To market, to market.

I picked up some small sized tee shirts from Target and appliqued them with a "Sweet Birdy Love" design in preparation for my market stall this Saturday. I was very pleased with how they turned out and I have since picked up some more tees which were half price as they are now bringing in winter stock, bonus.

For those still getting some snow, there are more blue sky, summery pictures ahead so read on if you would like to bring a bit of sunshine into your day.



Also needed to make a new batch of 'chook' cards. This is the my design which I then glue to the front of the card. I have used some different fabrics from those I normally use and I am more than happy with the look. There are a lot of chook/chicken lovers out there and these cards always seem to be popular

Here are a whole flock of chooks, funny how the back can actually be more interesting than the front. Must be the simplicity of the black and white. Maybe I should glue them on back to front!!

A bit of tie dying also went on this week. No 1 son needed a shirt to wear to a particular gig he's playing at , the theme is Spice. I bought a white mens business shirt from the Oppy and dyed it orange ( I was aiming for red, not enough dye obviously!!) It came out a striking colour and then he tied it and we overdyed it black.

It was soooo much fun but a little bit fiddly and messy all those drips and splashes. The colours were very striking whilst wet. The orange faded quite alot as it dried, but we were still very happy with the overall result. He had done a great job tying it and there are some great 'sunbursts' on the front, back and shoulders. Oops, haven't got a photo, sorry.

We had a couple of glorious, Spring like days in the middle of the week, so we decided to drive our van down to the local waterhole and have a picnic. I used to come here with my painting group and paint some of the scenery. Not being a great painter I would always find it very frustrating, but just take a look at those perfect reflections.

Didn't realise I had the swing rope in the middle of the photo!!

Lovely, tall Poplar trees in the background, no one else around, "just perfick" as Pop Larkin (Darling Buds of May) would say.

Have any of you seen that show, we just love it.

Here I am "lamby sammy' in one hand (made by No 1 son and I must say they were very nice) and a cuppa in the other. My mum who passed away 3 years ago would've loved doing this sort of thing, so I took along a duck mug she gave me, just so I could have a little part of her there with me, if you know what I mean.

We enjoyed it soooo much we went back and did it again the next day. Well you've got to sit down and eat , so you might as well sit down somewhere nice and this is barely 5 mins up the road from us.

Now after all that 'speed sewing' to be ready for the market tomorrow, I find out that there has been a mix up in the dates and it's actually NEXT Saturday the 6th of March, it's a long weekend. SO if you happen to be in Beechworth or the nearby vicinity drop in to the Buffalo Hall in the main street a couple of doors up from the Laundromat.

Well, that's pretty much my week in a nutshell, obviously alot of other things went on at Sweet Bridy Love, but no doubt similar things went on in your household too so I won't bore you with them.

Hope you have had a good week and enjoyed some time doing something that made you smile and satisfied that creative desire that seems to drive us in many and various ways.

Till next time,

Claire X

Seeing spots of the nicest variety (of course!)

Hello there, I am back after being away for far too long. I didn't realise quite how long until I took a good look at last posts date, tut, tut, not good enough I say. I was intending to blog regularly, that was a secret New Years Resolution!!

Yes, you are seeing spots. An order for the local Art and Craft gallery, had me whipping up some egg cosies. I surprised myself how quickly I got them put together, thought I better make a few extra for a market stall I am having this Saturday.

If anyone is in the Beechworth area (North East Victoria) there will be a market, albeit a rather small one held in the Buffalo Hall in the main street from 10am till 4pm. I will be there selling my wares.

A bit of speed sewing needed between now and then as I was sure they didn't have enough stallholders so presumed it was a 'non starter'. Of course that's always the way isn't it? Now I shall have to focus, organize, prioritise, and any other 'ise' I can think of , in order to be ready.

Always leave things to the last minute and always come through, huffing and puffing and promising to be organised next time, ha!!!!

The saying on the back is :- Buttery toast soldiers for dipping. I love eggs, yummmmm.

Here they are all sewn up and ready to go.
Do you think of chocolate when you look at them? I do.

Had to share with you some of my very favourite egg cups, actually it's practically all of my egg cups.

The yellow one in the middle is from my childhood, I love the bright ,cheery colours and the basket weave look. I remember my eldest sister always seemed to use it when we had boiled eggs for tea, but somehow I ended up with it. I think I am the more sentimental of the two of us, but don't tell her I said that .

The Jemima Puddleduck one is very cute, I bought one for a friend who had just had a little girl. I thought it was a present with a difference, then I realized how much I liked it and had to track down another one for myself.

The little one on the left is another childhood favourite, it's Wilton china and last but not least, the crazily painted one in the middle, my son painted when he was about 5 years old. Thought it would be a nice activity one afternoon he wasn't particularly keen so I had to help him out.

Another zinnia from the garden this is specially for Gayle of Garden of Daisies as I know she loves them. They have given me such enjoyment over the last couple of months. Who would think that out of one tiny seed could come such amazing colour and beauty.

Here are the sunflowers I up loaded last post but somehow deleted in the blink of any eye.

You can see a couple of bees buzzing around doing what bees do best.

Love the hum of bees on a summers day. We have quite a bit of lavender along the path and when it's in bloom, those busy little bees come from all directions to harvest the pollen.

We went down to Gippsland last weekend No1 son was playing at a Blues Festival in Bruthen. We travelled over Mt. Hotham which was a first for me. No 1 son drove 'L' plates and all.

We had a lovely time in Bruthen and heading home on Sunday we hit a storm, but the time we got to the top of Mt. Hotham the temp. was down to 14 deg. Stopped at a look out and it was absolutely freezing and sooo windy, but the view was spectacular,- cloud covered mountain tops

Felt like we were on top of the world.

You can see how windy it was . No 1 son and his mane of hair were getting buffeted by it. Not exactly dressed for the cold, but you know what teenagers are like!!!

Okay, time to plug in the trusty old machine and get an hours sewing done before bed (yeah right!)

Hope you are all well in your little corner of the globe.

Please leave a comment to let me know you popped by for a visit. Love to hear from all of you.

Take care until next time ( hopefully sooner than later!!)

Claire X

It Won't Hurt A Bit I Promise!!

Scissors at the ready, will I won't I?!!

It didn't hurt a bit, honestly. Make sure you use doily's that haven't been handed down from your great great great grandmother! Can't remember where this one came from, but it does have some mildew marks on it. I should be able to get another cover out of the other end. The embroidery was lovely and I am more than happy with how the cover turned out.


Here it is front and back, once again using the fabric from the Butterfly Journal Cover. I thought it was a nice match with the embroidery.

Ah, Violets, "how could I " you ask, "quite easily" I reply. Love the colours, purple and green two of my favourites and throw in some polka dots and there you have it. Wasn't sure about all the blank space on the doily, but I decided to leave it alone and not muck about with it.

Two together, I think they look quite nice and certainly a different use for a doily. Instead of having them in a drawer being eaten by silverfish, or worse still completely forgotten, give them a new lease on life.

Thoughts please, do you like them or not, be honest now.

Aha, recognise the flower variety, I hope so!! Zinnias, I love them, the gorgeous colours they come in ,light up the garden in summer and it's soooo nice to cut a bunch and bring inside. "Earth laughs in flowers" is the quote.

Front and back view

For those living in the Northern Hemisphere where it's a little chilly at the moment, I thought you might like to see what 's happening in gardens down south. I hear your Spring is on the way, so be patient. All good things are worth waiting for. These are Belladonna Lillies or Naked Ladies, usually you see the pink variety but these are the white ones. They are veeeeeeeery special, dug up from my mum's garden after she passed away. She loved her garden and as we were going to sell her unit, I didn't' want everything to be lost if the new owner was a non gardener!

I dug them up and gave them a home in my garden, it has taken three years but finally they have flowered.

Haven't they put on a beautiful display, the perfume is divine and off to the right is "Curtsy Girl" also belonging to mum. Don't know if that's the correct name for her or just what mum referred to her as.

Mmmmmmm, delicious colours, so bright and clear. Love the yellow around the centre. Zinnias are so cheery and hardy, they make me feel happy and it's always a surprise to see what colour the first flower on the plant is going to be.


Oops, I clicked something and the photo has completely disappeared, so you will just have to take my word for it (hmmm, scratches head thoughtfully!)

Another cheery, happy flower, Sunflowers with the Zinnias in the background. These are a small variety of Sunflower but still lovely and the chooks love the seed heads if the sparrows leave any for them!

Speaking of chooks, my rooster and Mrs Rock were happy to pose for me unlike the other somewhat camera shy girls.

It has been awfully humid this past week, which is not the usual summer weather. It is usually a very dry heat here, but there were tropical type storms brewing, so what do you do, grab your didgeridoo and go outside and play it of course! You can see the storm off to the right, someone is already receiving a good downpour. Our air conditioner is now fixed, hooray. We are soft aren't we, but being a winter person, I dislike the heat and humidity.

Mind you I decided to clean windows during the week and the perspiration was just pouring off me. Once I get an idea and am in the mood it's better to go with it and get it done than to put it off .

We have just had another down pour this afternoon about 6pm. Down came the rain in buckets, the tank was overflowing , the garden certainly got a good watering which is fabulous. In about 10 minutes or so we received 10.5 mls. Nothing to compare with the downpour in Melbourne last week, but we are grateful for every drop.

So what does the coming week have in store? I am planning to make a crochet hook roll, to keep all my hooks in one place. I have nearly finished one wrist warmer/ sleeveless glove, (you choose) I am very happy with how it is coming along and have managed to do quite a few rows whilst waiting to upload all these photos to my blog!! No doubt there will be more book covers in store. I must hand sew some brooch backs onto some sweet little "Kombi " brooches. I think that's enough to keep me going for a while, don't you?

Whatever your week has in store for you I hope it's a good one and you find time to create something that makes you smile and your heart sing.

Chocolate cake does that for me every time!!

Until next time

C X

It's raining ,it's pouring!!

Another book cover, this time butterflies and a quote by Hans Christian Anderson. ' Just living is not enough' said the butterfly 'One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower'. I love the vintage look of the patterned fabric.


I found some lovely doily's at an Op shop. Two have brightly crocheted edges around them, which is unusual, so they came home with me of course. I would like to incorporate them in a book cover and will be working on them this weekend.

Not much flowering in the garden at the moment, so I decided to use some Agapanthus heads now that the flowers have finished. I just love the limey greenness of them and in the red enamel jug the colours just 'sing'. I will have them for a number of weeks, they will dry out and turn golden in colour and take on a totally different look.



The nectarines are fruiting and are lovely , sweet and juicy. The tomatoes are bearing well and the green tomato on the top is actually ripe, being a green variety. I know, it just doesn't look right, but it tastes as good as the red tomatoes.

We had a huge storm last night which dumped 38.5 mls of rain, which is just wonderful. leading up to the storm were some wonderful cloud formations and fronts. This photo is slightly darker than how it actually was at the time, but the band of dark cloud was so striking we knew we were going to get something out of it. Have never heard such loud thunder it went on for hours.

As the rain was falling No 1 son was out filling buckets as the tank overflowed. He was pouring it onto the parched ground in the shrubbery to make sure all the plants got a decent drink. He needn't have worried, all the plants ended up receiving a good watering, we won't have to water for a few days now.

The weeks are flying by at a pace, hope yours has been a good week.

Thanks for visiting,

C X

Home Grown and Hand Made

Don't they look, nice and juicy and luscious? Our nectarine tree, the fruit is just about ripe. It's quite pretty to look at with all those rosy baubles hanging on it. The fruit is lovely and juicy and sweet and often is eaten straight from the tre. On really hot days it tastes as though they have been cooked, just need to add a scoop of icecream to them!


My recipe book has obviously seen better days, but was a Chrissy present from my parents when I was expecting No. 1 son. It's full to overflowing with recipes cut from magazines and newspapers. It has hand written recipes from
friends and family in it and needs to be held together with a rubber band.


It also contains sayings and quotes I have found over the years and want to remember, so where else would you put them? In a recipe book of course!!

Click on the picture to zoom in and read some of the quotes. Just for good measure I have stuck in one of Leunigs cartoons. For O/S readers, Leunig (Michael Leunig) is an Australian cartoonist and every Saturday one of his wonderful cartoons appears on the back of the A2 magazine in the Age newspaper. He is very, very clever, witty and sees humour in the most mundane things.

Does anyone have recipe books falling apart at the seams, that they can't bear to part with? Please tell me I am not the only one!!

Just to finish off a little crafty goodness. These "creatures" have been made from recycled materials .An Op shop woollen blanket and woollen jumpers that I have felted.

They are just little characters that came to life and

have that much loved and mended look about them.

They remind me of the soft toy that starts of as a brand new gift for a new baby and then

years of love and cuddles see them being patched,darned and even handed down to siblings as they are too special to discard.

It's interesting to watch people's reaction to them when I have my market stall. They either love them, or are not too sure about them. As they say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

Thanks for dropping by for a visit,

Till next time,

C x