My gosh it’s been a long winter here in Massachusetts.  I started to dream of green lawns and spring flowers and feared they would stay in my dreams forever.  But finally the snow has melted and the nights are getting longer and yaaaaaay Spring is on the way.

I  (as always)  have been busy.  First off we gave this guy a home…

We got him from the Worcester Animal Rescue League  and they were super nice and helpful through the process.  I highly recommend them if you are looking for your new baby.  We called him Murray  (after the Scottish tennis player Andy Murray)  and he is completely bonkers and lovely.  He seems  to be fitting in well with Floyd and Lewis too

I also got a brilliant commission for a giraffe,  and I loved how he turned out

He was super fun to make and I may just have to make one for myself.  I have also been productive with a few other projects which I hope to share with you soon.

We are hunting houses!!!  And it’s kinda tricky as they are most elusive little buggers.  We have been spending every weekend since January looking and keep your fingers crossed for us as we think we may have snagged the perfect one……….sigh we will see.

Although a lot of my days have been spent on remax and in strangers homes (which is oddly quite fun and a tad voyeuristic) I have still been working on critters.

I recently had a brilliant request for pocket critters.  Spring is currently working on a nursery in her home and wanted to match the critters on this extremely cute fabric

and here’s what I came up with

I absolutely loved how these guys turned out,  especially the fox so expect so see them as new critterboxes sometime soon.  I really hope they look cute in Spring’s nursery and add a fuzzy,  crittery touch.

We had sooooo much snow last weekend it was what the people in the know call a noreaster  (which Markie thought was a made up word….dummy)  so of course we lost power for a few days again…..brrrrrrrr it was chilly,  thank god for pussycat blankets.

We went to the last outdoor Sowa Market on Sunday (losing power is a great reason to go out and about on a chilly day) . It was so much fun as it was the Market of the living dead and vendors and shoppers were decked out in the best Halloween costumes.  I wish I’d remembered to bring my Harry Potter sorting hat…….there really aren’t that many excuses to go out and about in it and I clearly messed up by missing my one great opportunity….boooooo

Maureen arrived to stay with us this week

And I got to tell you I absolutely love her!!!  She took even longer than past critters as I gave her individual “spikeys” all over her and I totally adore how tactile and sweet she is.

She’s looking forward to this weekend as it is the official start of the holiday shows……..wooooohoooo.  So if you are in the area please come by and wish the critters a Happy Holiday

Saturday  the 5th of Nov 9 am to 3 pm at the Dr John C Page School in West Newbury

And then on Sunday the 6th of Nov

So we are very excited to start the holiday shows,   ooooh I love the holiday show countdown,   it’s like a timer to the countdown to how long it is till I can  stuff my face with mince pies and sweeties in the name of the holidays………mmmmmmmm mince pies.

I hope to see you at the shows this weekend.

……hurricanes hardly happen,  but in Massachusetts!!!  Nah they hardly do here either,  but when they do!!!!  Boy oh boy.  It sure has been an interesting couple of weeks in Beantown.  The day before  hurricane Irene blew through the East Coast,  Markie took part in a crazy bike challenge in Deerfield called D2R2 .  So not only is it a crazy, hilly,  long route he of course added to the challenge by doing it on a fixed bike (no gears) ……….what a dummy………I mean guy……what a guy……yeah, yeah that’s what I meant, ahem. He blogged about it here if you care to read his side of the day.

The  hurricane was starting to approach just as he finished,  so he got a little soaked at the end,  but didn’t he do well?

I had a lovely time in Deerfield while Markie was having fun.  Deerfield has a historical neighbourhood that has preserved the colonial and Federal houses of the first settlers. So after I had wandered around the village romancing with the idea of being around in the 16oo’s,  I brought out my trusty wool bag and got to work under a giant oak tree.  It was so nice (although slightly odd)  as it was right beside a working dairy farm.   So I heard the incredibly loud bleeting of sheep with every stab.  I like to think they were bleeting their approval of my use of wool.

The weather was so absolutely perfect,  it’s hard to believe that in only a few hours it had completely changed.  So back home we battened down the hatches and prepared for Irene……..and we were actually pretty lucky as she was not as bad as we were expecting (phew).  We did lose electricity for about a day and a half……which completely killed all my romantic notions of the past as I was going out of my mind with lack of internet, tv and lights after about 30 mins.    My initial thought of needle felting,  when we lost power,  were stymied at the realization that I do need some light or my fingers will bleed……. a lot.

I did add another new guy to the fold this week though……….Meet Inka

Inka is a Sloth bear,  but he’s more of a teddy bear really as he is obsessed with all the things from the 1950’s……..I will add him to the shop soon.

And in other stabby news I am happy to report that I will be vending at the Hingham Shipyard Holiday market this winter

I have applied to a few other shows so keep your fingers crossed for me that I have a few more to add to my holiday schedule.

I am just loving my new apartment,  we have a balcony which is brilliant for sitting out and enjoying the weather but doubley brilliant for enjoying the chirpers

We have a lot of other birdies that come and enjoy our feeder but I managed to have my camera near me when the grosbeak, cardinals and jay stopped by (which is really rare for me as normally I’m not at all prepared).

It certainly has been very exciting for one new critter………Spencer

Spencer is the neighbor’s cat,  but he just loves hanging out with us……….especially at lunch time and dinner time or if a new fire is lit in the grate………….unless of course the neighbors are home.  I’ll add Spencer to the shop  which I’m excited about doing as he will be the first new critter that I’ve added for ages.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  As a Scottish person living in the US it is a bizarrely unique and completely odd day,  but still it’s a day off work and a reason for a parade.  So it’s a little unfair that I  renamed  Thanksgiving a long time ago  ” The Christmas Spoiler holiday”.  Still I have lots of things to be thankful for and I am very grateful for everything we have.

I told you last post that the rather wonderful Rosy organizer of the Crafty fair had managed to score a full page promotion of the show in the onion and here it is

my mischief monkeys were featured and they also give me props for my super Mario ornaments……..way too cool.  And the show was packed all day with shoppers it was really a lot of fun.  I also got a brilliant commission from a shopper,  after purchasing a large santa table topper she requested I made an old world rabbi.  After googling old world rabbi and google helpfully suggesting I meant old world rabbit I came up with this guy

I really like how he turned out,  and hopefully Linda does too.

Have you seen Potter yet?   oooooooh it’s so good,  nothing says the holidays are coming like a Potter movie.  I,  of course,  saw it at midnight when it opened.   Last weekend we went to Chicago to see it on the Imax which was highly fortuitous timing for a trip to Chicago as it was the DIY Trunk show at Pulaski field house,  which gave me the excuse to go and pester  my crafty buddy Ekra…….wooooohoooo.   It was a really good show and I kept thinking if just one vendor had  a cold I’d be here with the critters right now……….sigh hopefully I’ll make it next year and not be on the waiting list again.  I did make a few awesome purchases so some Christmas pressies are at least taken care of.

Saturday is the Bucktown Bazaar

So I am busy, busy, busy……….what else is new?

Pudgy Bunnies are here!!!!!

A sure sign Spring is on the way……..yaaaaaaaaaaaay.

I just love, love, LOVE my new Pudgy Bunnies only thing is I can’t decide on one thing,  care to help?    Should they have chins or not?

See I’m conflicted, I kinda adore the stylized  no chin bunnies,  yet the chinny bunny probably looks more conventionally bunny faced………gaaaaah I can’t decide.   I guess I will just make an assortment of both for the stores,  I will of course add them to the shop.

So Illinois is starting to look a little spring like……..it’s not quite so cold and it’s not quite so dark so I am of course ecstatic at the the though of summer,  and have resolved to spend as much time as possible outside this year………maybe I can figure a way to craft comfortably outside this year.

Although I have tried before and sweaty hands and wool is not a great combination…………..yicky.

That’s the sound of the Christmas countdown……Every day the ticking gets a little louder,  and makes me just a little more manic.   Last week I did (finally) manage to get some goodies to Anthology,  The cat and crow and Unique Yarns so a little pressure is of me. But the Craftacular and the Bucktown Bazaar is next week so I need to be VERY productive this week as it’s the 2 shows on the same  weekend……………waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa what was I thinking?

I did make something else new for the shows although I will also list them in the shop………

What do you think?  little snowman hair clips……….I’m going to make a few more as I really like how they turned out…

One of my favourite thing about doing the shows is meeting so many wonderful people and getting the critters a wonderful new home where they will be loved everyday……Last show was Mr Orange’s turn,  Rachel saw him and they fell in love and now he is causing mayhem at her house…

Makes me feel so happy to see him ready to fight for his patch of the tower,  thanks for taking him in Rachel.

I recently bought some little glass votive holders,  I  originally bought them because I thought they looked like goldfish bowls and I had the idea of making little fish for them (it may still happen).  But as usual my mind cranked into overdrive and I made this instead……….

I really like how whimsical it turned out but figured it was lacking something special so………….. I made it a little hanging basket.

I love how this looks hanging up……..and don’t worry I am already on it making different captured critters, but I will add the hedgie to the shop asap.

had asked me if it’s hot enough for me I swear I was going to scream!!!! I don’t think there was one day when the thermometer didn’t hit a hundred and when you don’t have air conditioning I can’t even begin to tell you how that feels……well mostly sticky.

I was doing anything to try and think cool thoughts,  which is how this little guy came about….

I think he has helped the temperature as since he has arrived there has definately been a break in the weather (thank god).

In unrelated stabby news I am loving the new  mythical creature stamps by the royal mail,  in particular the cornish pixie one… it  is just brilliant….

It makes me want to receive lots of letters from the UK……hmmmm perhaps I should get a penfriend.  I am also extremely excited about the new Tim Burton movie Alice in Wonderland (are you surprised)  there have been some pictures online of Johnny depp and Helena Bonham Carter as the Mad Hatter and the Red Queen respectively and I get quite giddy at the thought of how brilliant it’s going to be…….I’ve even started reading Alice in Wonderland to get myself more in touch with Wonderland…I was lucky enough to snag a vintage book on ebay and I adore looking at it as much as reading it as it has the original Tenniel drawings,  even the cover’ s absolutely brilliant….which just proves that you can judge some books by their cover

and the pages make reading a pleasure

I love the mousey page….