Monkeying Around

So, the evenings are starting to draw in.  First of all it was slowly, slowly, but now each evening it is getting dark earlier.  Some of the trees have a fine colour, but there is still a lot more to come for which I am very glad as I'm going to a One of a Kind Show in Maynooth Ontario on Sunday October 20, and we are anticipating a fine colour show on the drive up. 

 

This picture is across our road.  It doesn't capture the reds in the maple as much as the oranges.

 

The flowers on my wheelbarrow were past any pretension of beauty, so when Farmer Francis came to the door carrying a pumpkin for me I was presumptuous enough to ask for an additional three (he had a poor crop this year, only 200 - next year he plans to beat the birds who got many seedlings and I am promised a white pumpkin).  Fortunately Farmer Francis (Murray to his friends) has a partiality for carrot cake, and I took full advantage of this by offering him a cake in exchange for the pumpkins. 

Looking at the face of Miss Bea(have) you wouldn't believe butter could melt in her mouth.  However, we have been have issues!  She has been refusing to eat her dinner of chicken, carrots and rice, preferring to hold out in the hopes of getting more treats.  She is now on a treat-restricted diet whereby she's not allowed any until she eats her dinner.  I don't count the Snausages I halve and throw for her at breakfast time as I include them as part of her exercise regime.

I have been invited to participate in the Holiday Mama Market on Saturday, November 23rd : 900am - 300pm and  Sunday, November 24th : 900am - 300pm, at 301 Macdonald Ave, Belleville.  You can see more information on my Hetty Jean facebook page if this is local for you and you wish to attend.  So, with the Holiday Mama Market in my mind I started to think of what might be suitable products for me to show, and I am very happy with what the design I came up with.

 

A Monkey Mobile.  I'm thrilled with it.  There are five monkeys in different poses.  Leaves in different hues of green create a jungle feel, and there is a bird perched on the canopy top.

 

I researched mobiles, and found that very often the objects on mobiles are oriented for adult enjoyment.  So I have tried to orient my monkeys so they are looking down and their heads are oriented for viewing from below rather than on a level.

Pete took me out for my birthday to a lovely east-coast style restaurant in Belleville, Kalays, where we had a scrumptious lunch.  I had a Blackened Shrimp Po-Boy with crisp sweet potato fries (these have to be kept on ice and then dipped into a thin tempura batter to create crispness when they are fried), it was totally scrummy.  Pete had halibut and chips - the best fish and chips he's had in a long time.  Pete doesn't eat desserts, so I ordered a sampler plate of cheesecakes and two forks.  There was a New York style with berry coulis, Chocolate and lastly Lemon and White chocolate.  The last was my favourite and Pete (who doesn't eat desserts but always eats half of mine when we go out) liked the chocolate.  A nice cup of coffee rounded off the meal.  I took my camera with me but didn't think to take photos of the food, however I did get Pete to take a photo of me, just in case anyone was wondering what I look like.

Oh for a proficiency in air-brushing!

 

Have a happy day!

 

 

So Excited

Ok, so having banged on yesterday about how the excitement has gone out of birthdays, today I have a WHOOP WHOOP  event to share.  Not a new dog, but a new shop. 

Yey, I've hung a shingle out on Etsy and listed my dragons, tiger, T-Rex, rabbits and rooster.  This is another brave new world, and I can't wait to see how it goes.  I wonder how long until I make a sale.  I'll let you know of course.

I'm one of those people who team songs to situations:

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it,

I'm about to loose control and I think I like it!

 

Now, being a woman of "a certain age", the loosing control reminds me of the joke: I laughed so hard, tears ran down my legs!

I was saying yesterday about how Bea sleeps around, well at this moment she's where she was yesterday.

Earlier today she was the other side of the cabinet; which contains the stereo, beside the sofa.

I think I told you that Bea was a rescue dog.  Here's a picture of her 4 years ago.

 

 



 

Poor baby looks so sad.  They had shaved her down to her skin which is very pink with black spots!  Even her tail had been shaved, and her poor paws were brown where she'd chewed and worried at them.

 

 

 

Who says dogs don't smile!

 

Well, 4pm and I still haven't picked up a needle today.  Time to get back to work.

 

Have a happy day!

New Dragon Softie

Wow, I can't believe its the end of August already.  School holidays finish here next Tuesday after our Labour Day holiday on Monday, and in England most schools return on Monday.  However, the end of the holidays does not mean the end of summer (even if they are selling fall chrysanthemums in the shops already!). 

The evenings are starting to get darker, but personally I love September.  I love when the air starts to become crisp especially after a period of humidity such as we are currently experiencing.  I love the smell of wood smoke.  After the ice storm we had on 12 April this year (that's Pete's birthday hence my ability to remember the date) we have a huge store of chopped wood, Pete's chainsaw had a real workout!  

September is also laden with birthdays in our family, my Dad, cousin, favourite aunt, nephew, and, oh yes, me!  Birthdays together with summer holidays always held a special tingly air, the thrilling anticipation of being on the threshold of something new and exciting.  Now there is no longer that youthful anticipation, no longer the question of whether it heralds the feeling of being different, of knowing that extra year has clicked past.  Instead there is the pleasure of new memories made, of new ideas imagined and projects to be commenced.

I received my best ever birthday present four years ago.  Bea, the Shih Tzu, has a strange habit of sleeping in corners.  She actually likes to sleep around generally, despite having  beds in most rooms in the house.  In this picture you can see that she has wedged herself between the wall and the cabinet.  Strange little thing!




I have not been idle, I have been working on a new dragon.  I love dragons and my latest softie is a lilac punk. 

I do hope you love her as much as I do.  I don't generally name my softies as I feel their new owners' should have that choice.  However, this lady to me is Lilabeth.  I will be setting up my own shop on Etsy shortly, and my dragons will be featured there.

Have a happy day!

Scene staging at home and craft fairs

There is a lovely shop in Madoc called Country Treasures.  At the beginning of the summer I bought a wooden wheelbarrow that Pat Shannon of Red Door Antiques and More had sourced (check out her page on facebook).  I had to have it.  Pete was very dubious, but once it was laden with plants even he admitted it looks great. 



 

 

 

I'm faced with the prospect of moving it from this space to about 8ft to the left.  Pete is ordering some gravel which we need to top up the driveway, and the spot that the wheelbarrow occupies at the bottom of the drive is the most logical space to have the gravel unloaded. 

 

Either side of the path to the house are two flowerbeds crammed with Jurassic sized hostas and day lillies.  Actually I should say there were two, the one closest to the house has been cleared, covered with weed suppressant and just needs gravel to finish it off.  Whilst it looked wonderful the flowers really took up too much of the walking space, so much so that you could barely see the paving slabs, and as I am capable of falling over an ant it wasn't terribly practical.  We have some low profile solar lights to bed into the gravel, and our wooden bench and two cast iron urns filled with begonias will then sit on the gravel.  Practical and pretty.  I'll show you a picture once its finished.

 

I bought another of Pat's finds the other day.  It is this cute little stool.

 

 
At 5'9" I don't need it to access the highest of high cupboards in the kitchen.  No, I think this stool is going to be absolutely perfect for staging on my Hetty Jean craft fair table.
 

 
T-Rex likes it, actually I think he's laughing!
 
Funnily enough when I got home I glanced at the collage of family pictures on the wall, and I was sitting on its twin (well not really, but it is similar).  My older sister Sarah is in the middle, and the blonde blur on the left is my younger sister Jane, who is still a person of perpetual motion. 
 

 

 
I have been doing some more stitching.  My softies are all hand sewn, and in the majority of cases I create my own pattern.  This time I wanted to make a "big" cat (all of 10 inches from nose to tail).  Pete thought it was a lion, but I had a different cat in mind.
 

 

 

 
So, I needle felted different colours of felt onto the blank canvas.  Then I worked on his face using embroidery floss to create his eyes and nose.  Then the stripes were embroidered on, and he went from the picture above to the gorgeous little guy below.   It took a lot of work but I'm really happy with the end result.

I love, love, love tigers.  I think they are the most superb creatures.  I took this little fella outside so he could lurk around in the jungle.

 

 

 
Bea was not prepared to let me outside on my own, but when I went to take her photo she refused to look at the camera.

 

 I must share Bea's happy dance with you.  So funny.

 

 

 
Have a happy day!

 

 

 

 

 

What is in a name?

As my blog and the new baby Prince were born on the same day, I got to thinking about names. 

When my sister was in labour with her first child "True Grit" was on the TV.  She and her husband debated calling the baby, if he were a boy, after John Wayne's character.  I was always a little disappointed that he has gone through his life with the name of Michael not Rooster.

My blog is named after my grandmothers.

On the left is my Nanny Johnson, Letitia, who was know as Hetty and Letty, also Het, Let and Johnnie.

On the right is my Nanny Gunning, Jean, whose actual Christian name was Jane.

 

So, in naming my blog I wanted to pay tribute to these two wonderful ladies who actually had the patience to try to teach my to knit, and let me create stitches with brightly coloured wool on dishcloths.

 

The beautiful lady on my Dad's arm is my Mum. She worked for Norman Hartnell, designer to the Queen (as opposed to William who played Doctor Who - I had to check because I always get them mixed up), and has been a talented seamstress, knitter and crafter.  She made porcelain dolls and embroidered and painted.  Sadly she has macular degeneration and is unable to craft any more,  but she still knits squares for blankets.  She is my inspiration.  Her name is Jean, so the name I chose seemed doubly significant.

 

I'd also like to introduce you to lovely Shih Tzu.  We got her from the OSPCA.  Her name was Scambles Bee, which apparently means little dog that looks like a mop - I have no idea what language.  Anyway, it seemed a bit of a mouthful to me, so she was renamed Bea, and she is a delight. 

 

She is sometimes referred to as the "6 thousand dollar dog".  Two and a half years ago she had to have back surgery, which thankfully was very successful, and that was the cost.  As she recovered it was necessary to cover her scar, the area around which had been shaved.  It was December after all.  So I started to re-work some little girl's sweaters I bought from the local thrift shops.

 

 

 

 

I do think she should have leather with this sweater.

 

We may be in Ontario, but it still rains here, it's not just sun and snow.

 

 



Well, she is named Bea after all.

 
"I'm ready for my close-up."

 

 

Have a happy day.