rustic tea light holder

This is one of those projects I had lying around for ages. Its probably from some kind of gun safe, two bits of old timber with holes, just waiting for a makeover. I had it for so long I can't remember where it came from.

I started making into a tea light holder a couple of years ago but then just left it in the shed till it got buried under piles of other projects 'to do'.

Then one day I just sort of got inspired to finish it with some nuts and a rusty hinge.

It might not be exactly fire safe as far as tea light holders go.... but hey! You can put LED tea lights in it!

And its rustic and cute.

Those things count for a lot in my world.

I took it to a local shop and it sold straight away.

So there you go. Rustic and cute won out over fire safe for someone other than me!

Meanwhile I know its been a long time since I posted last. The cataract surgery in my right eye was not easy to get over. For the last month I've had tired eyes, dry eye, blurry vision and I've just been too tired to do anything online or any craft at all.

Luckily, my left eye, which was done 2 days ago, has been the total opposite. Its been a success from day one. Almost no pain after surgery, very little blurry vision or discomfort. Thank goodness as I was getting pretty depressed about the whole thing.

Both eyes are much better now and I can see well... except now my near vision is worse than it was before and I need to wear glasses (at least those magnifying ones from the chemist) in order to do any close up work. That means that sewing or fine craft work means glasses. Since I can't get used to wearing glasses and looking up OVER them rather than through them, I get awful dizzy spells when I wear them. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

The good news is that apparently my eyesight won't get any worse from this point on so I'll have plenty of time to get used to the new eyes.

z

horses in the garden

Long ago I said that I'd never have a nice garden cause we kept letting the horses into the yard. I loved having them in there and they loved the time with us.

Then I put in garden beds cause I wanted flowers and pretty stuff, and I banished the horses.

Well, the other day the horses were back.

First time it was an accident. Wayne drove ol' Blue from the paddock into the yard and the horses followed him. Opportunists that they are.

They'd been eyeing off the greener grass on our side of the fence for ages and there was no way they were letting that opportunity go by without grasping it.

Yeah. Its not that green. But take a look at the paddock beyond them. That'll give you an idea. At least in the yard there were clumps of clover and tufts of that grass that isn't lawn.

We had to keep an eye on them of course. Every time one of them so much as looked at a flower sideways, expletives would rain down on them from two directions. Luckily, the green clumps and clover were more than enough for them and no flowers were lost in the visit.

There's something so lovely about having horses in the yard. I love giving them a pat as they wander past and watching the dust poof off them. I love the sound of them chewing. I also rather like their help with "mowing".

And I love horse butts. So strong and round.

Almost as good as cow butts.

Taken at the Hamilton Show yesterday. I got to pat a lot of cows and a lot of beautiful horses.

Life in the country is good!

z

new cabinet for the grooming room

New, old, whatever. Its the same thing to me.

Its the new cabinet for my grooming room. Up till recently I had a monstrous pink bookcase/desk combination in that spot. Nothing wrong with it... other than it was pink.

In fact, I gave the pink bookcase to a friend who's using it as extra storage space in her kitchen. Of course she'll repaint it.

But for my grooming room, I like this better! It reminds me of a gorgeous old kitchen cabinet thing I had in Melbourne. That one was bigger - 3 cupboards and drawers. And it had etched glass in the top bit. I bought it at the Salvation Army and it was original yellowed white paint with the same fake dark timber doors. I painted the doors pale yellow. left the naturally antiqued white, changed the handles and adored it. Unfortunately when I moved to Tasmania there was nowhere to put it in my new house so I gave it to a friend.

I believe in what goes around comes around. I gave someone something I loved, I got something from someone else.

Now I have this cute little old cabinet for the grooming room. Maybe I'll repaint it one day. Maybe not. The fact that its smaller and not so PINK means that corner is already brighter.

These photos were taken before I filled the shelves with my myriad tools and potions. The room even looks sort of tidy and organised.

I like it.

The other side (the one I didn't photograph) is stacked full of stuff I took out of the silver shed...

I cleaned out the silver shed, then filled it right back up with a friend's stuff.

I'm not good at empty spaces.

Its a character flaw.

The friend who's stuff I'm storing is the friend who gave me this little cabinet.

What goes around, comes around.

z

quick and easy fingerless gloves

...Or what to do with knitted squares...

Long story, but I got ahold of some knitted squares. The obvious things to do with them are to: make a blanket, a scarf, cushion covers...

Or fingerless gloves!

These were so easy to make and look so cute that I decided to share in case you have knitted squares, or if you can knit and can only make squares...

So here goes:

I opted for blanket stitching the side in a contrast colour and to decorate with some buttons. I think you could make them out of scraps of polar fleece fabric just as easily. 

They're so cute everyone wants a pair.  Can't wait till winter so I can wear them for real.

z

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