A new dress for Wanda...

They walked the whole night and all the next day too from morning till evening, but they did not get out of the forest, and were very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but two or three berries, which grew on the ground.
Hansel and Getel by the Brothers Grimm





There were many friends. Candles were blown out. Red wine, white wine, two blazing fires and at night, it rained. If you peeked through a window, you would have seen lots of people laughing. A brilliant weekend.

I'm very lucky to have a whole room where I can craft. Last week I cracked open the wonderful SOFTIES book by Therese Laskey and made this little guy...oh, can you spot the point where I should have switched from black cotton to white??? Hmmm. Facial features to come.

While I was sewing, I was listening to Craft Sanity on my mac. So much fun - Jennifer Ackerman-Hawyood has interviewed a whole raft of fab crafty peeps. I'm going to drop her an email and suggest this fantastic crafter

My inspiration wire is about to snap! Might be time for an overhaul.

Martha Stewart Living - June

I have a thing for bees. When Em and I were living in the country, we came this close to getting a hive.
For a couple of months we attented regular Bee Society Meetings (lots of tea and cake) with about 12 old blokes in a hall.

Eventually they invited us to to take part in a hands-on bee experience because one bloke needed to replace his queen.

It was amazing. I was really nervous when the day arrived. I grew up watching KILLER BEES OF AFRICA movies and naturally, the best advice I got was "don't show fear". Right.

We didn't wear full bee gear - just made sure everything was tucked in (lots of layers) and the blokes gave us big bee hats and glvoes.

The worst part was that initial shock of seeing them ALL - 1000s of teeming, buzzing, droning bodies fluttering and zooming. Brilliant.

The only moment that really threw me was when I casually turned around and asked Em if there were many bees on my back. The sharp in-take of air was a pretty strong indication...but it didn't totally freak me out. In the end we didn't get a hive but every time I see a bee, I get a little wistful.

Brrrr

It's snowing in Trentham...which is a reasonable distance from the city (and me) but I like knowing that pretty little town is turning white - if only for a few hours.

I found the pattern for these felt strawberries at Whip Up which will take you to the pattern here - Mr Monkeysuit

It's such an easy pattern - they almost make themselves but be warned - a crop of them will have you longing for warmer days and ice-cream.

Oh. And look who I found in the strawberry patch...

A lot has happened since my last post: let's see - oh I got shingles. Not pleasant. Spent ten days dragging myself from bed to couch and back again but almost feeling normal now. At least I got some reading done. I don't know how I missed it the first time round, but I got stuck into The Heart Garden by Janine Burke - a book about Sunday Reed and her home/gallery, Heide.

When the gloom lifted, Em and I went to Patchwork On Central Park - despite the name, it's in East Malvern, not New York. What a great shop. Okay. When I say "Em and I", I really mean ... Em went and got coffee while I drooled over trim and fabric. I knew I was really on the road to recovery when I made some Black Apple dolls. It's such a great, simple pattern. I'm saving these gals up for gifts. In the end I painted their faces instead of using floss. Talk about stress. I used a tiny brush and just a lick of paint and held my hand really, really still - worked out fine.
The eyes on the little Japanese mouse? bear? gave me the idea - so did Jam Fancy's beautiful dolls.