The Church Moth ~ textile art by Cobwebs

You can have bright, vivid colour moths, just as you can have rather dull looking butterflies. There are heaps of day moths – that is – moths who like being around and flitting, flying during the daytime hours – in fact there are more day-time moths in the UK than there are butterflies. But there are also Butterflies who like to fly at night.

There’s heaps more I could tell you which you might not know – but instead of me blathering on, I’ll give you a link at the end of this post so that those of you who would like to know more can click and the link will open up for you.

But now … … onto the crafty reason of my post today….

I’d like to introduce you to….

The Church Moth.

Maany moons ago, I got acquainted with a moth which wore glasses. Well, not actual real glasses (or spectacles), but he had a colouring around his front end (face) which made him look like he was wearing glasses. This moth was called a ‘Spectacled Moth’. (Which I didn’t know – I had to research it to find out what the dickens it was.). I’ve found a couple of photographs on the web, so that I could share this moth with you….

The Spectacle Moth. – Photograph by Robert Thompson @ naturepl.com

The memory of that amazing moth obviously stuck with me, for when I came to designing this fabulous moth which I’m sharing with you today, I knew I wanted to make a moth which wore spectacles.

I began by choosing fabrics from my stash, and the beautiful fabric I chose for the main wings instantly gave me the name of the Moth I was going to create. I said it out loud as it came into my head: “The Church Moth!”. It was the perfect fabric pattern for a Church Moth for it had a sort of stained glass window effect to it. It’s a tapestry style, but soft feel fabric which I had a smallish piece of – it was so perfect!

I drew, and made a pattern, cut, and snipped, and pinned and sewed. I inked and stained some of the fabrics. Then I stitched, and hand sewed, attached and applied, then … I stopped and held up the incredible creation which I had in my hand, and looked and then said quietly but out loud, … “Ohhh, bless him! Isn’t he perfect!…..” ~ I loved him from the tips of his antennae to the end of his tail.

Then … I fiddled and made, then made again, and again, until I finally managed to produce a pair of beautiful rose gold glasses. I popped them on his nose to check the fit. I’m absolutely convinceed I heard him exclaim with delight that he would finally be able to see the words in the hymn books! He seemed terribly excited.

Can you see his rose gold spectacles?

Of course … that wasn’t the end of the Spectacled Church Moths creation … I had to finish him off with a bit of flair and fuss ….

He had to have lace on the underside of his wings, as well as the tops – because all the best dressed Men of the Cloth had special robes which had lace on them somewhere – so obviously this Church Moth simply HAD to have lace too! (He also has his Union Flag (aka Union Jack) button, which shows he was born in England!)

The gentle feathering around the edges of his wings, is a nod to the feathering which most moths (and butterflies) have on and around their wings. And …. It seemed right to have the feathers around the edges of his wings, for I felt that he would (naturally) help with the upkeep of the church in which he lived, so he would help with the dusting by fluttering his wings, which would brush away any dust which dared to lay upon any surfaces within his church.

Every church should have a church moth like this one. Don’t you agree?

Here’s a link so that you can go and take a peep at more photo’s of the Spectacled Moth. https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/spectacle <— Click – it will open in a new tab for you.

AND … here’s the link I promised you at the beginning of this post, so that you can read about the differences (or rather lack of differences) between Butterflies and Moths https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/what-is-the-difference-between-butterflies-and-moths <— click – it will open in a new tab for you.

Well that’s me done and dusted…. oh hang on, NO! WAIT!!!

I’m forgetting the . . .

Monday Funday Stuff.…

And finally …..

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This is a ‘sorry I’m later than I should be’ Monday post, bought to you by a busy inside her head female who no longer knows what day it is because every day is the blinking same as every other flippin’ fluffin’ day!!! grrrr!

I think I need a secretary who will remind me every hour, on the hour, what the date and day it is. [sigh] Applications for the job are now being taken. Please use the comment box as your application and let me know your qualifications. Oh … and tell me what you will bring to the job – such as chocolate and cake.

Thank you so much for coming, and for having a coffee moment with me.  I love seeing you here. 

As always. . .  I love your company and adore chatting with you, so please say a few words or more, in a comment so that I know who I’m chatting to!  Let me know what you think.  Let me know what’s going on in your life. 

I hope you had a magnificent Monday, whatever you did, and that you have a truly blessed, wonderful week.  Sending much love to you along with a huge bunch of squidges.

An introduction to a new member of the Cobweb family!

Happy Monday all! Flipping heck, it’s the 27th of September already…. and yet, I’m still living in March. I haven’t (inside my head) even reached the end of March because March is when ‘Lockdown’ began here in the UK. The only way I know what month it is, is to look down at the bottom, right hand corner of my ‘puter, or laptop screen, and it helpfully gives me the date.

The Dates of the Week are troublesome – when not on the ‘puter – too… but, thankfully, we have one of those day/date calendar blocks of wood things, on the kitchen windowsill, and Mr. Cobs is in charge of changing that daily so that we don’t ‘get lost’ in this sea of ‘what day, month, year are we living in?’ abnormality.

But … we aren’t here to talk about Covid 19 or Coronavirus or confusion. The news on TV talks enough about it, so we shall talk about things which make us smile. Things which bring joy to the heart. Stuff which, this week, isn’t craft.

I mentioned a couple of weeks or so ago, that we had a new addition to the family, but that I’d tell you more about this at a later date. Well, this is that later date!

On July the 14th 2019, our family grew by four feet.

I’d told Hugo, before this date, that Mommy was travelling quite a long way to look at a teeny tiny baby cow…. and that he could come with me, but he would have to sit patiently in the car for a little while, while mom looked at this very special baby.

I met this special baby, and knew straight away that she was meant to be in our family. I watched her scooting around the big garden, clambering over the other babies who were born at the same time as she was, and, joy of joys, I got to hold her, cuddle her and kiss her tiny little head and paws. Would you like to meet her?

Little Baby Tilly – D.O.B. – 18th May 2019

As you might have guessed from looking at the photograph, her name is Tilly. Well, actually, her name in full is: Tilly Twinkles Braveheart.

Braveheart – because the breeder (a first time breeder who was SO lovely that I wanted her to be part of my family too) had said she (Tilly) had proven herself to be a little Braveheart, and so she called her that. Tilly Twinkles was the name I chose for her because she looked like a Tilly, and she Twinkled – so Tilly Twinkles it had to be.

Hugo, Tilly Twinkles and Momma.
This sentiment is completely true – I KNEW straight away when I saw Hugo – and I knew straight away when I saw Tilly. My heart recognised them as if we’d known each other a life time already.

Tilly came home on Sunday, July 14th, and she fitted in straight away. Well, perhaps ‘fitted in’ isn’t quite the right words – it was more like she came, she took over and she trained us to her will.

Big brother Hugo, and his little sister Tilly Twinkles

Hugo adored her. From the moment we drove away from the breeders house with her, he loved her to the moon and back plus a whole heap lot more. Everywhere Tilly went, Hugo went too. He looked after her. Played with her. Shared even his most favourite toys with her. I could hear him saying, over and over and over again – “Are we REALLY keeping her? Is she mine?”

She was this tiny scrap of gorgeousness, who won the hearts of everyone who met her. The vets and all the nurses. The girls working in the pet shop. People in the street. Of course, Grandson Little Cobs, thought she was adorable. He loved to sit on the floor and have her on his lap – and Tilly enjoyed the adoration. Naturally.

When it was time for her to have a nap, we would put her on her bed inside her puppy play pen, and she’d go straight to sleep. Hugo, on the other hand, wouldn’t. He would sit right next to her, on the other side of the playpen, keeping watch over her. If she woke, his ears would go back, his eyes would take on a panic look and he’d look at me as if asking me to do ‘something’ because, in his opinion, she obviously needed something and I, as the mom, would know what to do. He loved her from the tip of her nose to the end of her almost none existent tail. (French Bulldogs are born without tails. They don’t have their tails docked because they don’t have a tail to begin with).

Her puppy playpen also came in useful for allowing the Cats – Alf Capone (Used Furniture Dealer) and Maisie Dotes (crazy, neurotic cat with many loose screws) to be introduced to Tilly, and also time to get used to her, and her to them.

Alf – well he’s pretty accepting of everything. He’s a laid back, chilled out, lover not a fighter – so he just got used to the way she smelled and then he was fine.

Maisie Dotes – she doesn’t have a screw loose – ALL of her screws are loose – so even after all this time, over a year now, she still can’t figure Tilly out. However – Tilly can’t figure her out either. Tilly doesn’t understand why the fluff ball of hissy fits rubs her cheeks up Tillys face. She doesn’t understand why the idiot cat rushes through the living room at breakneck speed, as if she’s in mortal danger. Basically … Tilly doesn’t ‘get’ Maisie at all. But she has learnt to distrust her, because Maisie can be all comely and silly and then change in a nano second into a Neurotic Idiot who should be on the next ‘special bus’ out of town.

Yes – that really is a dummy (pacifier for our US readers). She loves them. Hugo doesn’t love them – he just wants them in order to chew them up!

In short … Tilly Twinkles is like Mary Poppins – Practically Perfect in Every Way! She’s a daddy’s girl and will sit outside the door and howl if he’s on the other side of it. She is loving, caring, fun, sweet, crazy, and loves the pine cones that the squirrels throw down for her. She will race around the garden at 75 miles an hour and use the house as part of the race track she has going on inside her head. Every time the doorbell rings, she gets to the door before anyone else, and when the top half of the door is opened (we have a stable door) – she counts to two and then JUMPS high in the air so that she can just peep over the door to see who’s there. Frightens the ‘you know what’ out of the person on the other side of the door – but she (and we) find it huge fun.

Hugo had a first Birthday Party with Tilly – and enjoyed it all the more because Tilly made it super fun.

My handsome boy, Hugo, on his 1st Birthday

Hugo and Tilly are the bestest of friends, and still as much in love with each other as they were from day 1. They adore being together. Love to play. Love to tease each other. Love walking doggy walks together. Hugo protects her – but she really doesn’t need it. She genuinely is, Braveheart. She is scared of nothing and loves everything.

Hugo and Tilly watching her favourite film

She loves watching TV – and her favourite film is: The Aristocats. However, her favourite music is the Muppets Theme Music – and her very most favourite version of it is a new TV advert here in the UK, for John Lewis, which uses the Muppet Theme music, but without the singers. (click below to watch/hear it) Wherever she is in the house, if she hears that advert come on TV – she rushes in and sits watching, tilting her head from one side to the other, over and over again.

Our family is now complete. We have the most incredible two ‘children’ – and these two children are my favourites. But don’t tell our girls that – for if you do, I’ll deny it and then come and find you and dig up your garden.

Ok enough of me blabbering on … we’ve reached that moment when we have to have the Monday Fun…. here come the Jokes Folks!

Why did the Oreo go to the dentist?

Because he lost his filling.

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Why do bees have sticky hair?

Because they use honeycombs.

~~ ❤ ~~

I got my daughter a fridge for her birthday.

I can’t wait to see her face light up when she opens it.

~~ ❤ ~~

Why did the nurse need a red pen at work?

In case she needed to draw blood.

~~ ❤ ~~

Thank you SO much for coming and sharing a coffee with me. I love seeing you, and really would love it if you said hello in a comment below. If you can’t find the comment box it’s because you’re either reading this from your reader, or you’ve landed on the blogs home page. All you need to do is click on the title of this post, and then scroll to the bottom – where you’ll find the comment box, waiting for you.

Have a beautiful, blessed day my friend, and a wonderful week, and I’d like you to do me a favour … at some point during your day, every day for the next week, think about three things that have happened that day which have made you smile. Something that has lightened your day or made you happy in some way.

You are more blessed than you think you are, and more loved than you would imagine.

Sending you many squidges and much love ~

I’d like to introduce you to a ‘Bodkin’ called: The Lord’s my Shepherd ~ by Cobwebs.

If you’re a sewist -a sewer – or you sew things – then the chances are that you will have heard of a Bodkin.  If you don’t sew things, you may still have heard of a bodkin.   But … if you haven’t heard of a Bodkin, then I share the definition of ‘bodkin’, as per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:-

Definition of bodkin

1a: dagger, stiletto

b: a sharp slender instrument for making holes in cloth

c: an ornamental hairpin shaped like a stiletto

2: a blunt needle with a large eye for drawing tape or ribbon through a loop or hem

This is exactly how my Grandma showed me how to substitute a safety pin if you couldn’t find your bodkin!

It was that:-  “b: a sharp slender instrument for making holes in cloth“ on which I focused while I was embroidering tiny little pieces of fabric, which I wanted to make brooches (or ‘pins’)

Read on dear reader, read on .  .  .  

I wanted a special name for my brooches.  One which said something about them, instead of just calling them ‘brooches’ or ‘pins‘.   I looked around my work desk for inspiration.  Needles; thimbles; threaders; embroidery threads; markers; beads; buttons…. no, nothing seemed to give me the joy I always feel, deep within my heart and within the central core of my body, when I know I’ve found the right name for something.  

When suddenly …   ‘Bodkin‘ came to mind.  

Now I know that there is a Fairy Elf, in the Land of Fae, called Bodkin.

Meet Bodkin ~ image of him according to Cobs

Bodkin is a sewer and stitcher of all things which require a needle, thread and, more importantly … his expertise.  His knowledge knows no bounds.  He has skills unknown to man, not just in a particular field of sewing, but in the whole worldy world of sewing ANYTHING!  

It all made sense!  A bodkin is a  sharp slender instrument for making holes in cloth ….  and a brooch has a pin which is a sharp slender instrument, which makes holes in cloth – in clothes!  It makes the holes in your clothes to attach the brooch to your jumper, blouse, top, dress, coat or cardigan, – or even your tie!   That was it!!! My Brooches were to be called:  Bodkins!  

So, now you know this …. may I introduce you to my first Bodkin Brooch ….

~ The Lords my Shepherd ~

Measuring just 2.9cm, which is just a smidgen over an inch, this little brooch has three, tiny, hand embroidered sheep, complete with white daisies and bright yellow buttercups which they’ve found to chomp on.

The pale pink ribbon you see ‘attached’ to the brooch (in the photo above) is a piece of re-cycled silk. It’s been washed and roughly cut into a ‘flag’ shape, onto which I printed the name of the brooch/pin – ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’. The delicate ribbon isn’t a permanent fixture on the brooch, it can be taken off by simply undoing the pin on the rear of the brooch.

To pack the brooches – rather than simply put them into boxes, I wanted something a little more tactile and textile – so I chose to tissue wrap each brooch, and put them into a little drawstring top muslin bags which have the Cobwebs logo printed on them.

And that, fabulous readers, is what a Bodkin is according to Cobwebs. I think Bodkin the Fairy Elf will approve.

I’m sure I see him nodding – I think he likes the brooches/pins! RESULT!

You might now be thinking that that is the end of this post. Ohhhh no. You still have some Monday Jokes to read!

These are the Jokes Folks!

Q: Why did the yoghurt go to the art exhibition?

A: Because it was cultured.

~~ ❤ ~~

Q: What breed of dog can jump higher than buildings?

A: Any dog, because buildings can’t jump.

~~ ❤ ~~

Q: What do you call a train carrying bubblegum?

A: A chew-chew train.

~~ ❤ ~~

And that’s it! You’ve managed to get through another post from me, with all your brain cells in tact!

Thank you SO much for coming and spending a little time with me. Please… talk to me, via a comment, so that I know who I’m talking to. To make a comment you simply have to click to read this post (click the heading at the top of the page on my blog) – then scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a box, inviting you to comment. You don’t have to say a hundred words of chat – just simply hello and a few words – even inviting me to your blog to see something. It’s just so fabulous to ‘know’ who’s reading and who I’m talking to!

May you have the happiest of Mondays, and I hope your week ahead is a good one.

Don’t forget to count your blessings – you have more reasons to smile than you might imagine.

Sending heaps of squidges and lots of love ~ from me in my corner, to you in yours.

Airy Spirits ~ Textile Art

Continuing with my new hobby love ~ a little more Textile Art, only this time, something with wings.

During the lock-down, due to Covid 19/Coronavirus, my brain got busy and spoke to my fingers, which began conjuring up butterflies. Although textile butterflies aren’t the easiest thing I’ve ever made, they’re mighty enjoyable, and all so precious when I’ve finished them. They all seem to have their own personalities, and they make me smile for one reason or another.

The Nectar Collector

Each one I’ve made is in a different fabric, and this particular one, called: The Nectar Collector; was made from Vintage Embroidered Fabric, which I tea stained then added a little ink to give it a warm peachy effect to the fabric itself

Why is this butterfly called: The Nectar Collector? Ah, well that’s an easy one to answer….

Butterflies ‘eat’ nectar and do so by the use of their ‘tongue’ – they have a long, curled proboscis, which is like a soft drinking straw, which uncoils to sip liquid food, and then coils up again into a spiral when the butterfly isn’t feeding.

But … what happens to all the nectar which the butterflies can’t reach, or miss because they don’t notice it?

Well, *I’m reliably informed by the Fairies which live in Cobweb Wood*, that there are special butterflies whose job it is to go around foraging for all the left over nectar which can be found on flowers, and collect it in special bottles. They then take it back to ‘Nectar Central’, where each of the bottles of nectar are dated, stored on shelves and saved for use on days when it’s too cold to go out or too windy, too blustery or those rainy days when the weather isn’t suitable for delicate Butterfly wings.

*Once all this was explained to me* it totally made sense, as I’m sure it does to you too, now that I’ve explained it to you!

The underside of a Butterflys wings are just as important as the tops, but for a totally different reason. The underside of a butterfly wing is actually called ‘The Ventral Side’. This ventral (under) side is more often than not, used for camouflage so that it can avoid being dinner for some passing bird or frog.

And the importance of the Ventral Side of the wings was important to me too. After all … I don’t want some passing frog to eat the Nectar Collector! So it clearly states on the underside of it’s wings that this butterfly isn’t for chomping on – for this is a Cobwebs Butterfly!

The tops of butterfly wings are used for signalling to another butterfly that the butterfly rather likes them and would like to marry them. (*That’s how it was explained to me, anyhow*).

Before this particular butterfly takes flight and leaves me, when it’s found it’s forever home, there will be a very tiny button sewn to the underside – of a particular colour and shape, which will have a special meaning. An explanation of the meaning of that button, will be sent along with him, so that he can be treasured for the treasure he actually is.

Now before I sign off …

I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU – to all who replied and commented on my last post [<— clickable link] and who helped me – because I was near to being a big melted down mess on the floor, and BIG THANKS to those who gave me hints, tips and guidance on how to use the new block editor that WordPress have forced upon us.

As you can see, with your help, I have made a post! [a roar of cheers can be heard from all over the land].

I can’t say that I like the new editor, because I don’t. I REALLY don’t.

• It has no spellcheck;
• No ‘update’ button;
• It won’t colour selected words in a paragraph – but simply colours all the words in that paragraph. (Unless you know a trick to that … and if you do, please share it with me);
• It has pop up boxes which appear out of nowhere and block the view of what you want to see – which I’m sure are meant to be helpful, when the time is right – but they’re a darn nuisance!;
• Things are hidden behind unknown ‘terms’ and names;
• Silly symbols which mean diddly squat to regular, not unintelligent users!;
• Everything about it is so darn tiresome and seems to need an abundance of clicks to do the simplest thing–
• even changing the colour of the words isn’t the one click it used to be!

The new system is clunky, silly, old fashioned in many ways, behind the times and boringly, stupidly long winded.

It truthfully feels like the coding has been written by a junior member of staff instead of someone who knows what she/he is actually doing. It’s taken me a lot longer than I would normally have spent building a post – but . . . at least I now have a post, after lots of help from other WordPress users.

My sincere thanks to you all – for without you, I truthfully would have thrown the towel in and given up. Bless each and every one of you.

Thank you so much for coming today and sharing a coffee and some time with me, while I introduced you to the Nectar Collector – who is the first of my Airy Spirits. I love seeing you here, and love chatting with you all. So please feel welcome to leave a comment. It doesn’t have to be a huge comment, just say hello – because it’s always so nice to know who I’m chatting with.

And …. before I sign off, there HAS to be some Monday jokes:-

Q:- Where are average things manufactured?

A:- The satisfactory.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Q:- What does Charles Dickens keep in his spice rack?

A:- The best of thymes, the worst of thymes.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Q:- What do you call an apology written in dots and dashes?

A:- Re-Morse code.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Q:- What do you call a rooster staring at a pile of lettuce?

A:- A chicken sees a salad.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Just before I sign off … although I’ve been commenting on blogs over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been told by various bloggers that they’ve found my comments in their spam folders – so … please check your spam folders, as a comment or two might just be hiding there.

Have a wonderful Monday, and a truly blessed week. Sending love and squidges through the ether to you ….

* the ASTERISK * marked * statements [above] may or may not be entirely, exactly d’ twufe, d’ whole twufe and nuffin but d’ twufe. But I’m absolutely certain dere is some sort of twufe.

Missing Comments on other peoples posts and WHAT THE HEFF, WORDPRESS???

Since I came back from my interval in blogging, WordPress have made some changes. None of which I’m at all impressed with.

Firstly … I preferred the original style of making a blog post, where I could clearly see the tool bar, which appeared at the top of the post I was building.

If I wanted italics, I could click the button. If I wanted BOLD – another button … if I wanted to put a quote in – another button. And … if I wanted to add a photograph to a post, in a particular place, I could do so, really easily.

But now … I cannot find the button to insert a photo. I’ve managed to find BOLD and italics (as you can see).

But … what the heff is a ‘BLOCK’ when typing a post? Is it what us normal people call a paragraph? If so … call it a paragraph so that we’re all reading from the same page!

I was bought up with the thought of, and am still a believer of:-

IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT!

I need IDIOT PROOF instructions on how to preferably: A) switch my blog posting options back to the original system which I knew, loved and could work without having a University degree in WordPress sillyness. …. OR B) Idiot proof instructions on how to insert a photograph in my post, where I want it, and GET MY £^&(*@ BLOG BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS before I blow a fuse and give up blogging for good. I want to blog for pleasure. Not for a meltdown and sweat & stress. We all have more than enough stress in our lives right now, without WordPress giving bloggers a big dollop of stress on top of it.

SECONDLY ….

I’ve been busy going round various blogs that I follow, clicking to like posts, and making comments on the more recent posts I’ve missed. However … I became aware that I wasn’t getting any responses to comments I’d made on some blogs of people who I know would normally reply back to comments I’d made on their blog posts. This appears to only be happening on WordPress blogs.

I went in search of comments I knew I’d made …. and low and behold – there were no comments from me anywhere. I could see that I’d clicked the ‘like’ button, – but the comments I’d made had completely disappeared, like some sort of magic trick.

Is anyone else having this problem on WordPress blogs? And … if you have had the problem, how did you solve it please?

The owners of much loved by me blogs, must be wondering why I haven’t been commenting, when I actually have! Or at least, I’ve tried to. I’ve typed out comments and submitted them, and they look that they’ve been submitted, but they just disappear.

Your help would be very much appreciated.

Sending love ~ [normally I’d add a piccie of my signature here, but I can’t work out how to do that anymore, so instead, I’m afraid you only get a typed….] ~ Cobs. x *huff* **-insert swear word here-**

#Wordpress I hope you get to read this because I bet that I’m not the only person who’s disappointed in your new changes. You haven’t improved things, you’ve made blogging a thoroughly unpleasant thing to try to be part of and be involved in.

The Copper Topped Lavender Mob

I promised, last week, to share with you some Textile Art, made by yours truly. [grins]  – So,  Ladles and Jellyspoons,  may I introduce  …  The Copper Topped Lavender Mob.

Three enchanted mushrooms mounted on a piece of aged, half round, wood which was cut and sanded smooth for me by Mr.Cobs.

The wood was treated and sealed, and then finished in a way that I love – it has a soft sheen to it and it’s as smooth as a baby’s you know what!    It has a beautiful softness and warmth about it, and picks out the various shades of natures gift.

The mushrooms began life as part wire armature, with a selection of fabrics which go through a process of:  washing,  – dying,  – staining,  –  then a lot of sewing,  followed by colouring with a type of fabric paint,  and finally, finished with whatever I felt the mushrooms needed in order to bring them to life.  Everything is sewn by hand – even the gills (on the underside) are all hand pleated and stitched into place.   Likewise the frills on the mushroom stalks are sewn and stitched in place by hand.

It’s not a quick craft, but it’s certainly one I’ve fallen deeply in love with.

The end result from all the work and an abundance of patience,  is something magical, normally seen only in The Land of the Fae.

Although they look quite solid – they actually aren’t.  They do have a gentle stiffness to them – after all, I needed them to hold their shape and be the piece of artwork I wanted them to be.  But when you touch them, they have a ‘give’ or a slight ‘bounce’ – just like the regular mushrooms you buy from the supermarket or greengrocer have.

The green stuff clambering over the wooden base …  isn’t moss…  well no actually, it is, but it’s not real moss.  But the stones and stone chippings …. well they are real.  As are the trail of teeny tiny oak tree leaves.  Yes, they really are real.  How did you harvest oak leaves so small? [I hear you ask] ….  Well, what else would you expect from the Land of Fae?   Tiny fairies,   tiny trees,  teeny tiny oak leaves.  Naturally!

The ‘Copper Tops’ aren’t real copper (of course), the fabulous colour comes from them being blessed by the Sun.  These mushrooms grow in the woodland areas of The Land of Fae, and like nothing more than stretching their necks right up, in order to catch some of the sun rays, ~  from which they get their coppery sun tan! 

Oh, and of course … as artists of the world do …  the Copper Topped Lavender Mob are signed on the underside of the base ….

…. and the Union Jack nestled in the base is there to show they are UK mushrooms, produced in the United Kingdom by a UK artist!

These photographs don’t truly show the incredibleness of this little gang of three,  the pictures don’t share their magic;  nor their extraordinary twinkles which happen when the light catches various parts of them;  neither do the photos share the unbelievable glow they have!  I roped Mr.Cobs in to see if he could capture their amazing magical glow which my camera couldn’t….

photograph by Mr. Cobs

Mr.C took the Lavender Mob outside and perched them on the bird bath, hoping that the natural light would enable photos to show exactly how lovely they are.  Sadly it didn’t work.  It would seem that only the naked eye can see these majestic little creatures in all their glory.

I had the most amazing, enjoyable pleasure making these wondersome creations and they encouraged and motivated me to continue my journey with Textile Art.

But … the next magical makes are to be shared another time, for I’ve kept you here more than long enough.

The Copper Topped Lavender Mob have already gone to their forever home.  Daughter No.2 saw them and fell in love with them, so they now live with her, and her husband, and my magical grandson, Little Cobs.  And it’s the strangest thing.  but I feel bereft.  It’s kind of like having a child leave home.  I miss their presence. 

But … now it’s time to go.  

Hmmm ,,,  – hang on –  …  there’s something I’m forgetting  … [thinks] … oh crumbs!  It’s the JOKES….

These are the Jokes Folks!

What do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards?

A receding hare-line!

~~~ ❤ ~~~

What rhymes with Orange?

No it doesn’t.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl dinosaur go to the toilet?

Because the ‘p’ is silent.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

I’ll be back with some more Textile Art in the next blog post – only next time it will be something a little different.  Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee moment with me.  Have a beautiful Monday, and a truly blessed week.  

Much love and and a bunch of squidges ~ 

 

 

Thank Heavens I’d written the password on a post it note & stuck it on my ‘puter!

 

Hello … I’m back!  I‘ve been away for a while.  M.I.A. (Missing In Action)  for what feels like years, and although I kept trying to pick up the blogging ropes again, real life kept  coming up with other stuff and *threw a spanner into my plans and thoroughly messed things up.

*’threw a spanner into . . .’ [normally ‘the works’] is a British term, used when something upsets your plans or messes around with anything you might be doing and generally puts a stop to your plans or ideas etc.

Where have I been and why?  Well … I’ve not been travelling the world (sadly).  I’ve stayed right where I am, – and I thankfully haven’t had Coronavirus or Covid 19 – so I count that as a massive blessing.   Although health problems did come into the equation.

Originally I lost my crafty mojo.  It was as if my brain had forgotten how to be creative! I have a craft room of amazing incredibleness, and couldn’t seem to be able to bring forth the creativeness which lives inside me 100% of the time.  So to have lost my mojo, for what felt like forever, was upsetting to the point of depressing.  How the heck did I lose my mojo?  It was attached to me like Peter Pans shadow was sewn to him by Wendy Darling.  

Then . . . I had a flare up of medical problems.  …   I suffer with the ‘amusing’ problem(s) of nerve damage, caused by a road traffic accident some years ago in which I injured my lower spine.  Added to that,  a beautiful combination, my body developed diabetic neuropathy a few years ago (another nerve damage thing) and these two things decided to gang up together in order to have a little fun of their own making, and it caused horrible havoc in my body for rather a long time.  Miserable pair of beggars. (grrr).

Then … with the belief that I am a Superwoman who can achieve ANYTHING I WANT, (I’m not and I can’t), I tried to shift the garden bench roughly 12 inches, by shoving it with my thigh.  The result of this unbelievable stupidity was a great big,  massively HOT, KABOOM,  felt in my lower spine, – reminding me that I’m not ‘Super’ anything, other than SUPER STUPID!  Which Mr.Cobs confirmed, with those exact words too!

Then … (as if that wasn’t enough), three weeks later, I only went and injured my knee by giving it a thoroughly good whacking on the corner of our big wooden bed.  “Darn it!“,  “Oh dear me!” and “For Goodness sake!”  were  sort of  the words which popped out of my mouth, …  followed by some tears.  Mr.Cobs called out an enquiry of:- …. “What the heck was that big bang?”  from the living room, to which I could only tearfully shout back:- “It was ME!”.

So anyway ….   ‘Real Life’ was also going on at the same time, with it’s Coronavirus Lock-down and social distancing;  Mothers Day;  A Grandchild’s Birthday (I’ve spent every birthday with him since he was born…  in fact, I was there when he was born!);   being confined to the house like a prisoner; etc etc.  The result was a situation of dreadful fed upness, and some things just had to go onto the back burner until I was ready to pick them up again.  So … that’s where I’ve been and that’s some of what kept me ‘busy’ and not blogging!

But anyhoo .  .  .  .  Moving forward  ...  I felt the desire to create something.  But it wasn’t the normal paper, paint, clay, card designing or any of the things I normally create.

I’d seen some really lovely creations made by Textile Artists and had the greatest desire to have a proper ‘go’ at this magical art form.  I had a bit of an idea about using textiles for things other than their intended use, as I’d done a short textiles course about twelve years ago.  But the important thing was that I wanted to try something.  I wanted to create.  My creativeness was putting in a phone call, and I answered the call! 

Sooooo – I am now officially a self taught Textile Artist.  I’m creating art works using fabric and textiles.

I’ve made some things which I want to share with you, but I haven’t taken any photos yet, so that’s my job for this week.

I’m also having a ‘go’ at writing a book.  Yup, me!  Some of you said I should write one, and I knew I had a book inside me, waiting to get out, and finally it’s happening.  It’s only at it’s very beginning – but that, according to a song I know – is a very good place to start!

It’s so lovely to be back chatting with you.  OH MY GOOD GARDEN CABBAGE!  I almost forgot …  during my ‘away from blog land’ time,  a knock came at the door one day and Mr.Cobs went to answer it.  It was a police lady.  She’d come to enquire about me.  Where I was? and How I was?  Was I there?  Could she see me, please?  Oh.My.Goodness!  – what had I done to cause the Police to come to the door asking to see me?!!!  Totally freaked me out!

I hobbled to the door with the help of two walking sticks  and the lovely Police lady reassured me that I hadn’t done anything wrong, but they had received an enquiry that they had to follow up on. Apparently someone via my blog and WordPress, had contacted the authorities and asked for someone to check on me and make sure I was still alive!

I have never felt so guilty for doing nothing than I did right at that moment!

I didn’t even know that you could ask the police to go and check up on someone in this sort of circumstance! 

I had to confirm it really was me by giving my date of birth, place of birth, and various other questions which I can’t now remember, and then she very quietly asked if  everything was OK at home?  Flippin’ heck… she thought Mr.C might have been knocking me about, or keeping me from blogging!   I laughed raucously  … and the police lady began to laugh too.  Well, the end result was that I told her I felt very guilty that valuable Police time had been wasted all because I hadn’t blogged for a while, and I couldn’t apologise enough to her for all this wasting of police time.

She was so sweet, and said that if they receive an enquiry like this, they have a duty to investigate.  She said that someone associated with WordPress and my blog had made the enquiry and she could now send re-assurances that I was indeed alive and it was merely real life and some health problems which were keeping me from blogging at that time.

So .. to whoever it was who made the initial contact with the police – I do hope that you received the confirmation that I was Ok and still alive and that life had simply been a bit of a trial!  Please let me know if it was you, so that I can be re-assured that your concerns were answered.

This all sounds like the last few months of absence have been dreadful, and in some ways they have …  but there have been wonderful moments too.  I had a significant birthday (ending in an 0), which, despite lock down, was so very lovely.  The nicest anniversary – with bunting put up in the garden and afternoon tea.  Some really beautiful, magical changes in our little garden.  Oh! … and … there has been a new addition to the family.  But …  I’ve blathered on for more than long enough, so I’ll tell you about that another time.

Right now … I’d better get going on some photographs so that I can share the evidence of actually being a ‘Textile Artist’!   (I’m sure I’ll still be working with papers, clay, paint and card again at some point so please don’t give up on me!).

In the meantime, I send my love and one huge bucket of squidges to each of you.

The Enchanted Unicorn – a gem set focal pendant

I have (mostly) all day, every day, available to craft to my hearts content and yet, since a week before Christmas, no crafting has taken place.  Having a puppy who I dote upon, has taken every waking moment of my time. I’m either feeding him;  playing with him;  in the garden with him;  removing things from his mouth that he shouldn’t have (boy oh boy! what a cavernous mouth he has for a puppy!);  cleaning up accidents he has (where he’s missed the puppy pad – front legs on but back legs not!);  or simply loving him. (When he’s tired, he likes to be rocked, like you would a baby).

I did make some Christmas things around October last year – but didn’t do any blog posts about them, and can’t really do them now because, well, Christmas has been and gone, and so I’m now lacking in anything I can share.  Crafting will begin taking place again soon, because there’s something I’m itching to make, but until I can do it and take photo’s, I thought perhaps I could ‘re-share’ something that you may not have seen, as I posted this 5 years ago, back in 2014, when my blog here was all shiny and new. It’s: The Enchanted Unicorn.

The Art of Cobwebs

 post 2 – in ‘Polymer Clay’

A few years ago I bought pair of vintage earrings from a car boot sale…. 

Vintage Unicorn Earrings which inspired the Enchanted Unicorn Focal Pendant.

I can’t remember how much I paid for them but I have this feeling that it was something like £2.00 or £2.50.  I wasn’t buying them to wear,  I bought them because they’d charmed me and I’d fallen in love with them.  I ‘needed’ to own them so that I could look at them – and for a while they sat on my dressing table where I could see them,  and pick them up too,  because they’re so amazingly  tactile and they feel so lovely in the hand!

A few weeks after I’d bought them I looked at them and had an idea that maybe I could make something a little inspired by  them,  perhaps a pendant,  either on a beaded necklace or hung on a coloured rope type necklace.  So I…

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The Christmas Donkey . . . and a new family member.

A Donkey,  a new baby, and Christmas, are three things which just ‘fit’ together, don’t they?  They make a perfect triangle,  all [sort of] ‘glued together’ with love.

Many years ago, daughter No.2 had a toy donkey called Donald. He was rather a handsome looking Donkey, beautifully made and very special indeed – and when you squeezed his sides, gently, he made the ‘eee-orre’ sound, just like a real donkey does.

Daughter No. 2 grew and grew (as they tend to do) and one day, after having a bit of a sort out of old toys, clothes, ornaments, and ‘flotsam and jetsam’,  and  I’d made three piles of ‘stuff’:  One pile to take to the Charity shop;  One pile of things to throw away;  and One pile of: ‘double check this’.  Everything in that pile was to be checked by everyone in the house that no one wanted it or had any use.  Donald the Donkey was added to that little selection of ‘double check this’ pile of things.

I asked No.2 if she still wanted to keep her donkey or could it be given to her sister for her baby to enjoy,  (No.2’s niece).  No.2 shrugged her shoulders and mumbled about not being bothered, so I took the donkey to Daughter No.1’s house when I next visited and offered Donald to her, and he was gratefully received.

A handful of months later, No.2 said that she wished I hadn’t given Donald away as she had wanted to keep him.

[BIG  S.I..G.H.]  “But you said you ….” … [small sigh]. I stopped talking,  realising that it was a useless effort to remind her of what she’d said and how she’d said it.  Donald had been gifted to her niece and I was weighted down with a painful guilt and heartfelt wish that I had been blessed, just for a moment, with fore-sight.

Daughter no.2 has never quite forgiven me for letting Donald go to her niece and I’ve felt the weight of motherly guilt about it ever since.

However … this Christmas, I thought of a way to try to fill the hole left by Donald – only this time in a slightly bigger, and more ‘grown up’ way. 

I made daughter No.2  a donkey. 

A ‘Faux Taxidermy’ Donkey.

Now don’t have heart palpitations … this isn’t made, in any way, from a real Donkey.

This is made from:- 

• A Paper Mache form
• Fake Fur (of three different types/colours)
• Strong Wire
• Felt
• Calico material
• Hessian
• Toy Eyes (like Teddy Bear eyes)
• Eyelashes
• Buttons
• lashings of three types of glue
• Sewing thread and needle
• The use of my Dremel and a Pokey Tool
• LOTS AND LOTS OF PATIENCE
• and a  PLENTIFUL  amount of time.

I couldn’t wrap Donald the Donkey II up in gift paper as … well, it just felt so wrong to do so – he could suffocate!  So, at Christmas,  about an hour before D.no.2, Son-in-Law and Grandson arrived, I removed one of my framed pictures from the wall, and hung Donald II there instead.

She saw it the moment she walked into the living room, and loved it.  I was thrilled to bits, because I worried that perhaps it was too big; too over the top; too realistic looking (apart from the buttons for his nostrils); or just ‘too‘.  But no, she loved it.  She liked it so much that she thought I’d made it for myself and instantly asked me to make her one!  RESULT!  lol.  I got Mr.Cobs to take Donald off the wall and show D.No.2 the inscription on the back, which told that I’d made it for her for Christmas.  I thought she was going to cry for a moment, she looked so happy and thrilled.

The making of Donald was pretty much just common sense, and being methodical.  I’ll show you photo’s rather than explain ‘how to’,  as the photographs basically tell you anything you might need to know if you feel that a bit of Faux Taxidermy is something you’d like to have a go at too…

Donald the Donkey began life as a paper mache Unicorn, as seen in the photo above.

After removing his Unicorn Horn, he had to be patched up and turned into a horse….

His Donkey ears needed to be made, so I constructed them using strong Garden Wire which had been treated so as not to rust. I kept the wire in place using some hessian, which I fed the wire through, and then covered the whole thing in Calico Fabric, folding in order to follow the ‘ear shape’ as I went,  – and then held everything, including the wires, in place by hand stitching, where needed.

I covered both the ear armatures in fake fur and fixed it in place, then ‘tried them on for size’.

Once I was happy with the ears, I then went on to make a lower jaw for the Donkey.  Unfortunately I got so involved in the making I forgot to take photos of this, but it was basically made in the same way the ears were made, and then fixed into place.  You can see his lower jaw – which gives him the open mouth, and all round chunkier ‘Donkey look’,  in the two photos, below:

Eyes and eyelashes!

Donald the Donkey II

He’s come a long way from originally being a paper mache Unicorn, hasn’t he!  🙂

~~~  ❤  ~~~

OK, so we have the Donkey …  “but what about the baby”, I hear you say.  (You did, I heard you say it!).

Those of you who read my last blog post will know that I lost my much-loved dog earlier in November.  I’ve had dogs all my life, but when Mabel passed, I said  “I’m not having another dog.  They don’t live long enough and I end up with a heart full of love and no dog to give it to.  I cannot bear the pain of losing a dog.  I’m not having another dog ever!”.  And I meant it with all my heart, as I sat there in the car, outside our vets, sobbing my heart out on the day I said goodnight to Mabel.

On the 14th of December I happened across an advert on a well known and reputable website, for breeders of puppies who were ready to find forever homes for their puppies.  I looked at the photographs of these lovely little things, admiring them but not wanting any of them, it was just like a child looking at a picture book.  I was happy to just enjoy other people’s dogs.

Then found an advert with photographs of puppy who I instantly felt as though I recognised.  Not recognised his face, – but my heart ‘recognised’ this little soul.  My heart KNEW him and it called out to him.  An instant longing, – painful even, right in the middle of my chest.

[G.A.S.P.…] . . .  “OH.  MY.  GOODNESS!!!“ – I called to Mr.Cobs….  “I’ve found our dog!  I’ve found the dog which I know is destined to be OUR dog.”

“But I thought you said we weren’t going to have another dog?” – he replied from the other room.

“You HAVE to come and see this photograph!  Seriously, it really is as if I already know him.  My heart recognises him!”

And this photograph of a little French Bulldog puppy  ….  was the photograph I showed Cobs Snr…

We talked about this little baby for a while.  Then we thought about it for a while, and then thought some more.  Then I found the advertisement again and we discussed it some more.  We eventually decided that I should phone the breeder and ask if the puppy was still available or if he’d already been reserved.  So I did.  And … he was still available to buy.

We made an appointment to go and see him on the following Tuesday, and . . .  well, as the saying goes:  ‘the rest is history’.  He became our new baby.  The new four-legged member of our family joined us exactly one week before Christmas Day, on the 18th of December.  We had a list of names which we’d made, but once we’d met him we knew that only one name would suit him, and that name was …  Hugo.

Now I won’t bore you all to tears about him here on this blog as I know that not everyone is a dog lover.  But … I’ve ‘built’ a WordPress Blog just for Hugo and which is Hugo’s own blog, so if you’d like to read posts written by Hugo, in his words, please do visit his blog:-  For the Love of Hugo – <—click  (it will open in a new tab/window for you).  You’ll be able to see more photo’s of him and get to know little Hugo himself.  I think you might enjoy him.  He’s a funny little scrap of adorable, dipped in magic dust.

Oh, and please do ‘follow’ him and make the chap even happier than he is.  As a follower you’ll know when he’s posted something because you’ll get a message letting you know he’s written a blog post to you sharing his latest story or adventure(s),  It’s just like any other blog – only, ‘For the Love of Hugo‘ is written by Hugo himself.  🙂

Well,  all that’s left for me to say now is:  I hope that your Christmas was warm and happy and without incident, and I make a wish for you to have a peace filled, joyous, contented and promising New Year.  May there be something which makes you smile each day of this coming New Year, and may you remember to count your blessings regularly so that you know that you are indeed more blessed than you might initially imagine.

Very much love to you my lovely friend.

 

Oh! …  P.S.. ….  Some readers want to make comments after a post, but cannot find a place to do so. 

In order to make a comment on any post – you have to actually click into the post rather than simply read it on the home page.  Scroll up and click on the title of the post and then, when it’s loaded,  scroll down to the bottom and you’ll find the comment box!  It’s like a magic trick!  lol.  ~ C. xxx

 

“Say goodnight, not goodbye . . .

…  you will never leave my heart behind.  Like the path of a star, I’ll be anywhere you are.”  ~  (lyrics borrowed from a song by Beth Nielsen Chapman).

My beautiful friend, ‘Belly’, who never liked her photograph being taken, but put up with it just for me.  Thank you Belle.

It’s been quiet here on the blog for a few, short weeks and I’m here to explain.  I had to say goodbye to my loved, beautiful dog and constant friend,  Mabel.  Some of you might remember me mentioning she’d been poorly and I’d been back and forth to the vet.  Mabel was 14 and a half years old and I couldn’t bear to watch her suffer any longer.  I had to make the hardest decision that a dog owner ever has to make, and said goodnight to her three and a half weeks ago.

I couldn’t type details before today as I couldn’t seem to find the right words.  Nothing explained the pain of my loss, and still doesn’t now, but I realised I needed to share where I was and why I wasn’t blogging.  My heartfelt thanks for the loving messages I’ve received asking where I am.  You have lifted my heart knowing that you care.

Thank you for coming today. I promise my next blog post will be a happier, crafting for Christmas, post.

Sending my love to you, as always. 

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