Welcome to The Mouse House

I mentioned in my last post that I had booked onto a the lovely mouse making course, which takes place next week at my local craft shop but, being an impatient sort of person, I decided I would have a go at making one before the course so I could see how complicated they were and how they compare to the ones I learn how to make next week. My first attempt was made using felt from my stash and a very cute pattern from the lovely Bustle and Sew website. It's one of the most amazing sites I have found, full of gorgeous patterns and inspiration and I absolutely love getting my newsletter. You can find a link to the pin cushion mouse pdf here. 

I loved my first little mouse and I was inspired to make some more although, for my second one, I gave it a little bit of a tweak. I altered the pattern and made the nose a bit more pointy and instead of using felt, I made it from an old grey woolly jumper that I boil washed and tumble dried to turn it in to beautiful grey felt. I gave Mrs Mouse a cute little apron and I gave Mr Mouse a spiffing blue felt tie. I have to say I really do love making them, it makes a lovely change to hand sew things rather than being stuck in front of the sewing machine all the time. I have a feeling I am going to be making them quite a lot in the near future. I was running around all the charity shops like a mad thing yesterday trying to find grey woollen jumpers that I can shrink :-) ..... nothing new there actually, I'm a master at shrinking jumpers whether they need to be shrunk or not, it's why I buy all my clothes several sizes too big, because no matter what I do, I seem to shrink everything :-) I also nipped into the craft shop to have a sneak peek at the lovely mouse display that's advertising the course ..... I'm so looking forward to it. 

I've been making a few new things for my market stall. I made some more little wooden boats because, amazingly, I sold almost all the ones I made last time so I made 4 more and have cut out several more ready to paint at the weekend.

My jig-sawing is getting better and anyway, the boats are supposed to be rustic. I like the fact that they aren't all the same size and shape and the fabric bunting and sails are fraying a little at the edges.

I also made some cute little lavender dogs. It's nice to make different things, it gets quite tedious making the same thing over and over again.

The weather is now turning chilly here in Cornwall, it was 6 degrees this morning when I went off to the shops and when I got back, I lit a fire. I love my open fire, I love the way it makes the whole room feel cosy and now, I am going to sit and have a lovely cup of tea and get ready to watch The Great British Bake Off in about an hour. Bliss 

All Change

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything. It's been hectic here in Cornwall. My youngest daughter has gone to university and it's been chaotic with all the sorting and packing and deciding what to take and what to get rid of. Trips to the recycling centre and to various charity shops to donate things too goood to throw away and then a very long day last Sunday when we drove her up to Uni. A 500 mile round trip and 13 hours of travelling and room sorting and a fair few tears when we eventually said goodbye. I guess from now on it will be just me and the menagerie. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Sad mostly but happy that she seems to be enjoying it for the most part. My middle daughter is stayed with me til Thursday, which was lovely but now I'm on my own. Weird. It's not as if I haven't been on my own for a long time now but for some reason this feels different. Still, it doesn't do to mope and wallow so best get on with things. 

Quick ..... change the subject before I start to blub!!!

I got a rude awakening last week at the market when one of the stall holders unpacked her things and they actually included some Christmas things! This lady has been doing craft fairs and market stalls very successfully for a long time and loath as I am to admit it, I have to bow to her knowledge and experience and concede that maybe it's time to start making Christmas things for my stall as well. With this in mind, I nipped to the wood shop and grabbed some planks because I have an idea to make some little wooden Christmas trees. Quite rustic with distressed green paint and garden twine garlands tied with little red and green jingle bells. or maybe painted white with silver and gold bells and maybe a little wooden star on top. And Christmas stockings. I had planned to make some last year but never really got round to doing them. It kind of caught me on the hop last year so I'm starting now in order to get a jump on it this year.

I have also booked onto a really lovely course. It's only a one day course but it's to learn how to make some really cute little mice. Here is a link to the ladies facebook page. I can't wait. We will be making some of these cute little chaps. If you live anywhere near Liskeard there might be a couple of places left.

 Sooooo gorgeous :-) watch this space for some pictures from the course. 

Mutant Ninja Tomato Plants

This morning, as I was outside feeding the chickens and moving their run around the garden, I noticed what I thought were some very large weeds. Now this is not entirely unexpected as my garden is sort of overgrown again. I haven't really had time to mow the lawn in the last few weeks because I have been sewing like a maniac to keep up with the market stall. On closer inspection, it turned out that the "weeds" were not weeds at all, they were tomato plants. Three of them in fact and the only way I can think of them having appeared there is that the seeds must have been eaten my the chickens, who have a particular fondness for tomatoes and when the seeds had been pooped out, they have managed to germinate and grow into fine healthy plants!! They even have flowers on. I am totally amazed because the tomato plants I have been growing all summer are now almost finished but these wild, mutant ninja plants are flourishing. 

If you look closely, you can just see the flowers on this next picture ..... amazing!

The question now, is, what do I do with them? Is it possible to dig them up and keep on growing them or will they not produce anything because it's the wrong time of year? Have any of you had anything like this happen before? I have heard of people having rogue potato plants growing from a spud that has not been dug up and of course apple trees sprouting up from discarded apple cores but has anyone ever had tomato plants growing in weird and wonderful places??? 

Holly Berries in August!

When I went to the train station yesterday, to pick up one of my daughters who has come to stay for the weekend, I was stood waiting for the train to arrive when I saw this.

A holly bush with berries already appearing! Now, this morning, I did a little bit of research on the internet and found that a holy bush normally gets it's berries in mid autumn, not late summer as we are supposed to be now. I was amazed. You can even see that some of them are starting to turn red, this isn't supposed to happen for ages yet. I know that autumn is coming early this year because the blackberries that we usually pick at the market have been out and ripe for at least 3 weeks now but I had no idea just how weird the weather is actually being. It's as if Mother Nature is totally confused and I get the feeling that it's this odd weather that is responsible for my nesting and hibernating instincts kicking in. Having said that, the weather down here in Cornwall is turning nice again. So confusing :-)

Time for a walk on the beach I think :-)

I found this awesome piece of driftwood but sadly had to leave it behind as it was impossible to lift and it wouldn't have fitted into the car. I really wanted it though :-)

And I love the colour of the bright green seaweed against the rocks

My daughter discovering why I don't wear my Joules wellies ....... they have holes in them and have done since the week after I got them. Beautiful but useless ...... the wellies not my lovely daughter!!

My gorgeous hanging basket is still going strong.