mary is a fantastic mimic ...

she can make singing sounds, and a 'blah blah blah', which sounds like me talking ...

copying trumps is good for a laugh, but the best thing of all is waving back at us!

and only 8 months old ... she will be sewing next ...

mrs pack rat resolves to do some dusting ...

and shes starting out with her sniney new feather duster in my etsy shop.
a few cob webs there since christmas i can tell you ... after that she needs to dust off my glue gun, so i can fiddle with a certain foam head ...

anyway, visit her in the etsy shop ... i wonder if anyone will want me to seperate her duster from her?

mama mia! drop in choir for mums ...

we went to sing today, mummy, daisy and matty ...
(and eat cake of course)
steve toook mary and gave her her early lunch

i realy enjoyed it, despite my resevations of choir-with-the-under-5s, and we will go back next week.

here is the link if you want to come too - http://www.johannawolff.co.uk/?page_id=5

logo used with kind permission - and we do look just like that :-)
and the cake was lovely !

a peep inside Rat and Mouse magazine ...

my lovely half page add - makes me feel very grown up!
i made it myself to required size, dpi etc ...



and some hand made rat and mouse goodies including my rats and mice of course!



it wont be long before we can see issue 2 - i have been looking at an edit of my 'make-and-do' article for your copy of rat and mouse magazine, click here...

caterpilly update - the empty cocoon !

and the moth ....

we like to paint ....

christmas came up in the conversation the other day, when steve and i were trying to explain a gardens and cafe that we like wasn't open much in the winter when its cold and dark. they remembered that we said cafes are closed on christmas day, and so ...

daisy said, thinking we were fools obviously, "christmas is finished now!"

and matty said, "christmas is gone upstairs. it's in the loft!"

i love their hair in these photos, we got a little rained on going to morrisons and daisy was pleased to see her curls apear in the rear veiw mirror!

swap dogs arrived !

our parcel from http://www.uniqart.blogspot.com/ arrived, how exciting. i swapped a giraffe for these little knitted dogs. i will never be able to knit, i cant knit scarf kits aimed at 7 year olds !



just the right size for little hands, mary-baby won't get hers untill she is no longer a suck-and-chew monster ...

caroline even gave us a basket that they can all sleep in together, so that was a nice surprise, i did think it was a hat at first, but only for a second, honest!

new kitty in the shop

this smiley cat is over in the etsy shop

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19765789

and was begun a long time ago when i went to hospital for surgery, well, it feels like a long time, anyway!

mouse fursuit commission ...

Snapshot_Mouse_015
Originally uploaded by peromyscus

this image shared on flickr will help me make the foam shape for the costume head. i have the skull part of the head made up in foam, and some cute ears of course, i just need to start building the mouse's face.

i am creating a balaclava head, gluing pieces of foam to it. it shouldnt be too bulky, i hope, and should have a cute lower jaw just like a real deer mouse.

swap giraffe is ready ...

this is a swap giraffe for caroline, of uniqart

http://uniqart.blogspot.com/2009/01/little-dogs-blue-potatoes.html

as you can see, she made something really nice for all my littlest girls, altho mary will beed to be a bit bigger before she gets hers (mary ate part of a magazine the girls left in reach last night!)

i have shared a picture of the giraffe's bottom, because caroline said it had really nice back legs ...

i am still a cheeky blogger !

these images are dorset for singing's concert for seb's odyssey ...
visit the offical choir site to see lots of new changes and photos appearing!
i am also the official choir blogger, and i started off well getting my blog to the web master before lunch on friday, at home with three under three!
(i got a lot done while they watched "sing and sign")

http://www.dorsetforsinging.co.uk/index.htm

you can see my sligtly edited work under NEW BLOG
(i must get a word count for next time)

hoping for an even bigger concert next time!
what shall i chose for a solo?

the fourth of the fourth .... (picture in the folder)

the fourth folder is called '000scanner' and looked like baby scans, but also contains 3 awful polaroids of when daisy and matty got measured for first shoes. they had been walking for 4 moths and winter was coming ...
was tempted to post 5th pic as well - but left it propper - the 5th is matty looking equaly non plussed !

so now, having been tagged by bunny (when life hands you scraps) im going to tag only 2 people, because i come and go from the pc all the time and sometimes cane fiddle with lists and html ...

both of these peoples blogs need a kick up the bum, so come on silver seams and molly chicken - show us your 4th of the 4th ! but only if its not rude
these are also two bloggers i admire, just in case they think i am too rude...

alteration, or, what on earth has she done to her living room?

this is the fox that flatters the crow and grabs the cheese, snap!
Daisy and Matty love this fable... i just did this for fun, no good reason at all, apart from perhaps livening up these old walls a bit!

this is the fox and the crow, and a strip of all the alphabet, both large and small letters, oh yes and a bag of lavender from Vicky and phoenix! sorry about the slanty photo, its hard to get a good shot, I'll have to remove the side wall of the house for that...

this is daisy, pointing to P for PETER (our friend), and i can see which letter she is asking about from across the room, where i might be feeding Mary-baby, or sewing...

this is the index for the HUGGLETS bear guide, both daisy and Matty started to point to all the letter headings, ie the letters themselves, saying 'whats that mummy?' and so off we went learning names of some letters. its a little hard to see sometimes which one they are pointing to, and they are so full of questions. now i can suggest they show me the letter on the wall.

Daisy is showing us her teddy magazine. she is good at talking to the camera, and Matty is not at all keen these days, she just wants to look at the pictures on the back screen!

of course i do realise now, than when i say, dont paint on the walls children, i'll have no leg to stand on will i?

Restoration ...

silky, an old bear in need of a good clean up, and some strategic repairs, who belongs to my friend sandra...

who once met with a terrible accident and got a burned foot.

whos stuffing was made of polystyrene balls or bits mixed with foam chips. it was very dirty and there seemed to be lots of it missing. silky was saggy.

i emptied silky partly through the leg hole and partly through the neck seam which had under gone several reapirs, some with black thread, and some with loops of invisible thread and trapping lots of the black dirt from inside silky bear. i turned the bear inside out and hoovered all the seams by hand, soft brush attachment, and on low suck - easy does it! and then i washed the bear in a cold solution of shampoo and a dot of ecover washing up liquid.

apart from this roundish hole where silky was burned, the fabric is in very good condition, lovely to work with and very sound. it is only silky's fur that has matted and worn away in places.

here is the patch i made to repair the leg. matty and daisy are impressed, it is also a scrap of silky, woven backed fabric that i once made a ginger cat out of.

now silky sits taller, and has a plump snout again, and less double chins and spare tyres! i do hope sandra is happy with my work on this dear old friend ...

time for old rat bags to retire ....

i got a couple of emails recently from an old customer, and she has agreed you can see the lovely comments she sent me, as well as this lovely picture of two very pretty pet rats ... it makes me smile to hear of rat bags out in the world having fun! what do your raggyrats get up to?


"You've made me two rat bags (or back packs). They are each 18 inches from the top of their heads to their toes. The first was all grey and I named her Violet; she is retired now and living in a bedroom with a guinea pig. The second is all brown; her name is Daisy and she has been working every day for several years. It's time for her to retire.

I can't tell you what a great reaction I get where ever I go with Daisy. My favorite was a construction worker in Chicago who yelled at me "Does the big rat talk?"; I said no she doesn't talk. And he replied "Damn! I always wanted to talk to a big rat." Daisy just makes people happy.

I can't imagine having 3 children under 3. I work at a children's museum and I have
a lot of respect for parents of young children - it requires a so much work and a zen
like attitude.

I've included a picture of two of my rats (George Eliot and Kelsey). Could you make a rat bag that looks like Kelsey (the one on the right)?
I'm a huge fan of your work

Margaret"

a gift arrived, for a new baby boy ...

pop over to tantehilde's blog, link below, its not me who had a baby boy, but dear hilde, and i hurried to try and get a gift to her even tho it was christmas time and my family was ill.

i dont make presents for new babys untill they are actually born, i am funny like that!

i have also stolen hilde's pic of the doggery-dog, as in all the fluffles i forgot to take one!
http://www.tantehilde.be/wrdprss/?p=150

hilde makes really great dolls and toys, is very imaginative and crafty, and has 5 gorgeous children, her son has even made some wonderful softies too.

daisy's picture of mummy !

daisy's picture of mummy !
Originally uploaded by RaggyRat

you must click through to flickr ,to see what daisy described when she was making the drawing ... !

i love watching the girls draw ...

i get asked a lot now if the girls are going to preschool ...

this was one of their christmas presents ... not from mummy and daddy tho...mummy did scribble on the box!

four in one place!

Mary likes to do scrunchy faces and funny breathing at the moment.
did you watch little dorrit? Steve is calling Mary Panks, much to daisy' and Matty's disgust!

Gina the giraffe shown to scale on right of pic.

a raspberry giraffe

a raspberry giraffe
Originally uploaded by RaggyRat

the last animal of 2008 ....

gina is now rehomed and is made from a vintage cord skirt, that has a bold pattern round the hem, making great legs for this giraffe.

i have enough left for one more like gina, and enough fabric for one like the two i made before christmas, if anyone would like one?