Jo's place

What a week! Work is so busy at this time of the year and Christmas cleaning is just as overwhelming as Christmas shopping. Today I took a little break from putting together the holiday reading guide to work in my little garden. Some of you may know that we're suffering through a very serious drought in Australia. My home town is under level 6 water restrictions which means no hoses and only bucket watering of gardens 3 days a week for a few hours only. When we moved in the garden was dead.

Now there are signs of life and my biceps are a little bigger with all the bucket carrying. Of course there have to be some thrifted finds in this post. I did manage to find a couple of cute little pots which I planted up today and the sweetest tiny brass watering can. A lot of my garden is potted to conserve water and my garden beds are heavily mulched. Time to go back to sweeping the patio if I can.

At Jo's place

Not enough time in the day! Christmas is always so busy and I always leave things to the last minute. No thrifting for me this week. Christmas parties and Christmas cards. That's what's been going on at Jo's place. Kim and I sent out our Christmas e-cards this week but I still love a snail mail card. These are the ones I made this week. The Midcentury Modernist had a link to a new blog Grain Edit where I found these and I was off and creating. Thank you Stephen and Dave. You made my Christmas! (That poor little timber tree is my only Christmas decoration this year. Where did the time go?)

How are your last minute Christmas preparations going? I must admit I can't wait until it's over and I can put my feet up and relax. Time to go. I have a few more peacocks and birds to finish for my etsy shop. Drop by if you have the time.

Jo's place

Help me! I've been thrifting again. Things are bad when the thrift store managers not only know your name, they have your phone number. Mr X (name concealed to protect my source) rang to tell me about an entertainment unit and a 20% sale. Unfortunately he still won't sell me the 60s era rattan wall size display cabinet but that may be lucky as it probably wouldn't fit. The entertainment unit wasn't my style but I found all these little beauties.

A West German floor vase 50cm tall and a lovely "subtle" orange. It's by Jasba Keramik and was a steal at $20. I felt bad taking advantage of Mr X with this one as he didn't think it was West German. You can see some of my other pots in the hall way and some of my Papua New Guinea artifacts.

Finally a matching pair of bedsides. Now what do I do with the 3 unmatched ones I have? Thank god for friends who want to buy them.

Finds for the garden. The cast aluminium planters will be tarted up with gloss navy paint and find a home on the patio.

This lovely old copper tub will be filled with ferns tomorrow after a visit to the nursery. Love it's old patina.

The bird bath is destined for the small garden by the door. Filled with water and floating flowers it will greet my visitors. I've promised myself I won't go thrifting next weekend unless Mr Y rings .....

Pedal to the metal

The sewing machine is out and my foot is pressed to the pedal. My name is Jo and I'm an ebay addict. Fabric is my weakness. I can't stop myself. The Ralph Lauren blue and tan fabric is heavy and beautiful to the touch. The green fretwork pattern is for the backs of cushions. The red asian fabric is gorgeous in real life. I'm going to make a full width bolster for my bed with it and perhaps trim a roman blind. The black and white print is much lighter, more drapery than upholstery. I had been thinking bedroom but I'm not sure how it goes with the red fabric. Perhaps the office as a feminine touch to all the geometrics going on or the kitchen window? Over 9 yards for $43.80 USD. Bargain! One cushion down lots more sewing to go.

Jo's place

A quiet week here but I did finish my 70s light box side table with more of my vintage bus roll fabric. Still have to hang artwork, make the roman blinds for the window and put the finishing touches to my "cupboard office". Almost there. Wish I had more time. Maybe I should blog less or quit my job? If only!