the end ...

   

  did you know it is eight years since i started tippity tapping away here on my shiny happy place. i went way back and found my first post. i really truly had no idea what i was doing, nor where i was going and those were perhaps the happiest times of my rambling blogging journey. and it is without doubt, if it were not for my blog and you dearest readers i would not have done so many wonderful things, met so many wonderful peachy dearies and grown in so many wonderful ways. i spent many happy times, regaling whoever may happen to wish to read, clan moments, critter moments, crafty moments, thrifting moments and any other moments that i chose to share. and it goes without saying, there have been many other moments i did not share. some pants, some peachy.

gosh this does sound like it is turning into a farewell swan song, which is not my intention, for this is written not with sadness but happiness in my heart. i am happy to be leaving this lovely shiny place just as it is, for anyone who may care to visit or stumble upon me. however i have decided it is time to retire my blogging hat, carefully placing it back in my kitchen drawer and to continue treading the path i have started out upon in recent times. you will find me happily woolly tattooing and making little knits in preparation for my online 'atelier of sorts for small beings & grown~ups' opening later in the year. i will of course still be found over on facebook as and when nitty gritty things and photos need to be shared and you will find me daily in my happy place over on instagram. in a few months i have high hopes my new shiny online home will be all set up, a place for folks to visit and see what handmade wares i have for sale, all made slowly, with beautiful yarns and vintage materials. in my head i am seeing it as a happy heirloom collection of sorts and in my hands, those thoughts are slowly but surely coming together

and so before i close the final floral curtain upon this rambling and at times, bumbling stage, can i just say, i have been nothing but humbled by the kindness of others who came through the life i shared for the past 8 years. you shared my laughter, you shared my joy, you shared my pain and you shared my tears. how truly lucky am i in life to have had all this and more. and if this is it, if this is as good as it gets, then that is a~okay with me. for i have been blessed, and i will never feel quite so loved again and okay to be me, as the times i rambled on here and you choose to listen. 

thank you, thank you kindly dearest readers, old ones, new ones, furry ones and fruity cake ones. it may look like the end, but i assure you, it is not it truly really is not. 

the end 

this is just the beginning ...

dottie and daughter ...

truth be told the past 10 days have past in a blur of being Florence Nightingale. 

my cogs are all foggy and i cannot string a sentence together without forgetting mid sentence what i am on about nor my reason for beginning such a sentence in the first place.

before Our Meg had surgery, we dabbled together on our first collaborative piece. 

she wove most magically, i stitched a woolly tattoo and then together we twiddled and fiddled until we said "enough, there will be no more twiddling and fiddling" 

i am beyond happy to have worked with her... 

i am hopeful this will be the start of something but only time will tell for we have a pond between us. for now i will work on enjoying this moment when our two crafty souls became one and not spend my time wishing for more. 

so much easier said then done.

florence and the meg ...

 at the moment i am florence nightingale, 

i rustled around in the kitchen drawer for my bonnet and it is pinned quite precariously upon my bonce for the foreseeable future. Our #1 had surgery yesterday and is now home recovering, however we managed to squeeze in a few days of crafting before the op. 

it was muchly lovely to pottle together talking yarny things and then coming home to sit side by side whilst Our Meg happily wove on her homemade loom and i woolly tattoo~ed.

for now though, i will pottle on my own... 

little short pottles around the shed whilst paying close attention to my girl and working on future makes. i am also working on other thrilling nitty gritty things which may cause me to be a little quieter than my usual quiet self here. 

what, what ...

Our #1 comes home to play today ~ for a whole live long month! 

Little Olive has found something to live for ~ kibble in homemade bone broth appears to be the miracle cure for a broken little doggie's heart

i blinged a pair of handknit 'small being' mitts i bought from a maker in december ~ they are destined for my 'someday a granny' trousseau 

woolly tassels and woolly tattoos are where my crafty cogs are at ~ if this is to be the path which has opened up for me, i am more than happy to take a pottle

in March i am going on my holidays ~ aside from Old Blighty i will be visiting Latvia and Estonia. i am besides myself with anticipation of the creativity i will find on my travels

i have decided to knit a sweater ~ having knit a cardigan, i am thinking a sweater will be a doddle, due to going around and around rather than back and forth. where fools rush in ...

for those who may have read my previous post on letting go and now fretting about no dottie angel frock pattern ~ please do not fret, it will be published in June, i cannot say who with or how until May, then with permission i will spill the beans. dottie angel frocks are still very much a part of who i am and where i am going, alongside of woolly tattoos and teaching again. 

i needed to make space in my head and my heart and my shed, for when i do that, magical things happen such as woolly tattoos. who knew i would be doing such a thing but because i made a small space for calm and contemplation when all around me and inside of me was chaos, woolly tattooing happened. it was for me a magical happening and for me to water it, sing to it, and nourish it, i needed to let a lot of dottie angel's past go. 

letting go ...

this past weekend i continued upon my path of magical tidying up forever and ever. i am quite sure some folks and dearies are thinking "ummm, have you noted Tif's magical tidying up forever and ever is actually taking her forever and ever?" and yes, on some days i am thinking the same thing. however let us be fair, i did take off two months due to clan and holiday interruptions in-between starting my magical tidying up forever and ever and then picking up where i had left off to continue upon my merry magical tidying up forever and ever path.

this weekend was a big, 'terribly big biggy bit' of magical tidying up forever and ever, for i was magically tidying up dottie angel. i have been working up to it for a while now, tip toeing around her, creating gigantic piles in one space and then closing the door to the point eventually no door could be closed and no room could be got into. last weekend, (not this past weekend) i went into said room and i sorted, i sorted like i had never sorted before and after 2 full days things were tidy, in organized chaos, but not magically tidied up forever and ever. i thought this would be enough. i told myself this would be enough but over the coming days my heart and my head told me otherwise

and thus, this weekend i went back into the room which held eight years of dottie angel and i set to with magically tidying up forever and ever. for i knew i had reached a point for me to move forward, i had to let go, and can i tell you, this was not a thing i decided upon a whim, this has been inside of me for a long time. i have been working up to it without even knowing it, but i know it now and awareness can be a magical thing. with the help of my man offering to take things away without questions asked, i let the past 8 years of dottie angel go. i kept very few creations which still give me joy when i see them, that connect me to a time which makes me happy, however the rest my man piled high into the back of the car and took to Goodwill. i felt it quite apt and surely most fitting dottie angel wares and other handmade goodness i have crafted over the years for our home should end up on the shelves of despair, to bring a little joy to another thrifty hunter going about their secondhand hunting day. a chance to be loved again, to find a bit of happy out in the world.

i would be telling a gigantic fib if i said it was an easy thing to do, for it was not, it took all my snoopy courage and some more. at one point i sat on the stairs with tears rolling down my cheeks, having my hand held from across the pond via text and Our #1. so many good peachy times, so many bad pants times from the past 8 years with dottie angel came flooding through as each and every creation, stitched from my heart was held in my hand for one last time. but can i also tell you dearest reader, never in all my days of dottie angel have i been so sure and i am positively beaming inside as i tippity tap this, for i have made space in my crafty cogs and my crafty heart ... i can see clearly again, no longer weighed down from the past. 

today i awoke, dottie angel still by my side. i noted, both of us a little wiser and both of us quite a bit lighter. 

when i let go of what i am, i become what i might by ~ Lao Tzu 

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 ...