a smidgen of my week ...

my woolly tattoos and fleshy ones made it into the latest issue of UPPERCASE. some of you may know them as the publisher of my first book, i am positively thrilled to be in amongst their fine pages again.

after 8 years it would appear i am still not done with doilies. these appeared in our Granny Chic book, i just added a bit of woolly stitchery cos that is where my crafty cogs are these days

dyeing and dabbling with vintage linens, doilies and woolly yarn has me going down a path with heart and soul

surely little seeds from catalogs as beautiful as these will grow up to be most pefecto. i plan to water them whilst also watering happy seeds on the inside of me this spring

taking time to sort yarns for woolly tattooing with my itty bitty constant canine companion is rather a nice pastime in a busy day 

little olive earnt a gold sticky star for turning her blanket into a sleeping bag late last night. i am thinking she could show a boy scout a trick or two

this is a table runner folded in half and nailed to the wall, as one does. it found me several months ago and after a spell lying around on a cane chair, she has managed to make it onto the wall, now waiting patiently for woolly bling

be still my beating sacred heart. ah yes, the woolly tattoo i have had in my head for the longest time, finally makes an appearance on a thrifted sweater. plans to take commissions for woolly tattoos are a foot ... and to teach as well :)

happy happy weekend dearies, may it be filled with moments of watering those happy seeds, inside and out
x

tadah!!! the big comic relief crafternoon ...

i am beyond happy to be telling all about The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon today! 

i have known for quite some time about this most marvelous event and can i tell you it is really quite extraordinary how hard folks and dearies have been working for months behind the scenes to bring this brilliant idea together.

if you are in old blighty, today is the thee day (thursday 29th Jan) you can pottle on down to Sainsbury's to nab a copy of The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon. it will cost you a mere 7.99 (that is in pounds, i cannot find the pound sign on Colin the Computer, thus i must write it) and a whole whopping 5 pounds of that goes to Comic Relief! goodness, that is impressive! 

(note lots of these !!!!! are flying around my ramble today)

 it is a spiffy special edition of Mollie Makes featuring a brilliant line up of crafty folks and their crafty recipes. here is just a sprinkling of what to expect, Lucy of Attic 24, Flossie Teacakes, Jodie Carleton, Lynda Lewis from the Great British Sewing Bee (love love love that program), Oh No Rachio and dottie angel. some of the recipes include knitted beards, crochet red noses, exquisite knickers (i wonder if they will give my granny knickers a complex), diy craft themed dinner plates, spring themed brooches, wristwarmers and a handy dandy messenger sack for small beings to go about their day gathering whatnots along the way...

how peachy is this small being, i am thinking Rose looks particularly mischievous and i am wondering what she has been collecting in her bag to cause such a pesky smile.

yes how lucky am i, to have been invited to participate for such a worthy cause. can i tell you my crafty soul was warmed through and through, just to think no matter the fact i have been misplaced abroad for years, i am still a Brit in the eyes of others. 

inside the pages, you will also find a handy guide to running your own craft fair in aid of Comic Relief, filled with nitty gritty to answer all your questions. every crafter featured has donated their time and their recipe for others to make and in turn we are super hopeful you will raise lots of crafty cash to support fabby projects in the UK and Africa.

you can find out 'oh so muchly more' by following Ron and Audrey the guinea pigs 

(designed by Jodie Carleton) 

and others (all slighty bonkers or nutty fruitcakes) over at The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon on facebook and if you like to twitter about, you can find them also over here. i am thinking anything with a guinea pig related theme gets a two thumbs up from our mossy shed, or two paws up... or four

well my lovely readers, i am hopeful i have covered everything. i am hopeful if you didn't already know about this thrilling event you will now, and you will be rushing off to Sainsbury's to pick up a copy of The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon so you may get a little crafty with your crafty buddies at least twice a day before putting on a most marvelous craft fair in your neck of the woods.

any questions you may have, like "ummm, Tif, i do not live in old blighty but i would very muchly like to get hold of a copy and do some crafting to raise monies. how can i do so?" would be best asked over here i am thinking because actually i do not know that answer, although tis a very good question indeedy

WAIT!!! a little ping just went off in my cogs, that is so not true Tif, that is a big whopper, for there is a way for those not on the fair shores of old blighty to get hold of everything. yes indeedy! you can find The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon on iTunes too!! oh happy happy day! no tears of sorrow to be had around the globe, only tears of joy, for all can feel a little crafty now for a jolly good cause.

oh i do so hope you will join in, wherever you may live on this fair globe of ours...

 i am thinking it will truly be a most splendid thing to do and i am thinking, you are thinking it will be too.

a bit of bling ...

i am muchly happy this week as i was a little crafty. 

i have a ways to go with getting what is in my crafty cogs out but i am happy to be seeing progress even if it is slow.

i made another 'numptie or nice' hat, this time my intentions were for a bit of woolly tattoo blinging, thus i did not make a zizzy yarny combination but choose to keep it a smidgen more subdued

 next i will work on a small being size and then i am hopeful i will spend my time wisely making more in the weeks to come so i may pop them up for sale alongside of other handmade goodness and secondhand whatnots come early spring.

and just a little note, for those that asked if i would share the pattern for my 'numptie or nice' hat. i am truly delighted you should wish to make one too, however as i have plans to sell the finished product alas and alack, i am unable to share my design for the time being. thank you kindly for your understanding. 

have a peachy weekend dearies, tis going to be a good one, i can feel it in my old bones :)

a little thing becomes a big thing ...

yesterday issue 39 of little thing magazine plopped on our doormat. i say plopped but that is a lie. i say plopped because i wished to use the word because it made me smile. the truth of the matter is, no magazine did any kind of plopping at all on our doormat or otherwise. it was actually handed to me by a very nice delivery dearie whilst Our #4 held a little pesky hound back by her neckerchief.

i had forgotten, for it is quite easy to do so these days, however before the holidays Little Olive and Used Dog were interviewed! i am quite sure you will agree, tis not every day a doggie gets to be interviewed so it did cause quite a stir amongst their every day lives. which is even more tragic i should forget such a extra ordinary event for them

thus yesterday after the magazine did not plop on our doormat i was reminded, and when i opened the pages to where my peachy buddy Emily had written up her monthly or bi monthly column 

(i forget, see another thing i have forgotten despite remembering i asked such a question at one point)

 there for all the world to see, or those that look inside the pages of little thing magazine is Used Dog

alongside of Little Olive 

and Stanley the main man (who resides with Rachelle in old blighty).

the article mentions Rachelle's new spiffy dog book, which truly is worth a ganders if you are the sort to make your doggie buddy handmade goodness and then follows a Q & A with our constant canine companions. 

here is what Used Dog had to say 

(most thoughtfully translated by little thing magazine for those of us unable to read chinese)

and as i sit here today, feeling full to overflowing with love for my late friend, i know if Little Olive had been asked "what is your favourite big thing?" she would have answered without hesitation "my favourite big thing is Sunnie Star"

X

hip hip hippity hooray! ...

i get to play today ...

i did not think i would

but then i discovered less than ten minutes ago

i could!

already my cogs are whirring

what will it be?

will it be woolly tattoos?

will it be handy dandy project sacks?

will it be reading?

or will it be a little love and time

for a small doggie who has lost her light?

i am thinking if i am mindful

it could be all four

and some more ...

this and that etc ...

 this.

i spent the weekend tidying up the last of the leftovers from my clan's holiday visits. i then went on to tidy up the mountain of 'must sells' i have been gathering in recent months but failed epic-ly. i told myself that is okay, all in good time

and.

yesterday i went up to Tolt Yarn and Wool to play in their windows,

 i like playing in their windows and still can't quite believe they let me. 

tis tres tricky dicky to get a picture of the windows. from the outside you just get a reflection, from the inside you get mainly the high street traffic. i took some snap shots and sent them to my clan.

 their response

"ummm, mum, isn't that just our house in the window of the yarn shop". 

i ignored them and carried on believing it was a snippet of a studio/workspace/creative spot and not as i fear, what my clan said

that.

i am working on a second 'numptie or nice' hat, this time around i will go one step further and bling it out with a woolly tattoo. i would like to do some more blinging with woolly tattoos, i am hopeful sometime soon this will be the case. in the meantime i am playing with my cakes of yarn, i like them so muchly, 

i note my colour palette rarely waviers from the teals, mustards, greens, granny knicker pinks, charcoals and creams. i note this does not matter, for what matters is they make me think happy creative thoughts each and everytime i pass their yarny caked goodness

etc.

i have finished up several books and added another to my reading pile. i am learning about Buddhism at the moment, i knew a bit about it before but not to this degree. i am liking tres muchly what i am hearing, seeing and reading and in turn it has made a difference even further to how i am choosing to spend my day. i came across a saying last week when i had my nose in a book, 

'when i let go of what i am, i become what i might be' ~ Lao Tzu. 

i am thinking these are some very wise words indeedy and worthy of pondering.

'numptie or nice' ...

by hook or by crook i did it!

what has been inside my bonce for quite the whiles

came out through my hands and finished up upon my bonce.

a full circle kind of moment i am thinking.

i am rather liking how you can wear him as a bonnet

i am rather liking you can unbutton the top 

and up it pops to make him a pixie hat

i am rather liking how the black and cream 

created marly goodness.

i am rather liking the tassles of jolly peachy colours

i am rather liking the thought of this for small beings

as well as grown up ones

i have called my hat

'numptie or nice'

and now i shall sally forth with hook in hand

(no need for a crook)

 to make another

and another

and another ...

where for art thou week ...

this was not part of my cunning plan,

i am itching to get stitching

but alas you are running away from me.

i have asked you to slow down

i fear you are hard of hearing

thus i am now changing tactics

and talking most kindly to next week

in the hope she is a little more doddery

and slower to get going 

and so we begin again ...

 my shiny happy new year started again today!

i am most excited by this, today is the first day of the rest of my year

i am officially a book worm. 

i was never a book worm before but now i am. 

in the past few months i can be found more often than not with book in hand rather than yarn or fabric. gasp! i know! i cannot help myself, i am on a path of enlightened reading and my little cogs are just whirring with it all. i told my man i was going to put a list of the books i had read or was reading on my blog, (look right and ye will find) he said "ah like the facebook chappy?" i said "what what?" because i do not know these things and he does. he explained and i thought how interesting, obviously the facebook chappy is also becoming a book worm too. we cannot be alone, perhaps 2015 will be the year of the book worm for many.

i now sleep with a mountain of books by my side, waiting patiently for their turn to inspire and i fall asleep counting my blessings

*********

i note the sun is shining for the first time in quite the whiles and wonder if instead of being here inside sitting with colin the computer and an inbox, i might spend my time more wisely outdoors. little olive agrees and thus we will shortly take a stroll around the block, she can have a good old sniff at the bottom of the trees and i can have a good old ganders at the tops of the trees against the blue sky. 

little olive is doing a tremendously good job at getting on without her besty buddy. i must confess she has claimed a whole couch for a whole week to mourn under a whole blanket but things are looking up... 

in the past two days we have been on walks, we have chased a cat or two, we have eaten our food, we have played with toys, we have barked at random passing strangers in neon anoraks and we have watched a bit of telly. 

so i am thinking i am not the only one starting their new shiny year again. 

♥

the kindness of others ...

i am sick with grief

yet my heart is overflowing with gratitude

gratitude for the incredible gift that was given to us 

over 14 years ago by the way of a third hand dog.

in all the years since i have never come across

a being nor a critter 

who made it so easy to give and receive love

gratitude for the kindness of others,

in my inbox, on my facebook page

and my instagram feed.

truly how remarkable you all are

to have reminded me Used Dog

was loved from the four corners of the globe.

you have held my hand, 

you have wiped my tears from afar.

and for that i am thanking you kindly

gratitude for the way Used Dog left this world

with such incredible grace and dignity.

she will always be our miracle dog

and as we start to go about the coming days

slowly but surely

the gaping hole in our lives will be filled

but our hearts will never forget

the 7th member of our clan,

my constant canine companion.

Our Sunnie Star 

Used Dog ...

february 2000 ~ january 2015

'you were loved beyond measure'