Bunnies for Babies

A month or two ago I wanted to make a little gift for a friend of a friend who had just produced a beautiful baby girl.  I sewed a simple bunny from a template I found in a book.  I wanted to use fabric that would be soft and of course would wash well and decided to try a pretty tea towel I came upon in our local bargain basement shop. 

Well after that the bunnies started to multiple - as they do - and I went out and bought more tea towels.  I also modified the pattern to make the bunnies a bit easier to stuff and finish off neatly. 

 

After about half a dozen bunnies I had the horrible thought that I should have washed the tea towels first - the labels did say there might be shrinkage.  But what about the bunnies I'd already made - I was worried.  Well one bunny very bravely came forward and volunteered to join my next load of washing in the machine.  

 

I'm happy to say pink bunny survived intact apart from a slightly frayed ribbon, though he is now about half an inch shorter than his friends! 

Interiors and Waterfalls

Thank you all for your lovely comments and birthday wishes on my last post.  I thought you might like to see inside Tyn y Simdde.  The interior is simple, comfortable, functional and most of all as beautiful as the outside.  You can read about the history and restoration of the house on the owner's website here:   http://secludedsnowdoniacottage.wordpress.com/  - who knows, you might even want to stay there yourself! 

Downstairs is one large space divided by the beautiful wooden stairwell that my cat Titch enjoyed racing up and down in the evenings.  The kitchen has everything you need and the two large sofas in the living area are sooooooo comfortable.

Upstairs there are two lovely bedrooms (one double and two single beds) and a landing area with two rocking chairs for daydreaming and nature watching.  There's a tiny cosy bathroom with a very efficient shower cubical.

Absolutely all you need for simple living is there and who wouldn't dream of living in such a spot.  But of course if I lived there it wouldn't look like this - where would I put all my STUFF!  However there is an answer we found at another Under the Thatch cottage we stayed at in February.  The owner had a large shipping container in an unobtrusive spot nearby and we guessed it was full of all his STUFF. 

The sun didn't come out from behind the thin cloud cover on our last day and we stayed around the cottage but late afternoon we took a walk through the forest to the waterfalls on the Mawddach River nearby.

We will be back!  I'm plotting our next escape already!

Return to Tyn y Simdde

Of course I was going to return to this delightful cottage as soon as another opportunity arose.  This time I've used my birthday as an excuse!  Arrived late Wednesday evening just as a beautiful pink moon was rising over the hills opposite.

Thursday dawned to bright warm sunshine and of course I got my camera out first thing.  This time we've brought my cat Titch.  She's never seen so much open space and was a bit daunted at first but soon got used to it. 

Here she is having her first sight of sheep!  There are lots of birds around and a whole family of Robins - who seem to be having their first sight of a cat!  Naturally I'm a bit worried about her hunting and she is, but definitely prefers searching out the many mice and voles in the bank at the back of the cottage - she's only manged one so far and luckily I was on hand to shout and it got away.

This morning is rather disappointingly cloudy so far but I'm hopeful of a brighter afternoon.  Yesterday was glorious and we took a trip to nearby Barmouth for a walk on the beach.

And of course the traditional ice cream and a paddle in the sea. I can never resist getting my feet wet.  The very pink ice cream parlour was too cute - I choose mango sorbet.

 

Being mid September the evenings are cool, which is a good excuse to light the wood burner and as my son is here this time he got it going.  There's nothing like a real fire for bringing a room to life is there - we still have one almost every evening at home!

We haven't decided what we'll do today - our last full day -  I'm happy to just stay around the cottage and get on with some crocheting but we'll see what the weather does.  And Titch is very happy to spend her day stalking mice - she knows I'm not best pleased and looks very guilty doesn't she!

More Pretty Purses

September is a busy birthday month in our family - second only to December which has even more! 
I've made more zip purses as gifts as they are always useful.  Earlier in the summer I made cut off denim shorts from some jeans I had "outgrown" for donating to the Greyhound Rescue Wales charity shop where I volunteer and I didn't want to waste the "legs" so used some for my purses. 

Have to admit the stretch denim was not at all liked by my sewing machine but making sure the stretch was across the purse and not top to bottom worked a bit better.  Love the ladybird braid I ordered on Etsy as while ago and this ladybird stripe fabric I've had for years and years was just perfect for the lining.

I don't have a smartphone but have made my purses to fit them.  They are also the right size for pocket digital cameras.  I've a smaller purse that fits my phone and I clip it to the inside of my handbag so that I can grab my phone quickly without emptying everything out onto the floor to find it at the bottom.