Birthday gift

Our .....Mirrhi's and mine......favourite small neighbour is having a birthday....he'll be 3.  So I bought him this lovely simple picture book "The Tomten and the Fox" Here's a description of a tomten, if you've not heard of them..... In Swedish tales a tomten  belongs to the family of elves and other little “brownies” and is a good natured being who usually helps farm people . A friendly “tomte” meant a lot to the farmer and his family, he saw to it that the animals were well, he made sure the servants awakened in the early morning hours. These and many other good deeds and fortunes were the work of the “tomten and he was given a bowl of porridge every night”   

In this story, when a very hungry fox wanders into the farm looking for his dinner,  the Tomten finds a way to keep the farm animals safe and feed the fox at the same time.

So Parkes can play as he reads, I made a little felt fox......

Mr Fox has his eye on the hen house

And here's the Tomten who watches  over the farm animals .... he tells the fox 'no eating the chickens'

and generously shares his bowl of porridge with the fox.

Fox is about  (5") long and stands about 9cm (3.5") high, and the Tomten  is 13cm (5") tall, not counting his hat.  Both the fox and Tomten's clothes are made from lovely, buttery soft wool felt. 

They're all packed up in a cloth bag and we're ready for cake and fun later today. (No cake for Mirrhi, she'll just have fun running around and playing ball with Parkes!)

ScrapHappy October

......... with two projects this month.

It's time again.......where did the month go?.......to join Kate, Gun and other scrappers and join in the scrappy fun.  I had promised to make a bendy gnome for a friend's granddaughter and thought it was time to get onto it, especially since it's a very wet and stormy day, a good one for being indoors stitching.

This is what a bendy gnome......actually a doll base that can be dressed however you like.......looks like before being dressed.

Arms and legs are poseable

So after rummaging through the felt box for the right size scraps.....these doll bases are only around 11cm (4.5 inches) tall so don't need  a lot......

....... I came up with this girl, decked out in aqua, crimson and golden yellow.  

A lovely bright addition to a grey day.

 The other project I've been working on is this little stitchery, using scraps of  linen cut from opshop finds, stained table linens or old shirts and dresses, some dyed with plants, others left their original colour for the background squares, and little pieces left from other projects for the hearts, the biggest of which is 3cm.   I went to Sydney recently to spend a week with my son, and this was the perfect project to take along.  It measures around 18cm (7 ") square and was perfect to tuck in my bag to work on when I had....or needed..... a quiet moment.

A close-up...lots of kantha stitching.

Here's  the link to Kate's blog or Gun's......they host ScrapHappy day each month and there's a list of other blogger who usually join in.  Even if they don't have a scrappy post, their blog's are well worth a look.

....till next time.

Outside and In

Inspired and encouraged ...."get stuck in, today!" by Kaite and the mammoth task she took on of digging out part of her yard and putting a stairway in, I returned to a task I'd started a few weeks (months?) back.  This hilly weed covered mound was part of the soil dug out for the foundations of the cat run I had had built, and slowly over time I'd moved that pile bit by bit...it was twice as high as this when I started.  I ran out of steam for a while, mainly because with winter rain then sun on it, it turned into a nasty rocky clay pad.

 I had got this far with clearing and levelling it, and removing most of the rocks and rubbish, when more enjoyable pasttimes called, and I stopped again.

 In the last few days, I've finished levelling the area, and yesterday evening I mulched it with straw from the chookpen, and will let it sit and breakdown now, and soften and nourish the still hard soil underneath, before adding soil and planting it out.  A rock edging needs to be added, a job for another day.

This small bed is right outside the cat run, so I'll plant it up with herbs....thyme grass, cat nip and cat grass, some lemon scented pelargoniums I struck from a cutting, and anything else I find that is safe if the cats chew on it, has some perfume and will deter the flies.

In dyepots in the garden are some bundles wrapped with amaranth, some silk, some cotton, and various vinegary and alum mordants.  One...the brownish looking one I think....has a tin lid wrapped inside the fabric....just to see what happens.  I'll leave them tucked up warmly here, and they'll solar dye for a month, as India suggests in her book, and do their thing.

 Indoors, I've been working on some stitching....just a peek, as the recipients haven't received them yet.  This was to be a Christmas gift to go to Sydney with me, for my son's fiancee.  With about 15cms of sewing to go, my machine refused to do anything, except chew the fabric, so sadly I had to leave it behind.  I set to when I returned, and gave the machine a good clean, hoping after a little rest it would behave, and get to work without needing to be taken away to fix something serious. Happily I got it going again and finished *this* for Naomi and sent it on it's way.  I'll reveal all once it's arrived at it's destination in the Blue Mountains.

The second peek is a fabric postcard.  For the second time, I've joined the Stitchinfingers Fabric Postcard birthday swap and the first two birthdays are this month....

this one's going to Tahlia, in the USA

and I received this one from Teresa, just up the road in Brisbane, for my birthday next week.  There are 12 of us swapping, but our birthdays aren't spread evenly across the months....some months 2 or 3, others no birthdays at all.  If I'm organised, I'll work on them in the free months....ha!

And I'm working on this yummy looking pincushion as a gift for a friend, it will be joined by a needlebook, in a small basket, with a tape measure, pins and needles and little scissors. She has just bought a sewing machine, so I thought this would be a fun way to celebrate.
There'll be flowers added, and whatever else takes my fancy.  Maybe some flystitch for TAST?  Has anyone done their bit yet?  I thought I might today, I can't decide how though....whether to add stitches to a cq I have in progress, or do a sampler....hmm, tough decisions.

Off to drink tea and stitch now......bye.

Surprises in the mail and a day out

Remember this post about the Down to Earth Community Forums Christmas ornie swap?  well my gift arrived yesterday, and I've received the loveliest decorations, and other little gifts.  Look here....

My swap partner, Rhonda from Sydney, who I also sent to, has made these little hanging ornaments from brown paper, with words of good cheer on them.  What a great idea, so homespun and natural.  They look and feel really good, and make a very satisfying sound when handled.   Rhonda also sent me a great little bag, beautifully made....I love the fabric....and a handmade soap, that smells and feels delicious.  To make it even more special, the parcel was wrapped  in brown paper and string for mailing..  I've been truly spoilt, thank you Rhonda.

Mullumbimby stock images

I had a day out and bought myself some gifts too.  I went to Mullumbimby to visit  Jo's new shop, which she shares with 9 other local artists and crafters, all selling their own locally handmade goodies.  Jo sells natural craft materials, unique hand painted wool, handyed wool felt, and little craft kits.  The shop is a treasure trove of all sorts of wonderful gifts and goodies, and shares the space with a florists, giving the whole area the lovely scent of fresh flowers.  Jo and I first 'met' in blogland, and it was great to meet her in person, she's a lovely warm welcoming presence in the shop.  She has a website 'Indigo Inspirations" where you can see and buy all her wonderful offerings.

I treated myself to this bundle of supersoft, wonderfully bright hand dyed wool felt....I see some yummy creations in my future. I was really pleased to find Jo so close by, I use a lot of wool felt and usually buy it from Melbourne, but supporting local business is something I'm passionate about, so I'm pretty happy I've found a felt dealer in my neighbourhood.

.........and a trip anywhere always means checking out the local op shops, where I found this little vase that looks like a milk churn for 50c....it's perfect for a few flowers in my kitchen...day lilies from the garden, and those fuzzy topped things are garlic scapes, now unfurled from their tight papery covering and gifted to me by a woman at the farmer's market. 

I hope your days have been filled with wonderful gifts.