tinyinc’s lion cushion

Alex the Lion

I was delighted to be asked recently to produce a lion cushion for a little boy called Jack who had seen the block for Bertie’s Blanket and thought the lazy lion looked like Alex from the Madagascar film.

Jack has taken delivery of his cushion, thanks to a very kind friend of ours who couriered it and safely delivered it by hand to his mummy.  He likes it and his mummy likes.  I can let my breath out now!

I love doing these cushions, pictures and blankets but can never quite believe that people like them as much as I do.  I’m delighted!

barry the buzzy bee

Whilst making Jack’s cushion, I realised that there is a little character who is starting to appear on a lot of my pictures….

The little character is a buzzy bee and I’ve decided to call him “Barry’.

We have a local bee keeper who is called Barry and he very kindly gave us a talk and tour of some of his hives during the summer while we were out on a bike ride. He now sell his honey through our local butcher and a jar is always in our kitchen cupboard.  We have orders from our friend’s kids for his honey too.  He is a busy bee keeper.

Anyway, I’d quite like to keep bees myself but until a time when I can, I like the wee bee in my pictures and I like Barry’s honey so it seems fitting to call my wee bee Barry.

I hope Barry doesn’t mind.

a wonderful november sunrise

incredible

The weather has been a bit unpredictable over the past few weeks and the news is full of devastation so imagine my delight to be see these skies on my early sunday morning walk.

There are truely big skies in our little corner of the country and they are completely different every time the day dawns.

I’ve tried painting skies like these and they never do the reality justice and end up looking strangely unreal.  The beauty of the view is never captured very well by paint or in fact a photo.

It is quite inspiring and makes you glad of it.

early one november day

big early skies

most of the uk has suffered in the rain over the last couple of weeks but our little corner of the country was spared the messy wet stuff for one of the weekends.

I love the rapid change that a sunrise or a sunset shows to a landscape or skyline. It is more beautiful than a photograph can do justice to.

there is a peace and serenity that comes with the rising and falling of the day.

I have never been a late riser and even after a night of too many glasses of wine, I’m usually to be found up and about doing things before 7am.  I’m sure it isn’t good for me but I don’t want to miss these amazing moments.

the quiet almost private and spiritual moment at the beginning of a day as it wakes up to business also offers view of things that are more likely to have gone into hiding by the time the rest of us get with it.

This particular weekend morning, one of the deer families on the farm was upwind of us and, although they spotted us on the horizon, we did get to see them.

JC & I have talked about getting up early and getting hidden away close to their little route, because they do have favourite routes and times, so that we could photograph them at closer quarters.

They are lovely creatures and rightly nervous of people.

the fruits that I harvested for jams in September (even more food for free) have been left without the protection of any greeness now and as a result the vibrance of the colours sing out, especially when it is crisp and clear.

all the harvesting has been done and the land is flat again, the views are clear and only the drilled winter crops are slowly getting in the way of these amazing views.

It is a great reminder of how lucky we all are to be allowed to live amongst this because we surely spoil it with our lack of care.

It is very precious and quite amazing.  I can’t imagine not having this……

tinyinc’s tools of the trade

threads

I was searching for a particular embroidery thread the other day and in the process, I emptied my project bag and started to sort through things.

In the sunshine, the colours sparkle and you realise how yummy these silky, wooden, wooly things are.

buttons

JC says that what I do in my full time job is ‘knock all the walls down and paint everything white’…………

tinyinc’s sloe gin

frozen sloes

a few weeks ago, we collected a bumper harvest of sloes and although there had been a frost, we put them in the freezer.  Freezing them helps split the skins and allows all their flavour to come out when defrosted. It is supposed to save you the trouble of pricking each and every sloe with a needle!!

The weather is too hideous to much of anything so this weekend we made time to make a trip to the super market to get the gin and sugar.  The job to hand was to turn these lovely little black fruits into one of my favourite winter drinks.

tinyinc hand made some more stuff

flopsy's boyfriend 'fred'

I have made quite a few bits lately and I have even got my mum busy for Tinyinc too.

I’ve had an odd commission and a few of my bits are in a shop now.  It is so nice to have your efforts appreciated and hopefully they will sell and I will be supplying more.

remembrance sunday

my cousin’s eldest son, steven, is a soldier and he is away from home with the rest of our best and brave, fighting in afghanistan.

pheasant for tea?

high birds

JC & I are fortunate enough to be invited to a pheasant shoot day every year around about the 5th of december but this year it was brought forward to the 6th of November.

project bags

My projects seem to be very well travelled between north london and our little house. They travel so much because I like to have them to hand so I can get an extra half hour work in here and there or I scribble a note or sketch an idea that comes to mind.

I have piles of fabrics (lovely bundles of fabrics) that I sorted out and leave at the house mostly but there is always a staple of ’stuff’ that you need with you all the time. Ideally, I would have my workroom (oh dear there seems to be a drum kit, keyboard and telescope in there!!) but travelling between homes means this is not practical.  So I have project bags! It is not a perfect solution but it works for now. As a consumate list maker, and sorter, these are like physical lists. They contain all that I need in order to do what I need to do and a good list should contain all that you need in order to complete your task whether it’s shopping for food or conducting a meeting.

toy story 2

flopsy

My very first toy was a pink, green and black hand knitted doll called ‘flopsy’ and she was made for me by my mum.

She suffered only slightly as I have always been careful with my things and look after them.  I looked after ‘flopsy’ for decades; she moved to the city, to college and back with me among my belongings and although she was mostly kept in a box or cupboard somewhere, I always had her.