A li'l wool cottage

Whilst knitting my colourful jumper last year, of which I waxed lyrical about here, I got the 'brilliant' idea (well I thought so) of incorporating a few of the stitches in a new knitted woolly.....just because I had the time of my life knitting my colourful jumper....(not)!! You would think I might be a little averse in picking up those darn pins again, but no....where would the fun be in that. 

Though Autumn and then the icy breath of Winter is just around the corner of our country road, I should be thinking about knitting another lovely warm wearable woolly, but I don't want to start another garment just yet......so....why not a cute li'l cottage cushion!! Simple...right....well.....I think so. So, let's just see if what is churning around in my cranium can be translated from a foggy idea into something lovely that can happily co-exist with  my many other cushions that sit in our li'l ole abode.

My li'l cottage will go perfectly with these two lovelies. The pretty Liberty cushion designed by Anne Hubert of La Cerise Sur Le Gateau fame, was a birthday present from my husband a few years ago and the gorgeous pure wool, felted flower cushion was a fortuitous find at an op shop.

I haven't sketched any drawings or patterns; I am going with the flow once again. After all, a humble cottage is just a rectangle with a triangular shaped roof.....right??

I envisage after the knitting of the cottage is finished I will embellish with curtains, window panes, trailing flowers climbing up to the rafters and of course a pretty flower garden. After all I am a gal who bangs on about...."it's all about the look"!

But of course, the embellishing is for a later time. First one has to cast on the first stitch!

I have chosen a pretty green shade of double knit wool for the grass, two complementary shades of blue for the brick pattern and a light grey for the windows and the door. The cottage is going to consist mainly of a brick pattern for the walls, plain old boring, stocking stitch for the windows and door, and a honecomb pattern in blue and brown for the roof.

Both the brick pattern and the honeycomb pattern really are the easiest of patterns. It doesn't take long at all for these two patterns to knit up into something half acceptable.

See, I told you it is easy as. The only thing that was a pain in the right royal proverbial, was the tangling of all the strands of wool as I knitted merrily along. I don't know how many times my good husband and my good self,  unravelled all those pesky balls of wools.

The front of my cute li'l wool cottage is knitted. Me thinks before I knit the back I might start to plant the garden and adorn the windows with curtains. Yes indeedy, a li'l embellishing will be the order of my day. The back of my li'l cottage will just have to wait.

I am off to 'plant' a few seeds around my woolly cottage.  I am linking up with "Janine's lovely blog, "Wool on Sundays", so have a bo peep at what woolly delights both Janine and everyone else have been up to this week.

'Tis toodles from me.....wishing you all a lovely weekend.

On Golden Pond

My husband has always wanted to create a pond. Though we had a small pond in Sydney it really wasn't anything to write home to mother about. He wanted to create a special place; he wanted to create a BIG POND!!

After moving into our humble abode, it was his mission to put his dream into fruition. But in order for this desire to become a reality he had to extricate trailer load after trailer load of old car parts, debris, junk, concrete slab after concrete slab and whatever else the previous owner decided to bury in the backyard. Why is it that some blokes have a need to cover large expanses of rich fertile soil with junk?? The previous owner seemed to have a penchant for concrete. It seemed his mission in life was to plant concrete everywhere.....yukkity yuk!! The clearing of the miscellany of rubbish  and concrete took my husband a good year to accomplish.

The tragic thing is that the previous owners lived here for forty years!! I can see in my mind's eye the previous owner thinking "mmmm.....what shall I plant here......car parts, concrete, junk.....or will I plant  some glorious green as green trees, sucking up all that yukky carbon dioxide, replacing it with good clean oxygen, so that we might breath a li'l easier?? Perhaps some beauteous flowering rhododendrons, buddleias, or perhaps, exquisite Magnolias?? Now here's a thought (and it is just a fleeting thought)......a gift that keeps on giving....an ever bountiful, producing orchard. ......nah.....I think I'll go with the junk"!!!

As is always the case in this far rural outpost word had got around of my husband's "one day" dream. Our friendly (and very generous), farmer neighbour appeared in his bulldozer one afternoon and declared that today was the day to dig a very, very big hole!! Not wanting to waste any of the farmer's time (farmers don't have a minute to spare) my husband went to supervise the excavation.

Okay........so the bulldozer began to dig, and dig, and dig.......until what stood before us all was an 'olympic' sized cavity for my husband's pond. Farmers love their big boy toys don't they?? Feeling chuffed at his good deed, our farmer waved us goodbye as he and his bulldozer idled rather noisily off into the sunset. The thought did cross my mind if only my husband had a bulldozer, he could've removed the graveyard of rubbish in next to no time. Oh well, not to worry, removing all that heavy junk was cheaper than a gym membership! Alas, there are no photos, as the burrowing into the earth by the earth moving equipment took place before I happened upon the "Land of Blog".

So......my husband began to slowly transform the rather large hole in our backyard into a "golden pond". He covered the bottom and sides with metres and metres of old carpet, then covered the carpet with silage plastic (a generous contribution by the aforementioned farmer) and began to build the sides of the pond with hundreds and hundreds of rocks, which both he and I collected from our friendly and benevolent farmer's rocky outcrop.

My husband begged, borrowed and stole acquired oodles of plants and trees and began to landscape and fill the gaps with bountiful specimens of the plant kingdom; Iris, Poppies, Lilies, Water Lilies, Foxgloves, Daisies, Gladioli, Cosmos, Agapanthus, Ajugas, Dahlias, Daffodils, Jonquils, Lupins, Ixias, Tortured Willows, Chinese Elms, Maples........you name it, he has planted it.  Oh....and I must not forget to mention that Miss Maisie is always on hand to supervise!!

My husband has created an oasis with it's own micro climate happening. He has created an atmospheric area where plants thrive and flower joyously all year round. Each season produces it's own beauty. There is always something to see.....pretty butterflies flitting from flower to flower, dragon flies zipping around and around and lately there has been a frog croaking at high decibels to his lady love. There are times when the croak becomes very ebullient....mmm...a little romance amongst the lily pads! Oh...and there are sizable gold fish playing catch and chase, darting in and out amongst the water lilies and reeds.

I have watched my husband with amazement as little by little he has turned what once was an eyesore into a lovely pond....pure gold......surrounded by vigorous growing plant life. Just a 'few' happy snaps to show the beauty of our li'l paradise!

Beautiful Irises.

Elegant Foxgloves.

Ixias and Water Lilies.

Glorious Dahlias dressed in pretty tutus.

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The beautiful Fruit Salad Plant.

Tall spires of Gladioli.

Miss Maisie can never resist a photo shoot!!

 

Just to think that a little over 3 years ago this space was a monument to the junk god.....but today it is a paradise filled with oodles of  life, happily existing in it's own li'l micro climate, giving much pleasure to whomever sits a while on our swinging seat, to just dream or take a little moment to enjoy a cuppa. 

Yes indeedy, my husband and I can always be found at various times throughout the day, sitting on our swinging seat, enjoying 'his' golden pond!

It's toodles from me.....have a lovely weekend everyone. I intend to steal a few moments to sit and swing, whilst drinking in the bounteous life in, on and around the golden pond!

And the hearts go to.........

Oh yes, the hearts. Those prettily embellished, lavender fragrant hearts which are a giveaway for my GYB party post.....remember them?? Here is a photo to help jolt your memory. Today is the day when my significant other, randomly draws out from a very big hat, two lovely ladies' names.

Drum roll please...........Peggy Reed and Ljubinka.......two hearts will soon be winging their way over land and sea, to your li'l corner of the world. Congratulations ladies...but...you are both naughty as you couldn't make up your minds as to which ones tickled your fancy. It seems both of you lovely ladies are enamoured with all of these pretties. Mmmm...decisions....decisions!!

I fear, I cannot choose, so my significant other has chosen his two favourites.......

For the lovely Peggy, he has chosen No. 2......

And...for the lovely Ljubinka, he has chosen No. 8.....

Now of course,  Peggy and Ljubinka, if perchance you prefer any of the other hearts instead of these two, please do let me know.

Peggy......you will need to let me know your address as I am afraid I cannot contact you, as you seem to be a No Reply Blogger.

Thank you to everyone who visited my blog over these last couple of weeks and left such lovely comments. It was a pleasure to 'meet' you and in turn visit your li'l corner of the world and drink in your own imaginative creativity! I look forward to visiting your lovely blogs over and over again and delight in all the goings on in your delightful posts.

AND....thank you to Vicki of '2Bags Full' for all your hard work in hosting this fun party, it was so much fun!

NOW.....besides trying to make life changing decisions as to which lovely lady gets which pretty heart sachet....what else have I been up to this week??

Well..........the 'Kim Sharman School of Stitching Excellence' started again with a flurry of activity and excitement. I had four new students. Yes indeedy, they just keep coming!! It seems I now have a waiting list!! Incredible!!

I have been working on this gorgeous yo-yo quilt that a lady asked me to finish for her grandmother. She wanted me to back it but of course that meant hand stitching it up and down the length of it, through the back, in the middl'e of each yo-yo. As this quilt is approx. 3 metres x 2.5 metres, it took a while.

I find row after row of monotonous hand quilting a wee bit tedious. Also, this quilt was stitched by an older lady, so over time  a lot of the yo-yos have unravelled, which meant  I had to do a lot of extra fixer-uppering before I could send it on home. As much as I love all these gorgeous yo-yos, I must admit I am so, so happy to see the end of this lovely as it had been sitting on my 'to do' pile for a very, very long time. So, so happy.....in fact, deliriously happy.....that my 'Quasimodo', hunch back, bent-like body is doing a happy dance!!

As February is the month of  all things LOVE, I decided to stitch a quick, free hand machine, sketched cushion.

I cut out a simple shape of a house from some pink fabric, stitched it to the hessian and then stitched the words and flowers free hand. No drawings, no tracing, just free hand sketching. So, so easy; so, so quick; and so, so very pink!! But......that suits me perfectly fine as it goes perfectly with my bright pink front door!

It sits alongside my pretty heart, hessian cushion; both resting on a rather antiquated oak settee on the front porch; welcoming all and sundry who enter through our front gate.

I love to sit on the front porch and enjoy a cuppa. It is the prettiest spot, drinking in the Zinnias, Dahlias, Gladioli, Cosmos, Salvias, Anemones and all the other pretty Summer flowers. And of course peeping over the front fence the glorious Hydrangeas. This year these beautiful mop-head, prima donnas,  are bigger and better than ever before! They are quite stunning.....AND.....they live in vases for weeks. Summer in Tassie is burgeoning with floral delight!

Each morning has found me wandering around the garden, picking bounteous bouquets of floralicious delight to spread throughout our home. When it comes to blossoms....'tis my unwavering opinion, more is never enough! I know I have said it before......when I grow up I really, really want to be a florist!!

Colourful and happy Dahlias.

Pretty in Pink, Cosmos.

Beautiful blue, blue Hydrangeas. These flowers really do make my heart sing! Oh, and of course, pretty tea cups and even prettier teapots, have also been known to make my heart go pit-a-pat!!

There is just something about the hue blue, is there not?? Yes indeedy, blue is my favourite hue! What's yours??

So...there you have it; a week filled with teaching, a little stitching and oodles of walks in our lovely garden, gathering bounteous bouquets of blossomy delight.

Sending you all oodles of LOVE and a bouquet of  'pretty as a picture' Hydrangeas to brighten your day!

Until the next time you visit my li'l corner of the world; have the most wonderful weekend, filled with a little LOVE.........'tis toodles from me!