oh she of little time...

time is not on my side today, it could have something to do with the fact that i have decided i can no longer live with the 'yellow' walls in the hallway and kitchen. i have nothing against the color 'yellow' but when it is a 'cold' insipid yellow coupled with dark brown kitchen cabinets and dark mottled blacky sludge granite worktops enough is enough...

so i shall just jump right in and give you today's post...if you have a 'blah' teacosy hanging around and have been telling yourself for a while that it is really letting the side down when you have unexpected visitors drop by for a spot of tea, then pay special attention.

my little teacosy was purchased last summer in the UK from the fabulous woolworths, at the time i felt the polka dots were perfect, but on my return i have since decided otherwise...i believe it not the 'dots' that bother me but the pale wishy washy pink, that's what you get for purchasing a cheap 'knock off' version of our Cath...so two days ago, i put one hour, yes dear readers just one hour aside and decided to fix my 'tea cosy' issue...

so here it is in pictures

take one 'blah' tea cosy of your choice and a piece of your favorite fabric or maybe a small remanant of your absolute 'all time' besty 'vintage find' that you can't bear the thought of not seeing everyday (i think i am getting a little carried away, it could be the five hours of paint fumes getting to me)

using 'blah' cosy as a template cut out a front and back allowing for seams

add some decoration with odds and ends of lace etc

put right sides together and machine stitch across the top (i know this is obvious but i'll say it anyway, don't stitch up the bottom where the teapot goes in)

turn 'cosy' right sides out and press with iron, then slip in 'old blah' teacosy snuggly into it's 'new lovely' cover

to secure the cover to your teacosy you must turn under the raw edge and pin some bias binding to hide the fraying edges and keep everything 'in place'...this was my chance to use my 'japanese craft book' bias binding that i made way back when , yipee...

once all pinned you must sit down with a cup of tea and start handstitching...go on, it's good not to use the machine every now and then...

and there you have it, no longer do you need to hide behind your curtains when the door bell rings for fear of having to produce a pot of tea warmed by a 'blah' tea cosy...

on the other hand if this all seems a little too much effort and you just wish to own a fabulous tea cosy without any of the 'blood' (hand sewing don't forget), 'sweat' (drinking tea always makes me heat up a bit) and 'tears' (having to look at 'blah' tea cosy too closely) then take a look over here...probably the best teacosy i have managed to track down in a long time...

she's apologizing for the 'madness' of the post but it was done in under 20 minutes which is an all time record, plus the use of 'flash' photography (sssh, i didn't really say that)...see you monday, as tomorrow she is away thrifting...oh happy days ~ Tif

there's a whole lot of rambling going on...

whilst out and about with used dog and admiring the view i realized there were lots of 'little things' that i wished to tell you...i can't promise they are particularly useful or even interesting but i just need to 'share', so if you are sitting comfortably then i shall begin...

random fact #1: miss josephina lola has been bought in from the cold...after nearly five months of living in a garage and the ordeal of surviving a 'flesh wound' she seems very happy to be 'loved again'...

random fact #2: a poem from Joe, one of Janet's boys, to mark the occasion of "Tif moving to mossy shed". i feel it only fitting that i show my appreciation that a young child who has never met me, should have a 'creative moment' and feel the need to write a poem (or at least dictate it to his mother) about a 'chapter in my life', so here is Joe's poem...i'll pause after you've read it to give you time for 'applauses' before we go onto the next random fact

There once was an owl

Flying through the sky

He saw Mossy Shed

And went to bed.

random fact #3: Miss T Dryer is giving me the cold shoulder, all i ask for is a little warmth when i place load after load of cold wet clothes into her...but alas i believe she is all out of love, ever since i mentioned the words "can't wait to have a washing line again after seven years" she has been acting strange...

random fact #4: samuel whiskers and anna marie have been vacationing in my attic, they seem to have decided it is so nice they are going to "stay on for a bit"...i believe i have other plans then to allow them to extend their vacation time at mossy shed for fear they invite their family to join them...

random fact #5: tea cosies fashioned to resemble the bottom half of a 'knitted toilet roll doll cosy thingy' will come back into fashion, mark my words ("that's a load of rubbish" i hear you say and i say "when a girl has stayed up half the night to crochet a tea cosy to realize at the end it looks not dissimilar to the 'doll cosies of old' she has to tell herself something to make it seem better")...

random fact #6: barefoot no knickers is up and running in blogland...she of the 'throwing it all away for a life on the river' lady, oh happy days...

random fact #7: squirrels like bird feeders, everyone knows this but why oh why do all the squirrel proof bird feeders in my hardware store look just plain 'ugly'...my man insisted that we must get 'a squirrel proof' one, he told me quite plainly "i don't often have an opinion about things but this time i do" well that's fair enough...so off he goes to the store, a little while later the phone goes "so which one was the feeder you liked"..."oooh" says i "the pretty one with the little metal twigs at the side for the wee birdies to sit and rest a while before eating"..."just as i thought" he says..."the one that every squirrel from miles around will laugh out loud at"

so the tale of this story is 'yes' Tif has a 'pretty bird feeder' ('cause her man is a softie) and 'yes' within the space of hours word got around the 'squirrel' community and now 'dinner is on me', (look really close at the bottom of the tree) but it does look pretty...

random fact #8: gloss paint can look fab but let's leave that for another time...

she's off to do a wee bit of cleaning and then.....drum roll....check out the 'space bags' her man bought for 'sucking the life' out of 'little used things' for storing up to (and she quotes) "4x more in your closets". we shall see about that ~ Tif

footnote: i have told a fib, before i attempt any 'cleaning' and 'space bagging' i am going to indulge in a cadbury's chocolate bar, why does it feel so wrong to eat chocolate before lunch...i have no choice dear readers, for my last jar of 'chocolate spread' ran out two days ago and i just can't seem to start the day without a healthy dose of 'chocolate'...i believe 'guilt' has made me type this footnote...

word of the week...

doil - i - fy

1. to customize with doilies
2. to add doilies for decoration

-related forms
1. doil - i - fied

example: "oh Tif, like your new curtains" to which Tif replies "why thank you, i have doilified them"

2. doil - i - fy - ing

example: "so Tif, care to tell us what technique you are using?" to which Tif replies "as it happens, it's an ancient craft called doilifying...i am using this technique to enhance my 'on clearance' shop bought linen curtains"

3. doil - i - fi - er

example: "have you been up to much lately Tif?" to which Tif replies "well since you ask, i have been using a lot of doilies for customizing my 'linen lovelies' that hang at mossy shed. it would be true to say dear friends that one could call me a doilifier"

she's thinking it all sounds a bit dodgy ~ Tif