Creating, collecting & recycling textiles & papercrafts. I love preserving the past for the future.

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Tea Time Tuesday hosted by Rose Chintz Cottage

Welcome
to
Tea Time Tuesday
hosted
by
Rose Chintz Cottage


I would love to present this beautiful trio left to my husband by his paternal grandmother.

Royal Doulton
Made in England
Bone China

This beautiful cup, saucer and plate is in outstanding condition.
No chips, cracks or crazing.
It's feather light and a joy to drink from.

The pattern and colours are simply exquisite.

The pattern continues inside the cup with a border. 

Royal Doulton
Made in England
Bone China
H4842
F

Hope you have enjoyed viewing my beautiful Royal Doulton Trio

Thanks to our host
Rose Chintz Cottage






Tea Time Tuesday hosted by Artful Affirmations

     Hello tea cup lovers!
  
It's

Tea Time Tuesday

hosted by

Terri at Artful Affirmations
(I'm teacup number 33 EllenaElizabeth)
This cute trio is coming to you all the way from Australia.
 It began its life in Germany and has ended up gracing my sideboard.
What a trip!
It's made by Villeroy and Boch and is number 1748.

The buttery yellow colour along
with the black and white toile pattern
 spoke to me the second I saw it.

My cup sports a farmer leaning on his crook
and a country maid getting water from a brook.
There are also sheep, cattle and a dog.

The bread and butter plate depicts a country gentleman hunter
offering his hound a drink of water from the lid of his flask. 
His rifle, hunting bag and lunch are also shown.



I hope you have enjoyed my offering to
Tea Time Tuesday
because I have enjoyed showing you my lovely trio.
I appreciate it anew as I have closely looked at it so I could describe it for you.
Now I love it even more!


Sunday 24 July 2011

Collectable finds


Found these old WW2 period labels in Strathalbyn, South Australia.
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I just love collecting. If it takes my eye and the price is right I'm interested.
I just love a good bargain, but who doesn't?
A lot of my bits and pieces have been given to me by friends. They say thought you might like to look at this, and if you don't want it it can go into the bin.

Bought this cute little clock on eBay.
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Another Ebay purchase
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Found these cute little dolly types in a local opportunity shop in Ipswich, Queensland.
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Cute pansy doiley, green austrian crystal cruet set and cute little blue cotton reel holder with thimble, all found at an antiques fair in Ipswich, Queensland.
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Hand painted sandwich plate found at a second hand shop, Gawler, South Australia.
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My 2 dolly tea cosies and the one on far right was found by my friend. My two are quite old so sweet. The one on left cost $26 and the one in the middle cost 99cents at a garage sale.
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Finally I can't believe that due to Karen at
My Desert Cottage Blog
and her wonderful party
Where Blogger's Create 2011,
I have had 1000 hits within one month of beginning to blog.
Thankyou.

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Pretty Cup & Saucer

This is a beautiful trio I purchased a few years ago.
Even though I just loved it from the second I saw it in
Myer, Brisbane, these are not my 'usual' colours of choice.
Anyhow it makes a beautiful cup of tea. It is not super-fine china but all the same it is just wonderful to use.
Villeroy and Boch 1748 made in Germany.
Everyone who sees it admires it and I also oddly have the platter of the same pattern. I have only used it once but it looks great on my antique kitchen dresser.
Posted by Picasa

Monday 18 July 2011

WOW, over 500 hits in less than one month! And recycling furniture for my creative space stories and more.

Over 500 hits in less than one month!
I cannot believe it and it's mainly thanks to Karen at My Desert Cottage and her wonderful party Where Bloggers Create 2011!
I have had visitors to my humble blog from all over the world.
Mainly the USA, Australia (where I live), then Netherlands, Malaysia, Germany etc.....
Thank you to all who have looked through my creative space. I am over half way through looking at all the party attendee's blogs and each and every lady has presented a visual feast.
I have picked up quite a few ideas and that is always fun. Sometimes I think I go a little too far with what I display but when I see others doing it I feel justified and sometimes when I see what other creative bloggers are doing I would even go so far as saying I feel 'restrained' in the display of my collection, both working and purely decorative.
I had no idea there were so many ladies who actually do 'weird' things like me and display doll's heads and parts of doll's bodies, not to mention vintage greeting cards, personal memoribilia and anything that just takes our eye in general.
It is all so attractive, at least I think so, and I love looking at my things, well as much as I can fit out on available display space. In latter years I have learnt to been able to rotate some of my collection. That was and is the hard part, deciding what to 'rest' and what to display.
Most of us seem to use 'found' display, storage and work areas and I LOVE THAT!
I love re-purposing items. I hate waste. And it seems I have a lot of friends in this regard. I love the way we re-use, re-paint, re-cycle in general.
I have posted some photos below. All are re-used in a different way to their original intention. I just love the story that goes with each one. That to me is part of the thrill of all the things I have in my home.
I hope you can take the time to read the tales of how I came by these pieces and please leave comments. I just love to hear from my blogging friends from all around the world.


This lowboy cupboard was just languishing in my father's neighbours farm shed. The neighbour's moved out and told Dad he could take what was left. Dad offered me several pieces and I took them all. Anyhow back to this particual little lowboy....... I painted it using acrylic house paint, a paint medium and gladwrap (plastic cling wrap). I gave it all a good clean first of course. I painted the inside and shellaced the drawer fronts and used a cute little stencil on the inside as the cupboard was going to be used in my sewing room. Green is one of my favourite colours and I like it even though some think it gross and have told me so.
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A friend of my father's who was a coach builder in the Railways and who now restores and builds furniture made this for me around 6 old Singer Sewing machine drawers I had. The SS machine drawers came from an uncle who had pulled a perfectly good treadle machine apart. He was going to dump the machine and the drawers and make the treadle base into a garden table. Well I could not stand the thought of the poor thing being so mis-treated so I offered him a swap and he said he would like my melamine microwave cupboard and I thought that fair. So to this day I have the machine on display, the drawers as you see them above and the base was indeed made into a garden table by my DH and all parts are treasured. At least the poor thing is still together sort of.
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This cupboard was originally the end of a draughtsman's table. Originally about 12 feet long with 2 of the above (one at each end). A neighbour and dear friend offered it to me, she kept the other end and the middle long desk part (which she carved into a beautiful bed head) and I had my Dad's friend restore it. It sat at my parent's place for 3 weeks before being delivered to the restorer and when he started work on it made an interesting and scary discovery. The front right leg was eaten out by whiteants (termites). So needless to say I rang my friend and alerted her to the termite problem that had originated at her property. Anyhow the leg was replaced and many years of paints scraped back to reveal the final pleasant surprise. The door panels are solid red australian cedar. A very beautiful, expensive and now scarce timber. The remainder of the cupboard is Queensland hoop pine. All this drama from part of a pre-loved draughtsman's table. LOL
Oh the final drama with this particular cupboard......the screen door and door had to be taken from their hinges in order to get it into the house. Eeekkk! That made me feel a bit guilty as it wasn't me doing it but my Dad and my SIL, as my DH was away working in Saudi Arabia at the time.
PS The top drawer holds about 100 plus fat quarters.
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This little pre-loved CD storer was found on a footpath as I was walking home one day. The lady wanted $5 for it and I thought that was reasonable, because as soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for some of my button collection. The colour was OK with me too so it was all win win.
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From the blogs I have looked through, black and white seem to be a popular theme atm. It's classical style and elegance will always make it chic and appealing.
I also love the vintage 1930's era type colours that quite a few bloggers seem to lean towards. Soft baby colours such as pink, lemon, mint and blue. So cute and makes me get all nostalgic.
I think each and every lady has put her heart and soul into her private 'creative space' and that is what makes them all so special.
Thankyou once again to Karen from My Desert Cottage for this wonderful concept known as Where Bloggers Create. I love it!! Thankyou!

Sunday 17 July 2011

Some pretty 50th birthday cards I'd like to share, after all I'll only turn 50 once.


       Here are the cards I received for my 50th birthday last weekend.
       They are all lovely that's why I'd like to share them with you.
I love pink and green especially.


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This 50th card is from my DH,
      I think it's lovely and so sweet of him
 to choose something so pretty. He's a good fella.



Well it's quite warm here today compared to the last month or so. It's already 18c and about 70% humidity so it feels warmer than it really is. Let's just say that from wearing up to 6 layers of clothing, today I have only a t-shirt and cords on. It feels quite liberating actually. It's starting to cloud up again so let's hope we get some rain, as it's much needed here on The Darling Downs at least.

I am becoming SO frustrated now. 9 weeks post op TLIF and still quite a lot of pain, so continuing with pain killers. I am walking briskly up to 30 mins most days so that is a major break through but sitting is not good at all, and it's not getting any easier so that is annoying, not to mention that car travel is far too painful so none of that either. Therefore I am even slightly more housebound than before the operation, hence you can see where the frustration is coming from.
I still can't even put my lace-ups on, not to mention basics like cutting toe nails etc. The only trim I've had in 9 weeks was performed by my father. The shape of my nails still tells the tale.....LOL

Friday 15 July 2011

Don't forget to view my creative space 14th July 2011

                                       Don't forget to view my Creative Space below
                                                      EllenaElizabeth Makes
                                                            posted on 14th July 2011.
        Time wise Australia is a day ahead of the USA so the 14th is already yesterday to me...LOL


           Where Bloggers Create 2011

                                       Hosted by Karen from http://mydesertcottage.blogspot.com/

Aren't cloth dolls special?


This is my little Cora-Beth Godsey. When I finish making my dolls they almost seem to tell me what to call them. No..I don't mean I hear them speak..LOL, just that the finished product just seems to become its own little personality. So when this one was finished I looked at her and without even giving it any thought the name Cora-beth Godsey immediately sprang to mind. Can you tell what my favourite TV show is? And just in case you can't, it is of course The Waltons. I can't remember the pattern I used for CBG but it is Australian. I did change it quite a bit but when making dolls that has a habit of happening.
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This little sweety is called Aunty Violet Reller. She has a maidenly old world look about her and once again her name just sprang to mind. I think the pattern came from a Handmade magazine but can't remember what issue.
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This dear little girl is called Folksy Megan.
I caught her sitting out in the garden stitching with some of my best threads and buttons. Just check out the look on her face when I discovered her......LOL
The name of the pattern is Megan's Locket by Sun Valley Primitives, Australia.
Anyhow just back to reality now and being serious, I did not change this pattern much at all, which is unusual for me. I just loved her the way she was meant to be.
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                                    I named this girl Ivy. She is quite big and likes to
                                         walk around the garden as you can see.

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This dolly was made for my friend Jenny's 50th so I called her Jenny. Not very original but there you have it. The thing I like making the most was the cornucopia she is holding.
Her hair is a whole skein of vintage maroon darning wool.
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Thursday 14 July 2011

Where Bloggers Create 2011 Part Two

                                       
             Where Bloggers Create 2011 
 Part Two
        This is part 2, as I had trouble trying to complete it all in one post....
  sorry everyone.

            One of my champion rosettes from the 
Royal National Show
Queensland.
                 I have competed every year now since 1994 and look forward to doing so every year.
      There is nothing like a deadline to motivate me.
                                         
The Seamstress
designed
by
Mum's Moment
Queensland








Cute buttons in a little box I painted and lined with felt


My 1st ever Janome.
Bought a few years ago.
Not my favourite machine,
I still love my Pfaff 1475 CD the best,
even though it's 21 yrs old now.
Such an innovative and delightful machine.


Cute little doll's house made by my DH
and
painted and decorated by me about 15 yrs ago.



Thanks so much for taking the time to look through my creative space
as
 well
as some
of
my
creations.
It's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to look through eveyone else's spaces.
Thanks again
and
GOD Bless
you
all.
EllenaElizabeth
Queensland
Australia
2011