Friday, January 10, 2014

A little bit of prim . . . just because . . .

Happy New Year to you all dear friends & readers

2013 was a real mixed year for us here at my threadbear life . . . we experienced some great highs . . . 

my eldest son got married in my garden in late November

and some real lows as well  . . . 

we had to say Goodbye to our dear friend Nero at Easter ... & I lost the big fat fluffy "floor rug" that I always had in my kitchen ... we still miss him a great deal
But that is the way it goes for us all . . . ups & downs & roundabouts  ...  as life ticks on through the seasons   . . . 

For some reason, even though it is mid summer here in our hemisphere, I have felt like doing winter projects ... wool blanket & felting projects ... (yes we have already established that I am a little odd & back-to-front!!))
 The Simply Vintage Magazine that I mentioned a couple of posts back had a few projects that had caught my eye ........



I very much liked this prim pear pincushion in mustard wool felt (a design by Debbie Lofgren for Little Stitches) 
I found an old pine wooden base that I had tucked away & stained it darker, then made the pincushion, crow & strawberry - the crow is just calico, painted black & then lightly sanded


Inspired by the finished article, I turned my attention to another project catching my eye ...  "Jack the Cat"
 (a design by Deborah Busby for Wooden Spool Designs) 

Although the pattern made Jack up at 26 cms tall, I decided to enlarge it & make him into a doorstop ... my Jack came out at 39 cms tall


I used part of an old grey army blanket I had & weighted him with half a broken brick (so he is rather a heavy chap) 
plus I decided to give him a more smiley mouth as I felt he looked a little grim in the pattern


And speaking of cats . . .  I have discovered a feral mother cat & her 2 kittens living under my cottage & have been feeding them ... the mother is very wild & hisses/spits at me but the kittens are still not quite sure about human beings ... one came skidding into the cottage yesterday morning when I was dusting ... "hellooo" I quietly said ... he looked at me & suddenly something in his brain went click as if he was saying "my mother told me not to talk to you" & away he skidded, off out the door
Oh I could watch them playing all day long ... I mentioned to the Mr the other day ... it wouldn't matter how grumpy you were feeling, to watch kittens playing must surely improve your mood ... until of course I discovered this just this morning ...

I couldn't figure out what on earth had hit my shrub until the Mr informed me he had seen the kittens playing & jumping in it when he left at 5 this morning to go to the farm !!!


"So umm, you didnt think to chase them away?" I asked him ??!!
"Oh it did cross my mind,  but they were having so much fun" he informed me !!!!!!!
I am hoping the little ratbags dont come back tonight & decide to "re-arrange" the opposite one 

The vege garden & our plum trees are offering lots of pickings at present




The plums are very tasty this year - for some reason, we seem to get a really good crop every alternate year 

I stood at the bench this morning making up some more of my herbal moth sachet mixture



You can find the recipe in this post here should you decide to make some up yourself

Just prior to christmas I sold the last Isabella Golly I had in the Cottage - I usually like to keep at least one in stock & also keep on hand a few of the painted face panels (which I paint myself)
I found one last face panel in my "Isabella box" but none of her cardies, which my Mum knits for me from 5-ply wool


I think Miss Pink Isabella is just delightful   :-)

I went ahead & made up the last face panel into a Golly,  left her without a cardy but gave her a nice lace doiley collar instead.  I havent done a pink Isabella for many years but had these dainty little ballet shoes which made me decide on this colour combination.

I hope you have found some creative time in your week dear friends - the weather here today is glorious but we have had lightning/thunderstorms &extremely strong winds as well this past week 



thanks as always for your welcome visits - wishing you all a wonderful 2014
much love & friendship
Julie x0x0x
(I am just off outside to try to resurrect my kitten damaged shrub!!!)

7 comments:

  1. A lovely post Julie, your new Isabella is so sweet and your Simply Vintage projects also just great! (Does the strawberry have emery in it and if so where do you get it from?!!) I think I need to hunt down that magazine :-) Our neighbours just found a feral kitten and it tamed down in a matter of days and is everyone's best friend now - you never know, maybe you could train those kitties!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yippie another Julie post! I like your pear & cat better than the ones in the magazine! I hope I see that magazine here, it looks a goodie. Pretty pink Isabella, nice, she has pretty shoes, did you make her teddy bear?
    Oh naughty kitties! Ask me I know about the damage kittens can do, as cute as they are, hubby reckons our Simon cat needs a kitten.......oh please NO I said!
    It was a real mixed bag last year for you, still if it's any comfort, I guess it could be the same for others too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Miss back-to-front..well I've been "spring" cleaning..does that help?! I am so pleased that you gave your Jack a cheeky grin, the other fellow looked like trouble, speaking of which...little monkeys!! Me, who never even wanted a cat became known as "The Cat Lady" for a while there..by the time that wild mother cat came over the fence with three kittens in tow (very wild kittens) & then later delivered 5 more in my garden plus Sparky (with a curly tail) who we got for David..there were 10 cats! I guess shredded lonicera (?) is better than ruined curtains, or not! Must have been hilarious to watch them at it : ) Why jump in there I wonder? Your pear is brilliant, by the way. Fabulous wheelbarrow full of petunias too & your produce looks delicious..nice coloured plums. Do you make jam with some of them? Have a lovely week. Love & hugs Catherine x0x0x

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love that pincushion, the crow and strawberry are nicer than in the book, you are a clever sausage. Perhaps Jack should guard the shrubs?...it's been very windy here too . xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like all your makes - the cats are fun. How delightful to have playful kittens around, I expect they will be good mouse catchers so maybe make up for spoiling your plants. The pictures of your son/daughter in law are beautiful, they are good looking pair. Betty

    ReplyDelete
  6. Loved your recap of the year, such lovely family photos and so sad to lose your furry friend. I love your primitive makes and definitely prefer your cat's mouth. Our black cat was a very wild kitten and now he thinks I'm his mum, very tame and loving! Hope you have a wonderful week. xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Loved your pear and smiley cat Julie. They are delightful. Miss Isabella is beautiful, love the fabric of her dress and her little teddy is delightful. Wonderful looking produce, so colourful and fresh looking.Trouble with feeding the kittens is all from the neighbourhood will be popping in for a free Julie feed.What fun for them .Shirley

    ReplyDelete

Hello, & thank you for taking the time to comment on my posts - I read and appreciate each and every one of your comments :-)
I always prefer to reply to your comments by email unless you are a no-reply-blogger in which case I will reply to your comments in this section here. Thanks so much for stopping by to read & comment on my blog x0x