THE REASON WHY . . .

Firstly, thank you to those that left me messages of sympathy for my loss of Tilly, still hurts, miss her little face first thing in the morning waiting to eat breakfast with me.

Secondly, I need to apologize for my long absence ~ I am still struggling with my health BIG time and facing some long-term conditions now.

The worst of these is having been diagnosed with diabetic peripheral neuropathy in my feet which causes me a lots of pain and a loss of sensation and so far I have not been able to tolerate any of the drugs used for the condition.

My eyesight is deteriorating due to diabetic retinopathy, I now have a hiatus hernia, I'm off to the cardiac ward shortly to find out what this silly heart of mine is up to (I'm suspecting it's broken due to Tilly leaving me!) and for the past 8 months I have had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both wrists which I will be having surgery on next Monday!

All of this = no stitching, knitting or sewing and the little I have done since Christmas has been poorly executed so have decided to give up for the time being.

  I'm so sorry it's depressing and miserable reading and this is the main reason I have stayed away from blogging land but when I received such supportive comments from losing Tilly, I realised I do have faithful and kind followers still out there.

Most of these followers have stuck with me right from the start of my time blogging and I truly thank you for being there xxx

I will be in stitches (literally) for 14 days after my surgery next week but as soon as I can I will take some photos of the bits and pieces I have managed to work on since last April and get back into the swing of things.

It can take up to 12 weeks before my hands will be fully functionable again so I will get lots of time to catch up with you all and see what you've all been up to!

Lastly, Oscar is doing so well and Monty is such a gentle dog and they seem to have bonded!  I leave the cage door open when he is indoors and Monty insists on laying by his cage and licking him at every opportunity and Oscar even brings a toy to him now to share . . .

Thanks for stopping by

Jane 

xxx

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

A BUSY BUNNY . . .

Just popping in quick to wish everyone a slightly belated Happy Easter ~ hope your Easter Sunday was a good one with lots of family festivities and a visit from the Easter bunny.

We had the grandparents over for the day yesterday and although an empty seat does bring some sadness it was still a nice day with lots of memories shared and everyone enjoying their meal and the company :)

I've been a busy bunny and have managed to stitch up the second part of the '12 Days of Christmas SAL' . . .

Loving this SAL and I'm pleased with this 2nd part ~ I love the white goose standing alongside Mother Night as she sprinkles snow around her

The Primitive Hare's description of this day reads:

27 December: 2nd Day of Berctha ~ The second day of Christmas is the MOTHER NIGHT.

A few words by John Matthew's book 'The Winter Solstice':

... another older figure known throughout Germany is Frau Holle but a better name for her is MOTHER OF CHRISTMAS.  Deriving from the ancient figure of the Mother Goddess, the feminine principle of deity, she was regarded as a bringer of fertility and justice ... she rode through the land during the 12 days dispensing gifts from a sleigh pulled by dogs.  The most famous story about Mother Holle is the folk tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.  Holle is also the ancient Goddess that brings snow in Winter.

Easter always means bunnies to me and deep down in 'that' pile, you know the one that you hear scream 'finish me' everytime you open the draw was a finish from March 2013 ~ Rosie the Rabbit . . .

Time for some Tilda fabric and some pink buttons to match her name and here she is . . .

Cute!

I finished the next one only yesterday before the family arrived.  It was a find on the internet and only showed the graph in black and white, I couldn't find it stitched anywhere to give a clue to colours so this is my offering . . .

a simple white border

with a brown hare leaping over spring grass

The corners on the graph were little squares but I changed them to hearts to match the fabric colour, again another Tilda one then added some pom pom trim for a decorative finish!

I'm pleased with these 2 finishes ~ nice pastel colours which will brighten up those gloomy days that sometimes just won't go away :(

and finally ~

a decision ~ tea towel or hare, tea towel or hare, tea towel or hare . . .

Tea Towel

NO NO NO

the Hare wins

double sided too so a choice of colour!

This is called Hester Hare and was a find in a local craft shop, the designer has several animals to choose from but the hare won the day, easy to sew but a real pain in the butt to stuff ~ those ears!

Finally ~ Thank you for your offering of names for my knitted bunny in my last post ~ all great names but how could I not choose Barb's choice 'Bobbins' ~ perfect, thanks Barb and thanks too for the lovely homemade Easter card you sent, cute bunnies!

Thanks for stopping by

{{{Hugs}}}

Jane

x

MY FIRST SAL AND A NEW BUNNY

Good afternoon blogging friends, Friday is here ~ Yippee! and I can't wait for the weekend.

A huge thank you for, yet again, your very supportive comments on the loss of another loved one ~ the funeral is next Friday 20th and the plans are going very well ~ I am very confident the service will be lovely with pretty Spring flowers and beautiful readings and hymns ~ this will definitely be a celebration of a lovely lady's life xxx

Can you believe I've signed up for my first ever SAL!!!

I've chosen to stitch The 12 Days of Christmas by The Primitive Hare ~ 12 ornaments based on one of the 12 magical days of Christmas, but not the days of the popular song instead the days of the ancient Solstice celebrations/traditions beginning with the 26th December.

The SAL started with the first download on the 25th January and I only joined up last week so am already playing catch-up with 2 to get stitched but here's the first one . . .

Twelve Days of Christmas: 1st day ~ Boxing Day

I thought I'd share with you The Primitive Hare's description of each day ~

26 December: 1st Day of Berctha ~ Berctha is an ancient mother of winter, an old hag, an old fairy, an old goddess ~ these 12 days include a bunch of ancient traditions and celebrations inspired by her and by old believes.

This day, Boxing Day, is also called the Day of the Wren and generally of animals.

From John Matthews' book 'The Winter Solstice' ~ "The themes of Boxing Day have to do with death and resurrection and animals."  Animals needed to be fed also during this day, that was a day of rest.

Berctha is not only a Mother of Winter, but a mother and guardian of animals.

This is the perfect day to cuddle your pets, feed wild birds ... find a connection with them.

Animals are bringers of joy and positive vibes.

Sounds silly but I'm really quite excited by it and the 25th of each month is already marked on the calender to remind me to download each new chart.  Rather than stitch them up as individual ornaments I have decided to stitch them as one big design and as each finish is 4.5" x 4.5" I am working with quite a big piece of linen! Hopefully this weekend I will get to grips with the 27th December and will be able to show you in my next blog post.

Apart from that I have nothing much else to show you in the stitching line so thought I'd share a new bunny with you instead.  He's not new new as I knitted him last Summer but as I was missing a lot last year I never got round to showing you . . .

Isn't he cute? 

 Quite a butch bunny so I insist on calling him a 'him' and like all my creations he has to be named ~ any ideas?  I'm waiting to move him to my sidebar with all the other bunnies but as he is still nameless, he'll have to wait!

I'm no expert at knitting but was pleased with his little jumper and the little heart ~ wouldn't mind a bigger version of this for myself!

His arms looked a bit idle I added a little string of cotton reels and some scissors ~ maybe this little extra will spark some ideas for a name?

I am looking forward to this weekend, it will be family time on Sunday and tomorrow an afternoon out hunting out some more bits and pieces for the new Craft Room, my rolls of sandpaper and tins of Chalk Paint are screaming to be used and now we finally have some warmth and sunshine it will be perfect weather for some upcycling!

Happy Weekend to everybody and to all English Mums I hope you are spoilt rotten on Mothering Sunday and have a lovely day of stitching.

Thanks for stopping by

{{{Hugs}}}

Jane

x