Add a few beads

Hello. The weather has been a bit dull today, overcast but dry. I have ventured out into the garden, done some hedge trimming and filled the garden waste bin ready for collection tomorrow. I've got housework that needs to be done, but as usual can't find any enthusiasm for it. I just do enough to keep on top of it. I'd rather be sewing.

Here are my makes. Remember the car boot earrings I bought last week, 25p a pair. I have turned one into a tree decoration. Put it on a turquoise backing and added red beads and red and silver sequins. I got the backing from the Scrapstore, it's like a woven stiff fabric, a bit like what they make window blinds from. I got lots of small sample pieces in different colours. 

I used iron on bondaweb to stick the back and front together after I put the embellishments on. 

Next, I fancied making a fairy, or is it an angel, they both have wings. The white felt I used is virtually covered by beads and trimmings. The wings are covered with sparkly florists ribbon. 

I stitched the two pieces together with white thread, and added a little stuffing.

It would look nice hanging on a tree. 

I bought a huge curtain from the Scrapstore for £1, it's been washed, and dried outside, now it's ready for cutting up into bag size pieces. A job for tonight when I come back from a Rocky walk. He is crashed out beside me, having stuffed his face with a tasty dinner. I'll give him ten minutes or so to sleep it off, ha ha.
Toodle pip

It's a bum job, but it has to be done

Hello. How do you fancy a poo picking stick from Amazon. Superduper deluxe version for only £46. Saves bending down, saves your back, keep the footpaths clean and poo free. No more accidentally squelching through it and scraping it off your boots. Handy gadget eh! Maybe the council could buy a load and give them away free, nope, probably can't afford it. 

One of these would have been absolutely no good to me this morning. I sat drinking my coffee looking out over the back garden. Rocky seemed to be struggling to do his business, at last the offending lump dropped onto the ground. Success. Then he squatted again, not quite finished, there's more, I thought. Oh dear, nothing happening, obviously he was a bit uncomfortable so I went out to check what was going on at his back end.

Oh my, a great wadge of the stuff was clinging to his hairy arse and wouldn't let go. I got a piece of toilet roll to remove it, no luck, it's clinging on for dear life. I'll see to it in a minute, I thought, when I've finished my coffee. He didn't like me closing the door and leaving him out there. No Rocky, you aint coming in here.

Now, what equipment is needed to poo pick from a dog's bum, not the stick above that's for sure. Boil a kettle of water, and find some old rags for washing it off. Empty an old washing up bowl used for catching rainwater, and mix hot and cold water together to get it to the right temperature. Could do with a doggy bidet actually. But there's such a lot of it, it's going to need cutting out, which scissors, large or small, best take two pairs out. Don't fancy getting it on my hands, good job I've got some heavy duty rubberized gardening gloves.

I don't think he is going to stand still while I do all this, so I'd better put his collar on so I can stop him wriggling free if he gets upset. Now, if anyone else find's they have to do this, follow my instructions. Put dog close to your legs, between them if you have to. Lift tail with your left hand, they don't like this, and carefully snip around the offending lump, a few hairs at a time, and being careful not to get too close to the skin. Keep snipping until there are very few hairs left supporting it. Eventually it will drop to the ground.

Check that you have cut out as much as you can, and while you are at it, trim the hairs all around the area in case it happens again, so that the poo has nothing to cling on to. This will hopefully ensure a clean evacuation next time.

To finish off soak a cloth in warm water and wash the dog's rear end. He won't like it and will sit down. Talk to him nicely, tell him what a good boy he is, or girl if you have a lady dog. Don't pull his tail to get him to stand up, lift gently under his belly. A few sloshes with warm water should clean off any residue. Have a dry cloth nearby to wipe away any excess water.

And there you are, happy dog, and no skid marks on the carpet. Hope this has been a helpful post ;o)
Have a nice Saturday. Toodle pip.

A few dipsticks about tonight

Hello. Haven't we got a lot of Autumn colours around us at the moment. This is the Lime tree near my house, the one that smells gorgeous when the flowers are out in the summer. It's a bit of a funny shape, lop sided, the electricity board had to chop some branches off because they were growing very close to the overhead cable. As you can see there are a lot more leaves to come down. It's not very often that someone sweeps them up, they are just left to blow around. 

This is the time of year when you have to watch very closely where your dog does it's poop. Take your eyes of it for a moment and you have to search for the deposit in the fallen leaves, ha ha.

This afternoon I made a three day big pan of veggie stew. That's the last of the potatoes out of the garden. The carrots are yellow sticker, 6p. Frozen broad beans, the last few in the bag. Two Quorn fillets cut up into pieces, they were on special offer, six for £1. I had a tub of not very nice soup in the freezer, made from yellow sticker chopped veg, that went in as well. I use porridge oats to thicken it. Chuck some spices in, and it's wonderful, warms the cockles of your heart.

I am making cotton shopping bags at the moment, the ones you can fold up and put in your handbag. Finding some nice colours to use up.

This afternoon I went to town, first popped in at the cash and Carry on the way. They had some jars of tartar sauce and only one day out of date, 20p each. I had some of those. Whiskas pouches were £2 a box so I had some of those, a good saving.

A few essentials from Aldi. I found a bag of bananas with nine fruits in it, the price is 68p whether there are seven, eight, or nine in it. Cheese is a good price, £1.55 for 350grms, and the veg specials were 39p so I got broccoli, potatoes, and a big swede. No wine or cider bought, I'll give it another week before I treat myself to a tipple. I also managed to completely ignore the cakes, biscuits, sweets, and chocolate. I have to confess I bought some chocolate brownies last week, but only because they were on a yellow sticker. It's hard to say no when they were only 15p.

I watched the first episode of The Apprentice last night, only because I was curious about what Claude Litner was going to be like as Lord Sugar's right hand man. He has been in previous episodes where he grills the candidates about their CV's and he has been pretty cruel to them. The lad that got chucked off was a bit of a dipstick, a likable chappie but more of a joker than a serious contender. I think I may continue to watch it, I can do a bit of sewing at the same time.

The High Street in the village is closed tonight, they are digging the road up to lay new gas pipes. There is a ruddy great sign on the approach to the blockage warning that it is closed and an arrow for the diversion. I've just been out with Rocky, what do people do, totally ignore the sign and go steaming past it. I'm sure some people must be blind, or daft. What dipsticks they are, ha ha. They have to do a three point turn and go back the way they came.

I'm going to get Bugsy cat down from upstairs and sit him on my knee while I watch the second episode of The Apprentice. Thanks for popping in. Catch up soon. Toodle pip

A mixed bag

Hello. Back for a second post today, you can't say I short change you, ha ha. A bit of  this and that, a mixed bag if you like. In my porch are some books, given to me to sell on our fundraising stall. I am going to sort through them and any we can't sell, or those that are a bit specialist, will go to the charity shops. An elderly lady donated them, it helps her if I do the job, rather than her having to lug them to town. 

Who's this guy then? Why, it's Mickey from two doors down who has spotted me returning home and decided to sit looking at me through the glass as I sit in the porch and take my shoes off. He says, 'ya got any nosh then', or, 'please give me some of your lovely food'. Mostly I don't feed him, he gets enough at home, but occasionally I give in and give him half a pouch of whatever food my fussy cats don't like. He will eat anything.

I thought it was about time I had a mooch around the Scrapstore again, so me and Linda, another crafty lady friend from up the road went off to Hull. I filled my basket with fabric for £5. Including some felt, not shown here.

And bought a few extras. Colourful shoe laces, silver and red sparkly trimmings, pink lace, and small coloured buttons. I spent £10, and Linda kindly paid for the bridge toll for taking her.

Janet sent me some photo's of the kittens in our rescue. They are getting quite playful now. Grey cats are quite unusual, aren't they just adorable. 

I've been on the phone this afternoon, got a call from a chappie doing some research for a possible TV programme. We spent an hour chatting, more like me doing all the talking and him throwing a few questions in and listening, ha ha. It's early days, something may happen, or something may not. It might not even get off the ground. It usually depends on whether they can get the funding or not, and if it does go ahead I may not get picked, it's happened before.

That's it, a mixed bag tonight. Thanks for popping in. Catch ya soon. Toodle pip

This is what Heidi did

Hello and Good Morning. What a lot of fun that was, life would be pretty dismal if you didn't have fun. Thank you for your funny answers to the question, What did Heidi do? Some very good suggestions there. Yes, my cats do climb into the sink and wait for me to turn on a tap. Yes, they do get in the bath as well for the same reason. Kitties like drinking from a running tap. I have seen videos where cats balance over a toilet and do their business, and flush after use, and pull off loads of toilet paper from the roll. But Heidi didn't do any of that.

There was a clue in Monday's post, you might not have seen it. I had a bath, and as usual I left the water in there for flushing the toilet. She didn't step up onto the side of the bath and fall in, like a couple of you suggested. There was one clear winner who got it spot on. I had just stood up and was pulling my pants up adjusting my clothes, when quick as lightening this furball dashed into the room at full pelt and hurled herself into the bath, which was half full of cold water. There was a few frantic attempts of doggy catty paddle sending spray everywhere, before she managed to launch herself out of it like a rocket, and land on the floor. She left the room as quick as she had arrived, dashed downstairs and jumped up on the kitchen worktop where I quickly threw a towel over her. She was none the worse for her shock and spent the next hour grooming the underside of her belly. It was hilarious.

So, who won?

dawn rose, you are the winner. 

Send me your postal address in an email, address on the side, or send it to me in a comment which I won't publish. A lucky bag of goodies will be coming your way.

I'll be back later. Toodle pip.

What did Heidi do?

Good morning. Here is cheeky Heidi, I call her HideyHi. 

Last night I had a quick visit to the bathroom, when Heidi did something which caused me to dissolve into fits of laughter, and I have been chuckling ever since. It all happened in a flash, I don't know who was more surprised, me or her. She seems to have overcome her health problems, but another blood test is on the cards in six weeks time, just to monitor her condition. In the meantime she is back to her energetic self and is darting around like any excited four year old would.

So, this is my question to you, get your thinking caps on. What did Heidi do last night, which I suspect she will never do again? Ha ha, it was so funny, pity I didn't have a camera rolling. It could have made me £250 if I had filmed it and sent it to, You have been Framed, but I am not in the habit of taking a camera to the toilet with me.

All ideas in the comments please, I will give a prize to the one who comes up with the right answer. If no one gets it, I'll give a prize to the funniest idea. The competition will close in 24 hours so you have until 10.00am tomorrow morning, UK time.

She is now parked right in front of the keyboard and I am typing with one hand. What a sweetheart she is.
Catch you soon. Toodle pip.

A crafty treat

Hiya. Cold and damp outside, so better off indoors today. Yesterday was the Crafty Club as usual, and this time I did take my camera, just in case there was anything of interest to photograph. Luckily Carol brought our Christmas Tree again, because some people haven't seen it. So here is a picture. All made with the snooker table green baize, hasn't she done a great job. It will be floor standing and she has a cardboard tube to slip over the metal stand, which will be covered in fabric. Everything hanging on it will be hand made, someone has made the sparkly garlands draped over it here. 

Now here is a treat, Crafty Janet brought in this wall hanging she is working on, I think you will agree her stitchery is simply stunning. She took the elements from a magazine and adapted them to her own design. She has incorporated a good mix of fabrics from cottons to satin, and the black borders are felt. The colours are just perfect for this design. Janet is often self critical of her work, and I can never understand why, I can never fault it. 

This picture shows the tacking stitches holding the layers together. 

The effort she puts into the detail is commendable. Janet, your work is amazing.

If this has whetted your appetite for textile art, take a look at the latest post by Brenda in the Borough, on her blog. She has made two small quilts A4 size, using thread and coloured pencils. Her designs are fabulous.  

Here is my simple crafty offering for today, I found this heart design in a book, and using the template I made my own version with colours of my choice. Not my favourite heart shape, I prefer something more chubby and rounded. The stitching in the book was back stitch, I like chain stitch better. The back is plain, I wonder if it would be better with some couching to outline the shape around the edge, maybe I will do that.  

I hope the crafty posts inspire someone to get their needlework box out of the cupboard and make a few decorative pieces for Christmas.

It's stopped raining so it's time to take the pooch for walkies. Thanks for popping in.
Toodle pip