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!!!)