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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Oliver, Cleo and Sparks


Oliver, Cleo and Sparks are all ready for their new home.  I've been working on them for quite some time and they're  finally ready to meet their new mommy!  Each has been a delight to make as I got to try out some new mohair that I recently purchased. 
Oliver is an Anime Panda made from luscious lemon and lime long pile mohair.  He wears a cream ruffle collar studded with tiny turquoise glass beads.  His pet fish is made from felt and I've embroidered a little design on his sides.  He has tiny glass bead eyes.
















For Cleo the Anime Kitten, I used a super soft cream and pink mohair.  She wears a pink and white ruffle collar with a pretty beaded flower.  Her bird pet is embroidered, made from felt and plumped with polyfil.
















Sparks the Anime Puppy wears a silver collar with tiny bells.  He is made from a pretty blue sparse mohair and a pale brown short pile mohair.  I made some cookies for him from felt and embroidery thread.

















A shot of my work in progress.  Sparks is waiting for his limbs to be sewn together in the background.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

With a Sad Heart

Sadness has touched our family.  Our beloved cat had to be put to sleep last week after battling a rare kidney disease.  When he was no more than a day old, we found him abandoned in our apartment's underground parking lot by his mother, a feral cat.  No matter how many times I tried to put him back in the nest she'd made inside a wooden box concealing some pipes, she would not have anything to do with him.  His little umbilical cord was still attatched...  So, we took him to the vet, got some kitten formula and I proceeded to bottle feed him every 2 hours for a number of weeks.  He loved that bottle so much!  When it came time to ween him, I added wet kitten food to the formula and fed it to him in that bottle too.  We had to replace the nipple every other day as his little teeth would tear it to shreds!  He grew into a wonderful companion, enjoying car rides, camping, walking on a leash and eating marshmellows.  He truly was a very special part of our family and knowing that there was no way to cure his medical problem, only prolong it, we did everything we could to help him live the best life he could.  Sadly, he couldn't fight it anymore.  We couldn't bear to watch him suffer just so we could keep him with us a while longer.  Making the decision to put him down was the hardest thing we've ever had to do, and we miss him terribly!

I couldn't stand being at home without his constant companionship, so on Saturday, we picked up our new baby, a sweet little ginger kitten.  He doesn't have a real name yet, though for now we call him Babycat.  He's helped to heal our hearts a bit and I know as time goes by, he'll be just as dear to us as his big brother was!


Isn't he the cutest thing??  He's quite fascinated by my dolls and is enjoying Willow's company here.


I managed to finish up some new Gingerbelles for my shop this weekend and also made the pattern available for those who'd like to make some of their own.  They're super easy to make and quite sweet once done.  I've used my favorite felt from http://www.feltorama.com/. to make them.  I cannot say enough about this wondeful felt and April's fantastic customer service!  Please check out the feature she did on my patterns!!

For the next while, I'll be finishing up a few custom orders I'm working on at the moment.  Here's a sneak peek of my new desk with my work in progress:)


  
Have a lovely week!
Shelly

Friday, January 14, 2011

I am Canadian! Finally.....

Today is the day I became a Canadian....  Very early this morning I took the oath of Citizenship and swore my allegiance to the Queen.  It only took me 23 years to do it!!



My family moved here from South Africa when I was 17.  Like any young girl on the brink of graduating from high school, I had begun to make plans for my future.  Plans that DID NOT include moving house and home to the other side of the world!!  I must admit that the whole process was quite daunting as we were not sure of the future that lay ahead for us all.  It took some time to settle in and more time to feel comfortable in our new surroundings.  But, we managed and eventually we all made new paths for ourselves and life went on.

 I am blessed to have a sweet, caring and supportive hubby and two talented boys - Jody will be 18 soon (how did that happen so quickly??) and Dylan is 16.  They are both wonderful singers and are very active in their school band and choirs.  Did I mention that I'm very proud of them?  I have a wonderful relationship with my dear mom and dad and of course my two sisters are really my best friends!  We are also lucky to have my sweet Nannykins with us still and though she is 93, she is a big part of our lives too.

I procrastinated for far too long about getting my citizenship!!  The rest of my family have been citizens for years, but for some reason, I never felt ready to let go of my roots.  I am ready now and it feels great to be Canadian!!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Stange things Afoot.....

My dear hubby has half a toothpick lodged deep inside his foot.  It's been in there since New Year's eve and is showing no signs of coming out anytime soon.  Now you're probably wondering how on earth it got there in the first place, so I'll tell you.  NEVER let your hubby vacuum the house with knitted slippers on!!  To make a long story short,  the poor guy has had to hobble along very uncomfortably for the last week and we're waiting to hear if he needs surgery to remove it.  

December was a strange month for us and I'm glad it's over!  Although we had a lovely Christmas and New Year, the rest of the month was best forgotten.  It started with our cat progressing to stage 3 of kidney failure and he's steadily getting worse as the days go by.  Then, I got a ticket for not wearing my seatbelt when in fact I was!  The officer was adamant that he did not see me wearing it as we drove past him, so he gave me a $168.00 fine.  I couldn't believe it as I always wear it and wouldn't even think of not putting it on!!  I will be contesting it for sure!!  And then, to top it off, both of my sisters were in car accidents (on seperate occassions) and their cars were totalled.  Thank heavens they were fine, just shaken up!  Oh, and I almost forgot, my dear Nannykins took a fall on Christmas day and ended up sore and bruised.  I'm hoping we're on to better things for 2011!!
Well, I've been busy, busy, busy!!  I've just finished some new Woodland Stufflings for my shop and they're finally ready for adoption.

 
The Woodland Stufflings include owls, foxes and deer.  I will be working on their patterns which will also be available in my shop.

Miss Francis and Basil the deeries.

Twiggy and Valentine Rose the foxes

 Llewellyn and Lady Loo are owls

And Harriet too.

Now that they're done, I'll be moving on to something new.  This time, I'm venturing into making Paper Dolls and I'm quite excited about them!  I've made a little template of a jointed doll that will serve as my guide for making others in that fashion.  I'm still working on the details for their outfits.  I'm also planning on doing traditional Paper Dolls with plenty of outfits, accessories and pets.

I'm looking forward to a creative year and hope you'll join me on my adventures with cloth, paper and clay!

Wishing you a beautiful 2011!!
Shelly
xo