Re-decorating

Every now and then the life has surprises for you. It re-arranges your daily life and puts it all up to the right places.

Our granny got sick. It seems to be the 8th time she escaped the death. It must be because of her extremely rare date of bith. Se was born on 29.2.2000. Again when I took her to the vet I knew the time had arrived. But I was wrong. I am happy we have a smart vet.

So we re-decorated the living room again. We carried the brand new carpet to the attic and brought many old ones down to cover all the floor. We took a mattress onto the living room floor, extra blankets and pillows. We blocked up some of the doorways and all the stairs with furniture.

We abandoned the ordinary style of getting granny out into the garden.

Also in the garden we closed up the free ways we didn't want her to go anymore.

And we built up a fence for her to outdoor safely. At the moment she is too vulnerable and in limited position to protect herself and her territory from free running dogs. She is over 14 years old and can pass away any day. But still the vet saw no reason to put her asleep at this very moment because of this one disease. And the vet was right. She has started to get better. We have did all this craft for her even we don't know will she be alive tomorrow. Some say she is just a dog. I say that's why we have to do it. She is just a dog and can't do it by herself.

She has Idiopathic Vestibular Disease. It was really bad but is getting better with tiny steps day by day. We were told in 3-4 weeks she should be back to her normal doggy life.

PS. See how we have built up BunnyBarn. :)

Decoupage, hearts & nails

 So here they are! Visible but unfinished.

The lids need hinges. Now they are just lids you lift away. In the original use they were just nailed to the boxes to avoid misuse.

I finished GreenHeart...

...and started with another BlueHeart.

What comes to my WoollySecret I am happy to tell that finally today I was able to cut Gynter's nails. I started yesterday and finished today. He was a bit unwilling to do it but I was smarter. He got a proper bouncing outdooring moment. He got very tired and then naughty me took the nailclipper and started the operation. Ha haa!

Jumping around had relaxed him. Training during the outdooring made him tired too. So he noticed it was just easier to let me do it. I asked a lot of respection and understanding what it means. He needed to trust in me and I needed to be worth of trusting especially on the moments he lost his faith.

I need to cut his nails often because they have got really long. I can't cut them too short because there could be some bleeding. When we shorten them little by little the veins pull back and at the end the nails will be short enough and kept in that way.

A Day Off

I had a day off; at home. It's been time since I had really honestly a day off. Even the dinner was easy, so I didn't need to bother much at all. That's why I had such wonderful relaxing crafty time with me only.

I started the day with painting.

We all have our own very special addicts. One of mine is wood boxes. People know it and I love it.

These are old bullet boxes. Just trash and would have ended up to be destroyed.

One had weird lid but that is not a problem.

I used old paints.

I painted them in...

...and out.

I need to let them dry proper.

Still my brains think it all the time. I had to go and find my old decoupage papers... We'll be back in business...

I started GreenHeart and stitched it for some time. This time I use Waste Canvas.

I did also some gardening. It is late spring time and my tulips look like this. They are in time.

This is how my BlanketNo2 looks at the moment.

I prepaired it for the next crocheting moment. New shade picked up.

Big Furry Adventure

On the early morning we had some time to crochet BlanketNo2.

On the evening I was told that Gynter had planned escape from his outdoor fence in the garden. That's why I decided it was time for the next big step. If he wants more, he gets more. Let's see how brave you are my love boy!

Don't you think he has done that before? So, from now on -when ever the weather allows- he gets his freedom as whished.

Back to BlanketNo2

It has been a busy day but still I had some moments to get back to my BlanketNo2 which I have not touched for too long time. Richard Gere and Julia Roberts spent their time with me. No, it was not Pretty Woman; it was Runaway Bride.

Most fascinating thing is to crochet these furry rows.

Today I crocheted these two rows. They are from the grey ball but the shades go from black to blue.

I need to store it in a plastic bag in my basket to avoid the loops to get attached anything.

Things from my hands and heart

Baking is fun only because you know you can have it  and eat it. I baked currant pie and chocolate cake. Both are my favourite.

On the day before yeasterday I finally finished my secret project and took it to the framer. She was not there. Also she needs to have a holiday. But she'll be back on Monday. Time ago she booked me in so the project should be framed in time.

I have finished (finally) also Yellow Heart. 4 more hearts to stitch. My design but the pattern is only in my head. I was seeking new needle and (yeppee) finally found my "ring". I was so so happy. Now I know where they both are.

On our Road Trip last weekend I started new scarf project.

Rasputin has been lively in his shorther fur.

Gynter doesn't mind anymore so scary much about carrying because he has learnt it leads to his most fun thing -digging in the outdoor fence. He could escape from this one so we watch him all the time.

Miss Viola (on the picture) and Miss Lulu are so curious about jumpping around outside.

Hair cut day

I've been stitching my secret project. The last shade is going on so I am finishing it very soon. I aim to take it to the framer before the next weekend.

My WoollySecret had another interesting day today. One more creature moved into our BunnyBarn.

He is Gynter. And yes, he is a big boy already. I could call him a love child because few days ago I didn't know I was going to have him; and still yeasterday I was not sure will I let him move in. I need to start handling from the first steps but he has no choise. He needs to learn it all to get more freedom and I am sure that is excellent bonus from his point of the view. It will make him happy and so he hopefully will produce more angora wool for me. That's a fair deal.

Little Rasputin had his hair cut day today. I was time to shear his woollen fleece off for the 1st time. We didn't shear him nacked because it's still a bit chilly over the nights. He is alone in his cage so he can't seek warmth from other bunnies so he was allowed to keep his coat on with 3cm long hair. Fair deal. At the end it is his wool. And we got just a little bit of angora raw wool. He seemed to have a bit uncomfortable in his long hair so we needed to shorten it, but shearing it all off would have cool him down too much. So this was the compromise. We didn't want him to heaten up neither get cold.

TaijaS Woolly Secret

I've been away for few days to get my woolly secret home.Which meant two days in a car on roads.

This is Finland. Hundreds of kilometers through forests. The fences edge the roads to keep mooses in the woods.

And just when you think it can't be true, just woods and wilderness, there comes a tiny village or a town.

The only survival instruction for a road trip through Finland is: refill your fuel and stomach and go to the toilet when ever you see a gas station even if you don't feel need to -it might be the only one in 300 kilometers....

My road trip was long but worth of it. We got our Angora Rabbits home.

It is a long term dream and have needed 6 moths of organizing but for sure all the pain was worth of it.

We bought our rabbits from Villa Laurila which is a beautiful farm for the animals too. All the pups can spend time with their mothers there. And their mothers are allowed to carry on their natural sense of mothering. The animals didn't feel fear against us strange humans and were not afraid of handling. The animals have proper space for living. I had no my measure with me but I am sure the sizes of the boxes, cages, pens and pastures were much bigger than The Animal Protection Laws require.

And no, I didn't got the rabbits free or with discount to advertise the farm. This is just my experience and information for you who are seeking ethic breed, raised or produced animals or materials made of them. This is just an inspiration for you to think it all could be different if more people would care or be aware of the cruelties humans and animals face because of clothing business.

At PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) web site is more information about the facts Angora Rabbits face because of clothing business. If you are a sensitive person, don't go to see; just know, it is not worth of buying.

According to Tone Finnager

I have a wonderful book Tildas hus by Tone Finnager. Tone's colour world is different than mine but it doesn't matter. Lovely ideas can become true by other shades.

It was Tone's idea to hang the toothbrushes on the wall because there is no other practical choise in my tiny toilet.

I used old plastic soda bottles to create pretty bags around them. I wanted the bags to keep their shape and to avoid the bags to get wet all the time.

This idea was suitable to...

...store the tissues.

Bellpull End -tutorial

Easy and cheap way to hang your home made decoration on the wall is to use Bellpull End. It is cheaper than framing and easy to do by yourself. Shops sell different kind of Bellpull Ends but sometimes it is just reasonable to do it all by yourself. If it can not be seen to the front side it doesn't matter how the Bellpull End looks. But if you need to show it, here's one tip how to make it sparkling.

You need paint, glitter and decoupage glue.

You need also round wooden stick. This one is a piece of an old curtain rod.

Use sandpaper to smooth over the rod and to take away the old paint or varnish. Place paper on the table to protect it from the mess. Put pins to the ends of the rod and place the rod on something; I used fire wood.

Pins are excellent aid during the painting. You can hold them to avoid messing up the surface.

I use water-soluble paint...

...because it is easier to clean your brushes.

When the paint is dry and ready for other layers; mix the decoupage glue and glitter. Use another jar if you need later plain decoupage glue. ;)

Stir the glue to get the glitter mixed up.

Spread out the glitter decoupage glue all over the desired area.

You can keep it just a little bit of shine and glamour...

...or put it more and more and more. Depending on how visible you want the effect to be.

Some projects just are too speacial for factory made Bellpull End.