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!

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!

 

 

 

 

 

Touring Prince Edward County and new Felt Softies

We had a lovely day yesterday.  We went with Cousin Suzanne and her daughter Madeline to "The County": Prince Edward County in Ontario.  It is a gorgeous area just south of Belleville.  Sandbanks Provincial Park  has two of the finest bay mouth sandbar and coastal sand dune systems in the province.  You can see that in the summer months it is an ideal place for people to visit.  But we were not heading for the beach, rather we chose to explore two of the lovely settlements on The County.

We had a lovely lunch at the Lake on the Mountain Inn just to the east of Picton.  The location requires a visual double take because it defies all know geographical and geological theory.  The Lake literally sits 62 metres above the Bay of Quinte. 

Here is a view of the Lake.

We have seen some very nice, but very expensive black and white photos of local scenes which have been transferred onto A3 size canvases, so I thought I'd try being 'artistic' and turned a couple of shots into sepia tones. 

 

 

This is a picture taken of the opposite view, down onto the Bay of Quinte which may give you a sense of perspective.

We had a pleasant stroll window shopping in Picton thence on to Bloomfield.  A-ha you may be saying, that sounds familiar!  Indeed dear reader it is the village I went to in July for an Artists' Showcase and craft fairs.  

Call me biased, but I particularly like Bloomfield, it is very attractive.  The shopping on the main street is geared towards tourists with various artistic gift and antique shops.  There is also an ice-cream shop offering ice creams which are freshly made using real ingredients.

Decisions, decisions.  Suzanne chose the butterscotch which was lovely.

Maddy chose Campfire.  It tasted of toasted marshmallows or smoke.  Personally I thought it disgusting, but Maddy and several other youngsters who exited the shop whilst we sat enjoying our ice creams disagreed with me.

My choice next.  Rhubarb and ginger.  It was lovely, a real taste of rhubarb and chunks of crystallised ginger.  Yum yum - definitely the right choice.

You'll notice Pete was the only one to choose a cone!  His choice of strawberry and banana was, for him, quite a leap of faith as he usually only ever chooses straight strawberry.  He thoroughly enjoyed it.

Despite all this frolicking around, I have managed to finish two new felt softies.  Firstly a rooster.

I must say I'm very happy with him.  Don't you love his tail!

My second new softie is a new T-Rex.  The first one was purchased for a lucky little boy's Christmas present.

 Isn't he great!

Have a happy day!

I'd like to introduce my latest felt softie creation: Tyrone the T-Rex.

 

Isn't he cute!

 

I love his teeth, they are a pale green colour.  I had to tweak him a couple of times to make him stand erect and to make sure his handsome features looked right, I'm really pleased with how he has turned out.

 

It is my intention to set up a shop on Etsy, but until that is established, if anyone is interested in Tyrone or any of my other creations please let me know. 

 

A friend has asked me to make a Siamese cat for her so that is my next project.

 

When I sit and stitch I listen to audio books, how's that for multi-tasking?  I have decided that I should really add some classics into my listening list.  Don't get me wrong I can't quote The Illiad or Chekov, but as a captive audience it seems appropriate to expand beyond romantic suspense, mystery and historical genres.  So, I've just  finished Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.  One thing I found particularly interesting is that his audience had to wait 19 months to finish the book as it was published in parts.  Our modern society with it's need for instant gratification would find this incomprehensible.

 

The book is enjoyable to listen to, however I could not accept the docility with which Bella accepted that her husband and friends had perpetuated a myth because they felt she was spoilt.

 

 I love words and am fascinated by their derivation.   Last night we were watching a documentary about Althorp, the home of the Spencer family (English aristocracy).  In the old hall Earl Spencer pointed out the sculpted heads amongst the ceiling beams.  He said that it was because of them that the term "eavesdropper" came into being, as it was felt that they could overhear conversation perched in the eaves as they are.

 

Well my friends, have a happy day!