Not Such a Bright Idea.......

Hello girls, how are you all?

Hope you've had a great weekend and enjoyed some lovely weather

wherever you are.....

I've been a busy stitching away, aiming for my first market stall at Bright this year to be held on Saturday.

  

For a change I stitched up some gum leaves,nuts and flowers on a sewing needle book. I loved the end and result and the final touch..... a native blue banded bee....

I've been having fun stitching up little brooches......

Some garden scenes and flowers in polka dot jugs.

Some sleepy time, blanket bunnies waiting patiently to have their nether regions stitched up.

Whilst I'm warm and cosy stitching away inside, it's been quite damp outside this week.

I had to race and grab the camera before the view changed.

The sun was filtering through the cloud, it was quite spectacular.

Wee birds nests have been discovered now that leaves have dropped from trees and shrubs....

This one belongs to the Mistletoe bird. 

It's made from matted plant down and cobwebs. 

I'll take my creative hat off to the gal who made this....the time and effort that went into making this is amazing. 

It's like felt, quite strong yet pleasingly soft.

 It looks like  a small bag suspended from the twig and this pic was taken 10 days ago, when we were having lovely, sunny days after frosty mornings.

Back to the stitching.......

My friend and talented artist  Ella asked me to make some soft toys in the style of the "Woodlings', as gifts for her friend who recently had her second child.

One was for big sister Meadow.....she loves the outdoors and appreciates the beauty of her natural surroundings

A little colour in the cheeks and lips made all the difference.....

Diamonds or a birds nest?

Which treasure would you prefer?

The second was for new brother Geordi,his dad loves the bush and  

no doubt will share his love of it with his son, as he grows.

Possum and gum trees

Now you see the reason behind the native flora inspiration ....

A closeup of the Echidna, funny little creatures that they are.....

As is my way, things came down to the last minute in preparing for the market.

When the alarm went off at 5.30am Saturday it was raining, but I was ready to go whatever the weather.

 Would've been too disappointing not to.

The river in Bright was a ranging torrent after recent heavy rain.

It looked like melted milk chocolate.......

Underfoot it was wet in areas of the park, just as well I packed my gumboots........

I set up my stall along with a few others

.

There was laughter and chit chat and a warm welcome back from stall holders.

Shame the weather wasn't quite as welcoming.

The sun put in appearance and people ventured out, but when it was obvious more rain was on the way,

I packed up early and headed off to have a coffee and catchup  somewhere warm with fellow stall holder Sandy.

Still, I enjoyed my trip to Bright and what do they say?

'Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain' ......

The past week, we've had some very stormy weather and 4 inches of rain and during that time 3 calves were born.

Great timing girls!!

These little bundles of energy are such great time wasters.

I love watching them take their first wobbly steps, gaining confidence, learning to run and  playing together.....  

So the mayhem that ensues preparing for a market is over and I can relax for a bit.......

This week I will be packing away the sewing machine and giving my  sewing room a good tidy up as well as giving the garden a bit of a spruce up too

Then I will be packing my suit case and next week, I will be flying over to Canada to join hubby and son on the last leg of the tour ........

I will be there for the last 3 festivals in Canmore and Calgary Alberta. Then a gig in Kelowna and the last festival in

 Salmon Arm BC.....

So I am wondering if any of you Canadian bloggers or those who have travelled to these places have any suggestions on places to visit or things to do while we are there as the week will be free between festivals......

I'm looking forward to some Canadian hospitality, seeing some of your beautiful countryside and some warmer temps....but of course I will be missing out on some of our Winter!!

So what's going on in your neck of the woods?

Are you enjoying Summer or Winter weather?

Staying put or heading off on holidays?

Hope you have time to stop and say 'hi'.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week,

Take care,

Claire X

Its A Wild, Wild Life.............

Hello there and welcome to Monday, a little late in the day here but Monday all the same.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, I certainly did despite having to work Saturday.

I felt I needed some smaller 'makes' for my stall, so today I have been drawing, snipping ironing and sewing up some yet to be filled Lavender Bags.

First up I snipped into an old doiley and mixed it up with some polka dots.

I love the combination of colours..........red, blue and yellow, very vintage looking.

The rest of the Lavender Bags have wee houses on them, click on the pic to get a better look.

Lots of nice and bright,eye catching polka dots.

Sorry about the pants pic.............

Another three to be made up...............

So, after a bit of playing it's back to the usual 'makes' for my stall.

I'm thinking of doing another market next month, so I better stop talking about what I'm going to do and get on with it..........

I'd like to introduce you to a little visitor I found womble- ing around my yard today.

It's an Echidna, or Spiny Anteater.

I had spotted it out in the paddock yesterday and today it has come into the house yard.

It might be small, but it's certainly not slow.

They have very powerful legs for digging and they're like a mini tank barrelling along and not letting anything stop it ...........well almost.

A baby Echidna is called a Puggle ( although there is some dispute about this) I think that is such a cute name.........

I don't think our rooster was too keen to see it enter the chook run.

It followed the fence line till it found a space under a gate and disappeared into the orchard.

Wild life of a different sort.............

The late flowering Crab Apple is covered in a frothy, sea of beautiful blossom and some little beetley critters were enjoying the bounty.

No idea what they are, but there were quite a few of them, on the flowers and flying around and not just by the Crab Apple but in other areas of the garden as well.

If you have any idea what these beetles are I would love to know.

I did a search online, but couldn't see anything resembling them.

The roses are starting to bloom at long last and this beauty is Abraham Darby a stunning David Austin rose.

Wont' be too long before I can cut a few bunches to bring inside.

Fresh flowers in the house, on my bedside table and in the bathroom...........

There have been a couple of interesting visitors recently.

I found this young Magpie sitting in the garden Sunday morning.

It wasn't moving and it let me get close enough to touch it.

Obviously, it's just learnt to fly, but was struggling a bit.

It was still covered in alot of down with a few wing feathers.

I couldn't see mum anywhere and was worried that it had been abandoned.

I rang a friend who's a Wildlife Carer, Jo advised me to just keep an eye on it.

She said the Magpie mum would be around somewhere, but it was a warm day, so I put a dish of water next to it.

Mum eventually showed up and the baby followed her around the yard. I had to go out and when I returned a few hours later they had both disappeared.

It's nice having these interesting visitors, I much prefer them to the long, brown, slithery kind which can be found at this time of year !!

--------OOOOO---------

It's been fairly quiet here in the Sweet Birdy Love household, with the boys being away for a few days but they will be home in a couple of hours which will be lovely.

I have been busy doing all those houseworky things that I have been ignoring for a little while, lol.......

It's been a dull, overcast day here and trying hard to rain. We haven't had any decent rain for close to a month and with the warmer days the garden is drying out. I don't want to start the watering regime just yet..............

I even did a load of washing and hung it out hoping that might help the clouds drop their load and give the garden the drink it needs, but sadly they didn't and the washing dried, hehe........

Well, I have some Lavender Bags to fill, so I'm off to do that now.

Thanks for swinging past to check out my ramblings, it's nice to have you come visit.

You know I like interesting visitors.......

Till next time, take care,

Claire X

P.S. It's raining, woohoo...........finally.

I can hear it running down the spouting, but more important I can hear all the plants enjoying a drink, hooray.........