a collaboration ....

These lovely plastic buttons were given to daisy by one of our home ed friends, Mya. Daisy asked me for some fabric and i showed her how to sew on buttons with a few stitches in one place. I think she did really well!

Spitfire, the mini-lamb ...

Spring time is just around the corner ... and with it this years batch of lambs, which made me want to paint a picture of one of last springs cutest!



Spitfire, photographed by Ivan. I began to get to work with coloured pencils and a few pastel sticks, remembering a little runt that died suddenly, last September.



and suddenly, there he was, with his distinctive ears glowing in the sunshine!



and Daisy was inspired to recreate Spitfire too, and here is he being sniffed by three rats!

Rat-Hat ... the one with ears!

This hat is too big for me ...



This hat is too boring ...



This hat makes me look like fun ...



How do you wear yours?

Bear got a new face ...

He came from a loft, in a stash of crafting goodies, and he had no face, so i gave him one. We think it suits him, and he joins in our games!

birds of a kind ....

one of our chickenpants, by matty ...



and a lovely barn owl, by daisy ...



we have been doing some thank you letters, they do a line of writing and draw some lovely pictures!

This time it's personal ...

I am rather partial to a spot of hand embroidery on a Saturday afternoon ...



and i made these 2 very special lables, and some thank you cards to go with them ...



special button-jointed rats for a special thank you ... for working hard to save abandoned pet rats and help them find new homes!

Edward Tulane rides a pony!

he is enjoying out recently freecycled rocking horse - we were lucky with him, don't you think?



Edward also likes my kitchen chair, as he can see the whole table, not just the cloth!

Russian Christmas swap goodies ....

i love secret santa - look at these lovely Tyler Poncho Toys we received here in raggy rat land ...



my children also wanted to hold and meet the new friends ...



pose with them - awesome colour!



and of course, talk them up too - we love our Tyler Poncho Toys! Thanks Tyler xxx

What's in the tent?

one of my goals (never mind new-years resolutions!) was to get to grips with video, and be able to do something with my footage, and so after a few VIMEO tutorials, I have become a much better woman ...



Wasn't that a pip?

Something Big Went Up ....

...in the garden ...



And Mr Raggy Rat was a very happy man ...

blog a dog ...

Here is a pretty dog, a little scruffy in the fur department, but then so am I!



she is made from some lovely vintage faux fur, lovely to work with as it has a woven back and such a nice colour too ...



I embroidered her nose and mouth and added a sweet-heart cotton bandanna, left over from all my miniature plush heart sewing ... It matches her ear lining. There are no wires in her ears, I shaped them with thread!



and you can see her at the Valentine's Fayre, Dorchester, February 13th for any last minute gifts and tea and music ...



look out for pretty hearts hanging around Dorchester to advertise the event!

tarts again!

i made another batch of oinion tarts, i am so happy to have found a fun way to use up lots of onions, and feed the children an interesting lunch at the same time ...

first fry your onions gently, not to brown them, in a nice oil, and after about half an hour cover with water and simmer till is disappears. This brings out the sweet taste of the onions ...



i read a lot of recipes on line, before deciding on a method, but I tend to cook by feel! The pasty is a short crust, I don't bother to sieve or rest in the fridge (the pastry, not me!)but this is a batch using 4oz flour and 2oz fat ...

here is a try of tarts ready for the hot oven ...



and baked, the hot steamy tarts, now I feel hungry all over again!

is it ground-hog day yet?

there are groundhogs in the plush team shop - and one of them is mine!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/plushteam?section_id=7681850

remember this frock?

no doubt you remember this amazing find!



I took it to kitty's house, along with a dear squishy soft toy version of her hamster, Ethel!



And we brought back these super girls ...



which my littlest girls LOVE! Thank you for a nice visit Kitty, the chocolate cookies are especially well remembered!

Flowers for Abby ...

Flowers is trotting over to Abby's house now ...

and so we said goodbye to our tiger ....

here brought to life by my good friend ....

Have fun, tiger !

We love Swaps!

did I ever tell you we love swaps? we do a lot of trading ... Daisy really likes our latest acquisition too!



Check out my friend's other sculptural animals at http://www.etsy.com/shop/zfla, and enjoy your visit xxxx

Here are some ................................Tiger Hands!

But why the Big Paws? .....

Happy New Year!

It's very Small ye are tonight Hamish? Ye'll have had your tea then?