Whovian, Me?

We Doctor Who fans are called Whovians. Well that’s what they say on the Facebook Group I’m a member of.
I’ve been a bit lapsed recently on my Whovian posts as I’m still trying to get my head around Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor. Apparently Peter Capaldi’s agent told him he’d got the part of the 12th Doctor by phoning him and saying “Hello Doctor”
I have to say so far that David Tennant still remains my favourite Doctor. I love this You Tube clip of him with Catherine Tate

                                    The Doctor’s greatest foe is not The Master but Lauren Cooper!

Peter Capaldi wasn’t my first choice for the 12th Doctor, I was hoping for Richard Armitage or Benedict Cumberbatch but I suppose after the success of The Hobbit films and Sherlock the BBC couldn’t afford them. I love these connections –Peter Capaldi has appeared in the Doctor Who spin off Torchwood and with David Tennant in the Doctor Who episode ‘The Fires of Pompeii’. Steven Moffat currently writes for Doctor Who and with Mark Gatiss writes Sherlock which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman who also star in The Hobbit. I’m sure if Steven Moffat had had the time he could have whipped up a quick screenplay for The Hobbit. That man is such a talented writer that even his autograph would be a bestseller!

Slàinte Mhath xxx

The Wind in the Willows

Just recently I’ve rediscovered my love of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I was around 8 when I discovered it the first time round. The brilliant illustrations of Arthur Rackham were the first thing that attracted me to the book. A talking Badger, Mole, Rat and Toad – totally appealed to my childhood fantasies! My favourite character was Badger, he always seemed so wise and all knowing. Not at all like Toad who always seemed to be totally scatter brained and a bit of a cross cross-dresser (remember the washerwoman episode?)
I’ve done a bit of searching around regarding the illustrations for the book. There have been over 50 different illustrators down the years. These are my favourites -

Arthur Rackham

Ernest Shepard

Martin Aitchison

Tasha Tudor

Michael Hague

A big regret a couple of weeks ago was finding a vintage copy of the book in London and not buying it! What was I thinking! Still I’m sure I’ll find another copy somewhere and it’ll be the only thing I’ll happily break my New Year Resolutions for. Did you know there’s currently a  First Edition on sale at Abe Books for £12,500!!

Over the years I’ve managed to take a few photographs of these cute protagonists and these are two of my favourites. This is Ratty who in real life is a Water Vole. In the second pic if you look carefully you’ll see a small droplet of water on the end of Ratty’s nose!





I wonder how these dear little animals have fared during the recent flooding of so many riverbanks here in the UK.

So this is an animal themed post once again. I’m sure I must be the long lost love child of Sir David Attenborough or at least distantly related to Chris Packham. I actually met Chris Packham once when he judged my photo of a Blue duck the winner in a WWT photo comp. Not only did I like him because he picked my photo he was genuinely funny and had some great tales to tell about the naughty nature of the Blue duck. Apparently one in a territorial fit of rage grabbed his trouser leg and wouldn’t let go. I’m sure there are a few women also eager to grab his trouser leg!




Maybe I should add ‘Meet Sir David Attenborough’ to my list of goals for 2014.  I’d probably let myself down if I met him and mumble or dribble or giggle uncontrollably or curtsey. If anyone reading this could get me into his holy presence I would be very grateful and I promise I would take Social Skills lessons prior to the meet! I wonder if he’d like one of my animal tea cosies????

Slàinte Mhath xxx

Retail Colour Therapy

 

I prescribed my self a giant dose of colour saturation today. I’m fed up with grey skies, muddy grass and beige borders. So I took myself off to the local garden centre for a coffee, free wifi and floral eye candy and I wasn’t disappointed. The Polyanthus were amazing, so vibrant.

 

 

 

And then I found these two little chaps in the corner. So adorable.

 

 

And these were so tempting, but I resisted. I loved the Bunny peeking out.

 

I’ve also been making my own colour therapy blanket. I chose two main colours for the flowers – Fuchsia and Orange. Totally clashing but they make my eyes happy.

 

 

I’ve made all the squares and now I’m in the making up process. I’ll edge it in Fuchsia and Orange as well. More pics to come when it’s finished!

 

Slàinte Mhath xxx

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