sewing by hand and mice

My lovely friend Melodie who shares the same birthday as me surprised me with this gorgeous house she made, she is so talented, it is made of felt and lovely beads, buttons and ribbons,

Look how delightful, the details are, so very clever, each flower is individually hand sewn and embroidered

when I took the lid off inside was treasures, threads in lovely colours and hand made felt things

A pin cushion doughnut, so good it looks edible, an ice cream cone with golden scissors inside and a cupcake needle case, ohhh so lovely.

What a thoughtful gift and so girly and pretty for me!! Thank you Melodie, you are one in a million x

This week we have been invaded by mice - again, I'm sure its because we live by a cemetery, this happens every year, most of the street get them and the exterminators van is seen parked up at various houses, except ours that is, I did consider calling him out but after reading about the poison they use and how harmful it is to humans and obviously the mice, I was against it, so we use traps instead, at first the humane ones, but did you know you have to travel over 3 miles away to release them or they just come back, I didn't really fancy cycling with a trapped mouse over 3 miles everyday! So know we use the death traps, its so awful, I don't empty them my fella does, but this morning there was one in the kitchen that somehow had managed to drag itself across the floor, the younger boys saw it and the smallest cried and cried and kept saying to it, "I'm sorry little friend", it made me feel just awful. I had to explain why we can't have them in the house and it all sounded so lame after all the chats we have about looking after and protecting animals, and the way we live, not killing creatures. So we have been having a big tidy, cleaning out under everything and sorting through all my material stash that tends to spill out onto every room, I discovered lots of fabric I had forgotten about and made some new light and airy curtains for my sewing/dining/school room. I used some of the fabric Kazzy sent me on the swap too as it is so pretty, the photos have come out quite dark but when the sun shines they look so fresh and lovely

they are made from various patchwork squares of different sizes all sewn together haphazardly, trimmed with vintage lace.

Maybe on the next sunny day I will be able to get better pics to share, have a lovely week xx

Absence makes the heart grow fonder - I hope!!

Sorry for the dreadful delay in posting, I have been full of cold, busy painting, lots of other stuff which is a bit boring and trying to find a house to move too, anyway today is the day in between making dinner and tidying up for a thank you post. You see I took part in crafty helen's fabric swap

My swap partner was Kazzy from A mermaids purse who has a lovely blog and is a very talented illustrator, so can you imagine my delight when my parcel arrived wrapped in cath kidston wrapping paper and I opened it to find this beautiful fairy girl drawn onto fabric, Oh my saints and souls, I was thrilled. I'm half way through making it into a lamp shade, just perfect for my sewing corner.

I also received this lovely hand crafted textile card and this lovely tin which has a friends poem written on the lid, so lovely. Inside it had little lavender mice which are now hanging in my wardrobe to keep the moths at bay, some fabric cut out hearts and ribbons, wooden hearts too.

loads of delightful girly fabric, I'm loving this felt toadstool scene too, I have a cardie I may sew it onto.

Beautiful, THANK YOU KAZZY!!!!!!!