Susie, The Dorchester Cat

Susie the Dorchester Cat is still enjoying life owning all the shops in town. Her Facebook group has grown and she has sold many postcards in support of Feral Cat Care here in Dorset. The image above is drawn from a gorgeous photo shared in the group, and thanks to a local cafe you can now have this printed on a mug. There’s even more merch available and more to come as well as a really nice cup of coffee while you are there. 

Get in touch with the cafe to order your Susie Merch. And get excited. There will soon be something amazing on that shelf! 

https://craftycuppa.uk/

Plush from books - Ellie!

A pair of paws balance on a book, while I needle sculpt their toes. This book is perfect for anyone who’s about to expand their family, or recently has. It’s relatable for anyone who ever suddenly found themselves a big sister or brother to be. As a three year old I can recall the chaos in the house starting the night my sister was born at home, and snippets of memories like tip-toeing past a pram, or the poo landing on the carpet, one nappy change! Oops! 

I was excited to receive an early copy of Since The Baby Came  by my good friend Kathleen Long Bostrom, and illustrated by Janet Samuel, because I knew I was going to be making a plush from this lovely story, told in poems. The family is adorable, and I’m sure my sister and I both identify with the children's gorgeous curly hair. However, I made their dog. 

This is Ellie. Can you see the E on her collar? The awesome publishers offered to include Kathleen’s dog, when they discovered the sad loss of the real life Ellie, and sent photographs to Janet. Just like in the story Ellie has a sweet tag on her collar with the letter E. I carefully embroidered this on thick felt. I also enjoyed making those expressive ears. 

Soon I will send plush Ellie across the pond, and I will miss her company. I like dogs a lot and I love that our protagonist has a faithful companion in every spread. There are 16 kinds of poems in the book, with helpful back-matter explaining and naming each kind. I usually do learn from each picture book I read, but there was a lot I didn’t know about poetry. Maybe I’ll write in rhyme for a change. Haha. 

Ellie dog is posing on a quilt I made in my 20s from an idea I had when I was 16. I shaded her ears with chalk and set them with a short spray of fixative. I think about the artist at work on the illustrations when I do things like this. Most of all I love Ellie’s toes and her gentle smile. She also has wired legs and tail so she can enjoy many author-visits and stand firm. I hope you enjoyed meeting her, I know I did. 

Two drawings and a chunky rat

An ink and pencil sketch I made recently from a photograph seen on Facebook. I doodled this spontaneously and gifted it, this lovely girl was saved from the meat trade. 

This detailed pencil drawing became a Christmas present, to the now grown up girl sitting with her beloved dog. Sadly in 2022 he crossed the rainbow bridge. 

And a rat made from a chunky cardigan and some denim off cuts that I gifted to a friend who is a self confessed lab rat, taking part in medical research. I think the rats face turned out well, his body is rather rotund. 

The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane

I began making dolls inspired by the book in 2010. A teacher was looking for someone in the Etsy Plush Team to recreate the china doll completely in fabric so the children could put on a play. And recently I was approached by someone looking for a miracle, with a deadline and no dolls. 

And as the person making them some dolls had become unable to make them, I said yes I would give it a go. 

Despite being shattered, because they all left my hands today, I also feel really accomplished and a little sad. There’s something about Edward and this was the first time I made some of the outfits shown here. 

My daughter Mary really wanted to see him as Suzanna and I couldn’t wait to make Malone, using a felted woolly jumper so that it won’t fray on stage. 

I wonder if I will get to see any pictures of these guys performing? Well in any case, it’s lovely to still be making Edwards after 11 years. 

Have you got one of my dolls?  

#50forfifty - 50 mouse countdown!

My entry for #50PreciousWords made me want to make some more mice. Mice are quite nice. 

Now add on the fact that on May 12 this year, I hit 50. Eeek. So I have decided to make some mice, and count down to the big day and help fund some free places here, on the Court Confidence course,  for those that really need it. I have done this course and attended court without representation.

So back to the mice, I’ll start making and sharing one mouse a day in a little over a weeks time. Both here in the blog and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You just need to get in touch if you would like to adopt one of them. #50forfifty ...

Safari Monkey puppet

Remember this good news? 

We have a publication date! This definitely makes it feel more real. 

Covid-Lockdown-House ...

Just before I decided it really was time to clear the windows I nipped out with my camera to show you the lockdown art as December dawned. The two front bedroom windows have underpants gnomes, a rat, the Child, and the two ferrets we were waiting to get. 

Mary’s front window we filled with cows, can you spot the different artists? Now though, Daisy loves cows just as much! 

The bathroom became an aquarium of sorts, the odd one out being one of Mary’s ‘Adopt Me’ pets in a ‘rocket stroller. This lot had just begun to take on condensation. Probably apt! 

We still have our flock of six chickens and we love them so the porch became a chicken homage during one of our Friday-home-educating-enrichment-hour sessions. The glorious South Park styled chicks and hen were created by Daisy. 

The living room did have a huge sun before we did all the insects. But it fell down early on and it looked like a huge pizza anyway! 

Of course the first thing we put on the window was a big rainbow. We group painted it with all the correct colours and we saw a few people cheered by it in the early days. Once I had to peal it back to rescue a trapped insect, and it fell down and somehow got put back wonky. The orange seems to have been hit the most by the full sun shining on all those glorious days. 

Probably time to clean the windows and get festive? 

Illustrator Me

Here are four sample illustrations from a book I’ve been working on ....

The pictures have been those of friends and their children, or indeed people who became friends when I asked them about drawing and why I was doing it. 

These first two are just photographs from my phone’s camera. 

And these second two are scanned and cleaned up, but low res just for the internet. 

The most cocoa-pops I’ve even seen on the floor. I think I would have yelled something not take a photo like my friend, but I’m very glad she did. This is a rather good ‘naughty’ picture. 

I have other manuscripts, and illustrations swimming round my head and so perhaps I should get on... lockdown isn’t over yet. Covid19 isn’t beaten. 

Pet portraits in time for Christmas

These two were a little challenging because sadly the pets were no longer with us so I had limited subject matter to work with. The dog, Moppet (such a lovely name), was worked from a computer print out that had been sent as a Christmas Card. 

This sweet little Gemma is the spitting image of our cat, Topsy. We still have Topsy, when she cares to come home and we are so proud that she’s reached 7 years! 

Wasps are Ok!

So this year thanks to Covid19 I’ve done a lot more drawing, and also, surprisingly, writing. Well, let’s be honest, this blog hasn’t seen a lot more action this year! And I read, articles online, library books, and I read about wasps.

I started writing about wasps because of that thing. That no one likes wasps. 

And I discovered that ecologically speaking, we do actually need them. I really wanted to get hold of one to draw too. 

We saw some soggy dead wasps on our dog walks, but I didn’t fancy picking any of those up and taking one home. But then one day I saw a shadow on my bedroom curtain and Wopsy became a guest of ours for a little under 24 hours. 

Even after a feed of honey Wopsy couldn’t fly so we just kept her in. 

Then I got to see how beautiful this pollinator and hunter of pests actually is. 

And I didn’t realise that wasps are fluffy. Saving all my photos of Wopsy here for reference. 

The Roy Dog, a Portland tail ....

Have you heard about The Roy Dog? If not I am sure you are about to have a bit of a Google! Legend tells of a black dog who lives in a cave ...

He has one eye that glows red and one that glows green, but I’ve omitted the eyes that dangle in his shaggy mane, those of his victims! 

After all, this is a birthday gift for a young lass. She requested not to have all those! 

Roy dog has a vintage nose, plundered from my sewing chest. It looks nice and glossy in the evening sun on Portland. 

In Tout Quarry my plush version met the Portland stone version who’s been there for quite some time. 

He’s now waiting for socially distanced collection, in my gallery. 

I’ll miss him as he’s quite a character, much more than the real Roy-dog I suspect. I had fun deciding just how much of him to make shaggy to balance out that lovely mane, and I think he’s turned out quite well, with some needled sculpting of the face and paws. I’m looking forward to an unboxing, maybe on TikTok if I’m lucky! 

Made a teddy ferret ...

I have wanted to make a teddy-ferret or a ferret doll for some time .... 

He was inspired by a Facebook post, ‘Found, Golden Ferret’, and I knew I had just the mohair!

Of course pink eyes would be perfect but my 6mm beads were too small so I used these amazing metallic ones ...



Then I took him outside to play! And he was adopted almost immediately ....

Lockdown round up ...

We recently helped a ferret called Bear move home from Portland to just north of my children’s school. It was lovely to meet him and smell him too. He is a full ferret and mine are usually spayed girls. Mike thought he was fantastic. He was certainly very sweet a few of us got licked! 

We have continued a tradition of Enrichment every Friday afternoon when we grab a huge piece of paper and create something else for the windows. It’s a pity we live in a cul-de-sac it’s looking really cheerful and I’ve noticed one delivery man remark on the art so that was nice. 

Since losing Salt the Ferret on the 9th of April we have been watching some ferrets grow. Seven of these ten babies are girls and we will be choosing two to come and stay at The Raggy Rat house. Only a few more weeks to go now. 

Each Sunday millions tune into online services, and some may spot my prayer flags adding thought and colour to the sermon. This flag is one of my favourites and yes that’s my tiny size three foot. 

Sadly Topsy seems to have gone awol. She often pops off somewhere for a jolly but it’s been just over a week, so I’ve started asking around. We hope she is back tonight. She will be seven this year! Keep smiling xxx