Birds and kitties :-)

While browsing the web last week I found a wonderful UK maker of tiny birds , Sadie of Tiny Tails miniatures . TWO days after she delivered the parcel to the mail , it arrived here ! Two delightful bluetits , one equally delightful bullfinch.
I put them on Bluebell cottage for the pics . They are hard to photograph due to their size and I am too plain lazy to start fighting with a stand for the camera with my poor little one hand, so if you will allow for the poor quality of the pics, here goes :

She also had  an adorable little piece of 5 kitties, called 5 o'clock tea :

Guess what ? My cat lady got that one....

Soldiering on :-)

After my recent adventure, I am still in shackles (hope to get free of them in 2 weeks). Of course, no mini-ing possible with left paddle pretty useless.

So I decided to buy a clamp and a frame for stitching, to use instead of my left hand. Bought it from Sewandso, an online shop in the UK , this was the stand I chose.
A friend helped me sewing the gauze into some cotton and setting up the frame , yesterday another friend came by and stretched the gauze a bit further. So now I am able to stitch , even if slowly ! This was where I left off inAugust :

and this is where I am now :-)

 (if you look very well, you can see that I am working on a background, the small flowers are more than I can handle for now. still , that background will keep me busy enough for the time being )

Emmm, oh , well...

I have been off for a couple weeks again, the idea being that I would be on holidays , do lots of walking , stitching if possible and come home quite refreshed .

Well, it did not quite work out that way. I did go on holidays , but the on second day I  fell and crashed into my left upper arm bone, which was , basically , fragmented. An operation wasn't possible (medically, that is, you can trust Swiss orthopedists, believe me !), so there was nothing for it but immobilizing me for what is going to be-hopefully- 6 weeks and only then take up repairing jobs-which can be done in Amsterdam.

Me and car were (separately) repatriated and I am home again ; unfortunately , although I can at least use my left hand, the rest is not really fit for use , so no mini-ing for some time to come. Although I am looking into clamp-stands or frames for stitching....:)

here is the view that I had from my hospital bed. Not bad, let's be honest..If you have ever lain in a Dutch hospital or even visited and looked out of the window, this is BETTER !
As you can see, I took this pic just before it got dark.the view is into the Inn valley, village : Samedan; Pontresina to the left , St Moritz to the right (both not visible here)

Here I am again...

Finally !

I did not really blog anything during last weeks , as I did not have much to blog about! But I am working on a Nicola Mascall Aubusson carpet, which is spectacular , or will be when finished, but we have  a long way to go yet. Never made so many mistakes in my life ( and no, it is not her fault, entirely mine !) . But , gritting my teeth , I have finally made some headway  and here we go :

OK, I agree, it is not much to look at yet, but you'd better believe it : this took a lot of effort and time ! Still, I only started in earnest( this was the second go, I won't bore you with the story of my first attempt, which went hopelessly wrong) about 6 weeks ago.So I trust it will look better as time goes by.

Weather has improved ,as well, so my two little friends hang out on the balcony when they can. You did not think this is my chair , hm??

Note that belly little Tiffany has developed ??? Oh dear....

WOW...!!!!!!

This week I received three vases I had ordered from Marsha Hedrick waaayyy back in time.OK, OK , not that long, about 5 months or so :-).  When you see the pic you will understand why it takes "some work"to make them ( this clever cookie makes her own porcelain and then handpaints it, as well!)  and also why I was quite prepared to wait!
Well, I was content to wait anyway; since I have been able to live without them for many years, there is no reson to hurry anyone. Here is the pic Marsha published on FB, I nicked it and cut it down as there was another vase there, which was not  mine. Will put on another pic later in time, when I have found the really perfect places for them.

                         
                                                          FANTABULOUS !!!!!!

The Rheda fair!!

Yesterday I went around to Rheda ( and back) with Elga and Josje. It was a  great fair, although several sellers told me it was very quiet. On Sundays fairs have often been quiet ,but the all over tendency seems to get a bit downwards , too.
Still, there were many great sellers/artisans and we had a lovely time.

I fetched a nice (WHAT am I saying?) , correct : a WONDERFUL Dobby doll , made for me by Jain Squires ("Master has given him his sock! Dobby is free!")

And Chris Malcolmson led me from the straight and narrow again with this beautiful chest

                               I bought a Tantalus and a cat from Karon Cunningham.
                               I think the cat was made by Literature in Miniature

Some VERY fine sewing thingies by Jurgen Engel ( sorry, no website)

                                   a pair of working scissors by Edmund Drescher , no website  sorry

                             And some nice bottles of wine from Artofmini 

                                                     Pieces of wonderful thin silk

some foods by Georgia Marfels , no rats this time, but not to worry , we will meet again! Tee hee.

Elga is staying here for a few days and she brought me this lovely Shaker table, made by herself , she is such a great woodworker. I will post a better one when it has a home.

,

And Winnie ( who we met for lunch , together with her husband) gave me this little fossilized `desert rose`  

In between I did a lot of shopping and picked up this wonderful papercutting by Engelhardt Schmitt. yes, that is not laser , it is miniature and handcut with scissors. he does not do mail order , btw , so if you get greedy you either need to visit the Rheda fair or try to get me grab something for you ...

Just bits of news

Today Sharon de Vries and her friend Erica Gros came to have coffee here ( if I think of it , I will have a  pic of them at Rheda , forgot about it , of course). Sharon brought me this wonderful small baby bib

 See how small it is and how very well knitted ? I could NEVER EVER do this !!!!
Thank you Sharon !!!


Erica brought me a  loverly fern kit and explained to me how to do it. I will post more extensively about that later , but it is really well done!!


In the meantime I ripped my Alice doll apart( poor gal) , the arms were nor right, but if those blessed arms are going to stay in place now, I think they are going to work .
And I hung and laid down several of Georgia Marfels's creations in this cupboard that I made ages ago and never stocked up. As you can see, some more shopping is indicated , so on my Rheda list, too  . That list is filling up by now.
For the fishies I made a waterbasin from a plastic box, hardly an original idea , but what is a  gel to do,eh ? I used clear drying Aleene's gel this time, hope it will keep allright. I am not fond of resin.