Little furry Rabbits

Hello everyone from a bright and sunny corner of Scotland! Here, in my little cottage, there are a few unfinished projects. A quilt, a box and a bird. Maybe next week will be show and tell with them!

This little fellow has been on hold for a while and I thought it was about time he saw light of day and tippy-toed to my Etsy shop.

Here is Fred in his smart hand knitted outfit. He has a little secret under his jumer. And here it is a little red heart.

Not to be missed out is his little brother Alfred. Not as large as Fred but just as cute!

The two ballerina sisters complete the group. Here they are in their fancy dancing costumes.

The have danced over to my Etsy shop 

This is a basket full of knitted rabbits and one stray monkey who wanted to be in on the act! Mickey Monkey, Gerald the Goth rabbit and pretty little Roberta ballerina rabbit havn't been listed yet. If interested please email me at addy top left hand corner.

Just a glimpse into what I have been upto this week. Part of a quilt, not going to spoil the suprise by showing it all to you as it's not quite finished. If all goes well tune in next week!

This weeks party links are;
Monday;
sewmanyways.blogspot
flamingotoes.
iheartnaptime.
handmadeharbour
Tuesday;
clever-chicks-blog-hop
sewingbarefoot.blogspot
thediydreamer.blogspot.
Wednesday;
lavendergardencottage
Thursday;
michellestastycreations
saturday;
 frommyfrontporchtoyours

A makeover for a cupboard.

Our next door neighbour was throwing away an unloved and old fashioned type of corner cupboard and asked if I wanted it......that would be a big YES! It was duly stored in the shed for a while.

Here it is in all its brown glory. It isn't solid wood but veneer. One of my daughters promptly put her initials on it for her house as I didn't really need it.

Trying to get a good photo of it was a toughie.

After having a scrub all over with liquid sandpaper  and then primed and then a few coats of cream Laura Ashley (left over from another project) it has turned out rather well I think. The birdie was made from linen and has the same material for its breast as the curtain, so it matches in nicely with the cupboard. The metal catches were changed for some wooden ones that we already had. Daughter was thrilled with it. I had a place mentally in my head, where I could have put it in the cottage if it was a reject!

Now she can throw all her stuff in the cupboard and nobody will see it. What wonders a lick of paint and some elbow grease can create.

This weeks linky parties are;
Monday;
handmadeharbour
sewmanyways.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.flamingotoes.com/
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/
thededicatedhouse.blogspot.co.uk
Tuesday;
sewingbarefoot.blogspot.
thediydreamer.blogspot.
Wednesday;
thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot
lavendergardencottage.blogspot.
Thursday;
michellestastycreations.

A new quilt, so photo overload and Vera's house.

Nice to see such a lot of people from overseas visiting my blog, so a big hello to you all.

You might like to see where Vera's last resting place might be. It's a little glass house that I found in Matalan a while ago. I am going to put some paper behind the back glass panel so it's not see through and no doubt she will get some comany over time.

Anyways, on to the quilt I have been making this week.
I really needed to make room in my stash cupboard as everything falls out when the door was opened and daughter wanted a quilt to put on her chair in her bedroom. So perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone!

                                 Here is the start. Just 'simple' squares.

Here it is underneath the sewing machine. I decided to have a go at machine stitching instead of hand as it was a smaller quilt than the others I made. To say it was a squash to get it all underneath was an understatement!

This is what it looked like before the quilting marathon began.

                                                       And after.....

                                                 Close up....

                                               

                                                 Back view.....which was a single sheet that I picked up in the charity shop. Isn't it a gorgeouuuus colour. The pink really pops out, also, I had a spare strip of patchwork from the front and so included it on the back.

                                      With an added label....

                                     

                                     With the other quilts all folded up.....
The stripey zebra binding was a piece of fabric that I found in another charity shop. The patchwork squares look like a stained glass window in real life. Nice and bright and cheery. Smaller quilt than the others I've made but it's not for the bed so that's OK. I don't know whether to quilt the sashing or not. Can I face squishing it under the machine again!!

Here is this weeks linky parties;
http://sewmanyways.blogspot.co.uk/
flamingotoes.com/
handmadeharbour
watchoutmartha

Primative Folkart Doll

 Timmy want's to thank everybody that left a comment for him. He has been blushing all week!

This week I have been messing around with paper clay. Another first for me, and this is what I'v made, a primative, folkart doll.

Vera started off with a soft body made from a piece of sheeting. After she was filled, I then started to cover her head with paper clay. She originally had soft arms but I stuffed them too hard and made a hole in them, so instead of carting the sewing maching out again, thought, lets go with the clay instead as it would be quicker, so rolled it out and made two new arms which I made a little hole in the tops and then they could be sewn onto her shoulders.

Here she is all finished. She has been gently sanded and then a paint mix added for her flesh (which I wanted to look sort of old) a bit of extra colour so she has nice rosy cheeks and then her hair painted along with her top knots. She is not very tall, measuring only 8".

Vera's dress has been decorated with pink and green french knots.

Her she is with Timmy, who is admiring her petticoat, shoes and pantaloons! All made out of re-cycled materials.

I need to sort out her eyes as she is looking a bit squint (or maybe she just needs a pair of glasses.....maybe she could borrow mine!) Strange, but in real life her eyes look OK!

This weeks linky parties are;
handmadeharbour
iamonly1woman
sewmanyways.
flamingotoes.
martha-mondays
finecraftguild
lavendergardencottage
thediydreamer.blogspot.
http://www.finecraftguild.com/party/

Little Timmy Mousie and Titch giveaway winner

The winner for Titch giveaway is.....craftymum. Have sent you an email. Well done!

I expect you are all on the edge of your seats wondering who was in the map box haha.
Well here he is trying to get out, you can just see his ear and little arm. He is a little shy.

Tah Dah.....Here he is, Timmy Mousie (named after the very first white mouse I had when I was about 13yrs)

A little felted mousie. Never done this sort of needlefelting before so I was winging it a bit. His arms are wire pushed through and then wool twirled around with a tiny bit of pink felt at the tips.

                                                    Bottoms Up!

His little tail is just a piece of ordinary felt as are his ears and feet. His eyes are little buttons, have you noticed he has got twitchy whiskers! I did go wrong with his mouth which you can't see (good job really!)

He is nice and soft. My dd nearly nicked off with him as she wants to give him a new home with her! I started on another project and the needle broke as they are a bit fragile, but boy, they are sooooo sharp.....how do I know that!

Here is his little suitcase that he fits neatly into.

 For the template I opened up one of those large matchboxes and traced around that onto an old atlas. (this particular part of the map is part of Scotland) Then folded it and glued the end bits. The straps are from an old 'leather' beanbag with painted buckles etc. (since this photo I have tidied up the white dots a bit more) Cut out some paper for the labels and stained with paint and wrote various countries and popped them on. If you notice one says Peru, well he is friends with Paddington Bear and as Timmy was on world tour, Paddington asked him to drop some marmalade sandwiches off to his relatives in Peru. As Timmy was passing that way he dutifully gave them a suitcase full of them! :0D

And here he is sitting on his suitcase just waiting to tell everybody all his travel adventures!

Just as an aside I made two boxes the same and for some reason they do fit inside each other, which you would think one would need to be slightly smaller. It might be cos it's paper and more flexible.

Somebody did comment they thought there was a compass inside and so I thought, wouldn't that be a cool present for an outdoory sort of person to have a compass with perhaps a magnifying glass or something boy scouty inside a box made from a map.

Here are this weeks linky parties:
iamonly1woman
handmadeharbour
sewmanyways
http://www.flamingotoes.com/
petitehermine.blogspot.
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/
sewchatty
watchoutmartha
thediydreamerlavendergardencottage.
finecraftguild