Summer Days :)

Hello girls - how are you, in fine fettle I hope? They say 'time flies when you are having fun' and oh boy, we certainly have had some of that these holidays :-)) I have not had time really, to call into blogland, as my feet have hardly touched the ground this summer. We have had many, many days out and trips away and seen some beautiful, interesting, exciting and varied places. We also had gorgeous, ah ha , yes gorgeous weather, right here in the UK, whilst we spent our main holiday time up in the NE of Scotland. It was a very welcome change after being drenched most every day at some point. My summer attire on an almost daily basis has been..... a snazzy new Pakamac that looks the shape of a supercool parka with a fish-tail back bit, a see through pink brolly and my lime green crocs (excellent for puddle splashing with 2 children) with my vintage look flowery bag, my aim was to look bright and cheerful even if the weather was not !!

I shall not bombard you with lots of holiday snaps (mainly because I kept forgetting to take my camera duhhh) but I did want to share a couple, this first one is actually a pretty famous hill right near where I live. It is called Roseberry Topping and is the funny shaped bump you can see in the middle distance. I love this view that is from Clay Bank carpark on the road to Bilsdale.

As usual I had big intentions to get 'lots' of stitching done, I have done something that might surprise you all and I shall show you on my next posting but make sure you are warned to sit down with a cup of tea ready for shock on that occasion LOL ;-))

In the mean time.....I have hummed and haa'd about showing you this other thing I made as coincidentally there are a few Tilda creations about just now! All I can say is we all have very good taste (us Tilda fans) and I have enjoyed seeing or should I say meeting ;-) various Bunnies and bears on blogs so decided you might like to meet my Florence too? Named after my Great Grandmother as she (the bunny) seemed to be very gentile and elegant, very much a lady :-)) I had the best fun creating my bunny, even more so with just a binding foot for the machine!! Those who have a machine will know this foot only has one side and is rubbish for going round corners with !! I guess my pesky DS or DD must have decided my straight sewing foot was a good one to pinch and hide as it is missing!! I did manage as you can see but what a fiddle on it was!! I got the fabrics in Durham and York and they go with my colours perfectly :-)) I changed the basic design of the clothes even though this was a bit ambitious but I wanted them to remove and I wanted to see the back of the little trousers. Every seam on the clothing is finished (no raw edges) as I would do for something I would wear so that it can be washed in the future and not drop to bits .

I found the little nose the most difficult part of all, too high she looked snooty and too low a bit unhappy, on my third time of trying I was happy to create a cute button nose. I used black beads for her eyes as it is for decoration , not a childs toy. I put a silk bow on the hat and used silk ribbon a little bit wider, for the ties on the apron. I was going to make her some flip flops and still will at some point but I just ran out of time and had to put my clutter away so we could have our dining room back.

I put one of the H.M (my real initials) vintage initial ribbon labels (that I got from my friend Colette) on the bottom of a trouser leg (top right piccy) and if you sneak a peek down her trousers (shhhh we won't tell her ;-) you can see she has a little bunny tail as no self respecting bunny should be without (bottom left piccy). This is the small rabbit/bunny from the 'Tilda' Spring book that must have been bought ooohh about 1 or 2 years ago . I have all my stock in for making the cute Tilda witch from the same book ready for Halloween including the crinkly wooly hair - we might see a few of these flying about the blogs too ? My DD has the Tilda cat on order from me - her very favourite one and DS wants the Tilda dog, so... I will do them when I get the new machine foot :-))

Being the summer I had my Birthday and thought I would show you this years cake my Mum (Veronica) made for me this time, I am very clever for 3 years old, am I not ? ;-)) Here too are the pretty flowers I got, roses and lillies :-))

I saw something a bit like this next creation in a shop by 'East of India', you might know of them? I decided to make my own with a few variations....I stuffed it completely with French Lavender that I got on my holiday in Wales from a fab French shop in Llandeilo. I added the lace to the roof to be the ridge tiles and a little silk bow also I made a different chinmey and hanger. I coffee dyed the whole thing (after stitching , before stuffing). It is pretty twee really , I suppose..... but sure smells good :-))

On the subject of Home Sweet Home I just have to share with you this picture I took in the pouring rain as you can see of some lucky persons 'Home Sweet Home' at a lovely place called Thornton Le Dale.

And what do we have here?? New shoes for DD and DS a sure sign that summer is about over, back to school and normality again this week ready for sitting stitching again on an evening as the nights close in :-))
Hope you enjoyed your summer too xx