A new addition to my flock.....

On Tuesday I was sitting outside in the lovely sunshine, sorting a fleece ready for washing, when around the side of the house came my DH. In his arms was this beautiful boy! I must have smelt nice and sheepie because he snuggled in to me quite happily. DH found him abandoned after a fox had killed his twin. He was less than 24 hours old.Here he is watching DH prepare his bottle. At 4 days old he is drinking 6 bottles a day, 200 mls each. More than his own body weight almost!

Nutmeg made him welcome, washing his face for him. I have called this little guy Mannie. He is my only boy sheep ( hard to call anything this small a ram lol), and will be a nice friend for Pearl and Louie. They have been mothering him all day, but he sleeps in the bathroom at night.

Of course he sleeps a lot as babies do. What a sweetie......

Hey, this felting thing is pretty cool!

Yesterday I decided to have a go at using last year's fleece from Pearl. As we did the shearing ourselves the fleece was VERY bitsy, lots of short bits. It was also filthy with our red soil, and had loads of debris such as thistles, burrs etc. After some net surfing to find out how to do it and six washes later (next time she's having a bath!) the fleece was finally clean. I carded it to remove any remaining organic matter and then had a go at dying it. I used food colouring as it is cheap and easily available. I just wet the fleece, added the food colouring and zapped it in the micro for 2 mins at a time until the dye was all taken up. It was fun, and very messy lol.... BTW that is purple not black, I was a bit heavy handed with the first lot!

This morning I pulled it into little tufts and randomly placed it on the bubble wrap to begin felting a bag. I got the pattern for the bag from here ages ago.

Because Pearl's fleece was so bitsy my bag was different thicknesses in places so I will make a lining to strengthen it. I haven't decided yet how to do the handles.

Turned out ok for a fully homegrown amateur effort. The colours are different to what I'd usually use so it was fun to try something new.

Revamped felt cushion top

The cushion top I made in the felting workshop wasn't quite how I wanted it to be. The raw silk moon wasn't very visable under the felting. So I snipped away the felting, removed and ironed the moon and replaced it. I used the scraps of felted wool to make clouds and needlefelted it all in place. Now it looks right! Well, to me anyway....

Mongolian felt making, this is fantastic!

I learnt to felt today!

And it felt goooooood lol...... After many moons of reading felting books and looking at people's work on the net I finally had an opportunity to attend a real live felting workshop. It was so much fun, we made a cushion top and a scarf. Such a bargain, all the needfuls were included and so was lunch and morning/afternoon tea, all for $65! Here are my attempts.

The cushion top was inspired by my insomnia, so it is a cloudy night with a silk moon and some stars. The moon is a bit dodgy so I will probably add some embellishment to it to make it a bit more secure.
The scarf was heaps of fun to design, and I was pretty chuffed with the result.
The pic is a bit dark, it's a gorgeous rusty red with olive green vines and leaves. I am so inspired to do more felting now, thanks Cindy for teaching the workshop, and to Bron for letting me know about it.

And there's even more!!!

I have been totally spoilt by Tan with a lovely rusty pinkeep and a sumptious melt that she made herself! It smells sooooo good....I wanted to show you the gorgeous cuckoo clock I received from my parents. It was my Oma and Opa's clock which they brought from the Black Forest in Germany about the same time I was born! Mum and Dad had it restored for me and every time the little bird pops out I grin, even at 4 am lol....



I was thoroughly spoilt by my lovely hubby, with dinner and a show on the Saturday night before my birthday. The show was fantastic, the local players put one on every year and it's all written and produced by locals. Lots of great costumes and songs with appearances by Abba, Gilligan, and the Beverly Hillbillies! The topic they chose was the development of a waste facility on prime agricultural land, one which we managed to block in the Land and Environment court! Great night! The catering is all done by community groups and the funds raised all go back into the community. My darlin' built me a new garden which am busting to plant out, and made me a rughooking frame. I also got a book on rughooking a hook and some soapmaking books. Boy am I going to be busy.....

But wait, there's more!!!!!!

Christina and Karen's parcels arrived this afternoon, now I am really spoilt!!!!

Christina made me a wonderful altered art wall hanging, with is personalised with pics of me! Love the red arrow pointing at the number 40 on the tape measure lol.....

Karen sent me a divine painted box with a gorgeous stitchery lid and some rusty goodies too. This has been a fantastic swap everyone, thanks so much ladies.

Happy Birthday to me, I'm a hundred and three!

Well, not really, I turn the big 4-oh today. I have been so spoilt by my family, and also by the wonderful girls in the P4P birthday club. Here's some pics of my loot!

From Relle, a gorgeous framed painted stitchery, two crow ornies and a lovely pumpkin scented melt which I have melting as we speak.
Lisa sent me a beautiful prim pinkeep, love the fabrics, and a cute little tape measure in a tin.
From Mill I received a lovely prim angel doll, how on earth did you get time to make her with the wedding? She's lovely! Amanda made me a fantastic art journal, so much detail, it's amazing. Must have taken ages!
And last but most certainly not least was the brilliant note book Leanne made me, love the recycled paper pages, and the altered art cover is divine, the poem is so sweet.
Thankyou all so much, I am feeling spoilt beyond belief!

Bring the tissues people......