Weekend Wanderings.......

Hello girls, welcome to Monday......

We have blue sky and sunshine in my corner of the globe.

The bees are buzzing round the garden and I'm buzzing around making tea cosies for an upcoming market.

I don't have to look too far for inspiration.

Have I told you I love Hollyhocks?

I planted some seedlings a couple of months ago.

I hope they put on a good display this Summer.

......oh and I love fuzzy, bumbling Bumble bees too.

Not that they live in this corner of the globe...

wish they did...

We've enjoyed a lovely weekend over in Daylesford.

Mixing work and pleasure....

 No. 1 had a gig and we stayed with friends......

A mixed bag weather wise....

Saturday, cold and wet

     Sunday, warm and sunny....

something for everyone!

The gang dropped by in the mornings to say 'hi' .

Picmonkey cropped the photos and I didn't realise

 till I uploaded, eek!!

This furry fella, kept us entertained with his antics. .....

I mean the four legged, furry fella, but you realised that didn't you?

Young Jed, is still in the puppy phase, so he had more energy then all of us put together. I did try and find his batteries so I could remove them but no such luck....

Truth be told I could quite easily have dog napped him and taken him home.......he really is too cute.

The other furry fella kept folks entertained on Saturday night!!

We stayed with friends from church.

We don't see them often, so it was a nice catch up even if time was limited.

I made one of my scrappy, woollen hearts as a gift, using

one of Debs favourite colour combos and a favourite scripture......

Psalm 34v9

♥♥♥

Let's do a quick garden roundup....

The Forest Pansy tree, is in flower and the claret red, heart shaped leaves are just starting to appear.

The Irises beneath them are beginning to open.

The combination of pinks and blues is beautiful.

Lilac.....love this shrub

The Wisteria continues to open up and the perfume is delightful.

Delicate Poppies...

Dutch Irises blooming beneath the Birches in the Wild Wood.

So what did you all get up to on the weekend and what has the week got in store for you?

I will be busy sewing, but that's no surprise is it?

The garden still needs a bit more work, so when the inspiration is waning on the sewing front, I'll get outside in the fresh air and see what else is flowering and maybe pull out a weed or two......

Well, that's it from me for the moment.

Thanks for coming over to visit, 

always lovely to hear from you.

   Take care,

  Claire

 ♥♥♥

P.S. Do you have Bumble bees in your garden?

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That.............

I had the opportunity to do a little crocheting over the weekend and came up with these flowers.

Quite festive looking, don't you think?
They look a little like crocheted jelly fish, with all the ends still dangling..............

I went away to Daylesford for the weekend and as usual I always pack a few bits and pieces to do when things are quiet.

With limited wool, I decided to do these flowers, the pattern is from a crochet magazine and as you know these things can be a little addictive...............

I have been meaning to take a pic of these flowers ever since they bloomed recently.
Any idea what they are?

They're Feijoa flowers and they are just gorgeous with their red 'bristles' with little yellow spots on the end.
Feijoas are a fruit, for those who have never heard of them.
Also known as the pineapple guava, they are a green fruit, shaped like an egg and about the size of an egg.
They were discovered in Brazil by a German explorer.
They taste, somewhat like a cross between a strawberry, lemon and a passionfruit.
Not every ones cup of tea but we all love them.
With loads of flowers on the bush, hopefully we will get a crop of decent sized fruit this year.

I spied these gates, right next door to where we are staying..............

There are alot of very creative people living in the area.

I would loved to sneak down the driveway and see what other wonderful creations were hidden behind the fence, but I restrained myself .............


Another favourite destination in Daylesford is Cliffys cafe.
An older style building, it's like stepping back in time.
Quite dark inside with shelves and dressers brimming with products and vintage kitchen ware.
It's quite crowded inside but very popular and the staff wear lovely retro aprons, just like your mum or grandma wore.
I bought my hubby some locally made 'apple pie' muesli, sounds rather scrummy doesn't it?

Shall have breakfast there next visit, they have a lovely little corner in the window with couches, just the spot to while away an hour over coffee , the papers and maybe a spot of crocheting!

Am I game enough?
Yep, you bet..........


Well, another lovely visit to a favourite destination comes to an end and it's back home to washing, cooking etc. etc. etc.

I have some more crochet flowers to make this evening in colour combinations that I have been itching to try, so we wont' get too serious about the boring 'housey' stuff until the working week starts..........Monday!



Just wanted to show you a pic of where Mrs Kafups likes to spend some of her day...........
This is the underneath of the Wisteria.
She's in there, if you click to enlarge the photo you can see a little, green eye, peering down at you.
She blends in very well, doesn't she?

Just another little interesting fact for those of you who live in Victoria.
The bakery in Lancefield sells the best Vanilla Slices in the state, according to a sign out the front of the shop.....................
So, of course Big Sis and I had to buy one.......... to share.
Really didn't think we needed one each.

It would have to be one of the best I have eaten and I have eaten a few over the years.

I did buy one for No. 1 Son as well.
It's sitting on the kitchen bench taunting me................arrghhh I wish he would just eat it!


It's nice to go away, but even nicer to come home.

Hope you've all had a good weekend, whatever you did.

Thanks for dropping by , love reading your comments, so if you have time, please say 'hi',

Until next time, take care,

Claire X

Spring Fever Has Me In It's Grip !

A worrying, niggling feeling has been lurking here in the Sweet Birdy Love household. Not that the two males in the house would notice! But there has been a slight change in the air, be it Spring Fever I'm not sure. The lure of the sewing machine has been waning and the lawn mower, whipper snipper (strimmer for those UK readers), shovel, rake and implements of the gardening variety have been calling me outside.

Now this dear readers, may not seem unusual to you, BUT I have to say for the last ooh,year or so the call of the garden has been fading and has been replaced by the song of the sewing machine, crochet hook, embroidery bits and pieces and all things of a textile nature.

I once was a very keen if not efficient sort of gardener and crafting was something I dabbled with occasionally.

So it has been a very strange feeling to walk past the sewing machine and head to the laundry to don my gardening gear.

Mind you, at this time of year the garden seems to consume every spare daylight hour you have. The lawn (ha, ha) needs mowing every week and the weeds are like something out of "Day of the Triffids"!

Oh, think I am exaggerating do you?

So,it was with a sigh of relief when the desire to sit at the machine and finish some bunting I started last week, overcame the urge to garden!

I made a deal with the two conflicting voices I was hearing.

"Let me sew, till my morning coffee and then I shall get stuck into the garden"

That seemed to keep 'everyone' happy.

So the jolly, polka dot bunting is finished and I am veeeeeeeeeeeery happy with it.

You do know how much I like red,white and blue, don't you?

It reminds me of Noddy and his little polka dot kerchief tied round his neck. I am sure he would approve of this and may even need some to 'jollify' his little abode.

It always helps if you have a tall person in the household to drape bunting prettily (well, as prettily as a 19y.o. male can!) in the Manchurian Pear tree.

Don't forget to click on the photos to enlarge them and get a better view of everything.



Talking about red,white and blue.......

Who could resist taking a pic of these colourful chairs? I snapped these during my stay in Daylesford recently.

They are in cafe called Frangos and Frangos.

We had a delish breakfast there of sweet potato pancakes and bacon with maple syrup. If you are going to order them, a word of warning:- Make sure you are really, really, really hungry.


Whilst in the throes of worrying over the lack of creativeness I had to whip up some muffins, so thought I would share a couple of photos just to prove to myself that all was not lost.

Homegrown raspberries form last season and dark chocolate mmmmmm.................

I used block chocolate which I cut into shards and then put the left over chocolate into a container and hid it in the .................. drawer!

No 1 son has a very keen nose when it comes to sniffing out chokky and as this was particularly yummy chocolate, albeit cooking chocolate,you know how it is. When you need chocolate, any sort will do.




The finished product. Yep, they taste as yummy as they look. I had to double check just to make sure!!





Finally, a bit of Spring colour from the garden. This little Daffodil is so sweet, it reminds me of an egg that's been scrambled. Not a particularly romantic description, but there you have it.

A variety of Daffodils from the garden, lemon meringue in front, scrambled egg to the left and in the middle at the back, well I'm' not quite sure about that one, but the colouring is very delicate and lovely. They are such cheery flowers and they have put on a lovely display throughout Winter and Spring.

Here we have Prunus Elvins a week later, such a change (See last post for comparison photo) and give it another week and it will be pinker still.

The bees are buzzing away , if you are quiet you may even hear them!

Check out the dam in the background, how full us that?

Beautiful blossom out in the orchard. How gorgeous is that colour?

Such a lovely time of year. Each season has it's own beauty. Sometimes we just have to look a little harder. But I am sure you will all agree that Spring is a show stopper, no matter which corner of the globe you live in.

The creative drive may be in first gear for a little while as I need to tend to things in the garden and keep them under control. But rest assured that it shall return in due course.

Hey guys, thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings. I hope it made you smile, maybe even laugh or just shake your head in disbelief ! If you would like to leave I comment, I would love to hear from you and what's happening in your corner of the globe.

Till next time, take care,

Claire X