RAINBOW BRIDGE

My precious little Tilly, who has fought so well since her illness last February, no longer has to battle with pain and is now peaceful, happy and warm at Rainbow Bridge.

So many of you have followed my life with my dear little bunnies, Tilly and Oscar, so I thought it only right to let you know that I made the difficult decision at the weekend and she peacefully went to sleep in my arms with a whisper in her ear to go to Rainbow Bridge,  find Buttons and wait for me . . . . . 

I am heartbroken, she was such a big part of my life and the loss hurts so much.  Oscar sits and waits in the corner of his cage, thankfully he is eating and responding to us so I pray he will learn to cope with the loss, as will I.

I don't know why she had to be taken???  Such a gentle, affectionate rabbit, full of character and a joy to watch and have in my life, so unfair!

LOVE YOU TILLY ~ ALWAYS xxx

GOOD NEWS ALL ROUND

Well it's good news so far for Tilly and Oscar ~ we're now 2 weeks through the 4 week course of medication and Tilly remains stable and Oscar fully fit!  Tilly still has her head tilt but we had been warned that that might stay and hopefully she'll learn to cope with it, certainly at the moment these two little bunnies are full of life and sensing Spring is on the doorstep ~ thank you all for your lovely comments, thoughts and prayers xxx

Good news for me too as I saw the Orthopaedic Surgeon on Monday night and my foot is making good progress.  I am still having some pain and swelling underneath the foot which may take some time to improve so I am now waiting to see another Specialist who can make me an orthosis so I can gradually transfer from the air cast boot to a normal shoe ~ nearly a Happy Dance!!!

And .... even more good news ~ I actually have 2 finishes to show you!

That's quite an achievement to me after my poor offering of 3 last year!

They are 2 more Mill Hill Santa's . . .

Holly & Ivy Santa

Lapland Santa

With the one I finished in December I think they will make a nice trio on the tree next Christmas, it's hard to see the beads sparkling in a photo but they are really pretty when the light catches them.

Our promise of snow here in the South of the UK has still not happened, we have the odd flurry and it settles on the roof and car tops for a little while but doesn't hang around for long

so disappointing ~ Monty's waiting so patiently  . . .

So whilst we sit and wait I've started my next stitch and at the moment it has about as much snow as we have had . . .

A Beautiful Dream

This is my 2nd attempt on this design as the first one was using the DMC colours listed on the chart and the result was really dull colours and not too my taste so whilst the air turned slightly blue as I unpicked the 2 middle houses a 2nd attempt began and as shown above it's with my choice of hand-dyed threads!

I'm trying to keep it as Christmassy as possible so lots of Christmas reds and the greens are my choice for the trees, the fabric is as suggested ~ what a brilliant fabric ~ just imagine stitching all that falling snow!

Tomorrow night the Great British Sewing Bee is starting its 3rd series, love this show, 10 contestants whittled down each week to the final 3 and along the way showing us some fantastic (some not) skills and ideas on their sewing machines ~ this will definitely be a me-time with a Do Not Disturb Sign on the door!

Thank you for stopping by

Stay warm if you have the white stuff and if you have lots of it could you send me just a little bit!

{{{Hugs)))

Jane

x

A WAITING GAME

My little bunny Tilly is sick and it's a waiting game to see if she can recover :(

Last Thursday we brought her in for the night from her outdoor hutch and her head was tilted to one side, I honestly thought she had had a stroke but she could still hop and was happy to eat and be petted that evening.  DS and I took her to the vets the next day where she was diagnosed with a condition that effects 52% of healthy pet rabbits in the UK, it's  related to their immune system and can cause head tilt, paralysis of the back legs, tremors and renal failure :(

We have started oral treatment immediately which will continue for the next 28 days but the next 7 days will determine the start of a recovery or deterioration ~ no deterioration yet, still a head tilt which does effect her balance but still eating, still drinking and still my little bundle of cuddles.

Our worries are doubled as Oscar is at risk too so he is taking the medication as well but thankfully as yet no signs!

Love my pets, love my little Tilly and can't bear the thought of losing her ~ please say a little prayer for her xxx

{{{Hugs}}}

Jane

x

EASTER = BUNNIES

Little Nutbrown Hare spotted a tadpole in a pool.

It was a tiny tadpole, as wriggly as could be.

'It will grow up to be a frog' said Big Nutbrown Hare.

'Like that frog over there?'

'Just the same as that one,' said Big Nutbrown Hare.

~~~oOo~~~

Easter  and Sunshine today ~ we are being spoilt!

Talking of which, I had the most lovely surprise this week sitting on my doorstep . . .

My dear blogging friend Barb gifted me this absolutely gorgeous bunny mug, choccie eggs and Easter card

It's by the company Two Bad Mice who do the most sweetest illustrations of bunnies ~ this one is called 'Cloud Watching' ~ some very chilled bunnies there I think!

This little fellow is on the back of the mug ~ something's got his nose twitching?

I was thrilled to bits with my gift, really touched at Barb's kindness.  We are both keeping our fingers crossed for good news this coming week, Barb let me know as soon as you get yours and I will do the same!  You know how much this meant to me ~ Hugs xxx

I've collected a  few other cards from this company which always make me smile when I look at them . . .

This is just so Tilly and Oscar!

This is us isn't it blogging friends?  Putting the world to rights with our girlie chats!

A new Hare sitting on the mantlepiece ~ found this on the High Street, couldn't resist!

And another unexpected prezzie ~ this one's from DH who had only gone out to get a loaf of bread up the village but spotted these in a shop on the way ~ too cute!

So it's a bunny overload for me this Easter but thought I should finish this post with the real thing 

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Thanks for stopping by
xxx

GOOD AND BAD PROGRESS

Well, let's get the 'bad' progress out of the way first . . .

Thank you to everyone who left me get well wishes on my last post, unfortunately silly me let the cold go on too long and put off going to the Docs so last weekend it turned into a nasty chest infection and being both asthmatic and diabetic this was not really good news!  I've been on antibiotics and steroids since and it seems to be a very slow and long process to getting well again.  I still don't have much voice to speak with and my breathing feels very hard work but I am actually dressed and up and about today and that feels like a BIG step in the right direction.

There is a funny side to it all though ~ with my voice as it is I can do a brilliant impression of Ron Weasley when his voice was breaking in The Chamber of Secrets and a lovely gift of beautiful flowers from DH and the kids made my breathing even worse so they had to go outside and I can only see them through the french doors in the Dining Room!!!

 I hate posting dreary, miserable news so let's crack on with some 'good' progress ~ Christmas Patches is stitching up a treat and I'm really, really enjoying it . . .

This has really been the only thing I've felt comfortable doing at the moment ~ I can wheeze in time with each stitch!  I have nearly finished Santa himself then it will be his sack of toys, a teddy bear at his feet, the lovely heart, berry and pine needle border and finally, did I mention? every bit of this design is back-stitched!  I don't mind back-stitching so I'm quite looking forward to seeing Santa coming to life!

Finally, here's a picture of Tilly impersonating me and how I feel most mornings . . .

Her little paw and nose was twitching like mad when I took this photo ~ I'm guessing Mr. McGregor's garden might be in her dreams!!!

Thanks for stopping by

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx

CHRISTMAS KINDNESS

Well, finally normality returns to our house and DH and gang are all back to work, college and school so albeit a little belated ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My own start to 2012 has so far been 2 weeks laundry from Florida, re-stocking the larder, fridges and freezer and a visit to the Doctor yesterday with a toe infection ~ mmmmmmmmmmmmm! good job when I came back there were 3 little parcels waiting to cheer me up . . .

Shell from 'The Raspberry Rabbits' sent me this gorgeous bunny ornament ~isn't it cute?

I've decided this is not one for packing away so it' not seen until the following Christmas so it's hanging from my daylight lamp so I can see it all year round and think of Shell's adorable bunnies ~ Lady Hannah and Sir Walter Harrington ~ who very kindly included a pack of dried banana chips for my duo ~ thank you!

Annette from 'Annette's Pieces' handcrafted 30 of these lovely little heart felt ornaments and I was one of the lucky ones to receive one ~ the perfect colours for me, cream with red stars, it matches my kitchen decor so guess what? this one's staying out all year round too!

and finally Cath from 'The Stitchin' Chicken' sent me this sweet little trio ~ a hand-knitted stocking, a beaded scissor fob and, as always in my house, a much needed pair of crafting scissors!

Thank you to all three of you for your kindness and for thinking of me ~ I love all my gifts and they are all very special to me xxx

I'm having a sort out later today of the already over-flowing stash cupboard, there's literally NO room for my Florida additions so I'll post again shortly with an update on what I'm currently stitching and what's on the agenda for 2012.

Tilly and Oscar survived their Christmas Holiday too and are settled back home happy and content.

Last Christmas when we just had Tilly, we bought her a wicker house which she made a good start on demolising renovating straight away.  The addition of Oscar later in the year sped things up even quicker so this Christmas saw a new property arrive and as you can see work is already in progress.  Tilly is working on a window in the roof and Oscar is thinking a little more light downstairs would be helpful too ~ now can you 2 bunnies work on DH and tell him an addition of my OWN stitching room would be most appreciated!

OOOpps, just noticed I still have the Christmas countdown at the top of my Blog page ~ bah! humbug, I'm keeping it there so none of you forget it will be here again in 355 days, 10 hours ........

Thanks for stopping by

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx

from my Best Buddies . . .

 Merry Christmas 
Scrapbooking Ideas Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com

TWO LITTLE BUNNIES . . .

TILLY & OSCAR WOULD LIKE TO WISH YOU . . .

A

HAPPY

HALLOWEEN

xxx
Please note ~ Nobunny was hurt or distressed during the making of this post and are currently in full sleeping mode after consuming a large reward of carrots & watercress for their perfect posing!!!

'MUM! WE'RE GOING' . . . .

Thank you to everyone who responded to my last Post and has sent me back pieces of my missing mojo!!!

I think I'm basically just a bit down in the dumps at the moment with too many worrying things going on around me but that doesn't make a good post to read does it?  so here goes with my progress on 'Deck The Halls' snowman trio and it's really coming on rather well . . .

As you can see I'm still missing the final 'La' but will make a start on that this evening and then it will just need the wording underneath so a Happy Dance in sight I think!

Last weekend was the Knitting & Stitching Show at The Alexandra Place in London and not having been before I had been counting the days down on the calendar and itching to get there and have a nosy!

My mojo and self-esteem on a bit of a downer I went to bed the night before and thought I just can't be bothered and I get so fed up that I don't have any stitchy friends to go with, I'll go next time!

Well, that was until DS (aka Twin II) woke me up and said 'Mum, WE'RE going, get yourself ready, our train leaves in 1 hour and we're take a picnic!'

Bless him, how could I refuse?

The Palace and park grounds were beautiful (annoyingly I forgot to take my camera with me) but the goodies inside were even more beautiful and in the 4 hours we spent there we only got round half of the exhibitors!

'Hand-dyed' was the order of the day for me ~ when you have no needlecraft shop in existence around you and you have to order on-line the whole time, it's so difficult to choose hand-dyed fabrics and threads so this really was heaven for me . . . .  OK I'm rambling . . . . here's the stash . . . . 

100gsm hand-dyed cotton thread

Hand-dyed 28-count fabrics in Midnight ~ the one on the left is Brittney with silver flecks and the one on the right is Lugana ~ it's amazing how different the same dye looks on two different fabrics!

More hand-dyed sample pieces ~ perfect size for small ornaments

Hand-dyed felt squares in Autumn shades, 2 rustic FQs and ric-rac

Christmas Fat Quarters ~ I think the brown heart one will go well with the snowmen I'm stitching?

And because DS insisted ~ Augustus the Tortoise who comes as a kit and has rather a lot of buttons to sew on his shell when finished!!!

So all in all a lovely, lovely day and all down to my kind and very caring DS.

Thank you DS, I know it was a hard choice ~ needlecraft or football (not!) and we could count the number of men who were there on one hand and you were so outnumbered that we were even using the Men's Toilets BUT it was a special day for me and I've marked it on next year's calendar already so you don't forget !!!! xxx

Sunny days here in the UK but very chilly . . . 

Guess it's okay when you can snuggle up like this!

Thanks for stopping by ~ enjoy your weekend

HAPPY STITCHING

x x x

THE TRAVELLING PATTERN IS ON ITS WAY TO . . .

Thank you to everyone who left their name to become the next stitcher of the Travelling Pattern  ~ Lizzie*Kate's 'Life's A Stitch'.  

The next stitcher is . . .

KATE

http://katesflossbox.blogspot.com/

Welcome to The Stitcherhood Kate, if you can send me your address details I'll pop it in the post to you!

As soon as Kate has stitched it, it will need another home to travel to so keep an eye on her blog and she can keep you up-to-date.

Tuesday, 20th September was a day of memories for DH and I as we celebrated

We received some lovely cards, bouquets of flowers, bottles of wine and some very calorific chocolates.

Our plan was to have a celebratory day out and both being void of present ideas would choose something together BUT unfortunately Twin II fell ill the day before and was really quite poorly, so much so that our planned day out together was put on hold and we played at being nursemaids instead!

Our celebratory meal that evening was a take-away and a bottle of bubbly ~ now how's that for a bit of romance???  It didn't matter to me though ~ DH and my 3 lovely children around me, I don't need anymore ~ it's been a great 25 years so far and I look forward to the next 25.

Oh yes, I hadn't forgotten you two!

Stitching news ~ well, a bit frustrating really!  I was a naughty girl a little while back and gave in to some on-line Sales but, due to so many other people doing the same thing, shipping orders has been dreadfully slow and communications with up-dates even more so!

I finally blew a fuse yesterday and had a rant at the culprits and Hey Presto! emails appeared immediately and orders are now being processed and some of them actually shipped!

In the meantime while I impatiently patiently wait I have started this one . . .

This is 'Gather a Harvest' by Lizzie*Kate which I'm stitching on linen with Gentle Art Sampler threads.  I don't have the exact listed thread colours but as Autumn colours are my favourites I think I can do it justice with what I have in my box already.

Take care everyone!

Thanks for stopping by

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx

A BIRD OF HAPPINESS . . . .

I won't start this post with the words 'Good Afternoon' as the weather here is foul ~ strong gales and continual driving rain since yesterday hence I have spent the whole day indoors with the lights on to see !!!

So I think the words 'Happy Dance' would be more appropriate . . . .

I have just finished another item for http://pumpkinpatchandcobreastfund.blogspot.com/ silent auction which will take place later in the year.  My other stitch for this very worthy cause was bunnies (no shock there!) and keeping with a wildlife theme this time I chose this little birdie and finished him (or her) as an ornament . . . .

I think this is such a pretty design by Brooke's Books Publishing and is actually from their set of 12 'Bride's Tree Heirloom' ornaments, this is number 5 and is called 'Happiness'.

I've stitched him (yes, I've decided it's a him) on 28~count Sand Carolina Linen with the listed  DMC conversions, added small beads for the flowers and a silver 'made with love' charm at the bottom.  The backing fabric is a pale pink and white dot shown in the piccie above.

This is the chart I used . . . .

and if anyone is interested in also stitching it then I am happy to send it on (worldwide!) ~ just leave a comment on this post and should there be more than one interest, I will get Tilly and Oscar to pick a name next week!

That's if the pair of them ever decide to stop snoozing . . .

Oh! what a life!

My other W.I.P. (Sweet Little Berries)  is coming along a treat and I hope this week will see a finish.

I'm saving stitching the strawberries until last as I know the lovely rich red they are stitched in will give it the WOW factor . . .

Tomorrow DH and I are taking DD to Portsmouth to have a look at the Univeristy there ~ it's offering a course she's very interested in and although it's a year away before she begins Uni, applications have to be in by middle-October.  I feel guilty, as I suppose like all Mums, I'm being selfish and don't want her to be away from home but as this is a 3year course and some 2 hours away it will mean exactly that but hey! I know we all have to go through it and it's not as if it's the other side of the world (although I'm sure it will feel like it!)

Thanks for stopping by and a big hello and welcome to my new followers

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx