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Well finally this month is over and I can look ahead without dread at last.
Meanwhile I have managed to make a bunny for Japan. This is my third attempt. The first one looked like a guinea pig with exceptionally long ears, the second stripy one I gave to Rudi on our long journey to America and so here is number three.
I'm not sure why he's so tight lipped. We think he looks a bit professorial. I'll send him off tomorrow before I get third thoughts and start on number four!
Saturday I made time to do some felting. As the weather was so amazing I set up my table under the apple tree.
What a joy it was to lose myself in a bit of creative work after the past few weeks.
And here's the resulting vessel.
Spring is officially here in Norfolk. As I sat in the garden today drinking my cup of tea I heard the cuckoo. There is something so exciting about the first cuckoo of the summer.
I still remember the rhyme I learnt in primary school about the cuckoo:
The cuckoo comes in April.
Stays the month of May.
In June he changes his tune.
And in July he goes away.
And here are some lovely apple blossoms taken tonight in the soft evening sunshine.
We touched down this morning. It's nice to be home but sad to leave the American family behind. Here's a shot I took from Washington Park in Portland, Oregon. The mountains are spectacular and so very different to Norfolk!
Tomorrow or Saturday I intend to get back to making another felt vessel - so watch this space!
Firstly - thank you for your kind comments. It really does help.
We are dashing around tonight checking tickets and getting clothes ready as we leave at the crack of dawn on Thursday. So no time for crafting, just running repairs on hems and buttons etc.
Take a look at all the passports we have to take! There are seven of us travelling and four have dual nationality. What a bundle!
Friday I bought this wool to crochet some Japanese flower pattern flowers on the airplane over to Oregon. I'm going to take my old bone crochet hook so I don't think there'll be any problems with security.
I felt I needed something jolly as we are in the middle of a difficult time here. In the midst of getting all the arrangements sorted to go to the States for my mother in law's funeral, my mother died. So we are dashing around trying to get things sorted before we have to leave.
My mother was suffering with severe dementia, and she was 88, so it is a blessing that she doesn't have to fight it anymore. But that still doesn't take away the shock of discovering a dead body and having to deal with everything.
Sorry to put up such a gloomy post but it explains why I haven't been blogging too much recently.
Today I stumbled upon a post about Operation Bunny Drop. The aim is to send 2,500 handcrafted bunnies to Japan for some of the children to cuddle. The idea was dreamed up by Liz Minnick who is over in Japan and she will deliver the bunnies in late May.
It seemed the ideal opportunity to try out the pattern I downloaded from Patricia at Zen Crafting - see previous post. As you can see below I've already made a start. My daughter asked if I was making a hedgehog!
Can anyone tell me the secret of pulling embroidery thread from the skein, please? Mine always ends up in a terrible tangly ball as you can see.
I'm finding it hard to blog at the moment as we are having a really rough couple of weeks. Tomorrow I may feel up to telling you about it.
So many bloggers have been doing their bit by raising money for the relief work in Japan. They have been generously selling items and donating the money.
For my part I have been buying things.
Earlier bought a lovely felt cherry blossom brooch from Lupin at Bugs and Fishes. She has managed to donate £70.00 to the fund from her sales. And I also downloaded a cute bunny pattern from Patricia at Zen Crafting. I have yet to make up the bunny!
This weekend there's a collective charity auction for Japan going on over at Kookie Designs. I've put a bid in and there are some really beautiful things on offer. So if you've got a spare moment hop over and take a look. Hurry though it finishes at 8pm on Monday 4th April.
Aren't these lampwork beads from Annelyse Taylor beautiful? They are one of the lots. I can see this might be an expensive weekend!
