Foxy Fowler II

Hello or maybe it's time I said Merry Christmas! 

 Tis mighty dark and stormy here in the hills tonight. The tops of the fells have a dusting of snow...brrr.

Sneaky dog is curled up on the sofa next to me and I'm trying to resist my 3rd mincepie of the day.

 So... Let me introduce you to Foxy Fowler made with love and fluff.

 He's been designed for the lovely Rowena, to remind her of her Nan and a childhood memory of 'Foxy Fowler' a moth eaten fur stole! I'm sure you'd love the story but it's not my tale to tell unfortunately.

 He's not only a felted wool 'painting', I snipped and sewed him into a unique shoulder bag too. Lovely long handles as requested.

 And Autumnal shapes and colours.

Hmm I think he's spotted something interesting...

Maybe it's my Christmas cake, unwrapped for it's final 'feed' before the festivities!

Merry Christmas 

and

I look forward to seeing you all for a look back at 2013.

love Fi x

Violets and Pansies

 Hello my lovelies, I'm playing catch up with my posts again. I'm having trouble keeping up with life at the moment. It's travelling way too fast for me!

 This piece of felt (shown here at the start of the felting process) was a commission for the lovely Alison. She requested a small bag with a flap and a long strap to go across the body. And the theme was violets, pansies and anemones.

 So that's what I made her! 

 I have to admit I was stumped for a long time. 

Inspiration eventually came while out in the car one weekend. We passed a couple hill walking (not unusual here in the hills) and the lady was wearing a purple fleece and the gent was wearing bright blue trousers and there swinging back and forth between the two of them was a bright green plastic carrier bag (probably had their butties in it.) Any way that was all I needed, PING! 

Thank you Alison for being so patient with me and giving me room to wait for the creativity to flow.

 I think it was worth it.

Till next time

love Fi x

Bimbi's Birthday Commission

 Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzzy bee, buzzy bee.

Ah! How I long to hear a bumble bee whizzing past my ear instead of the icy wind. Today I'm sitting looking straight ahead out of the front room window at the blue sky and a snow covered hilltop. 

 back to our buzzy bees to remind us of summer.

Here they are in amongst the flowers in the meadow.

 This piece of embroidered felt was commissioned by the lovely Bimbi, for her birthday which as it happens is today.

She didn't quite know what she was getting as Hubby was buying it for her and I don't think she was allowed to see it until today.

Happy Birthday Bimbi!

I hope she liked it.

love Fi x

Edited to add,   YAY! She loves it! Take a look here to see Bimbi's beautiful photos.

Lolloping Along

Things here in the MarmaladeRose household are lolloping along at a rare old speed. Well for some of us they are! Others like to take things easy. Can you believe that after 3 unsuccessful attempts at getting on the sofa (she's not allowed) Sneaky Dog winged to go out of the room. I thought she need to go out for a wee but no, she took me over to the furry bean bag in the kitchen and rested her chin on it, meaning 'I want to lay on this!'

So here she is on what is now HER furry beanbag in prime location in front of the fire in the sitting room! Anything for a quiet life.Back to lolloping.
In 3 days time I'm taking part in my first ever craft fair, well actually it's a Vintage and Collectors Fair. By the way, you are all more than welcome. Hence the amount of frantic crafting and lack of blogging of late. (v. sorry)
Yes Friday is D day, and Saturday too as it's over 2 days.
This is a new fair and monthly booking have been made throughout the rest of the year.

So these are my little vintage style brooches; see everything I'm making has a vintage vibe as I don't have anything collectible to sell only my vintage embroidered linens. Is it all slotting into place now?

Good.

This one is my favourite.

Lots of hand stitching.

But back to lolloping...

Hmmmm can you smell it?

I've been making my own bread for the last 2 or 3 months the old fashioned way by hand.

Needless to say I've been eating most of it too.

With lots of real butter.

Well it would be a crime to put anything else on homemade bread wouldn't it!

Back to life lolloping along...

Sneaky dog knows when we're out on a walk she's not allowed through the squeeze gates before me but she just can't help herself. If only you could watch her trying back out of the tiny opening, turn on that narrow top step and then squeeze back past me coming up the steps, it's soooo funny.


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Back to life-a-lolloping

Special events have taken place.
Where does the time go?

#2 decorated the cake, would you believe her first time with the piping bag!
We think she did an excellent job. Hmmm...who's birthday is it next?

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loll op, loll op,

much stitching of... bunny ears
hoppity lollop.

More Springtime bags...

still with a vintage vibe.

limp, limp, lollop.

And lastly...

Hens... getting a bit to daring for their own good.

They've decided to wait in the porch at the back door for us now.

Luckily I spotted them just before I let Sneaky out!

Sneaky would like a hen!

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Yep, life's lolloping along at a rare old speed.

till next time.

fi x

Well I've started this year with real gusto my friends! (Lets hope I can keep it up, lol)

I'll apologise now for the speed with which I whizz you through this post but my little sewing machine has been so busy over the first 20 days of 2011 that I'm afraid we'll get behind with each other.

So without further ado lets get this post on the road...

Do you remember this beautiful piece of embroidery? I found it dirty and crumpled in a box that I bought from a charity shop labelled 'Granny Pilleys embroidery' well over a year ago.

Gorgeous isn't it?

At the moment there is a lack of comfy sofa cushions in the MarmaladeRose household due to me having a tizzy fit just before Christmas and chucking out our old worn and threadbare cushion covers. I did of course being the thrifty madam that I am, cut off the zippers and pass on the worn almost pancake flat inner pads to Sneaky Dog for her bed. (and very pleased she was with them too) So there has been a dearth of cushions on Wonderful Mans sofa which hasn't gone unnoticed I can tell you.

Being the good wifey that I am, I thriftily (I think we'll be seeing a lot of that word this year) rummage around in the numerous boxes stashed in the loft for said piece of fabric, I gave it a wash and hey presto it looked shipshape and shiny!(and smelt much better too!)

I did tremble a bit before I cut into the fabric. It's such a fine piece of embroidery that I did wonder whether or not I should put it in a picture frame and hang it on the wall. But then I reasoned with myself that textiles are meant to be touched, lets face it how many of us can walk through a department store without fingering a garment or two as we glide past.

Any how, I'm sure Granny Pilley would rather it was adorning one of Dunnelms finest feather cushion pads on Wonderful Mans sofa rather than scrunched up in the corner of a cardboard box never to see the light of day.

And this is the back, little green, velvet button loops finish it off.
I even managed to find 3 buttons in my stash with a wavy design on them to match the fabric.
(Apologies for the very poor light, but it's been crap here, it's like living in a hobbit hole!)

Next is a quilted patchwork cushion with a vintage vibe. This one is NOT on Wonderful Mans sofa but sitting prettily in my Folksy shop waiting for someone with infinite good taste and a space on their bed/chair for a some embroidered and patched scrummyness.

No attention has been spared here. The back fastens with 2 embroidered covered buttons and coloured lace button loops. I'm on a roll now girls.

I've also made 3 bunnies for my Folksy shop, this unusual soft green one has already hopped off to pastures new though. (Just as well really as I was very temped to keep her for myself, tut, tut!)

Another Springtime bag has been carefully completed, actually there have been 2, but the pretty pink one I made was snaffled up by a friend before I could even photograph it! This one started out as a tray cloth, but life had been hard on her and she had some pretty grotty tea stains on her bottom. OO er! Notice the hobbity lack of light again!

Talking of tea, (Good link eh? My posts aren't just thrown together you know.)
Talking of tea...

I've been making padded removable liners for these vintage embroidered tea cosies.

Put the kettle on Polly!

(Yes I know they are budgies but I couldn't think of anything for a budgie!)

Now this one IS mine!
(Note to self; Must start using a teapot.)

Phew! I think we're up to date now. Well actually we're not because I know I have something else up in the attic that's finished but it is awaiting some daylight to be photographed.

Anyway... Lastly, this is my work basket today.
Can you spy those little embellished hearts?

Yep! I know. I'm a big tease...

till next time

love fi x

Secret Christmas Makes.

My sentiments to you exactly!

I wish you all a very happy and healthy new year.

And of course a very creative one!

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Time to share my pre-Christmas secret makes, just so we're all up to date. We can't start the new year properly if we're all behind can we?

So firstly we have a simple Christmas Card for my parents. I find simple is usually best when it comes to Christmas cards.
A birthday card for my Dad.

Two pairs of fingerless mitts for a friend and another pair unfortunately not photographed for another dear friend. These for day wear...

and something a little more lacy for the evenings, lol. You can find the patterns here and here on Creativeyarns lovely blog.
Actually I really fancy a pair of the daytime ones in black for myself but since I've been going to crochet myself a new hat since last year and not done it, I don't think I'm likely to get around to mitts either, lol.

Something very special now.

One of my hand felted and machine embroidered handbags for my Aunty Michelles 50th birthday. Did I mention she was 50! lol.

If we have time I'll show a bit more of this bag in detail another day.

That's if you'd like to see it ;)

A second one this time with velvet trim this one was a Christmas gift. Wow my little fingers have been very busy this December.

And lastly a pretty housey key fob for a special neighbour who has lots of keys!
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So you see I've not really been neglecting you, I've just been very productive. Honest!

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And talking of productive I think I need to check up on my lovely '20 Minuters' before January is out and take stock of all their creativity over the last year.
Still such a lot to fit in.

love fi x