Thursday Thrift

Hello lovely bloggers :o)

Hope this post finds you all fine and dandy this Wednesday evening!

Oh Lordy! I didn't think I was going to get on here this week! I've been trying to get stuff done left, right and centre, and I've had Mr LTS hogging the computer all week too, I've been having to say "Can I just get on there when you've finished doing that bit?"  Honestly, now I know how the children felt before they got their own laptops...Hmmmm, there's an idea! ;o)

Anyway, I'd best get on with showing you my favourite thrify find this week..

Lookee here...

I found this little beauty pushed to the back under the table in my local charity shop..

I pulled her out, and .......

Oh, she was all intact!    She had this horrible pink ribbon stuff around her middle, and I couldn't work out why until I removed it, and realised that she had a blue middle, so they'd put the ribbon on to hide the blue when they painted the top pink too!

She's a beauty though..  I just need to get the grubby pink off, and work out what to do on the top..

But just look at her fabulous fabric interior...

I keep having to look at how pretty it is!

 

I found some vintage cottons too, still boxed..

And I had to get this bias binding, I mean just look at the packaging!!

I had a few more finds, but as they're going in my Teapot Lane Emporium they will gradually be posted on my other blog too.

I've actually finished my knitted (cough) teapot cosy! Well, no actually that's a lie (LOL) I've finished the main body, I just need to decorate it now, so when I've done the decorating I shall post a show and tell :o)

Well, that's about it for me this morning. I hope you all have a great weekend. I shall be doing a snow dance or two as we have a few wintery showers on their way so they say, I don't mind if they just stop over my house :o)

Take care lovely people,

Love Donna xx



Thrifts, makes and a spot of bovver :)

Well, Good afternoon lovely bloggy friends! 
How are you this fine, sunny but chilly Monday?  Hmm?  World treating you ok is it?

Most things are ok here at Little Tiny Towers!   Things are settling down after the stress of Christmas and the New Year.... Takes a while though doesn't it?
I've still been knitting away. Persevering as it were LOL

The only thing I've actually finished is a new knitted pouch that I keep in my handbag at all times with my eldest daughters emergency medication in and a syringe to administer it..

I have previously always had crocheted ones, as I prefer the yarny feel than fabric.

I must say though, I think I prefer my knitted one...

I think I have a kinda love/hate relationship with knitting (Goodness I keep on about it don't I? LOL)

I mean I love, love, love the fabric that stocking stitch produces. I love looking at the little tiny stitches (no pun intended) that the needles produce. But I find the 'getting there' bit tedious in the extreme!!

Honestly, it took me hours to produce that pouch above!

If I'd had a hook in my hand, it would have been about 20 minutes!

Still, as I say, I'm carrying on, and hoping I get faster ;0)

~~**~~

Now, I thought you may like to hear this conversation I had with my darling husband..

It may ring a few bells with a few of you ;O)

Just picture this.....

There's me coming in the front door with my hands full of thrifty finds..

The Mr says to me "What on earth have you got there?"

Me "Oh just look at these two beautiful lamps I got in the charity shop! They were only £2.99".

The Mr " £2.99? What the pair?"

Me " No, each, aren't they just gorgeous?"

The Mr " What on earth did you buy that old crap for? You'll electricute yourself!"

Me "They're not crap, they're reproduction lamps, and they've even been safety checked!"

The Mr "Where? Let me have a look at them".

Me " Can't you just see why I had to get them? Little Miss will love them and one of them will be ideal for her bedroom!"

At this point he takes them off me, and puts them on the dining room table...

He then plugs 'em in and hey presto they work....

The Mr "Reproduction you say?"

Me "Yep, aren't they gorgous" (again)

"Look at the lines and the simple way the leaves are standing, and those lovely pink roses"

The Mr "Well, if you like that type of thing.."

Me "Oh I do! You know I do"

The Mr " Reproduction? Well, you'd think they would just reproduce the good bits. Why on earth have they reproduced that crappy coloured lead as well? !!"

Honestly folks, what could I say? He is kinda right, but how do I explain what I love about them?

Or do you all agree with him ? LOL

(Just so's you know, the little Miss loved them too :o))

***~~~***

Unfortunately we only have views of houses round here, but the sun rise the other morning was so beautiful I just had to show you. ..

***~~~***

OOoo, I forgot....I'm half way through knitting a tea cozy now... LOL :o)

I'll show you when I'm finished.. :o)

***~~~***

As you may remember, I've been planning a new Etsy shop.

Well, I actually got around to opening one yesterday. I've yet to stack the shelves though, as I haven't finished photographing them, but here's the first brooch I made....

It was my practice one...

I've made a few more now which should be in my new shop later in the week..

I've had a real problem starting my new blog though. I wanted to make a new blog to log all my makes, and new shop inventry etc., but for some reason I'm having a spot of bovver with blogger. He won't let me design the blog? It's just all going weird. I've done a practise post, so it'll let me post, but not let me decorate. Oh well, maybe I'll have to put some stuff on here for now.

We'll have to see....

Anyway, that's it for me this week lovely people. 

I hope you all have a fab week, and the sun shines for you all.

I'll be back in the week to tell you all when I've stacked my new shelves!!!

Have a great week, and take care all,

 Love Donna xx

P.s. Don't forget to do your snow dances this week! I am so missing our real cold weather and the snow!! 



Books and thrifting

Well, Happy New Year Bloggy friends!

Hope it's been a good one for you all so far :o)

We've had quite a stressful week, so I've just taken an hour out -me time- to catch up on my post writing, and do a bit of sewing.

I'm still on track for new makes and a re-vamp of my Etsy shop, it just might take me a bit longer than I planned, but that can't be helped :o)

We went for a lovely walk yesterday in that bit of sunshine we had.

We followed a path that used to be an old railway line. Theres a few of these around our area.

Goodness knows why that let them get into disrepair, and then get rid of them. Public transport isn't too hot around here, and a few trains would be a Godsend!

This was some poor persons garden with a tree down in it from the storms last week!

Here's a picture of the river Stour. Totally swollen from the storms till, and raging along..

And below is Ringwood, and old market town which I have to say looked really pretty over Christmas this year. But alas, everytime we visited in the evening, my camera was safe at home...

I found a few thrifty bits over Christmas.

Heres are some very pretty candle holders. Ilove having candles on, and these were just so bright and pretty I couldn't resist them for £2.

And I found this little old (well tiny) sewing machine. It has no markings on it what-so-ever. I thought it might be one of those 'Vulcan' sewing machines, but it isn't.

And I couldn't find one like it, so any ideas would be greatly received :o)

I've also been looking through this gorgeous new book I got for a New Years present..

It really is one of the best making books I've seen...

the colours in it are divine...

And I would never of thought of knitting (not that my knitting is too hot!) or crocheting an apron, but I bet with the right yarn, it's gorgouse!

It has crochet in it too...  I've seen throws like this in blogland already, so people must have got this book quite a bit before me :o)

And socks . Ms Brocket knits the most divine socks!

I love this simple pattern style on these cushions..

And these cute little vintage style flowers are so pretty..

I'm definitely going to try and make some of these little beauties for my new brooches...

Lovely colour everywhere..

All in all, a very good book. Not just beautiful to look at, but really lovely patterns, and totally stress free things to make.  :o)

I've been card making again too...

And this was the sight that faced me when the Mister picked up the Christmas tree to take it outside!

How comes there were that many needles on it left to fall ?   LOL

Well, that's it for today folks. Hope you all have a splendid week dearies.

Take care now, and wrap up warm.

Love Donna xx

The photos below are especially for Vicki and Georgia.

They are from my sewing book from 1946.

The ladies in the book always look so glamourous! Even though they're just drawn.

They just have such style :o)

Have a good week all :o)  xx



Check List :o)

CHECK LIST :

1.  Tell all the lovely bloggy people what a lovely Christmas we had.  ~check

2. Make sure all the Christmas gift wrap that has worked it's way all over the house (!) has been cleared up. ~check

3. Make sure that all the pine needles have been picked up, well as many as you can pick up each day ! ~check

4. Check bed every evening, as even though beds are made in the morning, pine needles miraculously appear between the duvet and base sheet by bed time. ~check

5.  Make sure you tell bloggy friends that you have a dodgy camera at the moment, so there may be a lack of photos in blog posts until it's sorted. ~check

6. Keep making lists for everything, as that's what is getting you through these Christmas Holidays with out too much stress. ~check

7. Make sure you steal little daughters wii machine with 'Dance' discs to do several dances every day to try and help keep fit, as sitting round on your chad crafting isn't helping the size of your tummy or bottom. But do make sure that during dancing you don't step on those pesky pine needles ~check

8. Keep on track with the new Etsy shop reveal for January, and try harder to get the new products photographed nicely, even though you have camera problems ~ half check

9. Stop being a crochet snob!!   Even though it took you 2 hours (!!) to knit a small square of fabric about 2inches by 4 inches, that doesn't mean that knitting is naff, slow and boring, just persevere and get on with the knitted piggy. ~check

10. Wish all the lovely bloggy people who visit here a fantastic NEW YEAR!  ~check :o)

Thankyou all for making my blogging experience such a happy one.  I do love getting round to seeing you all, and love it when you pop over to me, 'specially when you leave such happy comments :0)

Take care all of you, and have a happy, healthy splendid New Year.

Hopefully I'll be back sometime next week with my resolutions :o)

Be careful now, but have fun.

Love Donna xx

It's Christmas time :o)

Well Hello lovely bloggy people.

Hope this post finds you all fine and dandy?

I've been a bad blogger recently haven't I? Sorry, but I've been feeling a bit like the weather...cold, wet & miserable!  But don't worry, i'll get over it soon I'm sure :o)    It just seems harder this time shaking off those grey days....I think some frost would do me good! You know, one of those bright, crisp white mornings with the sun sparkling off the white crystals...or even some SNOW!!!  lol

Anyway, enough moaning.   I haven't exactly been doing much to tell you about.....A bit of thrifting here and there. I found a fantastic sewing book in the charity shop!

It's called 'The Pictorial Guide to Modern Home Needlecraft'. It's one of the BEST sewing books I have seen! It's fantastic with plain, common sense advice and basic (note that basic word :o) instructions which are just fabulous to understand.

But girls, guess how old it is?

1946!   Honestly though if you find one, snap it up because it's brilliant!

I also found this lovely Wade fluted dish.  The jurys out on wether it's an ashtray or just a dish actually. I really liked the colour, and the prettiness of it, so I'm kinda hoping it isn't an ashtry lol.

Here's a picture our tree at last.  It's so nice to have a real tree again.

But they are jolly expensive this year aren't they?  Some of them were £45.00 plus!!!

Mine wasn't I hasten to add! But it was nearly there I can tell you.

I was thinking of not getting one, and just using our fibre optic one that we have in the hall way.

This picture's looking up the hall towards the front door. With the fibre optic tree on and our retro style outside lights on...

I love looking out at them:O)

Well, have you all finished your Christmas shopping then? We haven't! Have still got some to do on Monday, but the children broke up from school today, so it's gonna be hard shopping with them in tow!

I'm off tailing my eldest daughter round town tomorrow. Literally :o)

Well, her girlfriends want her to go shopping with them, and as you know she has seizures every day, and I can't just shift the responsibility onto a group of 15-16year olds can I? 

So they're all going round together, and I'm following at a distance to be there in the event of a seizure. I know I'm gonna feel a bit strange spying on a group of kids I can tell ya! lol.

My big girl is so good. Bless her. What 16year old do you know that knows she can't go anywhere with out her Mum or Dad even shopping with her friends, and doesn't even moan about it.. Bless her.

I've been trying to persuade my little girl (12year old) to come with me, but she doesn't see the fun in it either ..lol.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get back on here before the big day, as I can show you my finished makes then.

But if not my lovely people,

HAVE AN AWESOME CHRISTMAS!!!

you hear?

And a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And if I don't speak to you soon, I'll speak to you next year :o)

Take care, and have fun.

Love Donna xx

Tags and embroidery

Well hello lovely bloggy people :o)

Hope this finds you all fine n dandy this last day of November.

Autumns' arrived here in the south/west at last!  We had our first mild frost at the begining of the week, and that old wind has been a bit raw round here!

I've been busy with a few Christmas makes, but I have to admit to being a bit miserable of late!

I've had the lurgy now since we came out of hospital (grrr) and it's just not going!

Still, I thought I'd better get round to doing at least two posts during November, and today is my last chance to get the second one in!    :o)

I've been a bit obsessed with tags of late.  I used to do a lot of 'tag art' when I was in into papercraft in the late 90's early 00's, and I seem to have picked up the habit again with fabric crafting!

I've listed a few in my Etsy shop, but I'm making summery ones at the moment when I get a spare minute, to list in the New Year.

It hasn't stopped me buying some gorgeous paper ones though when I've seen them.

look at these cuties..

I saw these in the charity shop for 20p a packet, and they were just so cute and whimsical i couldn't leave them there.

I think they're probably from the eighties.

The ones below are going to be the ones From Santa this year, so these are well hidden..

And these ones I just loved :o)

And I actually bought the BBC 'Homes and Antiques' magazine whilst in hospital, just so's I could get my mitts on these lovely tags!  lol

I've been doing some embroidery too....

Using some of my old rubber stamps to stamp on some cotton,

Then embroider round the edges and watercolour in the middles....

I haven't got round to watercolouring the middles yet,

But they're sweet aren't they?...

And i've been making some of the things below, but this is just a little peek, as they aren't quite ready yet..

I also keep meaning to tell you I won my fight!!

You probably don't remember, but back in September I told you I was off up the school to start what I knew would be a long drawn out process with the school over my eldest daughters post 16 education (i.e. Year 12/6th form)

She can only go to school part time due to her seizures, and obviously some of that time she isn't there either as she is ill.

But they still said that she had to get the full monty in exam results in order to get any 6th form education with them.

(in my daughters case, this would have meant getting 100% in her exam marks, where as other children without any special needs only have to get about 55%.)

Well, after a bit of a battle, they've said she can go in the 6th form!! Which to us is brilliant news! 'Specially as the nearest colleges are about 40 mins away depending on traffic!

They've said she can much earlier than we anticipated, which we think is great, as we were expecting to fight right up until next June if need be!  So that is a real worry off our minds I can tell you :o)

The last thing we would want is for her to leave school next year, and sit on her bum isolated from everyone!  Goodness, I couldn't let her do that now, could I?

Anyway, it's all sorted now as far as me and the Head of 6th form are concerned.

I'm not supposed to tell anyone yet (you won't tell anyone though will you ;o) as she is going to be the exception, so I felt a bit of a fraud when I was talking to one of the deputy heads the other day about her post 6th form education, and he was saying how they won't take her !

Still, it's not my job to tell him now is it?

And we haven't told our daughter yet either, as she is taking her mock GCSE's at the moment, and we don't want her to think (not that we actually think she would, but you never know;o) that she doesn't have to try 'cos she's already got a place!

I have to admit to feeling a tad guilty telling you all, but I do know a few of you are so caring and I'd sure want to know if it was you ;o)

Anyway, that's it for me oh, 'cept I  promised to show you all this..

Aaaaww...

My youngest daughter has been re-cycling and making Christmas things.

this is her snow globe...

Made from:

An old coffee jar, a christmas picture printed off the internet, some polystyrene and glitter.

She's made something else too, but I'll show you that in the week :O)

Right, I'm off now to get three advent calendars as I forgot them.. I know, how un-organised can you get lol.

Take care my lovely people. You've cheered me up having a yack :o)

Love Donna xx