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

Little monkey giveaway and what's in the box?

As promised here is my giveaway to all that just comment (and have an email address where I can get in touch with in case you're a winner) So, no jumping through hoops/being a follower etc. I will post to most places in the world so it's not limited to the UK. Hop aboard, you never know, you might be the one that wins Little Titch.

Titch has been made with some teeny, tiny baby socks. He has felt eyes, cute little smile and with his beanie hat with a little red heart, he's all ready to come and live with you.
I will put all names in a hat and Head Honcho will pick one out next Sunday.

I thought I would add some extra photos of Titch so it will show up his size a bit better.....

                           Sitting next to a cork from a bottle of fizz (unfortunately not champagne but delicious all the same)

And here he is sitting on the atlas box and keeping whoever is lurking in there firmly under wraps :0D The little boquet of 'flowers' are made from teeny buttons.


And who is in this little box?

Tis a small little box made from an old atlas book.
I will show and tell next week :0D
One clue, I've never made one before!

This week link parties;
iamonly1woman
handmadeharbour
sewmanyways.blogspot
niftythriftythings
sewcando
thegirlcreative
creatingreallyawesomefreethings
lavendergardencottage.
thediydreamer.blogspot
craftionary.

Pull up a chair and sit down! Mini Sampler finished.

Have a seat while I ramble on about the mini sampler!

The mini sampler was finished a bit quicker than anticipated. Some squares were a lot easier to do than others.

                                    
                                            and here are the close ups.....

from left to right:
a pile of books, hopefully kindle will never take over from the real thing!

 My fountain is still stalemate, but one day eh.

I used to have a black handbag with jewels on back in the 60's. Should have kept it as it would be very retro.

A little pair of mittens to remind me of all those that were knitted and lost over the years.

 Little stitchy sampler.

Pair of high heels to match the bag. (Unfortunately I can't wear heels :0( but I do like them)

A bowl of apples....gotta keep healthy!

Love getting real letters as well as emails.

Fancy flowers.

All the hats I used to knit over the years to match the mittens.

All the knitting of little jumpers when the kids were wee bairns.

Got to include a monkey....yay

bottom row:
Sewing thread without which this sampler wouldn't have been made.
Large chocolate cake on fancy tablecloth. Got to keep our strength up.
Signed and sealed!

Top row;
A nice pot of hot tea goes down a treat with a piece of cake.
I don't have a cat, but this one is cute!
The hollyhocks.

From left to right
Top row;
A Scottie dog (I don;t have a dog either but you can't a cat and leave out a dog now can you!)

Daisy the caravan, with a fancy door.

Watering can (although we use a hose pipe, but this little can looks cuter)
A quote which I quite agree with :0D
An exotic birdie. Would be pretty cool if they came like this.
Gingerbread men that I used to make with the children.....oh the memories.

This section was posted last week.

The lighthouse is because I like them and HH has made a few for me for one thing or another.
The top of the hollyhocks, they go through 2 of the squares.

So there you have it all done and dusted. Except I think I will have to take the wheel of Daisy and embroider one instead as it wont fit behind glass. Also the label of my swanky pink garden shoes fell of so I'm thinking of fixing it on the veg patch. It says 'garden, just grow it' so seems appropriate.

So now it will be going to the framers for a suitable frame.

(In case you want to know the little chair has a beer bottle back and the wire thingy that stops fizzy wine shooting out)

And next week I will be having a giveaway so tune in for that.

Here are this weeks linky parties;
handmadeharbour
http://www.flamingotoes.com/
iamonly1woman
sewmanyways.blogspot
sweetlittlegals
linda-coastalcharm
chef-in-training
thediydreamer.blogspot
lavendergardencottage
michellestastycreations
craftionary
jannolson.blogspot

Cross Stitch Cats. Update on mini sampler. I've won a giveaway.

Hello everyone from a very windy tip of Scotland, although the sun is shining it sort of takes the edge of it when you get your hair all messed up in a gale :0D

This cross stitch was mostly done in the hotel in the evening when I was on holiday last month, so it just needed finishing off. This is a gift for my daughter who has two cats, one stripey ginger and the other grey and white so this little picture fitted the bill just purrrfectly (get it!) It's a design by Maragaret Sherry. She does the cutest animals. I think you name an animal and she's done a x-stitch of it.
                               
                                                Before the back stitch

                                        Now doesn't the back stitching make a difference!

and, no, they arn't best mates in real life, they tolorate each other....just! Cute eh.

I won a giveaway earlier on this week from with-u-in-mind. Wow, the suprises just kept falling out of the envelope.

It's hard to see just how many goodies were actually in the packet.....there were lots and already I have used a couple of things. Isn't that one-eyed monster super cute. My g.daughter is going to love him. Lots of beading accessories and what I thought were sweeties are actually charm/beads. So my other g.daughter is going to have fun with me accessorising them. Thank you again kat these will keep me going for a wee while! Pop over to her blog and see what she's upto.

As I've reached 200 followers and it's 2 years since I started blogging I thought I would host a giveaway, so watch this space.

This is an update of the mini-mini sampler that I've been stitching on and off this week. (If you click on the photo it should come up bigger)

Square 1; Quirky house
Square 2; the veg patch. Caulis, carrots, cabbage and onions.
Square 3; My pink animal spot wellies which is my normal wear in the garden.
Square 4; Where would I be without a cuppa, served in a china teacup of course!
Square 5; I love topairy so these two would be by my front door.
Square 6; not completed
Square 7; Washing line of kids clothes
Square 8; I can never refuse cake!
Square 9; I love this sentiment
Square 10; Bunting, for no reason but because I like it.
Square 11; Wanted to do a heart so googled for some images and this is my take on one such image. Sort of folksy I think.
Square 12; Hollyhocks. Love them. They also feature a lot in the old fashioned embroideries with crinoline ladies which I'm rather fond of.

Gosh, when you write it down it sounds loads. Even tho it seems quite a simple design they take ages to do as they are so small. I'm enjoying the process tho. (I have done a couple more of the squares but you will have to wait till next week to see what they are :0P )

I will be adding to these linky parties over the coming week, so stick around and find some more super blogs.
handmadeharbour
homemakeronadime
flamingotoes
iamonly1woman
sewmanyways
thediydreamer
finecraftguild
.handymancraftywoman
michellestastycreations

Mojo injection! Update on fountain.

A huge thank you to littlebluemouse for showing me how to put the title in the correct place! I was getting so frustrated trying to find out how to do it and it's something so simple as looking at the top of the post while writing, and, there it is!! So thanks again littlebluemouse and I'm sure she would like you to pop over and take a look at her blog.

I've had a bit of a mojo injection after losing it last week.....there it was just peeking out at me hiding in the weeds!

While I was browsing on Pinterest I have seen a couple of mini-mini samplers. I think that the one's I saw were about 1" square, but that's a tad to tiny for me with my eyesight so I'm doing mine 2" square (approx) The running stitch is with varigated red through to pink thread which stops having to keep changing colours. In the boxes you can put whatever takes your fancy. Of course my first box is a 'quirky' house!

I am going to put some things that having meaning to me and others just because I can! Also I might do some little embroidery samplers within the square.

The washing line represents all the childrens clothes I've washed over the years! The banners are in the 3rd box are....just because! As they are little pictures by themselves I thought that a square a day would be easily achievable. (here's hoping anyway)

The next thing I was having a go at is this...

We have a few very tatty coasters. So one of them has had a few coats of acrylic paint and then I'm going to............haha that's a secret :0P.......if it turns out OK then you will see, rotten arn't I!

For anyone who might have a smidgen of interest in the fountain fiasco, here it is this week....

Not much further on, but it has moved from point A to point B. haha. I wish I could just get on with it myself but I would need to eat a heck of a lot of spinach to get some muscles like Popeye to shift all those boulders etc. So looks like it's going to be one of those jobs that goes on and on and before you know it's winter time. The solar fountain probably wont work by then, although we have only had one day of brilliant sunshine this week, so maybe I am being over optimistic anyway!


Cheerio for another week and here are the linky parties;
http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.homemakeronadime.com/
http://www.flamingotoes.com/
http://sewmanyways.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/sew-darn-crafty-linking-partyweek-77.html
http://iamonly1woman.blogspot.com.ar/
http://thediydreamer.blogspot.ca/2012/08/from-dream-to-reality-linky-party-28.html
http://www.primpjunktion.com/
http://www.finecraftguild.com/party/
http://www.michellestastycreations.blogspot.co.uk/
 http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/summer-holiday.html
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.co.uk/