Tidbits : Gardening

The beans in my garden are growing explosively, so I have been picking beans and peas the whole day. And then cleaning them in the kitchen. Peggy was sitting next to me and ate all the peas that sprang away.

Never had so much harvest !

Button Wednesday : Button Suit

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here via Mister Linky at the end of this post.


I got a message from Ulli (Leocardia) giving me a link (via Accidental Mysteries) to a page with a gorgeous button suit. It's a suit made around 1930 - 1940 by Ruby Ann Kittner from Clinton in Iowa. The suit was made for her husband Jake and is 66" or 168 cm large. It's for sale at Harvey Pranian, an art and antique dealer in Illinois who, among others, specializes in American Folk Art.
I think Ruby Ann did an excellent job !


!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

Last week the European Street Team challenge was about castles, and I was very much impressed by the first entry of zsazsazsu1963. It was inspired by the Dutch millstone collars (molensteenkragen in Dutch) from the 17th century, and I love historic costumes. So, I looked for more "molensteenkragen".
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Molensteenkraag, 2. halssieraad; " WITTE MOLENSTEENKRAAG" neckpiece; "WHITE MILLSTONE COLLAR", 3. white ruffled neckpiece, 4. GOLDEN AGE ME

And here the beautiful challenge collar from zsazsazsu1963 .....

Tidbits : Monday Moodboard

Hubby just left for a business trip to Spanish Madrid; I am a bit jealous ....

For more monday moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

1. dicopebisuteria
2. sexyhandmade
3. Olele
4. starrybluesky

Tidbits : Garden and Brooding 3

A short update about the garden and the broody birds in it.
The swallow babies have grown enormously; we have the suspicion that they still stay near the nest at night. And we think that the parents prepare a second brood....


When we sat in our pavillion, we got a funny tiny visitor who was not afraid of us at all; she is called a goldcrest.

And the garden is finally attracting some butterflies; we have this year much less butterflies than last year.

And finally something that's not everyone's taste, a burying beetle (a cousin of the Egyptian scarabea); the burying beetle buries dead mice into the soil and lays its eggs on them, so that its kids have a nice welcome in this world.

Button Wednesday : Whistles

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here via Mister Linky at the end of this post.


I have two small buttons in my collection that looked very strange to me at first. They have 2 holes on one side (so nothing special there), but only one hole on the other side ! The two holes are not through and through; there is a cavern between the front and back side. A little research let to the following: the "whistle" button is defined as a button that has one hole on top, and two or more on the bottom. This type of button was designed because people thought that by protecting the thread, and keeping it away from the top of the button, it would be more likely to stay on longer. The name "whistle" comes from the notion that one could blow into one of the holes and make a whistling noise, like blowing into a soda bottle.

Here an article from Cecile T. Kohrs about the most amazing whistles, with lots of lovely pictures. And here the most lovely China whistles I have ever seen.


!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

Today I picked the first green beans in my garden, so we have a bean salat for dinner tonight. Pretty proud of my own bean crop....
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Plush Lima Bean Rattle, 2. Italian Beans, 3. Minnow Knits "Green Bean" baby sweater and hat, 4. soybean

And the real thing .....

Tidbits : Monday Moodboard

I picked so many berries in the last day that I almost became a berry myself :) Reds, whites and blacks; we drink every day lots of berry-smoothies, eat lots of berry-ice and think of berries a lot ....

For more monday moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

1. Smika
2. fleurfatale
3. stellakim
4. XauXau

Here some of the berries, and the delicious ice hubby made from it !

Tidbits : A Sunny Schlei

Here some pictures of the sunny Schlei fjord yesterday and today taken from our boat. First the inland direction (direction Schleswig), with the railway bridge at Lindaunis open on the first picture.


Then two pictures in the other direction (the direction of Kappeln and the Baltic Sea).


And the last two; going back home with the boat again, with the Schlei bridge in Kappeln behind my hubby (with one of my caps...) and all the seagulls sitting along the coast.

Button Wednesday : Text on Plastics

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog !!!!


After the metal text buttons from last week's BUTTON WEDNESDAY, I show you now aome plastic buttons with texts. Again, I have buttons with brand names, buttons with funny texts, buttons only "For Gentleman", buttons with old fashioned German texts (like "Solide Elegant"), jeans buttons, buttons with unreadable texts, buttons with only texts at the back, etc. etc. .....

Here some of the nicest :) The black ones were extremely difficult to photograph....

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

The day started not so good; when I put Peggy outside she immediately grasped the first blackbird chicken that flew out. It was my fault of course, I expected the birds to fly out over 2 or 3 days, and not so soon. So, I scolded her and she had to go inside, and she is not allowed at the back of the house anymore. The other three chickens are doing fine ....
Then Peggy tried to be nice and walking around my feet, looking with those big brown eyes up to me (because I scolded her); so how do I deal with that ??? Maybe the flickr favourites can help...
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. teckel_klein, 2. Oh puppies!, 3. dachshunds, 4. BIRTHDAY DACHSHUND COOKIES

Tidbits : Monday Moodboard

This Monday I feel in the mood for earrings; one of my great "passions".
Now, which ones shall I buy ? I think I deserve a treat after my OP :)

For more monday moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

1. meltemsem
2. PetitPlat
3. recyclejewels
4. QuercusSilver

Tidbits : Pincushion

A short while ago, I had to throw away my pincushion because it was falling apart. And life without a pincushion is unbearable for a seamstress. So, what else to do than make one myself or even better.... buy one at swiedebie at Etsy. She makes the most lovely felt pincushions you have ever seen. I fell in love with her sushi. She made it into a bracelet for me, and now I look like a real profi (that's what my neighboor friend said).

Tidbits : Garden and Brooding 2

A short update about the garden and the broody birds in it.
The swallow babies are starting to fly out, and they survived all four up till now (had a good talk with Peggy....).

The black bird babies have opened their eyes and start to get feathers. Mum and dad are still going strong with the feeding.

The climbing rose is now at his top, and I assume there is a nest of song-thrushes in it because they fly and go in it.

Button Wednesday : Text on Metals

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here via Mister Linky at the end of this post.


I have quite some metal buttons in my collection, most of them not in the best condition, but if they have text I certainly keep them in. They are all very ordinary buttons, nothing special, but I love it when I see texts on buttons. I have buttons with brand names, buttons with text including the word "Paris", buttons only "For Gentleman", buttons with funny old fashioned German texts (like Deutsche Arbeit, Solide Neuheit, etc.), army buttons, jeans buttons, buttons with unreadable texts, buttons with only texts at the back, etc. etc. .....

Here some of the nicest; I hope you can read them. It is difficult to take decent pics from shiny metal buttons :)

And some military buttons at the end:



!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

The Flickr favourites today are about one of my favourite quotes from Albert Einstein: The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
For more "favourite quote" flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Albert Einstein quote button set, 2. shrine to the wisdom of the cosmos, 3. THE GENIUS IN ME, 4. Quote from Einstein

Tidbits : Monday Moodboard

We are surrounded by brooding birds; so what else could I do than to make a birdie mood today.

For more monday moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

1. RenatheSchneider
2. yourdoll
3. BlueTerracotta
4. handebilten

And here are the real things. We have a brood of swallows in our pavilion and a brood of blackbirds in the kiwi. Now, I have to keep Peggy away when they start learning to fly....

Tidbits : My Bee Hotel

Estella ftom Star of the East made a lovely blog post about the bee hotels from Wudwerx; so, I thought I will show you mine. My husband placed it in our garden the day before I went to hospital and today we have already six bee guests, and some more in the make. Isn't that lovely ?

And some quick pics of my garden (pics taken in the evening while the light better was as during the day):