Here Here!

Just a quick post to let you know I'm still 'here'. But the reason I haven't been 'here' is because I've been over 'here'! 

Every spare minute has been used to sew, stuff and knit. Who'd have thought that sitting behind a craft stall for six hours listening to Vera Lynn and eating a hand crafted sausage roll would be so exhausting!

Good job I had company.

Back 'here' properly soon.

Jane

xxx

A Perfect Ham?

Thank you so much for all of the lovely thoughts and comments on my last post. They were quite overwhelming.

You are all wonderful.

Things have been ticking by slowly over here - lot's of other 'stuff' going on that seems to get in the way of the normal running of things. At times like these my oasis is in a bit of making. Well aware that I have a craft fair coming up next weekend I thought it was about time I dressed the bunnies.

 I happily sat at my old desk and cut, pinned and stitched. Soon enough two little dresses appeared and - to my amazement  - actually fitted.

 But there was a nagging problem. How on earth do you press a seam on a garment that small?

 I stared at it and pondered. I pondered some more. My eyes drifted towards Mr 'Bunny Gone Wrong'.

 An early practice bunny that nobody would want but I haven't had the heart to throw away. Then my mind cogs started whirring in that very disconcerting manner that means I have a)become a genius or b)finally cracked. 

Mr BGW stared back.

Something happened. 

A light bulb moment.

Then this.

A perfect 'ham'!

It's just what Mr BGW 's been waiting for!

The dresses still aren't quite finished - now it's time for the hand stitching and pretty bits but they're well on the way. Yes bunnies - you SHALL go to the ball!

(And the moral of this story is never throw an old misshapen bunny in the bin if you are going to need to press tiny dresses!)

Jane

xxx

P.S. Just a reminder that if you still want to join our happy little band at Shugborough on the 30th get in touch and I'll send you the details!

A 'Stern Word'!

So there I was sitting in the sunshine wondering what I really should be doing with my day when I heard a bit of huffing and puffing. Looking down I could see little glove mouse making his way through the forget me nots.

 He wasn't humming his usual happy tune. In fact on closer inspection he was looking a bit cross.

After waxing lyrical about the wonderful sunny weather and enquiring as to whether he had yet spotted the new baby blackbird, I realised that he hadn't come to pass niceties.

He wanted to have a 'stern word'.

He reminded me that it had been some time since I had promised that I would give his new chums some faces.

 Much as he liked Miss Mildred and Springtime Bunny they were spending more and more time in the school room and didn't want to listen to his mousey musings. Much as he had tried conversing with new chums he pointed out the the conversations were unsurprisingly one sided. He wanted to know what I was going to do about it and, more importantly, when? 

I assured him that I hadn't been completely shirking as I had been busy stitching a zip in my skirt for Daisy's sewalong.

He was suitably unimpressed.

There was no excuse he argued and so, with the promise of some mousey help, I set to.

He fetched the needle, thread and scissors.

He helped me thread the needle using my big middle aged magnifier.

He got quite excited when he saw the first eye appear 

(but then panicked when he saw what I was doing to the nose!)

Fears allayed, he watched with wonder as two little bunny faces appeared.

And before I knew it they'd ran off to the material basket to select some suitable fabric for little bunny clothes.

Sometimes a 'stern word' is all we need to get something done!

I'd like to remind any of you who don't already know that we'll be having a little bloggy get together soon. From the responses so far I think Shugborough is going to be the place to meet, and it will be some time during the Spring break. Currently I'm looking at Friday 30th May, but it's always easy for me to forget that not everybody has the same holidays as teachers, so if the Saturday suits better please let me know. There's quite a happy little gang of us so far, so please let me know if you'd like to join us - it should be fun! I'll post final details on Sunday evening.

Meanwhile I'll leave you with a picture of the cheeky little trio having fun with some currant leaves!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend wherever you are.

Jane

xxx

Half Baked Bunnies.

Thank you so much for all of your birthday and get well wishes. Today is the first time I haven't actually had to take any painkillers or wander around attached to a box of tissues so they obviously worked. April has been here for a while now too so I thought I'd better update my calendar photo.

I love the colours in this one - very Scandi/Grimms fairy tale - Grandi?Scrimms?

It's been a strange old time making wise. One of those 'lots of ideas and busy minds but not quite enough energy to put into practice' phases that I hit now and then. Not the least bit helped by the Great British Sewing Bee. Oh how I've loved snuggling down at 8pm each Tuesday to watch others do all the hard work! (Surprised at the winner though but that last dress was a real show stopper!)

Big Sis is back from university for a couple of weeks as well and, despite my requests for her to sleep in the garden shed, has insisted on sleeping in her own bed - in my craft room - the injustice! Still, I've managed the odd spurt. My little basket is filling itself with bunnies.

 Sadly none of them are yet complete - they are in fact 'half baked'. Each time I think about getting on and adding the details I get sidetracked. Glove mouse is very excited by their arrival and is anticipating all the nice chats he'll be able to have once they actually have faces! I did, however, finish a couple of little crochet pincushions and had great fun making up the patterns and adding the beads.

But the highlight of my week was getting my McCalls pattern through the post. For those of you who haven't caught up yet Lazy Daisy Jones is hosting a sewalong for a fab little a-line skirt (hit the button on the sidebar to take a peek!)

I must admit I would have completely overlooked this pattern if I had been browsing through the catalogue. However having seen the results of Daisy and Jacquie's sewing I knew I had to have a go. The best thing about it so far is the fact that it has only involved cutting out four pattern pieces ( I really dislike cutting out) - a breeze! 

So here they all are, ready for the next steps. 

All it requires now is for me to get up off my overused derrière (ooh madam) and get on with it.

 Poor old glove mouse is going to have to wait a little longer for his friendly chats.

Hope you are all having a warm and wonderful weekend - and if not I've saved up some of your well wishes and am sending them your way.

Jane

xxx

A Winner!

Well now there are two things here. Number one is I am amazed at how few odd socks there are out there - am I the only one who has at least fifty in a bag under the bed (oh dear - maybe I've said too much)? And number two is that there has been one very excited raccoon around these parts over the last few days. Ronnie has been carefully reading each and every comment and imagining life in all far flung corners of the globe. He was beside himself when the clock struck six this evening. We had to have a few words and calm him down with his beloved pineapple.

Sadly his lack of digits made it impossible to select a piece of paper himself, so he enlisted the help of Little Sis.

And the winner is ......

Well done Jacqui! If you could email me with contact details I'll get Ronnie packed and off on his travels before the week is out!

Thanks to all of you who left a comment - it seems like Ronnie has built up quite a fan base out there - he'll be on the cover of Vogue before you know it (keep hold of those odd socks - they could soon be 'de rigueur'!)

Bye for now,

Jane

xxx

100 posts - a giveaway - and a racoon???

That can only mean one thing.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's

Ronnie!

But fortunately that's where the homage to Jack Nicholson's scary axe wielding character in 'The Shining' ends. Phew!

Oh no this little sweetie is more at home

firkling around in the sock drawer

(with the occasional embarrassing consequence)

and hugging the odd pineapple

(who doesn't?)

What's more little Ronnie could be yours!!! As a nod to this being my one hundredth post I thought it would be fun to have a little giveaway. All you need to do is follow this blog and tell me how many odd socks you have! 

I'll select a winner at random next Monday at 6pm and one lucky peeps could have Ronnie rambling over to them at top speed.

Could you provide a caring home (and the occasional pineapple) for Ronnie? 

Get counting!

Jane xxx

and Ronnie!

Please Miss Mildred

Please Miss Mildred

Can  you see

I need help

With my 1,2,3?

Yes little glove mouse

I can show

You which way the numbers go.

Wow Miss Mildred

That's much better!

Now can you help me 

With my letters?

Introducing Miss Mildred - teacher of bunnies (now retired) and font of much wisdom. Made from what was once a perfectly nice woollen skirt with coordinating shawl and bag - now hopping over to Etsy. 

Glove mouse in detention.

Oh Miss Mildred.

Jane

x

Thankyou - and a biscuit!

Here she is!

No - she doesn't need the toilet she's waving to say hello and thank you to all the wonderful creative chums out there who helped her slightly baffled maker decide what to dress her in. 

I must admit I've been quite blown away by the amount of ideas that came rolling in - all of which were fantastic and have certainly got me old grey matter all of a flutter.

I'm approaching my one hundredth post (gulp) soon so will have to try and organise some sort of giveaway type thingy as a thank you for all of your inspiration. 

But for now may I offer you a biscuit?

One of my favourite quick bakes from Mary Berry - I can't find a direct link so here it is

Fork Biscuits

4 ounces (100g) butter 

2 ounces (50g) sugar

5 ounces (150g) self raising flour

(you can substitute a bit of flour with cocoa if you wish - mmmmmmm.....)

Beat butter and sugar together.

Add flour.

Roll into balls and press down lightly with fork to create pretty looking discs (if you keep dipping the fork in water it shouldn't stick)

Place on a greased baking tray and bake at 180 degrees F for about fifteen minutes or until the kitchen smells heavenly and the dog refuses to budge from the oven door.

Leave to cool ( ha - who does that!)

Enjoy!

Meanwhile little bunnykins is going to hop on over to Etsy with her new raggy friend - 

(look - she's waving too - it's amazing what you can do with a few pins ;))

Thanks again you lovely lot!

Jane 

xxx