Well it is finally................

Raining here in County NSW. I dont know how long for, we really need it, our crops are not doing so well. (Wheat, barley, rice, canola, etc) And if we dont get sufficient rain the crops fail and then the bread and groceries are dearer at the checkout, so next time it rains in the city and you start to complain rememeber this fact.
Here is a flower to brighten your day, mine is not going so well, despite the lovely rain.
I may post again later I will see how I feel. I cant decide if I want to do some sewing or some painting, as you can see on the side bar, I painted my first roses yesterday, I am pretty chuffed with my effort, so I would like to try and paint some every day or so to get better at them. I mostly paint landscapes, and flowers have not been a biggie for me, but here goes.


Click on the puzzle for it to start.




Cheers Debra, (Sitting back with an evening drink enjoying the rain)

I have a serious addiction........

To fabric, I can't help myself.


Todays finds at the op shop (thrift store, for my US friends) some little boxes to paint, a wooden salt and pepper shaker, they will look great shabbied up with some roses on them. A picture frame and a vintage book holder, I had a couple of those in the 70s lol.

Hidden on the bottom of the shelf was the most vintage retro packet of lavender bath tea bags, lol, yes tea bags, I dont think I will use them though, I'm thinking lavender satchets made from the vintage fabric.

But doesn't the picture of the envelope they came in look divine, I have put it on the side bar too, I love it, so retro.

And of course fabric, and more fabric, there is about 4 meters of green vintage cotton, and a meter of pink, and two meters of green and yellow vintage stripe.

Also the most scrumptuous round cushion topper. It is very heavy fabric with tufted felt, and a couple of vintage pillow cases, they should come up ok soaked in bleach over night.

All up not a bad days bargain hunting I would say. Yes I am very pleased with my booty. And all of it only cost me $14.








I also got some new fabric yesterday at a local fabric store on special and it was calling my name so I couldnt pass it by lol.

All gorgeous rose fabrics that will be just yummy made into a quilt and some matching cushions.

Here's a peek.................

Isn't it just the most gorgeous fabric you have ever seen. Now to finish sorting out the fabric cupboard so I can start sewing lol.

Ok now I had better go start on tea for my boys, left over spaghetti with chips and salad tonight, and easy one.

Untill next time stay safe and warm just like my darling dog....:)

Hymie Dog

Cheers till next time Debra...:)

A letter to myself at age14

I was blog hopping last night and found a couple of posts where the ladies had written a letter to themselves at the age of 13, I have chosen 14 as this is when my life till now starts to make sense.
It is very strange reading it back again. Well here goes.......


A Letter to myself at 14


Dear Debra.

Don’t worry that your mother calls you Debra, and you hate it, you will actually love that name when you are 50. Debbie is such a ditzy blonde name anyways. (Apologies to the ditzy blonde Debbie’s out there) lol

And your best girlfriend even though her mother said your friend ship wouldn’t last will be your bridesmaid twice, yes twice, but that is for later in the letter.

I wish I could say that you will become that art teacher you so desperately want to be, but that infernal mother had other ideas for you, you will instead float from one job to another never really finding your niche, even at 50 you are still floating, but it was a great journey all the same, you have been many places and made many great friends along the way. Though you won’t stay in touch with most of them, until one day when you can travel the world and meet people without leaving your desk, one day you will understand, all I can say is keep up those typing lessons you so hate, they will be invaluable to you when you are 40 onwards, you will understand why soon enough. Oh and get plenty of outdoors now as soon you will seem to never leave the house, but will have been all over the world in an hour.

Make the most of your time at school, I know you already love school, and those art classes, and if I were to tell you that the boy you are in love with, yes I know you are in love with him at 14, the one who doesn’t seem to notice you, well let me tell you he noticed. Oh he is noticing, if he wasn’t a shy gangly 16 year old male he would do something about it. You know how you tingle every time you brush up against him in class line up, or in the corridor, well I can tell you that feeling will never go away. Not even at 50.
Even though you will marry some one else and have a wonderful son, and have a very privileged life for 20 years, you will never forget that boy in school, your first love.

Let me tell you a little secret, don’t forget him, if I were to tell you, you are going to marry him, one day (When you are 35 to be exact), would you believe me.
And that texta case you have written your married names on and hidden in the garage, remember, you will find it 30 years later, when you are married to that boy. Don’t listen to people who say young love is nothing, you know in your heart he is the right one, and yes you were right even at the tender age of 14 you knew.

You will not have a mansion to live in, but your home will be filled with love, mess and things for your creativity just like it is now, you will always paint and sew and will still have lots of pets, you will have ups and downs and seem like life is not worth living at times, but believe me it is.
You will still be trying to hatch a new scheme to make money, but never quite get there, but you will have fun trying.
Stop fighting with mother, let me tell you it doesn’t get any better, just accept the age gap, and yes it is a big one 40 years, you will understand more when you read this letter.
Oh and please brush your teeth, cause when you are 45 you are going to spend $14,000 on them, yes so be warned.
And don’t worry my sweet innocent you will stay that size 10 you are so lucky and will still be that way when you are 50.
Life in general will be kind to you, though at times you think it will suck big time,. Continue to be kind to the elderly and the sick, and the animals, as your home will be filled with them, you will stay sweet and kind, but will develop some very bad habits along the way, and be very cross if your son does half the things you are thinking of doing, but will go ahead and do anyway, it is all part of the learning curve, but you will come through it just fine.
You will always stay a loner and only have one real friend, as you will find out most woman never leave the school yard (Taken from another blog, as It is so true) women can be very nasty when in large groups, you are right to have very few friends, you will have lots of pals, but very few confidants. And that is quite ok, don’t feel strange because you don’t do all the things like go out for coffee, or trawl the shops.
Your favorite shops will still be the hardware and the paper store, and the thrift shops, you get very adept at re purposing items that other people throw away.
But as you will learn, global warming land fills and the planet will thank you for this practice one day.
Oh and you will find and meet your real mother and sisters and brother too, be patient they will come into your life one by one, you will find a real friend in your brother, you are very similar having grown up in very similar circumstances, and you will stay in touch with him.
Well I wish I could tell you how the next 30 years pans out, but I haven’t lived it yet, as you haven’t lived to this stage yet, maybe you can write me a letter when you get there.
Stay as you are and keep enjoying your carefree life, and remember he is noticing you.

Debra.


I know it was a long letter, but when you start it is very hard to stop writting, you want to tell yourself so many things, lol.
I will post again tonight with some pictures of pretties I promise, to make up for the novel lol.

Cheers Debra.

A square peg in a round hole

Well in this case it is 2 large bookcases full of fabric into one large bookcase. I must have thought that I would use all this fabric, I am sure I just buy it for something to do, you know, the old saying I will use it one day, I have so much fabric. I have Laura Ashley, Rachel Ashwell, Moda prints, and so many rose prints its beyond funny, heaps of white textures and many many silky fabrics., fluffies and animal prints. And as for the chenille, well I dont think I will even go there lol. As you can see by the pics below, this is pretty much my fabric stash.

Then there is a box full of my really good fabrics..............................YIKES

So here is the start I have made on this mammoth task....

It will be worth it after I have finished, I have to keep telling myself that lol, it has taken me 3 days to get this far lol, do you think I am just putting it off. (Te He) I really want to get to and sew some things, I have the sewing bug now after playing with my fabric stash. And to make matters worse, I had to buy some more sewing goodies on the weekend, where will it all end I say. But I couldnt resist, they were selling the edging for 25c a meter and the pins were reduced from $5 down to 50c, what good woman in their right mind could pass up a bargain like that I say, you tell me...

I intend to use this for cushion edging, after I get the fabric put away (I promise) lol.

Is it just in our makeup to keep buing more fabric or for that matter more stuff, when we know we already have quite enough stuff, it is a compulsive urge I can not do anything about. At least the MOTH (Man of the House) does not see when I bring it in and squirrell it away, thank goodness, he doesnt see any of it come into the house, I am sure he thinks it just all multiplies when we are asleep pmsl. Men are like that though arn't they, its like the new dress story, Oh I have had it for ages honey, or the, it was in another room dear and I just moved it today....lol.

God bless the poor MOTH what would we do without them, well actually (Tapping foot and scratching head) I could think of a few things lol. I am sure we all could at times.

I also want to get on with some furniture painting as well, but am waiting to get my tin of white paint, (Tommorrow I am told) I have quite a few items to shabby up. They will be going into my pretty room. Well untill I sell them that is lol. The room my fabric is in now is going to be turned into a shop, but that is another story.

Ok back to the fabric, and yes it is 1.30am again, never mind at least I can have a sleep in, yay for me.

Untill next time, stay safe and warm.

UPDATE

I have done it...:)

Well sort of I still need to fold them all again, but they are in there. Oh Happy days lol.

Cheers Debra

A great watercolour rose video

My very own vintage market.

I have been searching my house today for treasures, yes my mother had so many treasures lol.

Well actually first of all I aked DH to get a couple of old cupboards down from the loft in the shed for me. I know they are old, as one was my dads, read last post, and the other one with the sliding doors (Above) sat in our garage for as long as I can remember. I have ideas of painting it white and chippy and putting chicken wire on the doors, if not chicken wire it will be fabric, I havn't decided yet, I will let it talk to me as I am painting it lol.

The Old cupboard with drawers (Not pictured) will be painted white and shabbied up, it has bakelite handles on the drawers, I am going to take those off, and put some more pretty ones on it, dont worry I will find another use for the bakelite handles, or if any one is interested in purchasing them from me, just contact me through my profile.
As I continued to search for things I kept finding items other than what I thought I would find, for intance have a lookie at these little beauties...................:)

What a treasure trove I uncovered on my whip around the house today, I wonder what other goodies mum has squirelled away, all to be found another day. Thankyou mum for leaving me with all these woderful memories. They will be treasured for many more years yet.

Oh and if you were wondering I finished painting that rather large cupboard that I intend to put my fabric stash in.


I am really pleased with the colour, I have no idea what it is lol, I really dont think it is pink after all, but it will be mostly covered with fabric anyhow.
Now to go start folding and sorting all my fabrics, oh my that is going to be a big job, did I hear it is going to rain tommorrow, ohhhhh a great job for a rainy day yesssssss I love rainy days.

Thanks for reading my ramblings lol, I would love to hear from you and if you have any comments or suggestions please do leave a comment or email me.

Cheers and have a safe and happy evening.

Debra XXXX:)

A new home for my fabric stash

Why do I start to do things at midnight lol, after the boys have gone to bed, fed and watered lol. I am more relaxed, no interuptions, no phone calls, no errands I should be doing, just peace and quite, me and the wee small hours of the morning. Yep love it......:)




I am finally gathering up enough energy to move all my pretties into the pretty room. We have a very large house, and I have what I call a formal lounge room, we dont use this room at all, as we have two other living areas.
I have so many nice things all squirelled away into boxes, it so should be out where I can admire it, and appreciate the linens my mother had and all those gorgeous doilies and laces that she and her mother spent hours on way back before electricity, well not quite but nearly. Though my mother was born in 1917 and my dad in 1906 They were 40 and 50 respectivley when they adopted me as a one year old.
So I pretty much grew up with grandparents, I only just rememebr my grandparents, I do not know when they were born, but it would have been a long time ago, I am very lucky to have many items of linen etc that belonged to her, so it is very very old, and very very nice.
So I think I will put my fabric stash and my linens in the pretty room after all. Where they can be admired once again.

And as I am lucky enough to own a lovely old singer treddle sewing machine, (Thankyou to my mum) I figured it could live in the pretty room, so why not have my own fabrics here as well, they will look good as most of it............... well all of it is for the shabby look anyways.

I intend to paint it a very light slamon pink, that is the colour I already have in a tin, so I thought I might as well use it, I would prefer white, but it will be ok.

Here it is with some of the colour on it,

I think it will be ok, it is quite dark in the room at the moment too.

Most of my other pieces will be painted white, and chippied up.

About 10 years ago I would no more have had pink things in my house than flown to the moon, (well actually I wouldn't mind going to the moon) lol but that is for another entry lol.

Now I cant get enough of this shabby look, I hae pieces all over the house, and the yard lol, lots of items that belonged to my mum are now finding a new lease on life as shabby furniture.

I make my own shabby cushions and quilts, and can also paint shabby roses, not as good as some though. But I will get better at it.

This is a pic of some of my cushions and an unfinished quilt, I am using gorgeous Laura Ashley cottage Garden fabric for this one.

I am also painting lots of bit and pieces of furniture, a coffee table and a small shelf, I think it was an elcycolpaedia shelf in its former life lol.

You know buy this gorgeous shelf for a $1,000 and we will throw in this set of encyclopaedias He He.......Plus a set of steak knives, I think I still have the steak knives lol.

I had grand ideas of buying it for my baby son so he would go off to uni and be a doctor or a lawer, but that never eventuated, instead he is a well adjusted, bright, intelligent, funny, hard working young man with a son of his own now. What more could a mother ask for.....:)

I only had one child, so I never got to play with dolls and little girls things, or make frilly little dresses and the like, proly why I was never a pink person, now I cant get enough of the colour, even all my clothes have to be pink, YIKES....

What a shame this little darling will sit on the lounge now and look pretty........I do so love her though, I made the outfit for her, I love sewing little frilly things like this...............................

Isnt she soooooooooooooooooo pretty, I need a name for hher, any ideas.......:)

Well I am off to finish the first coat of paint on my large fabric shelves. I cantwait to be able to arrange my gorgeous fabrics on it. Pink in one no wait 5 shelves, green, white, lavender, blue, yellow, brown, red, ok ok ok so I have alot of fabric lol. I will only put the White, green, and pink fabric in ther , that will be all the room I have anyway, by the time I get those colours in there I will be wanting more shelves. Oh dear, at least I do have more shelves, then there is all my lace, oh my collection of lace lol, that is for a blog all of its own I feel, I have so much lace. I could never tell you about it all in 5 minutes, some of it is so old, I mean old, it is to die for. But next time ok.

Ok back to my painting, have a lovely evening all. Untill next time, stay safe and warm.

Debra.

Welcome to my first post.

With this blog I hope to be able to share my passion for all things pink and shabby, I am addicted to this wonderful style, and love to find old furniture etc and transform it into a work of art, I will share this process with you over time.

If you see anything you would like to purchase, just send me an email and I would be only too happy to negotiate a price with you.

I also sew shabby cushions and quilts, and I think at last count I had 35 chenille bedspreads lol YIKES, don't tell DH. I team these with my stash of Rachel Ashwell and Laura Ashley fabrics, I have an enormous stash of shabby pink fabrics too lol.

Another of my passions is making jewellery and love using polymer clay, I have many canes I received from two lovely ladies in Israel, they are just devine, roses, butterflys, flowers and even a ladybug, I will share some creations with you soon.

I also paint in oils and pastels, landscapes mostly.

And I have only recently become addicted to card making, I have lots of fiskars (R) embossing templates, I just love those things. They are wonderful for many uses not just for card making.
I also use them for my next passion of which is..................................:)

Dollshouses and miniatures, yep as if I dont have enough to do lol, I make dollshouses and miniature items to put in them, plants, furniture, rocks and I actually make most of the houses myself as well. I have been fortunate to be able to set myself up with an array of power tools, yep they are not only for the boys you know.
I love my boys toys, I have a bandsaw, a scroll saw, a drill, well who hasnt got a drill lol, lots of other bits and pieces, and last but not least I have a wood lathe on order. Oh happy days lol.

So if you are interested in a dollshouse for yourself or your little princess drop me a line and we can work something out, but be early if you would like it for Christmas, as I cant make them over night rofl.
Now having said all that my houses are more for the adult collector, I do not make childs toys.
I work in 1/12th scale. One inch equals 1 foot in real life, I can also do 1/24th as well.

Weather permitting I love to potter around in the garden, not that I have much of a garden atm, but I am working on it. I ecpecially love to have a vegie garden, nothing like picking your own produce and cooking it up that same night.
We also have chooks who are kind enough to let us have a few eggs everyday, but then they do get all the kitchen scraps, so it all goes around and works out very well.

OK so now you know a little of what I like to do, please feel free to send me an email and have a chat, I do like to have a chat lol. I usually sit up till about 2am most nights, I am not a morning person at all, however I can arise early if I have to...:)

Well I am off to find a nice shabby pink template for this blog, if you know of any good ones please let me know.

Cheers, stay safe and have a wonderful evening.

Deb.