Wednesday, April 29, 2009

new home to be


Originally uploaded by pipapiep

Look at this cute little world! I think I will move there. Not much privacy (or housing, shops etc.) but other than that pretty much perfect. It reminds me of the Donna Wilson exhibition I was ranting on about the other month, so I have already walked through a life size version of this and I already know I liked it. An easy decision then, I'm off to live in a tiny felted forest with a fox and a... llama? Yippee!

Monday, April 27, 2009

cheer up, chuck


Originally uploaded by maraid

Oh dear, I am feeling very sorry for myself tonight. Stress stress stress and roll on the weekend! However, this determined octopus makes me want to succeed and generally cheers me up so I thought I would share it incase anybody else out there is feeling at all like me. 

Do you know what else cheers me up? The twelve mystery bottles of wine that arrived for me this weekend! They are not from my mum so I suspect my sister. They have tasting notes and everything. Fun fun fun! Graham is keen to try one tonight. I may succumb even though it feels like I'll be going back into work in a few measly hours after only just finishing up for the night... Harumph! 

Back to the positivity, I also got a beautifully sweet blouse from my mum in the post this weekend. It fits and I love it - a rare feat indeed! Well done, mother of mine.

Apologies for the randomness of this post, I just felt like doing a little nice thing (I think blogging is a nice thing to do) before the day was out :)

Sunday, April 26, 2009

last weekend/this weekend

This weekend has been a flurry of crafty activity.  So many hours of sewing.  So many blisters.  Such a small (but perfectly formed) selection of goods to show for it...  Ah well.  It's been fun and satisfying and kind of relaxing in a complete denial sort of way.  This afternoon I must force myself to put my needles down and do work for work.  Boo hoo.

Last weekend I was charity shopping in Geneva (in between pretending to visit Rainbow Brite and sewing up Care Bears of course) and I realised I still hadn't shared my purchases here.  Actually, they are really Kerry's purchases since I had no Swiss money.  I accepted her generosity since this was the only time I left the house all week, so intense were my babysitting/auntie duties! 

I got this tiny ceramic blue bird with beautiful patterns...
... as well as this slightly creepy picture of a bird made with real feathers and leaves.  We had watched Kirstie's Homemade Home that week so I was determined to know what I like and to buy accordingly.  Well, I tried.  I think I like this picture.  I do know it will be a good addition to the wall of many wonders.  I also know Graham is downright horrified by it.  Ha!
As well as birds I bought some tins.  This pink one is so cute.  I still haven't decided what to keep in it.  Something crafty, I think.
Just as I was about to squeal at spotting this tin, Kerry picked it up and said that she had planned to buy it for my birthday and fill it with buttons until she realised that she wouldn't have time to get enough buttons.  When she saw how excited I was by it, she bought it for my birthday anyway (minus buttons).  It's so ridiculously and old fashioned-ly cute...
...and came full of a random assortment of musty smelling craft supplies including a thimble that looks like a finger tip with a red painted nail.  Eugh.  The crochet yarn (I think that's what it is) is very pretty and perfect for my summer ambition to learn to do tiny crocheting.  Nothing like learning to run before you can walk!
I have lots of work stuff to do (stress!) but am feeling very tired and not in the mood.  I got addicted to zip brooching last night so sat up too late and then Graham and his friend came in from the night out they'd been on.  Graham's friend slept on the sofa (neither of them listening to my suggestion that he should sleep in the spare bed) and, when he got up to go to the toilet at half past three, he fell down the stairs!  He claimed to be fine but phoned this morning with the news that he has actually fractured his arm!  Good grief!  My prized ceramic boats got knocked off the wall during the accident but fortunately none of them sustained any fractures.  Stuart (unlike ceramics) will heal eventually so, if you ask me, it all turned out for the best in the end.  Hee!  Poor Stuart...

Saturday, April 25, 2009

cool cats and cocktails

My sister found these tins at a flea market years ago.  I have been coveting them ever since.  I particularly like the cat with the cocktail.  They have the Scotch (as in Scotch tape) logo on the bottom.  I wonder what on earth they would have contained originally?  Does sellotape really need a tin?

I did some sewing last night for the first time in a while.  It was fun!  The cats are being strangely affectionate which is slowing my stitchy progress down a bit.  And my progress in general.  They also prevented me from drinking too much wine, mind you!  Right now, Poppy is resting her chin on my wrist as I type.  She's purring and determined to look relaxed but every time I go for a letter nearer the middle of the keyboard her little head goes bobbing about.  I should start keeping my sewing closer to hand.

Friday, April 24, 2009

cheer bear has been working out

Could you care for this care bear?  I found it hard...  Following an insignificant remark about a knitted care bear from three year old Kim, my mum (a.k.a. her granny) got into crazy bidding wars on ebay to get her hands on a pattern.  She knitted this care bear up while she was in France, the week before I got there.  I do remember agreeing to embroider the face and rainbow but I do NOT remember agreeing to sew up and stuff the whole thing.  Thanks to Cheer Bear I got none of my crafting (not even the knitting for baby Ruth) done while I was there, which is now coming back to bite me on the bum.  It took a mammoth effort to get Cheer Bear finished before I left.  To begin with it looked absolutely nothing like a care bear but it just needed a bit more stuffing... which took a trip to Switzerland to find!  Perhaps I overstuffed those arms...?  Kim now thinks a blue and a green care bear would be nice but I have told my mum she's on her own this time.

I got my prize from the giveaway at Ginger and George today.  Yowser!  The sewing is so perfect that I can't even work out where one stitch ends and another starts.  I am almost ashamed of my embroidery skills now - Kirsty's are truly amazing!  That said, I'm planning to be reunited with my needle and thread this weekend, which is set to be a crafting flurry in amongst all the piles of work I have to do for school.  Graham has a busy weekend ahead so I'm going to try and make the most of having the flat to myself for a bit.  Must be productive, although that would mean moving this warm furry black and white bundle of purry goodness off my lap...  Hmm, maybe later!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

nudge nudge wink wink

This lovely lady was hanging around outside my French bedroom and I'm sure I caught her winking at me...
Is it wrong to want to steal from your own sister?  Or is it good that I resisted?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

peggy two

I made these peg dollies as a wedding gift for Kerry and Gavin, nearly five years ago now.  I didn't have a camera back then so I photographed them now instead.  I keep planning to get back into making peg dolls, it's so much fun.