Thursday, 31 May 2012

To bloggers everywhere....

On this last day of May, can i just say.........

and welcome  to my first 12 followers of my fledgling blog.

And  to Max , Vicki, Vix, Linda, Meg, Joy and Cheap Chick, Cheerful Thrifty Door,  Jill,  Laura, 
Margaret-Rose and  Lakota I'd like to say......


for your kind words of encouragement and letting me know you were reading....


and to bloggers everywhere........(some of you mentioned above)


 for enjoying your blogs, copying your crafts, laughing at your jokes, envying your finds and soaking up your style and never........ever.......leaving a bloody comment to say how much i enjoyed your hard work.

Forgive Me. x





Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Chainsaw massacre

I nervously arrived home late on Sunday afternoon and was relieved to find my very own mad ax man still alive and well and delighted with himself. Three very large trees successfully felled and remains removed from the driveway. 

This is the gaping hole left 



The top half of the tree.



Next winters fuel for the range.


Three tall ones still left to do.


Lets in much more light to the drive.

Job well done.

Linking to Faith Hope and Charity's Ta-Dah Tuesday, even though technically its Mr Bee's TA-DAH!!


Monday, 28 May 2012

Thrift Share Monday

This weekend  was one of both buying and selling. We have some very tall trees in our garden that need felling before we start work on a small extension. Mr Bee and a very kindly friend were going to tackle them  together. I was not going to be of any help, hovering and worrying.

So it was a perfect afternoon to go and set up shop in a field belonging to one of only two Waldorf Steiner schools in Ireland.  It is not far from us, and having read various reports (not least through Selena at ATG) I was very interested to go along and have a nose around. What a very pleasant place it was too. A glorious sunny afternoon with a gentle breeze it was pure bliss. 

The class room for Yr 1,2 and 3

Mr B made me this same wellie boot rack, but ours is only for three pairs 

Grand big polytunnel 

With a good potato and strawberry harvest to come

Not at all strange in America, but i've never seen a homemade lemonade stand  in Ireland.

Plenty of play area for the littlies

Some of my recent thrift finds already for sale. The crochet tablecloth was only €2. and fits my table perfectly.

Some more of this weekends finds. 

I have been looking for a green jug with a narrow top to hold big bunches of sweet pea when they come, for my newly painted green kitchen. Picked this one up for €1 and on the way home came across a  wild (not in someones garden) lilac tree with blooms that i could reach. I carry a secateurs in the car during May for this very reason. The yellow roses were given to me by a fellow stallholder. A beautiful rose called Peace.



The etched plate is the same colour green and really rather nice, not sure whether it will find a use in my house though.


Brass hand clip. For holding letters or lists together. 


A large Le parfait for 50c, I use these a lot, and always pick them up when i see them.
Another glass cake stand which will be for sale.


These Pimpernel coasters and place mats will go into my Etsy shop which will get opened the next not quite so sunny day. For now, I'm off to plant tomatoes, courgettes and purple beans that all need planting out. Make hay while the sun shines!


Friday, 25 May 2012

Short and Sweet, Small and Sparkly!


Maybe it was just the lovely sunny day that made these tiny sparkly thrift finds catch my eye.




More glitter/salt/pepper shakers


Lovely little bunch of grapes brooch/pin.


Linking up with Her Library Adventures


Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Bird cam update (1)

These babies are literally growing right before our eyes. Both Mummy and Daddy Great Tit are doing a terrific job at clearing my garden of caterpillars and bringing up their two little chicks. Mr Bee reckons they are bringing in hundreds of morsels a day.

I didn't manage to capture on camera the moment just before these pics when Daddy Great Tit came into the bird box and fed Mummy Great Tit. It was a reall Ahhh! moment. I did manage to capture MGT doing a lot of shifting about, then flying out of the box to return with a caterpillar for her rapidly growing babies.





Feed Me!


See the caterpillar in Mums mouth, sort of pale grey colour.


After snacktime they curl up for a quick snooze 


The top half of their bodies have grown feathers, they are still a little naked down below!

I'm feeling a little sick today, my 5 yr old has gone off to school not knowing that it is injection day! I feel absolutely terrible. I know she'll be fine, and the best way is to say nothing and not wind her up in advance. But i feel like i have betrayed her. She has an extra nice lunch even though its not 'treat' day, and i'll pick her up and treat her again. 


Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Tool of the month.



Well, with a bit of a change in the weather I was able to get out to the vegetable garden and do some tidying of the onion bed. This bed contains garlic that was planted in October, Radar onion sets that were also overwintered, and my saved shallots from last years bumper crop. The one thing onions dislike is competition from weeds, and it is easy to damage the bulb when hoeing with a regular hoe.


However,  this fantastic contraption is an oscillating hoe and a job that used to me an hour now takes 10 minutes. My very favorite garden tool at the moment.


The next genius tip i picked up last year, was to grow onions/leeks from seed in modules and then leave them sit on the top of bare soil, where they will happily root down through and not dry out too quickly.


When the time comes to plant them out into the allium bed, they can be lifted off the soil roots and all,


 


Pop em in a hole just over a hoe's width apart (5") so you can whizz your majic hoe around them later.





TA - DA threes new rows of onions and the Allium bed is full for this season.


Shallots starting to split into more shallots.


Garlic all grown from saved bulbs. We've been self sufficient in garlic for about 4 years.

Now i feel the need to really show off, this is an old photo (as you can see)


The last time i grew Radar onions I got first prize in our county's big agricultural show. 
Weren't they just beauties! Prizewinning money from this show pays for seeds and compost for the following year. Thrifty or WHAT!

Do you think 'Tool of the month' could be a regular feature? 


Sunday, 20 May 2012

Flea market finds


I was very kindly given the heads up on a school summer fete by a kindly neighbourly stallholder last week, and went along yesterday morning with a pocket full of money and free arms ready for the scramble. Scramble it was, but worth it.

 Here's my haul.....



 An Antler travel/vanity bag, it looks like i'm hiding a big hole in it with my tray cloths, but i'm not. The outside is in quite good condition. Inside has a few watermarks on the taffetta lining if anyone has any tips to remove them from the fabric, i'd be very grateful to hear them. The vanity case is destined to house my growing collection of crochet doilies and traycloths, of which i scored a few more. I also picked up a lovely Samuel Lamont Irish linen tablecloth. 



 The tablecloth was 'freshly' laundered and wrapped in celophane by Lady Jane fabric care service. "for people who take pride in their appearance"  Ok, laundered but maybe not so recently freshly. 



I keep picking up these little shakers, I have visions of presenting my daughter with a whole pile of them filled with different coloured glitter (probably seen on Pinterest) But the thought of glitter all over everyone and everything in my house makes me shudder.
 Perhaps when she's a bit bigger.....like.....34.

I have been using a fancy jar with a pierced lid as a flower shaker for some time. The glass one I had broke and I improvised. The fancy jar served me well until I found this little baby yesterday for .20c
I don't think its old, it's just perfectly simple and practical and i like that.



The bone handled knives will be added to my own stash. Nabbed for .20c a piece too!


One of my long term thrift wish list items was a glass cake dome. Once washed up she sparkled. There is not a mark or chip on her.
Thinking i may have to get cake making again. 




Finally a 1950's Vacco flask which i cleaned up and then researched, to find that the base screws off and contains a glass bottle for holding milk. I didn't even realise the base was removable when i was cleaning it. Bonus!

The yellow Le Creuset saucepan was also a steal, and most appropriate colouration for a thrifty bee.!


I'm linking to Her Library Adventures