A Little Visitor

Babs and the rest of the gang were super excited today as one of their cousins from London was up visiting. Pippa (named so as she has super duper striped tights just like Pippa Longstockings!) is also a dancer.

As she is a first class dancer she bought herself a white net tutu which shows off her striped leotard and tights which she things are the bees knees. It matches the wrap around cardi and pink shoes and the little bow on her head.

                                                             Back view you can just see the bow on the back of her tutu.

Here Pippa is doing her Bunny Hop dance that she made up. ( I didn't have the heart to say that I see bunny's hopping in the farmer's field.....but they don't have stripey tights and a cute smile so I guess
she must be right :0D  )

Well, I havn't been knitting all week I have also been painting the house......a model of our little cottage tho not a full scale one! Made from some lumps of wood, slyly whisked from  HH's wood pile that he had cut for the wood stove.

 The smaller one is HH's beloved shed! The larger one is our little cottage which in real life is twice as long. HH would have us live in the shed and turn the house into a storage unit for wood,wires and whathaveyou's!
The little loft window is where our daughter lived for a little while before she went to live her own life.

It now resides on my small dresser with my other clobber. I think it is a good match for our cottage we even have a red door as you can see from the photo on the sidebar!  I don't know if you can see the little ariel on the roof next to the chimney.

The other house that I painted is where we used to live. It had a blue door and also has an ariel.

Now you can see why we had to downsize our furniture quite a lot. I now have my own 3D Quirky Houses!!
The windowsills are tiny splinters of wood.

 I have an idea that was inspired from an electric advert which I hope I can make soon. It does involve a lot of fiddling tho, so we shall have to see. ;0)

I have popped this post over on Wendy's Make it Monday post http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/

Going to the Ballet

Now Belinda has gone to her new home her sisters were just waiting in the wings to show you their dancing!

First up is Babs, she opted for a brighter pink bow to show off her ears and her ballet shoes.

Balancing on her toes to the music of 'Sleeping Rabbit' which is her favourite dance.

                                            Doing the splits....ouch rather you than me Babs!

  With one of her brothers and ballet partner Brendan (who would rather be doing breakdancing) You might have seen them in Dancing on Grass which was a sellout. It was in the meadow next to the farmers carrot field, so a great feast afterwards was had by all as there was carrot cake, carrot wine, fried/baked carrots with a hint of mint  and carrot chips.  It's a pity that you missed it all :0D

Next up is Alison one of Babs many, many sisters. Not to be outdone she also can do ballet/tap and any other dancing steps you care to mention.

She has a pink leotard, unlike Babs who opted for white. And she likes her wrap around top which matches her bows and shoes.

                                                          Showing off her pink heart

Brendan wanted a photo shoot by himself as being surrounded by his sisters (and brothers) is OK but sometimes he likes a bit of me time.  He has his cabled jumper and matching jumper and shoes.

                                                         Showing you his little heart.

Side view showing you the little red 'buttons' on his shoes which match his favourite scarf.

They are all going to go hopitty hop over to my Etsy shop, and hopefully they will be dancing in someone elses house very soon :0D

Just altered Bab's eyes slightly

Belinda Ballerina

Belinda Ballerina has now been preened and prepared and is going to dance over to my Etsy shop.

                                                  Sold

 Notice her ballet shoes have a nice big pink bow



Here she is doing one of her famous ballet dance, Rabbit Lake. She also says she can tap dance, but I think she does that at night when I'm asleep!

 A back view showing her 'secret' heart and pink leotard.

When Belinda dances she like to wear her special pink bow on her head. If there are any amateur dance directors out there Belinda would love to hear from you!

I forgot to say that Wendy is having the Monday make over on her blog http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/

Birds and Spring

The birds are tweeting merrily away outside. Usually they save such enthusiasm for spring, but, it's so mild up here in our part of Scotland that no wonder they are so happy!

And following on from that here is the birdies that I have been making. What I thought was going to be a quick make turned into a bit of a nightmare. The birds were easy to make and the pattern is from here http://www.spoolsewing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/birdpattern1-1.pdf but the cage was blooming hard.

 The Love birds have 2 babies and 3 eggs so they will be kept busy...haha. I have a geranium that has held on all over the winter and looks quite nice with the cage. In springtime wouldn't they look lovely sitting amidst loads of geraniums of all colours (they are one of my favourite flowers, but HH doesn't like them inside as he says they smell...so I say don't touch them then! As it's only when they are moved around they let of that smell) For some reason they don't grow very well in our garden so I put lots in the porch.

Anyway, here is the back view. The pattern doesn't have any wings so I added them and also a 'proper' beak.

                       Here they are hanging up. There is two hearts dangling down.

         There is a little cuckoo in the nest which has since been removed as I wasnt very keen on it. (the pink one)

So this is what I've been upto this week. I went from my original plan..... to undoing the whole thing, then making another, then re-thinking again, fiddling around, messing around and trying it with one bird, but she looked so sad and lonely by hereself so she had to have her husband in on the photo shoot! Which also meant more fiddling around to make room for him. So here they are cuddled up together. Mr and Mrs LuvDuv.

There is another smaller, brighter one in the pipeline. I wonder if that will go to plan or bottoms up!!
Also am doing something with wood, pinched from HH wood pile that he lovingly cuts for the stove. But now I'm off for a cuppa and to recuperate. So see you soon.....I hope

What am I?

Here is a peek at something that I'm working on. No, it's nothing to do with chickens/hens/easter.
I hope that it will turn out OK and have something to show you in a few days. (or it might go the same way as the daff picture!)

It's the 52nd week of Wendy's Make it Monday and her blog is here http://1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/ please pop over and take a look at all the crafty bloggers.

Daffs

 

I needed a bright picture to liven up a dark spot.   Daffs are coming into the shops and some people way down south have them growing in their gardens and they are such cheery flowers and come in all sorts of variety's. The top picture shows the beginings....OK so far! The backing is calico, flowers are felt and the vase is blue cotton.

Flowers on, jug sewn, backing backed. The flowers looks as tho they are already pulling the material but they arn't.

But now it all goes wrong :0( When I started to add the stalks, which were machined stitched up and down 4 times and the leaves which are appliqued on..... THEN....it all went puckered. I think maybe the problem was the thinness of the backing. Talk about being annoyed with myself, and it took longer to make than I planned!

You can't really see all the puckering in the photo, but it's there! It is hanging on the wall and if you stand away from it, it's not so bad. I have a matching picture frame and I was going to do some tulips for the other one...but might re-think it all!

Well, now onto the next project which I hope goes to plan :0D

A Basket of Bunnies +

Up here in my corner of Scotland the weather is still pretending it should be spring! Although there is a chilly wind and you wouldn't want to sit out there lol.

I had a bag of tulip bulbs that were sprouting (bought many months ago) and cos they were in the porch had started with a dusty mould on them. As they weren't squishy or anything I decided they could do 1) grow or 2) not grow! Now I don't know about you but putting my hands in cold, soggy soil is like dragging chalk across a blackboard and it squeaking....double shudder. But the bulbs needed to be planted before I had my own fungus farm, so with gritted teeth I got my trowel and put my gloves on. These would protect me from claggy soil (another shudder) I thought, but, have you ever tried putting in bulbs with thick, clumsy gloves on....well you can't. So in the end had to gingerly push said bulb into the hole, well they all got planted and then I rushed in to plunge my hands into hot water.....ohh the relief! If the little blighters don't come up I will dig them up and do a dance on them!!

Anyway, on the inside of my little cottage I've taken some pictures of a bunch of bunnies + 1. Who is the + 1 well it's a little monkey.....he's supposed to be a monkey, HH thought it was a bear and s-i-law half glanced up and said a hippo. (but what does he know, as you may remember, he's the one that sits on brand new cushions!) I thought he looked rather sweet so included him in the photo shoot as he would have felt left out and we can't be having pouty faces all day, now can we?

And here is Babs the Ballerina doing a ballet thingy with one leg! She has her admiring audience.

                                     Her little heart is sewn onto her leotard underneath her ballet skirt.

Well must get on, so cheery pip.

Frederick Bunny

Thanks tohttp://mcrafts-theblog.blogspot.com/I can see why I havn't been able to leave comments. So a BIG thank you for that.


Frederick Bunny has been popped over to my Etsy shop.

As he is knitted in fluffy wool he thinks he is a posh angora rabbit!

With his secret little heart. He is a bigger than the other rabbits that I've made. but every bit as cuddly!

This 'Quirky' cushion cover has been made with calico and cotton.

                                                  Close up of the little houses.

Also thanks to Wendy at  www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/who hosts a  blog forum every Monday where you can upload your blog onto her site and then have a nose at everybody else's craft work.

apologies

I am still having trouble commenting on some peoples blogs. Really sorry about this, I have tried numerous times to do so. Will keep trying, as I know how much comments mean to the recipient.

Alfred Rabbit

What a funny old winter we are having. Even up here at the top of mainland Scotland our tulip bulbs are making an appearance which is most unusual as we don't see them until everybody else's in Britain are dead and buried! (well that's an exaggeration I know but ours seem to be the last!) I just hope we don't suddenly get buried in snow like last year. Even the birds are calling at some unearthly hour in pitch darkness. Don't they know that spring chorus has to wait till spring!

Here is one of Samuel Rabbit's brothers (of which he has a lot as they are rabbits you know!) I've called him Albert as I like the old fashioned names.

He wanted a red jumper as it's nice and cheery and matches his blue trousers and shoes.

Here is his back view...he looks as tho he's just going to do a dance! Well he is a happy little chappie.

He also has a suprise under his jumper...a little heart. I think I will put them on all the bunnies as it adds a little something to them....and if they are presents what could be nicer. He is knitted with aran yarn which is 25% wool and measures approx 9" tall.

Just reading a book called 'Meet me at the Cupcake Cafe' showed the title to Head Honcho and he said cupcakes arn't big enough. So we came up with a new name for men.....Mug Muffins....bigger and last longer than a cupcake!! What's he like lol.

Forgot to add, I am having trouble leaving comments on others blogs. I havn't the foggiest why not it. The verification code is either not there or half there and so not able to press enter cos that's gone as well :0(
So I'm really sorry that I seem to be amiss but will see if I can get someone more techie than me to have a look.

Furry Bunny Rabbit

On one of my forays into the shops I saw some furry wool which was a very good price so it would have been rude not to have bought it! I had in mind a rabbit. I used the wool double throughout, and, although it was very difficult to work with (I also used small needles) I think he came out kind of cute. Sammy has an aran cable  jumper and a swanky pair of trousers and a pair of dinky shoes.

                                                                       Sold

                                                         He also has a hidden secret under his jumper!

                                                                     A little heart!
Sammy measures approx 9 and half inches from ear top to toe. He has a number of sisters and brothers who need photographing some time.

I have popped him onto handmade monday. www.1stuniquegifts.co.ukwww. which has bloggers entries and you can have a jolly good browse and see what people are making and getting inspiration.

Quirky village commission

Here is a photo of a 'Quirky' village commission that I was asked to do by a lovely lady. She sent me some photos of her area so that I could get an overall picture, then designed it as her quirky village. There was a lot of machine stitching and painting involved, with some hand embroidery. The chimney brush coming out of the chimney is to remind her of her new fireplace! I received a lovely email to say she had got it and she was delighted with it.

 As she had a castle, pier, boats, bird island and lighthouse nearby they were all included.

                                                 Close up of the swans and island.
 
I will have to do one for myself.....eventually! In the meantime I'm making another quirky cushion cover and some more bunny rabbits. Will post next week sometime.

.........updated version of the 'Quirky' Toadstool House......now you didn't think I could leave it with a funny roof did ya! So with a bit of tweaking the new updated version

Instead of tucking the roof in it looks much better with an overlap.

                                                                 Back view.

I designed it so that it has become a fitted lid.....I can now store my sweeties in their without Head Honcho knowing there is a secret stash!!

So if you have a small baked bean tin (or similair) don't throw it away, make a pin cushion!!
(I have to say it does look really bright and cheerful in real life and is functional as well as cute)

toadstool house

I was going to put this little tin, which originally held baked beans, into the recycle bin. But the shiny surface caught my eye and I thought, hmmm I can re-cycle it myself.

 As I needed a bigger pin cushion and I had some red spotty felt sent to me I thought put the two together and you have a toadstool (sort of!)


The photos are a bit rubbish I'm afraid so maybe if  you squint it wont be so fuzzy :OP I did put a cimney on but took it off as it looks a bit naff.

                                                       Nice red front door                                          

Gorgeous red and pink hollyhocks growing in the garden. I had some in my garden last year as well!

Just need to sew the backs together and the cafe is open. The cream teas are on me! A view of the window with a window box filled with french knot flowers.

                                                       Orange hollyhocks and house sign.

                                                                   Without the chimney pot
                                                   

                                                  Back view with apple tree and little bird

I did start out making it with a dark green background but it didn't match with the red so well and was a bit to dark.
I think that I could have done better with the roof....but I'm going to be scooting off to the next project!