Sharing Something Special

Time has slipped by this year,
eaten up with the mundane things of life unfortunately,

but then............a large parcel arrived

with a tiny tiny gift inside.

A gift from a special lady who has been a great friend
for a lot of years.

Thank you Lynne!!

This tiny gift has made me get my creativity out of mothballs,
dust it off and check if it still works :)
It is a trifle rusty, creaking a little, but...it is working :))
and I've had such fun making pictures this morning!

Ok, ok,
so you need to see the special gift???
Without further ado, let me introduce.....

Little Baby!

In her favourite spot, being cuddled by her new daddy.
Isn't she gorgeous?!!

The very talented Lucy Maloney made her.
Over the years I've drooled over Lucy's creations
but could never decide which of our numerous canines
should be represented in miniature,
so I always set aside the thoughts for further contemplation.
How very kind is my friend Lynne
to think of asking Lucy to make our special Little Baby!
No need for more contemplation,
the perfect miniature chihuahua is here!!
Thank you Lucy, and thank you Lynne.
I couldn't be happier!
Little Baby is so like Real Life Baby it's eery.
Lucy has magic fingers,
 working from a photo she somehow manages to capture
not only the look of,
but also the personality of her subjects.
I might be biased but I think Little Baby is the best!

To set the background for Little Baby,
a few months ago we were asked to adopt another chihuahua,
a real life chihuahua,
a very special little girl.
Unplanned parenthood can be rather daunting
but one look at our new baby and we were besotted,
no question,
she had her forever home.
She is niece to our Freddy Frog and his sister Georgie
who we lost so tragically to glaucoma a couple of years ago.
Baby is every bit as wild as our beautiful Georgie was
so it wasn't hard to love her!
We were having difficulties with the name she came to us with,
it was too similar to another of the dogs names
but finding a new name wasn't easy,
we found ourselves calling her the Baby and it has stuck.

Baby settled right in with our dog pack
and made friends immediately with the guinea pigs.

Waiting patiently...

Whatcha doing little Baby?

I'm very busy waiting for my friend to come out and play.

Oh darn it, if he won't come out, I'll just have to join him ;)

And Miniature Baby loves playing with

Miniature Alf and Noddy 

in their playpen pigloo too!

Miniature Baby likes having the Minipigs on the lounge

as much as Real Life Baby does but I forgot to take a photo

so we only have the miniature one.

Can you tell how much fun I had playing this morning?

Bye for now and I hope you like Little Baby as much as I do :)

Rainbow Connection

Real life or miniature?

Hard to believe I've actually made something miniature at last!!

And it was FUN!

Sorry about the bad lighting, the colours are really much brighter.

Yes, this one is the Real Life counterpart.

My Zen Summer

As you may know, I have some health challenges

that make miniatures a bit difficult from time to time.

That, together with a long hot summer where I live,

that started in September and isn't over yet,

has meant virtually no miniatures for 6 months.

It was still 28 degrees C here at 10.00pm last night!!!

Having lived in many places

from 4 degrees South of the Equator

to the Roaring Forties, 40 degrees South (of course)

I can say without doubt that I'd rather

frost than humidity!

Summer Downunder.

Enter Zen Crochet

I think it keeps me sane,

some might disagree :)

Anyway, just to let you know I'm still above the grass,

some pics of what I've been up to lately.

RL Crochet.

144 of these squares altogether.

What will these squares turn into?

They clash a bit, all together like this, don't they?

(beginning to doubt my sanity a bit by this stage)

What else did I do this summer?

Fostered guinea pigs for a rescue just after Christmas

for a short time till their Forever Home was found.

This is Ned enjoying a chin scratch.

And here is Neds little friend Noel,

a very relaxed little chubby baby.

These two boys were adorable and if I'd know what

the near future held for us they would have stayed.

More of those squares.  Looking a bit more respectable?

Any ideas?

No, this isn't it.

This is zen rug no.1

Soft, gentle colours,

a light bed topper for my M-I-L to use when she visits.

This isn't it either.

Zen rug no.2

Christmas gift for M-I-L to brighten her bed at aged care home.

Next?

A new family member adopted from the rescue.

He's a Red Agouti, his name is Noddy :)

Young Alf became very depressed

when our beloved elderly piggie Cheryl passed on

in February so we thought he should have a friend.

Nod and Alf, free range kitchen dwelling piggies!

 Munching dandelions, about their most favourite food!

Chilling on the grass in their outdoor playpen.

Full tummies, time to do some sun bathing

and gather their energy to boss me around

when they get back indoors.

Guinea Pigs are about the most egocentric,

bossy and gorgeous little pets you could wish for.

When I get home with groceries

the dogs check the bags to make sure

I've bought kangaroo meat for them

and the piggies make a bee line for the vegetable bag!

My own fault that celery and lettuce was pruned,

and unfit for humans,

by the time I'd finished answering the phone :)

Ok, those bright squares.

Another four rows before the border goes on.

This one has been claimed by my other half.

I had hoped my wool stash would be

somewhat depleted by all this crochet

but it seems the more I do the more the stash stays the same!

So that has been the story of my summer.

Perhaps winter will bring back

my miniature mojo.

I want to say thanks to all you lovely bloggers

 whose posts have gladdened my days,

bless you for sharing your creations!

Minipig Play Date - or - A Fun School Holiday Project

No.3 grandson is passionate about his real life guinea pigs

Percy and Jasper

so,

 naturally ;)

he found some Minipigs in his

Christmas Stocking.

His comment was

"Wouldn't it be neat if we did a

Miniature Guinea Pig Play Date Scene,

so we did.

Of course, in real life, boy guinea pigs

mostly prefer to have only one male friend

but Minipigs get on splendidly in larger groups ;)

While I worked on the play pen

Grandson made the Pigloo

Piggies love new experiences.

Percy and Jasper did some excited zoomies

and then settled down to the serious business of

filling their tummies.

Cheryl and Kevin both being elderly chaps

thought the pigloo looked comfy

and strolled over to take up residence

and as for young Alf,

after some youthful popcorning,

(which is another thing excited piggies enjoy)

he did what he always does,

he teased everyone.

That's him trying to fit 3 piggies inside a two piggie pigloo.

We used mat board 3 3/4" square for the base,

1/8" square wood for posts and coffee stirrers for rails,

some sort of fuzzy fabric for the grass,

mat board, light card and 1/8" dowel for the pigloo

and raffia as miniature oaten hay.

A Late But Very Happy New Year!

A little late but nevertheless

Happy New Year

to all from

Alf and Cheryl

and

Kevin

(you can click on their names to find who made them)

Are they cute or what?!!!

Cheryl is on the left in his blue snuggle sack,

Kevin is sharing with Alf in the purple sack.

Some of the dollhouse children have been

giving the piggies lap time on the lounge

but it looks like they've left the picture for a moment!

Luckily piggies love their snuggle sacks

and are happy to stay safe and warm and not

get up to mischief with Mothers embroidery.

The dollhouse chihuahuas like the piggies.

Actually, the Real Life chihuahuas share

Real Life Cheryl and Alfies fresh salads

and the guinea pigs have no fear of them.

These miniature guinea pigs are an endangered species,

they are not going to be available when current stock is sold

so if you love piggies go and peek!

Grateful thanks to Katie for fulfilling the dream

of having my precious wheekers in miniature.

Sadly, the real life Kevin is no longer with us but

 how wonderful to have

Miniature Kevin

to help keep his memory alive.