Tree Fall

Orange? Really?

I received a wonderful package from Kristy yesterday. And it was such good timing because we're having a horrible week. But before I start moaning I'm going to lull you into a false sense of security with some photo's of Kristy's superdooper package.

Kristy decided that she was going on a one woman mission to convert me in to a lover of orange! Which I have to admit worried me slightly. I mean, orange? Really?
But then I started opening the actual parcels!

The first two parcels actually caused me to whoop with joy. I mean just look at those jugs! The one on the left is bone china and is already one of my favourite belongings - ever. And the one on the right is running a very close second.
(Kristy didn't send me the cake - that's was (operative word)  the pear  cake I made yesterday. The recipe is from Apples For Jam - if you have the book go and make it now! Now, I tell you. Go on, don't even bother reading the rest of this post! Just go and make it, you won't regret it).

As well as the wonderful jugs Kristy included these fabrics and vintage notions. See, she was serious about the orange thing!

I particularly appreciate the Denyse Schmidt fabric, because we can't get it over here - so sharing it is super generous. And then there's the buttons. Kristy wrote just the other day about how difficult she finds it to part with her buttons and it's a sentiment that I fully understand, so I'm very touched to be the recipient of these very cool orange ones.
The pink package that you see in the first photo was actually for Bella, which is the most touching thing of all. I massively appreciate anything that I recieve, but I am most touched when Bella is sent gifts.
And believe me, Bella much prefers it when she gets sent gifts. Don't get me wrong, she likes to watch Mama open parcels, but it just aint as much fun as opening them herself! See?

Bella loved her parcel so much! The pink necklace is being carried around constantly and was the cause of a slight bust up between Bella and her bestfriend (understandably jealous!). And the book is perfect for both me and Bella. It's exactly the sort of book that I've been collecting for her. Thank you so much Kristy.
Thank you for it all. I love it all and I love the fact that it's orange!  You win. Orange? Oh yeah!

As I said at the beginning of the post, we've not been having a great week here. On Tuesday I heard some very bad news about a friend, that has left me feeling very sad and completely useless. I hate to see my friends suffer.
Then on Wednesday I decided to see if Bella wanted a taste of some smooth peanut butter - I've held off letting her try it but as she turns 18 months tomorrow, I thought we'd give it a go. So I let her lick the corner of my toast and she almost instantly vomited on to my plate. She then tried to scrape what was left of it off her tongue, until I wiped her tongue with kitchen paper. And within 2 minutes her mouth was swollen and her hand was swollen where she had touched the peanut butter.
Obviously I called the docter straight away. And d'ya know what the stupid receptionist said? That she could give me an appointment in an hour and a halfs time! I pointed out that Bella could be dead in an hour and halfs time and suggested that she speak to the doctor - NOW! For fucks sake!!!
We actually live right next door to the clinic, so I just took Bella straight round and the doctor saw her immediately. Fortunately, because she'd vomited straight away and hadn't actually swallowed any of it,  her tongue was slightly swollen,but her throat wasn't. Her face however was bright red and covered in hives and stayed that way for a good few hours. The doc got another doc in to see her and they both agreed that it was a severe reaction, but that she was going to be ok.
So she officially has a life threatening allergy to peanuts and is possibly allergic (at a much milder level) to eggs also. We're waiting for an appointment with the specialist to see if there's anything else.
It was obviously absolutely terrifying for me, but Bella was fine as soon as she vomited. She was making both the doctor and I laugh so much when we were trying to get her to stick her tongue out! And she hasn't had any ill effects from the episode, thank god. I on the other hand feel like absolute shit for almost killing my own child.
Then on Thursday Bella was running past me and I grabbed the back of her trousers, causing her to swing forward and fall flat on her face. Two of her teeth went through her bottom lip. And it was completely my fault. Go on, ask me if I could feel any more like pond scum!
And then just to top it off, today I found out that we've been unsuccessful in our attempt to get pregnant. Again. Which leaves me feeling pretty inadequate on a lot of different levels.
So, not a great week. But I did get some great mail and as we all know, that really does make your day a whole lot more bearable. Thank you again Kristy!
Sorry for the mostly depressing post though. Here's a picture to make you laugh.
How determined is that walk????

And this is just gratuitous cuteness (imho).

Various Miscellany

I apologise in advance for the lack of cohesion of this post. I keep waiting until the weather is good enough to take some new photo's and until I have more than five minutes to piece my thoughts together and until I actually have something to show you. And I think that that way lies disaster! Or at the very least, a very quiet blog indeed. So in the interests of keeping this thing rolling, I present a jumble of images and thoughts.
First off, I recieved this wonderful birthday present last week from Lesley .

I was so very touched when Lesley asked me for my address and then even more so when the postman dropped a lovely parcel through my letter box a few days later and I opened it to find this beautifully embroidered picture.
I love it and must say that when a friend of mine saw it she sighed and said 'you have so many lovely things' and she was purely looking at the wonderful work of my fellow bloggers. And I realised as we discussed it that it's only been since we have been stone broke that I've become the proud owner of such lovely things. Back in the day when I was still a recognised member of society and earnt my own money, if I wanted something I popped out to a store and bought something immediate and generic. If I wanted to change the look of a room I would pretty much be able to do it in one day, with one shopping trip. Which is all very well, but so little of what I bought was original and none of it was actually made for me! And I know I keep banging on about this, but I LOVE that I'm looking at real art, made by real people. And I also love the fact that my friends are a little jealous!
So a massive thank you to Lesley! We've all said it, but it's so worth saying again - the kindness and generosity of the blogging community is just amazing.

I meant to post this picture on Friday as part of  Fiona's WIP Fridays. But just didn't get around to it, so I guess this is now WIP Monday.

A couple of piles of mattresses, a couple of disgracefully tardy fruit patches and some princesses. And in the background the start of a new topsy turvy doll - assuming that the fabric works. I'm a little worried that it may be too stiff to facilitate the topsy turvyness.

I've been meaning to show you this book for a while now. I just haven't been able to work out how to crowbar it in to a post until today.

Trapunto has always made me a little nervous. It seemed to me to be rather complicated and something that I should just avoid. For those of you that aren't familiar with it, trapunto is not a type of car (as Jim has just suggested!) but a form of (usually) whole cloth quilting that results in a raised surface. The pattern on the quilt top is often something like a vine with leaves and fruits that is stuffed with cord or batting.
It's a nice effect but not something that has really caught my eye until I bought this book. As I've said, trapunto is usually used for vines etc, but this (slightly crazy) book uses it much more interestingly. Just look at these crazy toaster and breadbin covers!

Mmmm, beige towelling!
But dodgy fabrics aside, this book really did simplify the method for me and gave me some cool ideas that I want to try out. I really like the look of the tote on the front cover. And I don't know if you can see it, but that apron has little trapunto mushrooms on!  Lovely.

And finally (I think), I've been wanting to wait until they were all finished and ready to go in the shop before I posted new Coney Rabbits, but the speed I'm working at the moment means that that may never happen! So here's a peek at some of the new rabbits, with still more to come.

There are blue and green rabbits still in various stages of evolution that I'm hoping to have done this week and then I'll be updating the shop. I've also got at least one quilt to add to the shop and maybe a couple of other little pieces. But that could just be me mistaking my life for someone elses!

Let There Be Light

Today was supposed to be a lovely day. It's a Bank Holiday, so Jim's off work and there's lots going on in the village next to ours - May pole etc. So I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing spring (almost summer, almost summer!) day.
Ah well. Maybe next time.
The reality was that I woke up with a streaming, horrible cold and spent most of the day in bed listening to Jim and Bella playing downstairs. Not fair.
I did get the lampshade finished this morning though.

I have to say that I'm very pleased with it. And think I may have to run with this idea a little more.

As you can see, I've bordered the top and the bottom of the shade with two diffrent colourways of the same print.

I handsewed the borders on, which was a little bit of a nightmare, but worth the effort I think.
Unfortunately I didn't take a proper before picture - I know, I know, what was I thinking - but this is what it looked liked when I started work on it.

It originally had a disgusting tassel thing stuck on to the bottom of it and was just not very pretty, but was the right size. And buying a new lampshade big enough would have cost a fortune.

As I said, I've definately got more ideas for this type of patchwork.

Oh and because I'm ill (again) and therefore didn't get anything done today, this is how my kitchen table looks at the moment!

They Say Everything Comes in Trees

Why is the first line always the hardest to write? Everytime I sit down to start a post I think of Billy Crystal in Throw Momma from the Train, slaving over that first line of his book - "the night was ...". And yep, I have just quoted a Billy Crystal film, how's that for class?

Here's my latest cushion.

I'm sure it's inspired by something specific, but for the life of me I can't think what. I have a blurry vague picture in my head of a Poplar painted in stripes, but I have no idea where from. Does that mean anything to anyone else?

By the way, this is Bella's new chair. It's a tiny wicker chair from Ikea and has been such a big hit with her. As soon as she saw it she climbed in to and proudly surveyed her surroundings. She's pretty sure that she owns the place when she sits in this chair!

And now I have to apologise to everyone that has sent me wonderful parcels in the last couple of weeks. Sorry, sorry, sorry that it's taken me so long to post about it all!
First up was this beautiful pin cushion that I bought from Toni's wonderful Shop . It's so, so lovely! And nice and big - which I have to admit I appreciate in a pin cushion.

Toni's  work is as lovely as she is!

I was also lucky enough to receive a parcel of fabric samples from Mary recently. She was given a whole load of decorators fabric sample books and very kindly offered to share her bounty with anyone that was interested. Yes please, I said! And here's what the super kind Mary sent me.

I'm already planning what I'm going to use them for.
And not only did I get the fabrics but Mary also sent one of her cards that I love.

And look how well everything from both Toni and Mary matches!

Next I got a lovely surprise package from  Kristy.
 

Yep, that's Bella's chubby little hand.
In the parcel were these wonderful books. Kristy's really showing that she knows me by sending these subjects! And I'd like to pretend that Bella's going to get them, but I can't! They're all mine!

And as if that wasn't enough, she also sent me this fantastic apron!

Thank you so much Kristy!

The cushion is in the shop  now.

Great Mail Day!

Oooo, I love mail! At least today I do - yesterday, not so much! But today was definately a good day!

These lovely parcels arrived from Claire . And inside were all of these (I'm not boasting, just very grateful and happy!).

Beautiful ribbon! I wish, wish, wish I could get ribbon like this over here. Why is the UK bereft of lovley ribbon? What did we do to deserve our lack of beautiful ribbon?

And this wonderful, beautiful pin cushion. It is so perfectly made, I can't tell you. And the colours!!! How I love the colours. Just yummy!

Also a set of Claires ATC's. Now I'm very aware that I'm running out of superlatives here, so please forgive my use of the words, beautiful, gorgeous and wonderful again - but I'm pretty sure that you'll agree that they are completely justified. How lovely are these? They're going to be framed and hung in Bella's room. (This blog has led to Bella having so much original, fantastic art in her room and that makes me very, very happy indeed!). These are the first ATC's that I've ever had and it was great timing because whilst looking at them I was listening to this . How perfect is that?

Claire also sent this great magazine. We can't get this here. Is it seperate to the Kids magazine? I haven't seen it before but I love it and it sparked great excitement in Jim when he saw the 'Collection in a Box' piece. He apparently used to make little spy kits in matchboxes when he was a kid! How cool is that? It's a side of him I didn't know about. Not the spy side, we still pretend we're spys, but the making things side of him. Don't get me wrong, he used to make films, but I've never known him do anything actually crafty. Very cool.
And did you notice that I also got one of Hillary's postcards? They are the best postcards ever. Yes, ever.
Thank you so much Claire! I love everything! And I shall be putting some ATC's in the post for you very soon (once I've made them!!).

The other thing that arrived today was this book. In one of those bizarre coincidences Amanda got hold of a copy of this book at the same time as I won it on Ebay. Isn't that weird? I'd never heard of this book before I bid on it last week and then I see it on a blog. Sometimes the world feels very small.
I can't tell you how inspirational this book is. Actually I can. As soon as I opened it I started to embroider a tree on a scrap of fabric. Literally as soon as I opened it.

Wonderful!

Princesses, Bliss and Hockney

She's almost finished! I've been working very slowly on the Princess. The combination of flu and trying something completely new has been an interesting one. I'm finding that flu induced mistakes are so much more interesting than normal ones! But I do believe that I'm almost there.

I'm making a few different Princesses, with different dresses. I haven't made a proper dress before and have really enjoyed learning how - although I'm really having to up my game when it comes to my hand sewing!

I've also been trying some new quilt ideas.

I'm pretty excited about this and am hoping to have a lot more of it to show by the end of the week.  Bella is going for a little holiday to my mom and dad's for Thursday and Friday so I'm really hoping to get a lot of catching up done. With being ill I haven't done any real work for over a week and am so, so behind.

Over the weekend Jim and I went to David Hockney's art gallery, Salts Mill. I love going there. It's an old converted mill that houses a very large collection of Hockneys work as well as a great restaurant, fantastic bookshop (and I do mean fantastic) and an amazing shop that is pretty much just a modern design museum.

We went for lunch and a wander around and Jim was a sweetheart and bought me a new notebook by Jill Bliss.

 

And I bought this print of a Hockney that I just LOVE!!!! Oh his work is wonderful!

If anyone is ever in the area, I highly recommend a trip to Salts Mill .

And lastly, I bought this vintage print from a thrift shop and it makes me very happy indeed! It's caused us to change the whole look of our kitchen and has even gone some way towards convincing Jim that he does indeed like still lifes!!

Mega Monday Post Part 1

Having asked a few posts back which was better, mega posts or individual smaller posts,  it was obvious that most people prefer a few individual posts - so here goes (please bare with me!).

I was lucky enough to receive a lovely parcel from Blair on Friday! We arranged to do a swap a while ago and she was very kind and sent me some beautiful wool felts, in the just  best colours!

As well as the latest copy of MSL - it's pretty difficult to get it over here, not to mention costing the equivalent of almost $10! Plus a really interesting new magazine about parenting,  that I'm very much enjoying.

And bless her, she also sent Bella a birthday present. It was an instant hit, and has been read everyday since it arrived  (by me of course, Bella's clever but not that clever). Bella just loves it and I love the fact that it has extra thick pages so Bella can't actually eat it!

Thank you so, so much Blair, I really appreciate it! And I can't wait to get to work with those felts!

Surprises!! Part 2

My day started so wonderfully that I was a little worried that it might go down hill! But I'm glad to say that it didn't. After Bella finally got up (yes Bella, you may sleep until 8.45am as often as you wish!) we met up with a friend and went to an indoor adventure playground that is right here in our village (can you believe that it took me almost a year to realise that it was there and I live in a small village). We've only been a couple of times before and I love seeing Bella's confidence grow and grow every time we go. We were there for 2 hours this morning and she loved every minute of it.  I did think that as she'd had such a strenuous morning that her afternoon nap would definately be a long one so I could get work (and photo's) done, but of course that wasn't to be.  But  I really didn't mind, because Bella was so much fun all day and my day had started with all of this..

Kristina had very kindly offered to send me some ribbon after I'd commented on her fantastic pigs a while ago.But  not only was I not expecting Kristina to send anything yet (with a wedding to plan!) but I also wasn't expecting all of this! Just look at those ribbons, aren't they gorgeous?

And as if that wasn't enough, look what she made just for Bella! Isn't it just beautiful? Look at the colours! Look! No, look again! Thank you  Kristina, I appreciate it so, so much!

And look at these cute little felt stickers that were on the front of the envelope.

Thank you again Kristina and CONGRATULATIONS on your wedding!

As well as receiving all of that I also received this in the post as a valentines surprise from my mom.

It's a beautiful edition of one of Bella's favourite books. I just love the illustrations.

Bless her, she also stuck a fiver in so that I could buy a bottle of vino! Now that's a mom who knows her daughter!

And that's not all!! A wonderful, wonderful package arrived from Toni ! First of all, I am lucky enough to be the very proud owner of one of Toni's daughters cards! If you haven't seen these cards you need to head straight over here and take a look. Hannah was only 10 when she drew these! And they are fantastic!And believe me the photo's don't do them justice.


Then there were two parcels, one for Bella and one for me!! Now I knew that Toni had been so, so wonderful and had made Bella a birthday present, but I didn't know she was going to include all of this in with it!

Look at all that beautiful (I'm going to have to learn some new superlatives!!), beautiful red and white fabric! Oh. My. Lord. I love all of it. In fact love is not a strong enough word. I want to make a quilt right now, using all of these! Toni! Words fail me. Oh and how on earth did you mae it all smell so wonderful?
And that really would be enough wouldn't it? But no, there's still more! The only problem is, I was sure I took proper  photo's of Bella's new best friend. But when I came to download them they weren't there and it was too dark to take some more. So I'll have to post these instead. And don't panic Toni, I'm going to put Mr Owl well out of Bella's reach, but I had to let her have one little play with him. I wish you could have seen her face when she saw him! Absolutely priceless!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Toni!

I have to say at this point that when I started blogging I absolutely never, ever expected it to lead to the level of kindness that my family experienced today.  The fact that Kristina and Toni spent their very precious time and energy  making presents for my daughter, is something that just blows me and Jim away. Right at this moment in time I feel so very lucky.

Surprises!!

This is just a quick post to say that today has already turned out to be full of surprises and it's only 8.30am!
I have recieved three surprise packages this morning. Three!! Unfortunately it's still not light enough to take photo's but believe me I will as soon as I can. All I can at this point is that Toni , Kristina  and my mom are my three favourite people!!! Oh and the other surprise is Bella is still asleep!!! (did I mention it's 8.30am?!). Yay!

Postcards!!

Look what arrived today. I had almost forgotten that the Postcard Swop was about receiving postcards as well as sending them out! It was so exciting to see them and aren't they all fantastic? You all are so damn clever!

( sorry that the picture is so crappy, I shall hopefully replace it with a much better one tomorrow)