lucky me!

Another birthday came my way last week, I didn't do anything outstanding, just mooched about at home, drinking coffee & stitching. But what was outstanding was my birthday presents! Let me have a wee show & tell with you.

My friend Megan in the south made this lovely felted wool cover for this antique spool & put the nice scissors with them. She also sent me some some lovely wooden house buttons that she bought from House on the Hill along with instructions on how to paint my 'winter' house garland. Painting is not something I am very confident with, but I did have fun & they turned out pretty good. . . . . . . . . . so I thought!

            Next, (this is a photo heavy post, so hang in there, or leave my blog now!)

Look at this awesome pin keep! Beautiful felted wool bird to keep my pins safe. Barbara made a lovely job of this. I like the fact that the bird has two sides, so I can turn the bird to what colour I fancy. I understand this pattern came from a Primitive Quilts magazine.

Thank you to my friend Julie for making this beautiful Winter angel doll. Gosh I was so amazed by her! Julie put a note on the parcel that this doll was made for her winter loving friend. That I am, I love winter, strange some folks think, but I like the fire going, soup cooking & just cuddling up under quilts.

I have several of Julie's handmade dolls & I love each one of them. I like this angels tea dyed linen dress & berry wreath halo.

Raewyn made me this cute wall hanging, with the sweetest twisted wire hanger. Wool felt flowers, Yoyo's & buttons, thanks so much! I have hung this from a stack of old suitcases, for now.

I have shared with you my handmade presents, because aren't they just lovely? But I did get many other beautiful presents too. A lovely antique looking sewing box, hand cream, marsh mellows in a sweet dish, a scarf, soap, a novel, jam and some pretty cards.
I feel very lucky indeed by the generosity & thoughtfulness of my friends. Hugs to each of you.

When I had my visit with Julie a couple of weeks ago apart from Opshopping, we made a primitive looking string jar each from old Agee jars.

Julie took me to a wonderful scrapbooking shop in Hamilton, called Paperzone. They had some lovely papers, but what I liked best was the charms, have a look at the antique looking key I attached to the luggage tag.

We stamped & glued & cut bits n' bobs up & generally made a mess! Something a bit different for me, it's nice to try new things. I understand Julie will make these to sell in her shop.
 I tried crocheting with some friends the other evening, but I have nothing to show you, lets just say for now I have two many thumbs to take on crocheting! One day.

Wishing you all a happy weekend, winter or summer, wherever you are in the world.