Well I have decided this is it for this week after the power dropped out and I lost every thing I’d all ready uploaded, that will teach me not to save.
The reason I blog is to be able to join up each week with Esther’s WOW or WIP’s
http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.com Esther is so generous with her free patterns and how she makes her patterns up it is where I go with my coffee instead of buying a quilting magazine now. Then if you link I can visit you also. So thanks for sharing your blog with us there.
I’m playing with my Shannon rose blocks again !!!!!!!!
I’m playing with my Shannon Rose blocks again!!!!!!!
This was meant to be a cot blanket????? but the baby is a little girl now!!!! so I will have to add borders LOL.
Finally finished doing the buttonhole stitch around all the teddy bears???????
These were a thank you gift and came with only one lilly open a week ago.
Lilies in all there glory up close.
This came in to the shop and was black I have soaked it for 24 hrs in a strong washing powder solution and then a good hard scrub with the floor scrubbing brush it looks like this???? I thought it was brass but much to my surprise under the top layer of grim it is copper and it would have been made for the English market as it has the remands of what was a hook on the back which is broken but would have been used to hang it on the wall. It is about 15″ across. I have an oval copper tray that was my great grandmothers which came from Prague of all places. When polished it almost looks like a mirror. I’ve always treasured it.
Now I’m giving it the salt and vinegar treatment and you can see how it is removing yet more grim.
Notice the dark stain in the middle, well I have used a old tooth brush to gently rub at this area.
adde With a little coaching the stain is coming away and I can see the pattern stamped clearly in tot he copper now.
Copper tray now cleaned just needs polishing and that dark mark will disappear. Lots of elbow grease now required to bring it up lovely and shinny.
A forgotten part of the the garden, Hubby placed the waterball there for safe keeping and I decided I liked it there and would build a garden around it, will plenty of soil available as post holes were been dug I raised the bed up a good 12″ and used left over rocks for the back and front retainer walls.
I have spent the last 10 days working on this area while hubby was putting in a new fence.
Now needs a few big rocks and it will be OK the birds like it!!!!!
This is a prolific grower and throws lots of flowers
Masses of blooms
Patio entrance looks a lot nicer with the new stone bed at the end of it. We use stone beds a lot so that the turkeys don’t dig gut eplants up so easy plus it makes it easy to remove the weeds and seedlings a lot easier.
Desert Rose
Brom rather difficult to take a photo of so added a sheet of white cardboard so you can see the flower.
Even the new leaves look lovely so soft and delicate. These are beside the house.
I’m off to link with Esther on her WOW this week http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.com
Thanks for dropping in and sharing your own links Cheers Glenda
Oh those dancing bears are so cute! I purchased a beautiful copper tray from an op shop years ago, thinking I could ‘restore’ but and finally gave up after scrubbing and polishing for what seemed like weeks. You’ve done a fabulous job there Glenda 🙂
Morning Esther, just been browsing your blog and some how I missed your blog last week of you working on your OWN LE it looks so so lovely I have been motivated to pull my own out again and hopefully we will not get a lot of visitors for a awhile I love having visitors but I don’t like leaving my LE lying around when we have extra people in the house incase some thing gets spilt on it. I have always loved good copper or brass as my grandmother and my mum had some lovely pieces even as a child I never minded polishing it. BUT it does need constant polishing, I have an old copper bedpan (that hangs in the kitchen LOL) that I had commercial lacquered to stop it cordoning here in the rainforest and after 3 years it still glows the earlier lacquers were not so good and peeled off after a few years. Cheers Glenda
Those bears are such a lot of fun – love them!
Love your raised bed too – that’s clearly been a lot of work, but so worth it, as it looks fabulous!
You’ve really made a worthwhile effort with the copper tray too – it looks amazing now. I’m glad that you hadn’t deleted the pictures of it as a work-in-progress, as I’m sure it will inspire more than one of us to ‘have a go’ when faced with discoloured metal trays now!
Thanks for sharing your part of the world with us!
we have been traveling almost 3 weeks now and I haven’t done the Wednesday link up as I have not been quilting/sewing hardly at all since we left the house back on Oct 20, we are due to be home though around the 18th so almost done with our travels in the camper. some of the places we go have wi-fi and some don’t so i catch up when I can- always love to see what you are doing with your garden – I am ready to get back to my applique and quilting and actually feel like I might get back to work on LE this winter – keep your fingers crossed on that one!!
Dear Glenda
Copper is a very interesting metal. One tip we discovered a little while ago, Ketchup/Tomato sauce, can clean copper and make it beautiful again. The things we learn, wish we found this tip years ago. You must be tired from all that elbow grease. My garden has me working at it, trying to finish cleaning up all the demo of all the old flower box beds. Will be doing some trips to the dump to clean up. Love your garden, amazing what happens when we decide to do a new part, it always looks so much better when we finish.
Dear Maggi I love the quilt you made for a Cure for Cancer on your blog http://cheerfulchickadee.blogspot.com.au this week, it was great tutorial on how you made it up. Loved the wee butterflies. Yesterday I was cleaning another very old brass container that would have been used in an entrance to hold a potted plant like a palm, I was trying to clean un underneath to see if there was a maker or where it was made. First I used the salt and vinegar that moved the last 20 years LOL then I tried the tomato sauce but it did not move any grim, I would of used the cokeacola like Maree suggested next but did not have any!!!! then I used pure lemon and hey presto 60 odd years disappeared. LOL. After all that there was no stamp or name so I guessing it has come from Asia some where decently not England. They made some beautiful pure copper and brass pieces around 1890 1920 I have 2 pieces that are family pieces. Hugs Glenda
Wonderful Blog Glenda, I have so enjoyed your photo’s. Hugs Jenny
Next time you have copper to clean, soak it in Coke a Cola, you will be stunned at the outcome. Your patience amazes me with all the restoration work you do one your op shop goodies
Your flowers look so nice and the new flowerbed is lovely. The teddybear quilt is really cute. Enjoy the applique on your Rose of Sharon project. Blessings, Gretchen
Morning Gretchen sitting here very early listening to the birds trying to out sing each other!!!!! It is a lovely time to take a coffee and watch them flit amongst the branches but we are having short sharp showers so staying inside this morning, we have no rain for weeks so the garden is enjoying it and the birds to will be having their bird washes to get rid of the fleas that build up when there is no rain for a long time. I’m so enjoying the journey with you quilting those lovely wee blocks of your DJ. What a heirloom your DJ is going to be. I Just found out why I put my Rose of Shannon away last time, the backing is to fine and I need to use a heavier backing but can not find the blocks I made up for them LOL. Story of my life, I will be in the middle of some thing and have too pack it away in a hurry and things get put in the wrong place sound familiar???? Hugs Glenda
Your teddy bears are adorable. Where did you get the pattern and did you use raw-edge applique or are the edges turned under? Did you use adhesive behind them to hold them in place?
What a lot of work for both your garden and the copper plate. They both look great.
Hi Nancy, Teddy Bear pattern was one I saw on a wrapping paper and thought they would look cute on a kiddies cot quilt, so drew it up; you can copy it if you want to. I have fused them on to the backing fabric randomly then blanket stitched them on, using 2 random coloured threads of DMC it was fun cot top to make but the little boy is going 6 now so I have to turn it in to a small bed quilt LOL now looking at borders to add. I will machine quilt this one. Cheers Glenda