Tired Dogs

My mother asked me to put up photos of my dogs, Peggy Sue and Digger for a neighbour's daughter to see. We have just been to the local park and had a long walk round and up the estuary and they came back absolutely black with mud etc.  I washed them down and they are now sitting in the sun drying off.

Christmas Day was great with phone/skype calls from all my children, Mother and Bert. I was very lucky to get vouchers for Rainbow Silks and an online stamp company, so when they arrive (snow permitting) I'll be able to indulge my passion for buying creative goodies.

I made quilted book bags for my 3 granddaughters and they seem to be quite a success, Edith filled hers with a bananmilk bottle and other goodies and put it under her new pram. However, they were derived from a reference in a medievel novel when in the 1100's monks and clerics were the only ones taught to read and write and books were copied, bound and kept in leather satchels and hung on pegs in a librarium. I put a matching journal in Lucy's and little books in Edith and Nancy's bags to start them off.

It seems really strange that here in Devon the sun is shining and it is lovely and warm, when other counties further north are having cold and wintry weather and my Mother has been practically snowbound; not that I'm complaining, mind.

Surpise!

This past 4 weeks have been so busy, getting ready for Christmas, doing a doll course to make a present for my daughter's birthday and making sure I had all my presents together for my trips north and south.

and here she is, my interpretation of Cindee Moyer's The Fairy Catcher. Stephanie was most annoyed when I chose the Raven for the course she bought me for my birthday in September, little knowing I had booked both courses to make a surprise for her. She now has the doll and seems very pleased with it. It is not an easy doll to make and I had trouble with the face and extended arm. When I pushed a dowel rod through the arm to go into the body the sleeve split so I had to make the whole dress and arms again as I had used up all that particular fabric. Also the face ended up with two black eyes because I didn't spray it with hair spray to stop the ink leaking into the face fabric. However, it came together eventually and I got it into the post in time.

Bert was with me that week, but he was so anaemic and fragile he had to stay an extra 3 days before attempting the journey home (as if I minded!) and he spent another week recovering from the journey back too. However, he seems to be OK now and is more active. He gets very frustrated with himself when he feels so down and weak - just like all men - and it is hard to keep his spirits up.

I spent 10 days overall going to Plymouth to deliver Gareth and Ed's presents and then back 1 day then up to Cheshire to deliver Mother's presents. It has taken 2 days to recover myself and get going again at home. Now I have (hopefully) time to play with all the paints and papers that have been waiting for me to get to them and dive into the ideas I have been storing up in my brain. I wonder if other crafters find the same problem, time to concentrate just on the goodies piled on their worksurface?