Veggie garden update

Things are moving along quite well. Though the zucchini has pretty much reached its last days.

I still have hope for the blueberry tree but I think it too is counting down to plant heaven.

Anyway, our first vine ripened tomato is turning a nice luscious red.
























Our cucumbers are also doing well.  But, some of them are a bit odd looking.

And on a final note - coffee and cake - what a life.

A piglet for a piglet

Continuing from my earlier post, I finally managed to finish the little piglet for my friend's daughter. I followed the FunkyFriends pattern, but in the end made several amendments. The piggy as per the pattern was fine, but it lacked that additional charm.


So I unpicked the head and made a bigger one. Also I didn't machine sew it on, instead I stuffed it and attached it with hand stitching so that it sat at a bit of an angle. i think it looks more adorable that way.

I also added a cloth flower made using a Clover yo yo tool and embroidered a smile.

I do hope she likes it.

All ready to go to home sweet home!

The beginnings of a piglet

I've purchased quite few patterns from Funky Friends. Mostly because they look so cute. The first one I got was for a honey bear that came free when you sign up online for their news letter.

Most of the patterns are complicated and they make medium sized softies. The easiest one I got was for a pig. Why pig? Well 'cause their just so cute and my Ko Ko (brother) was born in the year of the pig (a very auspicious sign to be born under). So recently, when I was having lunch with my friends, my friend told me that her little girl too was born in the year of the pig. She really liked the birthday kitty I made, so I said I would make her daughter a piggy softie.

The photo below shows the start of the piggy project. More pics to follow of the finished project.

I've included a link to funky friends. The patterns are a bit expensive about $11 each (that's after discount for joining as a member). I only paid $15 for a pattern book (which I blog more on later) and that one had patterns galore.



http://www.funkyfriendsfactory.com/

Our little veggie and fruit garden

Our tomato plant has exploded! It is truly a marvel of nature. From a tiny plant no taller than the length of my arm, it is now taller than me and very fruitful.

Our cucumber plants are doing well. Look at the half formed cucumber and baby ones.

Funny how it starts to grow from the top - like stuffing a sausage.

Our zucchini plants seem to be under attack from some kind of mold. So sad. I like zucchinis more than I like cucumbers.


Our baby kumquats are doing ok. Two more have started to grow.

Japanese cotton

I love Japanese cotton. I think their great for creating softies. They are made of the best quality cotton and often have very whimsical designs. I think they would look good made into clothes too.

They are quite expensive though. Half a metre is usually the cost of a metre and a half of normal cotton that you can buy at Lincraft or Spotlight. I've been buying quite a lot off sellers on Etsy. I'm also looking forward to exploring fabric stores in Tokyo when we go there in April.

Here are some of my recent purchases.

You can buy them at Tessuti Fabrics. http://www.tessuti-shop.com/collections/cotton/japanese

Delightful cards for sale

My talented friend Kim makes the most delightful cards. You can tell that she's put in alot of care and love to making them from the detail she has included. Luckily for us mere mortals, she has put some of them up for sale. I've bought two (just to keep within my spending budget). Here are the ones I've purchased.

Her eshop is http://www.etsy.com/shop/SerenityGemz?ref=hdr

Making a birthday present

A girl I work with had her birthday on Tuesday. I didn't know. Opps. When I was told, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she said she didn't want me to buy her anything. I felt bad (this girl is really nice to me) so I said I would make her something. I rushed home at 6 p.m. and started immediately. I finished at 4 a.m. By that time my eyes were starting to blur, so some of the stitches are a bit bigger (when hand sewing I like to keep things nice, even and small) but I guess you can't tell.

Getting ready to be delivered. I think it looks very cute peaking out. It reminds me of the time when we first brought Indy home. She kept peaking out of her cage.

I found a nice bit of ribbon for a collar and made a little flower for the kitty using a tool made by Clover (aren't their products massively clever?).

I think the birthday girl was happy.