Brewing new ideas.

I have had a brand new idea , and I am using all the old fabrics I have that are even slightly Dutch looking. So a concoction of red, white and blue , with a touch of orange on top. What else would I do with all those folksy farmers' hankies or bandannas. You will find out later....!

This week The Netherlands has been a little in the news here in NZ with that shocking attack on the Royal Family , killing innocent bystanders. We only got 1 minute of detail , but I found out more through the web. And although I have been here nearly 29 years , I still consider Queen Beatrix to be my queen , not distant (in more ways than 1) Elizabeth. What a horrid act!

And on such a festive occasion too. So sad..
Well , I've even done a little bit of felting lately , with merino and fine silk tissue . And I've made some lovely flower brooches and hairclips. They needed a bit of glitz , so I got out my jar of what I call my "sparklies" buttons. All clear vintage glass buttons , some with small  diamanties embedded into them. Their ages range from the 1920's to fairly recent , and this pile represents about 10 years of hoarding.  Just delicious!!
It just makes me so happy when I find a good button....I don't need a sports car or a luxurious house or expensive fashion. Give me a rainy afternoon with half an hour in a small opshop , rummaging through a box of dusty buttons , with just one lovely shiny button from long ago , and I'll be smiling all day!  And look how many times I've been smiling already.  You haven't even seen all the other coloured buttons I have stored in their jars.....
It is May and still we have not had any frosts. For those of you reading this in Holland , it is like your October here. And this time our summer weather started in September , that's like your March. We have had summer now for 8 months, in this provence that is. Crazy ...We have had about 25mm of rain in April though (whoop-tee-doo... as if that is going to do anything for the farmers around here!),  and had the fire on several times. 

My paprikas or bell peppers just keep on going. But it was time to harvest the last ones ,  because it is getting too cold for them to grow any larger or redder. I left just a few on the plants that looked they were going to change to red . I have cut them all up on the weekend and froze them into portions , so that I can just throw them into a sauce or stirfry in the wintertime.  They had just a few nibbles from snails but that doesn't bother me ; you just cut around it. We don't spray our veges except with a liquid seaweed extract for a nutrient boost ,

it seems to work just fine .