handy dandy project sacks

but alas, i must wait until late spring for more sack making moments.

i was just going to pop them in my shop,

however some folks do like to know when this will be ahead of time.

so it is looking to be thursday 27th March at 8am pacific time

and for the first time in many many moons, 

there will be a few apron wraps.

hurrah, hooray, and voila!

handy dandy fruitiness ...

on thursday i did not get out of my pj's at all, i stayed quite fruity all the way through to the following day, spending my time wisely in my happy place, making handy dandy project sacks. 

i told myself i could not keep one... 

at the end of the day, i thought perhaps it might be 'a-okay' if i kept just one however i could not decide, for truth be told i wanted to keep them all forever and ever, but i will not because a) that is wrong b) tis against the code i made up several years ago and c) i have no need for all these project sacks.

i decided whilst merrily beavering away with Miss Ethel patching and piecing things together, i haven't felt quite this way since first making my apron wraps. there is something rather therapeutic about making them, and as my heart truly loves a coloured embroidered vintage linen, i am muchly happy spending all day in their company.

on friday i awoke, still in same pj's and not only fruity but now quite whiffy. as i had a meeting up at Tolt, i felt it might be wise to shed my pj's, freshen up the old fruitiness and thus, not offend anyone in the store. for indeedy, when you go to a yarn store you do like to smell wool and lanolin and in our case, all the amazing reclaimed wood and you do not wish to smell fruitiness and whiffiness coming from Tif.

before embarking on my country road drive, i thought how wise it would be to take my new yarny knitty project on a jolly outing with me and even wiser to test drive a handy dandy project sack. so i 'ip dip sky blued' till i found my willing victim.

 i noted upon placing my rather oatmealy creation inside of my handy dandy project sack, just how handy dandy it was. 

i enjoyed quite immensely pulling the drawstring, then un-pulling it several times to check upon my projects safety. 

my knitty project assured me it felt most safe and sound, was ready for the off and was muchly happy not to be rolling around the bottom of my basket gathering fluff, crumbs and whatnot, as is usually the way.

today the shed is half empty, (well its always half empty with my girls gone), so the shed is three quarters empty and i am taking advantage of this on a sunday morn and will remain once again in pj's not quite so fruity, just a hint and wander back into my 'atelier of sorts' to start on more handy dandy project sacks...

 for yesterday i came across several linens on my travels who asked if they could possibly come home with me and who was i to say no! since then all through the night, after a nice little bath (not me, just them) they have been whispering my name, and i can no longer ignore them...

footynote:

for those who may like to know, i will be adding a few handy dandy project sacks into my shop window later this week 

(however (not wishing to disappoint), the one in the second photo has already found a home with a friend and work colleague at Tolt so will not be making an appearance in my shop)

make me ...

i ran out of steam yesterday,

so today i am staying in my pj's

smelling quite fruity

and 

beavering away in my 'atelier of sorts'

with Miss Ethel.

not a manic sort of beavering.

but a 'feed my crafty soul

and heal my tired old bones'

sort of beavering

for as my lovely friend Jennette says,

'make to mend'

and

the older i get

the more

i realize

this has always been the case for me

and the winner is....

ah yes indeedy!

we have a winner for the TEND magazine giveaway

chosen by Our #3 and #4 combined with a bit a maths trickery,

and that peachy winner is

Mlle Paradis

hurrah hooray!

and for those that still wish to hoppity skip over and purchase a copy of TEND magazine, you can use the code DOTTIE20 to get a discount all the way up until the 20th of March

righty ho, how marvelous, i will be back soon with other things to note, i cannot promise thrilling things to note nor particularly riveting things to note, but i can promise notes of some form or other which i think is perfectly acceptable all things considered

what things? i do not know, i am just considering them and by doing so feel muchly better about things, tis all

this and that, that and this... blessed

yesterday i noted upon driving out to Tolt, seeing how the sun was shinning brightly and the mountains in the distance were quite spectacular, i noted as i have always done since moving here 14 years ago, just how jolly ginormous the sky is when its blue. i cannot decide whether i imagine it, but for some reason this is the only place i have ever been to where i notice just how big the sky is. and when i do this, i can not help but also note, how good life can be on days like that.

so i proceeded to count my blessings as i drove

blessing one: the sky is so blue and so big

blessing two: used dog is still wobbly but doing muchly better

blessing three: after only one week on my histamine elimination diet my whole body is beginning to make a turn around and i feel better than i have felt in the past 3 years

blessing four: so many lovely folks came to my etsy store re-opening it quite blew me away

blessing five: on saturday i am going to a knitting show, a vogue knitting show no less, i have never been before and am quite giddy to see what it is all about

blessing six: Mr Sun in my back yard

blessing seven: my 'atelier of sorts' is coming together

blessing eight: Barry the Bullet (an extractor gadget) is saving my body one green gunk drink at a time

blessing nine: there is so much goodness in the world despite only hearing the crappity crap most of the time on the telly

blessing ten: that i have the ability to acknowledge small blessings

thank you kindly to all those who visited my shop and stopped by on facebook to visit a while. i feel blessed to have you in my life and with that, i wish you a most blessed and peaceful weekend dearies and will announce the winner of the TEND giveaway on monday 

muchly hugs 

x

shop talk...

ah yes indeedy, shop talk it is...

my etsy store is opening its door tomorrow

wednesday 12th March

8am pacific time 

(please note we sprung forward this past weekend so if you did not,

then you may wish to double check time differences)

there will be a  SPIFFY SALE SECTION

and a happy discount code PEACHY10 for 10% off any purchases over $20 

(sale and regular prices)

righty ho, well i am thinking this is quite grandly and a little bit marvelously

and i hope you do too

TENDing to a blog hop today...

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

i have never ever ever done a blog hop before, truth be told things like that seem to be quite a responsibility and i am tres pants the moment i am given a deadline. however i was given plenty of time and i told myself this was a blog hop of the utmost importance and how fortunate was i to be invited to participate, and then all was well again...

TEND is a new online magazine which you may well have heard whispers or indeed shouts about around the blog-sphere. it is the brain child of Debbie from the blog my so called life life and other lies whom i have had the most loveliest of pleasures to know for quite the years in blogging land. she has a most fabby team of contributors who helped her bring life to her online magazine dream and you can find out who they are over here

i do think the title does a jolly good job about explaining what it is all about in a nutshell...

TEND

to nourish the head, the hand, the heart and the home

to take note of the bonds within your family, your world, and others in the world

to care about the food you put on your table and where it came from

to be inspired to live more cleanly and more ethically
and

to be incouraged to TEND to the small things in our day to day life

so we may in turn find happiness and harmony in the small things.

and perhaps in turn, the big things will follow and fall into place

yes, it is a magazine full of inspiring images, but it goes way beyond that, it is filled with sound advice, not tricky to understand or follow, simple recipes for healthy eating, ideas for the home and garden, educational topics for children and crafting how-tos (you will find one from me in there) which includes a knitting pattern, a sewing pattern, a bird project and other creative activities to do as a family or indeed as just yourself. it really has a lot of jolly good advice for folks to make a more informed choice of how they wish to TEND to their well being and that of those around them. 

you can also find quite brilliantly, a free seed packet template to print off and the bird embroidery patterns are available free to everyone who signs up for the newsletter. well that is quite marvelous! but wait, there is more... ("really Tif?"... "oh yes indeedy" say i)

if perchance you would like to win a free copy of TEND you can leave a comment here and i have a spiffy code to share which will give you 20% discount on the cost of TEND too. just enter in DOTTIE20 in the right little place for it to do its magical thing.

and last but not least, next on the blog hopping trail is the most peachy Heather from Shivaya Naturals where you can have another chance at winning a copy of TEND too! oh hurrah hooray.

or you can visit all these lovely folks who hopped before me and enter there too!

beauty that moves

here we are together

wholly rooted

patch of puddles

tales of ted and agnes

for further nitty gritty on this rather refreshing and quite extra ordinary online publication you can found out all the nitty gritty by visiting here 

righty ho, happy monday to those that are just beginning, or ending, and happy tuesday to those just beginning... i am hopful that covers all around the globe :)

a good day...

today is a good day, i knew it would be because i went to bed telling myself so. i have learnt that the thoughts of our todays contribute to our tomorrows. sometimes i lose my path and this week i know i did, but at least these days i am aware i am doing so. that in its self is a huge improvement.

and so i awoke with a lightness i have not felt in quite the while and was tres keen to continue day 2 on my elimination diet. over the past year and a half i have continued quietly upon my merry (well not quite at times) searching ways trying to understand what ails my body, and i have high hopes those searching ways have come to an end thanks to my soul sister and her 'detective cap wearing ways'. 

whether my feelings of seeing a change in the right direction are real or imagined, i do not care, i only care that today i hear my body thanking me for not giving up and for continuing upon this path until an answer has been found and perhaps that answer is histamine intolerance. who knows, it will be a while till i do. however for now i am feeling good today, and that in itself is worth taking time to acknowledge, to be thankful for and to marvel at how such a small imbalance left over time can produce such chronic symptoms.

a small miracle...

i cannot tell you where my head and heart has been all week, 

i have been through the wringer along with Used Dog. 

the vet said if our sweet old girl did not rally by today

 it would be time to say goodbye

at the 12th hour,

when our hearts were heavy

and our hopes were lost, 

she stood up shaking on her weak limbs,

looked at me with puppy pound eyes, 

and licked her lips signalling for water,

 her first drop since sunday night.

dare i note, 

Used Dog's eyes are beginning to shine brightly again. 

i did not interfere with nature, 

i just loved her and cared for her 

and let time tell if it was her moment to go...

and this morning,

not wishing to count my chickens

i hardly dare not breath the words

but 

it would appear 

she may well have pulled one more miracle out of her invisible hat.

thank you so kindly to each and every message

of comfort and support

that has been sent our way.

you will never know 

just how much you have touched my aching heart

and soothed my sorrows

at a time when it felt like we had lost all hope.

and more so,

the fact you understand

the connection between a being and their critter

and how hard it can be

if the time comes

when you have to choose

to severe that bond

x

my heart...

the past two days 

have been tres tough for Used Dog,

last night i saw a glimmer of hope.

her aura shone brightly,

more brightly than ever before.

alas my glimmer of hope was dashed...

she is my constant canine companion,

my daily shadow,

a miracle dog of the utmost kind

who may just have run out of miracles

my heart has cracked open

at the thought of goodbye

a CL Spring Fair winner...

hip hip hooray!

we have a winner today

and 

the winner is

Heather from my little red suitcase

clap, clap, clappity clap,

 "I have a plan to meet a friend in London for the day in the spring. Calling in the Country Living fair would be a grand plan! Heather x"

well this is simply most marvelous indeedy

and for those that are wishing to go

but alas and alack did not win the tickets

you can still use discount code Blog10

towards a ticket or two

*******************

alas and alack

my day has not gone according to plan

and so i am writing off monday,

spending it wisely with Used Dog

and starting fresh tomorrow...