one little bird studio and giving thanks...

i do like Leanda, i like her a whole lot.

and as i thought perhaps we are getting to that time of year when you may be making wish lists, or thinking of another to gift to, it would be a perfectly perfect time to introduce you to Leanda.

one little bird studio has the most peachiest of prints and one little bird studio belongs to Leanda. 

i marvel at her wonderful work, how time after time she comes up with images i would happily hang on my shed's wall in a heart beat. yes i marvel at how gifted Leanda is with her designs.

recently she has produced some prints which made my granny retro heart skip a beat. especially this spiffy number. so much so, it is now hanging on our shed's wall. the most beautiful midnight blue background truly makes me happy alongside of the wonderful pops of bright colours.

whilst i was waiting for my 'home sweet home' print to wing its way to my door step (which may i add, it did so very safely in the sturdiest of cardboard mailers i have ever come across, my kitchen scissors were no match for its sturdiness, thats how sturdy it was!)... well as i was waiting, Leanda only went and popped her 2012 calendars into her shop.

gosh, see, take a look at this one in all its mustardy glory

now does that not make your granny retro heart skip a beat all over again. 

surely if ever there was a person who does not do calendars, and they happened upon Leanda's 2012 calendar print, i am without doubt they would be converted into being a calendar loving folk. how do i know such a thing? what proof do i have? well i don't really, but none the less, i'm a believer and i stick by what i say, and that is, the 2012 calendar from one little bird studio, is quite the most peachiest calendar i have laid eyes on.

i do think showing you the wonderful printed world of Leanda, is a lovely note to end on, for tomorrow it is Thanksgiving, my favourite American holiday, and so i will be taking a week off until December 1st when i will return for the joyful gleeful season!

hip hip hooray!

so for now, i will leave you with saying "thank you" for the kindness you have shown me and my constant canine companions this week, for all the offers of fingers, paws and fins crossing over the coming few weeks. and indeed for all your wonderfulness over the past year, from the incredible embracing of my book, to your continuing wish to visit me here on my shiny place and being most generous with your comments on my crafting, time and time again. 

you have truly filled my heart with such a brilliant feeling of warmth, 

and are such an important part of my world.

so once again, i can only say it the best way i know how.

"thank you kindly dearest readers, you are the bees knees to me"

she is wishing you a wonderful happy thanksgiving in the USA and is wishing everyone else an happy week too ~ Tif

round and round...

'tis no secret, i am partial to a stool or two in our mossy shed. i appear unable to say no to little waifs and strays of stools i come across in my daily travels. however there is one stool i hold dear, above all the other little stools within our nest. now of course i know it is terribly wrong to have favorites but i cannot help myself. for the stool in question has been there all my life...

(i am quite sure i have told this story before but as it is buried deep with in the rambling archives of this here blog, i'm just going to repeat myself rather than try to find it as i fear it could take all day to unearth it)

 as a small child i would sit on a stool at my mother's dressing table every sunday evening. where upon i would don what can only be described as a shower cap attached to a long flexible tube which in turn was attached to a box which was attached by a cord to a plug in the wall. 

my mother would switch it on, the cap would inflate and hot air would start to dry my tresses. after half an hour, my mother would remove my head from the hairdryer of sorts and say "voila", where upon i would sit there silently praying that this time my hair would come out poker straight and gloriously shiny. upon opening my eyes, every sunday the vision reflected in the mirror, told me once again, my prayer had not been answered and thus a week of going to school with kinked, fuzzy, cow licky hair proceeded until the following sunday when i started praying again...

despite the horrors of my childhood hair-do i still look back fondly on those moments, and i am quite sure that is mainly to do with the stool upon which my derriere sat. for it was a glorious tulip stool and its fine form, is to me, one of the best a stool can have.

nearly 14 years ago, my mother kindly entrusted the tulip stool to me. in the years that followed it has had many little coats of various grandness, some quite dubious, like fake fur, or lilac sateen, but still it never felt unloved. recently, (and when i say recently i mean the past 10 days), i got itching to be stitching it a new little jacket.

inspired by lovely folksy round cushions, i took one large doily and started going 'round and round' with strips of lace, fabric and one embroidered vintage doily for the middle.

i spent many many happy moments with embroidery floss in hand. i then went a little nutso on the french knots which are my fabby fav thing to do. they are so peachy, you do one and it looks just right, and so you do another and before you know it, there are many little knots doing a brilliant job of looking spiffy.

after which i took my large decorated folksy doily and appliqued it like a cap 'on top' my stool.

i am most happy with my lovely folksy stool

however i must confess, i was not happy with my man when he came in from running around a soccer pitch for 2 hours in the rain last night and promptly sat his derriere down upon my fine and roundy stool! it took all my willpower to remain quiet, i took deep breathes followed by recalling my 'labouring' breathing exercises, for fear of what was happening to my french knots under the soggy soccer gear. i thought i had it under control, i really did, i channeled my inner kindness with all my might, thinking of the long day at the office he had had, and how i needed him to fix a lamp for me and all those other good things he does for me daily but alas, no! my french knots and their fate was too much to bear. i could not get past 2 minutes before i burst and had to ask him to find another stool to plonk down on... any stool, any dumptie just get off my french knots hoppity quick 'pretty please'

she has 3 lads haircuts and one 'constant canine companion' bath lined up for her thrilling saturday morning ~ Tif 

footynote: a little message for Katie (Bob) i have tried to send you several emails today, alas they keep on bouncing back to me, not sure why. could you please email me again with your email address so i can respond to you. many thanks :)

a 'joyful' update today...

i am not here today, i am over here,

hanging things in clusters in my shop window.

how nice, clusters throughout the day.

i am thinking if one saw every day in clusters

it would make things quite nice.

i'll do a cluster of laundry and then craft,

another cluster of feeding the clan, then craft

and so forth...

yes i do like myself a cluster or two

she has rediscovered her love of paddington bear pyjamas now winter is upon her, and thinks a cluster of pj's in flannel would be grand too ~ Tif 

a 'small being'...

i do not have any 'small beings' lying around my shed.

i have plenty of 'little critters' and 'large beings' but that would not do.

as luck would have it, 

i found myself a perfectly perfect 'small being' on tuesday,

courtesy of a fine friend and her shed.

photo credited to fine friend

photo credited to fine friend

photo credited to fine friend

gosh darn it, after going cold turkey for 3 months, she has broken down and is back on 'chocolate spread on white toast' again ~ Tif

a bit of bobbing...

willing victims hanging around the back yard

i awoke on halloween with a interesting question churning in my little cogs...

"do chickie peas like to play bobbing apples"

autumnal mushrooms making nice little resting spots for passing pesky gnomes

and it would appear, 

like most things i find with my fine feathered friends,

they do indeed enjoy a party game or two

"i think i see one"

"me first, no me first"

"i spy with my little eye"

and there is always one who tries to cheat...

she is wishing you a bit of spook and a lot of chocolate ~ Tif

blankets on the brain...

i have several drawers in my little brain 

and within them are stored many things to ponder.

they are labelled and they are quite a nice set of drawers. 

i would not say until the other day they are painted glossy custard yellow,

 but now they are.

for if i cannot achieve a custard yellow cupboard in reality

i can at least have one in my imagination.

one little drawer is labelled 'crafty must makes'

and a few weeks back i opened it.

from out of that little drawer in its fine and dandy coat of glossy yellow

leapt 'fabric lappity lap blankets'

"ah yes" i thought to myself, 

"of course that is where i popped you well over a year ago to keep you safe"

for the first time in yonks i feel like i can stop still,

open these drawers and see what lurks within,

waiting for their moments to shine...

'tis a good feeling.

over the coming weeks with high hopes, 

myself and Miss Ethel,

my adopted auntie and her Mr Bill,

and a pile of vintage and used fabrics

we will be beavering away on 'lappity lap' blankets.

two sizes of course!

one for little critters and small beings

and one for medium beings who perhaps care to share with another,

or perhaps not.

and then when we are all beavered out,

i will hang them in my shop window in a cluster,

for in my little drawer marked 'crafty must makes',

alongside the scribbled note saying "lappity lap blankets"

was a side note saying

"Tif, hang in a cluster, for a cluster of lappity lap blankets

 truly will make your crafty heart beat a little faster"

a 'lappity lap' blanket, this one will live at Mossy Shed for she stole my crafty heart

she has dallied in the yarn aisle whilst her #4 kicked a ball around the soccer pitch with a coach who appears to have lost his watch ~ Tif

mr and mrs monkey...

rescued from the shelves of despair, mr and mrs monkey have found true happiness in their twilight years. mr monkey having no sense of smell is unawares of mrs monkey's need to wear her 'eau de toilette' on the heavy side. and most peachy indeed is mrs monkey, being very hard of hearing, is not kept awake at night by mr monkey's tres terrible snoring. one might think an old monkey may not snore when his nose is a fabric button, but think again because he does.

this lovely little tea tray celebrates mr and mrs monkey's fondness for each other and quite frankly, makes me smile. big enough to enjoy tea for two or indeed perfectly suited to be hung on the wall as a reminder of what makes us happy in life.

if you think mr and mrs monkey would be most suited to spend life in your peachy nest, then you can find them sitting in my shop window, waiting patiently for their forever home.

she is off to visit her adopted auntie in her little gray cottage tomorrow ~ Tif