A big muddle

A lot of beauty has surrounded me in the past few weeks. The front-yard garden is at its most precious this time of the year. Not only does the sour cherry tree bloom, there are also a lot of tulips, followed closely by columbines, but there are also the forget-me-nots, the narcissus, and a few weeds that grow faster than anything else. 

Blossom-cherry

The vegetable garden is mostly in place, i.e. the soil in the beds have been prepared, the seeds sown, the purchased plants are settled in. There is another garden project that I will need to attend too – a proper herb garden built as a raised bed by the back door. In the past that area was crowded with a large number of pots, but nothing did really well in the pots. I hope that with having an actual raised bed, with adequate soil, I can create a perfect spot for all my herbs. Hubby will build the bed for me, as his woodworking skills are quite a bit above mine. 

Another big project will be to get our back room organized. Our house is the only one on the street that has a little 6' x 6' room built onto the back of the house. It is not heated, and for some magic reason always ends up full of stuff. About twice a year I take everything out, re-organize it and think that this time we will keep it that way. Well, it hasn't worked out in 6 years, so now is time for a much larger change. Maybe some new shelves, and labels on them (to help the males in this house to keep it organized (grrrrrr)….

My finger is healing too, and I am now allowed to take the cast off for part of the day. I have to be very careful though, as it is so easy to bump the poor digit against something and wow, that hurts A LOT. With these improvements though and with a few birthdays out of the way by the end of this week, I am setting time aside from painting to work on a series of dolls again.

There is also the matter of this blog… I am deeply sorry to have neglected it, and instead of giving you all kinds of excuses, as to why, I will instead just accept the fact that I tend to be a seasonal blogger. Spring is too busy to do it regularly, but by summer things pick up again, and I get back on the ball. (If I can only find it. It's probably somewhere in the back room…)

Enjoy your day!

 

 

We’ve got babies…

Two of them… 

But before we got the ones we have now, we tried one of these (see below), but it just didn't work out. He didn't want to eat the hay, or the pellets, he also kept spilling the water dish, so in the end we decided to let him roam free again…

Hux-cage

Last Friday I drove many miles/kilometers to get the other type of babies we had been waiting for:

Kids-kits

After a 3 hour drive they arrived home safe and sound, but of course quite nervous. 

On Saturday afternoon my niece came for a visit and the kids had a lot of sweet moments with the baby-bunnies. 

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This is Eddie, he is a chocolate brown Polish dwarf rabbit. He is 6 weeks old now and the sweetest little soul. Very calm, yet adventurous, and soooo soft. 

 

Niece-alice
My niece is holding Alice, a 6 week old Mini-Rex. Alice is a cautious bunny, but very curious and already is showing her smarts, by understanding that we mean her no harm, even though we make her still a bit nervous with all our new smells and noises. 

Richard-eddie
My DH and Eddie bonded right away. So lovely to see.

Eddie and Alice where raised in the same litter, so they are brother and sister by heart. When Eddie is old enough, we will have him neutered to make sure he lives the best possible life he can. We are very fortunate that one of the vets recommended by the local Rabbit Rescue organization is located just a few minutes drive from our home.

Preparing for the arrival of these two sweeties has taken much of my time over the last few weeks, and precluded me from doing other things, as well as my finger still healing as well.

The breeder the bunnies come from is Annette from At Home Pets, just north of London, Ontario. She did a wonderful job handling and socializing the bunnies. I am proud to say that our little guys spent some time at a homeschool meeting with her and her son. They also encountered the house cat, which means that they are not traumatized from smelling our two cats.

Having pet bunnies has been a long-term wish for Huxley. When he was about five and we went to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and saw the bunnies, he couldn't stop telling me how much he would love to have a pet bunny. I knew though, that he was still too young to handle them safely. As he has gotten older, his love for animals has not diminished, so we felt that now would be a good time to get bunnies. (Ehmm.. I thought so, there was a bit of convincing of my DH involved… but he is fully on board now, and his concerns where all justified too). 

Owning a bunny is not a new thing for us though. In 2003 I had an ectopic pregnancy and was very upset, as we had been trying for a baby. Because bunnies are also viewed as fertility symbols, and because I felt very bad, we decided to get a bunny. A lovely bunny named Luna joined us:

Luna-2

She is a Netherland Dwarf and has one blue and one brown eye. In September that year DH and I went on a 3 week vacation to Greece and our bunny-loving friend Gary agreed to take care of luna. Two things happened while we where climbing up to the Acropolis and philandering around Santorini — I realized that I was with child, and Gary fell hopelessly in love with Luna. To simplify all our need and changes in life, we gifted Luna to Gary, and the following May I gave birth to Huxley. Luna is living an amazingly happy life with Gary, she is now 8, and still of very good health. We visit her when we can, but sadly, she is only attached to Gary, and I can't even pet her now. 

Gary is coming to visit our baby bunnies soon, but we will make sure that there is no more falling in loves, because, these babies.. they are ours!

 

Still here…

Sorry for the quiet from this neck of the city… will do an update post in the next few days. Had a very busy few weeks getting work ready for my agent.. and getting ready for two new family members to arrive by the end of this week. 

8x8-snippets-of-time-3

just one little 8"x8" piece that is now with my agent.

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another 8"x8" that I really love.

 

and something a little larger: 30" x 30"…

30x30-cultivated-strenght

It’s bunny time…..

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Easter-bunny-greeting
Easter-bunny-greeting

 
The bunny was created without a pattern, but had been inspired by Fabiola from Fig & Me . I used a wired figure (with the large head bead replaced with a tinnie-tiney waldorf doll head. The body was wrapped with wool and skin fabric before I sewed the knitted bunny-outfit right onto the doll. I left the feet and hands wooden. The bunny also has a large fluffy tail made from a pompon:

Easter-bunny-w-bunny-5-tail

Easter-bunny-w-bunny-6-tail

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The itzy-bitzy little bunny is needlefelted. I had made him last summer while visiting one of my closest primary school friends in Switzerland. He's about 1 1/4" long.

 Easter-bunny-greeting

This is our little nature shelf. We had a nature table in the living room for a few years, but it got to often neglected and forgotten. Now we've got a very small shelf in the kitchen above our table where we eat our meals. It's a wonderful way to decorate for events. I won't tell you how between specific times it often holds a myriad of unrleated bits and bobs… namely lego, tape dispensers, papers, etc…. wait.. I did just tell you.. (grin)…

And now.. drum roll please… our dyed eggs for 2011!….

Eggs-1
Eggs-1
Eggs-1
Eggs-1

I dyed them using german-made colour tablets and vinegar. The eggs needed to still be hot before inserting into the dye, so I was not able to put the rubberbands on.. I tried, but after dropping a way to hot egg.. I surrendered to dip-dying.

Have a wonderful and happy Easter, a time for renewal and reawakening…

 

Giddy…

… and humbly said also darn proud…

Challenge: medieval day at my nieces' school

Her wish: to be a jester

Total cost $5

Time: about 1.5 hrs.

Materials used: 2 long-sleeved mens t-shirts, some bells.

Tools: 5-thread serger, scissors, niece on hand to keep trying it on.

Skills needed: not much.. but willingness to try, to cut, to have fun.. and then to giggle like crazy… who would have thought that half a long-sleeved shirt worn on your head sideways could so easily turn into a jesters' hat.. not me.. 

Jester-scream

Jester-smile

Jester-stance

Jester-perplexed

Jester-strong