In Love ……. again!

This time I’ve fallen for Casper. I’ve been meeting up with him for the last 2 Sundays and there’s been a lot of cuddling, kissing and whispered words of love. Okay, he’s a cat! You’ve probably guessed that straight away. He is one of the latest rescue cats at PAWS Animal Sanctuary. His owner couldn’t afford to pay vets fees and as a result his teeth were in terrible condition. PAWS took him to their vet and the poor thing had to have them all out. But as you can see in this very short video I shot he certainly isn’t feeling sorry for himself and is recovering well.

The beautiful Casper

I would love to have him home with me but I think Tabikat might have a go at this gentle giant being another boy cat etc. I shall have to ponder that one.

Also I thought I’d mention The Cinnamon Trust. It’s a British charity that looks after the pets of elderly people if they have to go into hospital or care. If the owner dies the charity will also take in the pet and find it a good home. I think this is a brilliant idea as I see so many cats at PAWS with the words “Owner Died” on their case notes. I didn’t know about this charity until Stacey at PAWS mentioned it today. I looked it up and was really impressed with the work they do. Virginia McKenna and Sir Paul McCartney are just 2 of their Patrons. Worth a look.

A look at my latest embroidered notebook cover. I’m in to frogs now and I thought this design would be fun to do!



I’m pleased with how it turned out. Methinks a Gecko next!

Slàinte Mhath xxx

Sewing is bad for your health!

Well it is when you pick up a very heavy black and gold vintage Singer sewing machine from under the stairs. And it’s especially dangerous when you forget to bend your knees and tug at your machine from a very odd angle. I did all of the above with my old Singer and thought I’d got away with it pain wise until the middle of the night in bed when all sorts of aches and pains struck. I couldn’t bend down or pick anything up for days and when you have cats that need feeding and litter trays to clean out you can imagine the fun and games I had. Still all my important little places seem to be healing and contact with the floor and the lower levels of life is a lot easier now.

Daisy has been feeling sorry for me and has been trying to help me with pain relief by hypnosis.



And Tabikat has gone for a more relaxed form of hypnosis.



I wrote this on my FB page in November – “Quote from my vet to me this morning "Only you could turn up saying I have a Moorhen in my handbag". As I was leaving Rustington this morning I saw a Moorhen get clipped by a car - so parked up in golf club driveway and dashed across the A259 to pick it up. Miraculously it was still alive, so grabbed it and dashed back. No box for it so emptied my handbag and stuffed it in there. I think it's just a bit stunned, my vet will check it over and the lovely vet nurse has a place at home where she can release it with other young Moorhens. Now going to clean the s**t out of my bag xxxxx”
I’m pleased to report back that the dear little thing survived and has joined up with a gang of juvenile Moorhens in her garden and is living a happy life by her pond.

I‘ve been combining a little bit of machine and hand embroidery to make these covered notebooks.



Of course they are animal themed. I’ve had such fun doing them that I think I might develop a line of them for my shop. I’ve just finished embroidering a German Shepherd dog silhouette in white on blue denim (pics to follow). Animals and crafting – sheer bliss!

Slàinte Mhath xxx

Post-Op Report

In my last post I wrote about a very sad little Teddy Bear in need of a lot of TLC. He had no eyes and his head was hanging off his body.



I’m pleased to report that after sewing his neck back up and restoring his eyesight and knitting him his own special winter sweater little Teddy has made a full recovery! Ta Da!!!





And true to my current ‘No Buy’ project it didn’t cost me a penny, I already had teddy eyes in my stash and also had a load of red Aran wool, the pattern was a free one from Ravelry.com. I’m really chuffed with his transformation.
Briony, yes he is now mine and is permanently rehomed with me. I couldn’t bear (no pun intended) to let him go!
His new name is Little Red!

Slainte


Linda xx

So Far So Good

Two days into 2014 and I’m sticking to my No Buy policy, so only another 363 days to go!

Thought you might like to see my Christmas cushion that I finished a couple of days ago. It would have been finished in time for Christmas if it hadn’t been for a nasty bug that laid me low for over a week. I had a lot of bits of red and green yarn left over from various projects so I gathered them all together and crocheted up a cushion cover. I needed a 12” square cushion pad to go inside but only had a 16” one in my stash. So I opened up the sides of the 16” one and took all the stuffing out. I cut it down to 12” size,  shoved the stuffing back in and re sewed the seams. And voila a custom fit cushion pad with no money spent on a new one! There is some excess stuffing that I couldn’t squeeze back in so I’ve saved that for stuffing the little Woodland Creatures that adorn the tops of my tea cosies.

 

Just after Christmas I was given this deeply traumatized little chap.

I’m about to perform surgery on him and restore his vision.

There’s nothing sadder than a broken and unloved teddy bear. I’ll let you know later how we got on post op.

 

Slainte

 

 

Linda xx

Bye Bye to Buy! Buy!

 

I’ve thought long and hard about committing to this. Basically for all of 2014 I will not be buying stuff, at all, nothing, nada – gulp!

 

 

I’ll be afflicted with empty trolley syndrome. There’ll be repercussions though,  Amazon’s profits will drop drastically, Ikea will have to lay off some of their lorry drivers and Appliances Online will be sending me a get well card. On the other hand my postie’s bad back should improve loads and I look forward to seeing him happily skipping down our road with a virtually empty bag.

 

Painting by Karen Hollingsworth

 

There are rules and exceptions to them -

Food and drink for me and pussycats and local wildlife – allowed.

Petrol and cut price rail travel – allowed.

The odd cup of coffee when I’m writing in internet cafe – allowed

I’m allowed to buy craft supplies for my business and if my laptop blows up I can get a replacement as it’s needed for my writing.

I’m not allowed to buy craft supplies for personal use though and if I want to make something I have to delve into my sizeable stash. The exception to this is my crochet flower afghan, I’m using up odds and ends of wool for the flowers part but I need white DK wool for the background so that’s on my permitted list.

 

All books will be borrowed from the library in person (no paying 60p a time in online reservation fees).

No clothes buying either as I have loads in my wardrobe and if I get a little bit more exercise in 2014 I can drag out the ‘one day I’ll fit into this’ clothes box from under the bed for even more choice!

Definitely no more buying of vintage sewing patterns – this is going to be a hard one to keep and there may be tears (lots). I’ll just have to make stuff from the patterns I already have.

 

 

No sweets, packets of biscuits or great big door step sized scones oozing thick melting butter and fruity jams. No I will simply turn my back on them (who am I kidding?).

A bit of a stern year ahead, but I do plan to have fun on the cheap in my own weird and wonderful way. And the reason for this adopted frugal lifestyle? I’m building my own beautiful little eco house, off the grid and as self sufficient as I can humanly make it!!

 

Slainte

 

Linda xx

An Indie Christmas

This year I’ve resolved to stay away from the High Street and not do any Christmas shopping in big name stores like M&S, Debenhams etc. Instead all my Chrissie pressies will either be handmade by me or bought from independent craft artists and sellers. I’d rather support a small business where the goods are well made and unique in style. For instance I’ve just bought something via a fellow Brit crafter – (can’t say at the moment what it is as the recipient of the pressie reads this blog and it’ll spoil the surprise). It arrived beautifully wrapped with a lovely little card. A small business owner who obviously takes pride in her work. Beats the pants off a cardboard box and miles of paper stuffed inside from Amazon, who I am sure will be sending me a get well card this year as I haven’t spent a single penny with them.

 

 

As a recipient of handmade gifts I love that the maker has thought enough of me to make something that he or she knows I will like. You can’t get that on the High Street. Actually you can’t even get parking on the High Street these days. My local council’s parking charges are so ridiculously high that they are doing real damage to small trader businesses.

 

So many family owned shops have disappeared over the last year. All those unusual quirky little shops gone for good and what we have left are the stores selling uniformity. Yuck, what a nightmare! As Ray Davies once sang “Here come the people in grey”

 

From the film “Metropolis - 1927”

So why give your local little one man or woman band business a try this Christmas and support someone’s dream. It’ll be a much more rewarding experience than filling the coffers of the Fat Cat Factory owners who don’t give a damn about products or people.

 

Slainte

 

Linda xxx

Watch the Birdie

Yesterday I took myself off to our local RSPB reserve for a bit of a wander with my bins. I’m impressed with myself cos I normally forget them and leave them on the kitchen counter. I think I might have picked the wrong day to go a visiting as there were hordes of people on the reserve – could have been a club outing. Probably about 5% of them were actually interested in the wildlife. I cannot for the life of me work out how groups of people all walking around a wildlife sensitive area with all the latest scopes and bins hanging off their bodies and gabbling at the tops of their voices expect to see any birds at all.
Or going to the other extreme when you are on your own and about to pass another single person when that person will put their head down or look into the distance and totally ignore you (I was dressed normally and wasn’t wearing anything scary – honest). Weird – I always give a cheery hello to everyone I pass. Had two of those yesterday.
Anyway despite the gabblers I managed to see some beautiful Teal wildfowl, loads of Canada Geese and Lapwing.

Pic Courtesy of UK Nature Blog

The deer were out in full force as well

But the icing on the cake was the sighting of a Peregrine falcon sitting high up in a tree overlooking the wetlands. She’s been a resident at the reserve for a couple of years now and this is her favourite spot. Sadly I didn’t have my long lens with me, so had to be content with looking at her with my bins.

Of all the birds of prey photos I’ve taken over the years this Peregrine pic is my favourite. That hooked beak is lethal!

Off now to make the tea and get cleared up before Amazing Spaces comes on – steady now Ilona!!!!

Slainte

Linda xx