stills: the cutest little chicken

1. milk glass vignette
2. roast.. locally grown lamb and garlic with rosemary from the garden
3. a new year about to begin.. a new diary to record it all in
4. hello there little chicken
5. grow little pumpkin, grow

the last stills for 2013 at the beetle shack.

vintage sheet dress

another vintage sheet dress hot off the sewing table. this summer I'm basically living in dresses and skirts.. its too warm for much else.
this vintage cotton sheet is perfectly soft and worn with buttery yellow flowers and teamed with a piece of floral trim-come-necklace
i was very spoilt for Christmas too receiving sparkly new earrings and bracelet from my love.
and there's been more sewing today.. think tea towels and a newly op-shopped skirt pattern.

p.s. hope you all had a lovely Christmas. ours was a very quiet day spent at home relaxing. it was a bit of a rainy day so the vegie garden got a welcome Christmas gift of sweet rain drops.

 

x

stills: gingerbread and damper

1. gingerbread house making. my first ever batch of gingerbread was a success

2. Frankie mag reading. i think this may be my fav issue yet.

3. a wearing Wednesday post

4. Mitten

5. a drive to Moss Vale today for the Farmers and Flea Market. and a quick stop at the tip op-shop too

6. market purchases- pumpkin damper rolls with parsley and walnut pesto.

 

weekly stills time. the last for the year

wearing: denim and jelly sandals

a little Wednesday wearing post. it's pretty warm today, real summer weather has well and truly arrived here. this outfit has become a favourite one, easy to wear and lightweight.

denim dress: kmart. I added the lace around the hem.
shoes: jellybeans. these arrived yesterday and I love them. I had a sparkly pair as a kid and was amazed to see that they now come in adult sizes too.
necklace: Christina Lowry Designs. for today only (18/12/13) Christina is offering a 3 for the price of 2 deal with these deign-your-own necklaces. just enter 342XMAS at the checkout.
bracelets: koolaman designs. and deadwood creative timber bracelet, which is creatively crafted from a destined-for-the-tip skateboard.

did you own a pair of jelly sandals as a child? would you still wear jelly sandals now?

x

stills: decorations and linens

1. evening markets at a local historic homestead. the gardens are amazing. we came home with a free-range ham, local honey, a jar of mustard pickles and some washi tape
2. nails all pretty for my work Christmas party
3. growing chicks
4. Christmas decorations up
5. Christmas cat tin and unironed table linens
6. seeds planted just one week ago are popping up already

weekly still time at the beetle shack

meet the chook family

i'd like to introduce you to our little chooks. there's six girls all up- 4 light Sussex and the two little black Australorp-cross chicks. together they free range in our backyard during the day, dust bathing as they please and scratching up the soil to prepare the vegie beds for a new season of planting.

lighty. one of the original girls. and one of the friendliest too. she will happily let you pick her up for a cuddle. lighty is a dedicated layer too and always lets us know when an egg has been laid by way of loud squawking around 7 o'clock every morning.

henny-penny. she's always first to run up to the back step when she sees us outside and quickly follows us into the shed to reach her head in and peck the first grain from the feed bucket. she's only a small chook but is a big personality.

big hen. the adoptive mother of the two little chicks. she's not the friendliest of chooks but her mothering instincts are exceptional. she has stood her ground to protect the babies when they were little against the cats and will shoo away the other chooks if they get too close.

scruffy. the quirkiest of the brood. there's still some uncertainty as to if scruffy is a hen or a rooster. scruffy has long running legs and when vegie scraps are tossed outside she's the first to grab the best bits and run off from the others and eat it all up.

the chicks. two Australorp-cross chicks that are growing quickly. they are yet to be named but as their personalities develop I'm sure a fitting name will arrive. just last week they progressed from sleeping under mum's wings of a night to sitting on the perch with the rest of the chooks.

so there you have it, the chook family.
do you have chooks? do you find they each have there own little personality?

a little video of the chooks digging in the garden.

stills: milk glass and marigolds

1. milk glass for Christmas.. just add tea light candles
2. afternoon light over the kitchen sink
3. an early Christmas present to myself, a little satchel. (purchased from down that little lane)
4. quinoa for a simple meal. served with caramelised onion and steamed butternut pumpkin stirred through
5. bulk marigold planting today in the hope of keeping all those seedling-munching bugs away

this week has not been the healthiest. what started as a headache this time last Sunday led to whole body aches for work on Monday and a cough that has stuck around all week. I'm on the mend now so hopefully this coming week is a lot better.

 

weekly still time.

joy, peace and love embroidery hoop

another little embroidery hoop. this one is to add to the Christmas decor. i'm not really one for the traditional red and green of the festive season. pink, pastel green and a splash of black is more my style. the timber-look hoop and ric-rac was op-shopped, the floral sheet was from the swap and the ribbon was from a gift. this is now adorning the front door.

what are you crafting for Christmas?

stills: fairy lights and ladders

1. the next sheet for crafting
2. a little walk into town for coffee with my love
3. fairy light time
4. wall collage
5. ladder cat
6. the tree is covered in young apples

weekly still time.

hello embroidery hoop art

after a bit of a break from the sewing machine (well apart from the mending jobs) i decided a small patchwork piece was next. the fabric is mainly vintage sheets, with plenty from the FQ swap, and a couple of tea towels too.
the embroidery hoop was op-shopped way back and the beautiful yellow woollen pom-poms were a recent etsy purchase from Azalea Cottage Crafts.
i've seen some beautiful wire word art around blog-land of late so decided to try my hand at making my own. i simply folded in half and stitched a long length of bias binding and threaded through the wire. I then bent it to shape.
the pretty little milk glass bowls were op-shopped for $4.
now just to find a bare section of wall to hang it.  x