Every Inchie Monday - Heron

Good afternoon - I know, I'm back to Wednesday - tried so hard to be earlier but hey ho.  Heron is this weeks challenge on EIM and a very tall bird to fit in an inch square!  On paper I had a great image but trying to fit it on material with thread all of which are a lot bulkier - well need I say more - however here is my result complete with bulrush  having used the same technique as last week!

 

Thanks for calling in and please visit the other superb inchies over at EIM by clicking the link.  The sun is shining so I'd best go make the most of it - after all it may not be there tomorrow!!!

EMI - Duck

So this week's challenge word on Every Inchie Monday is Duck and although I was going to do a little yellow bath tub duck with a red bill I decided to challenge myself and went for a male mallard duck!  Very colourful!  I knew I had a very shiny green rayon embroidery thread which I thought I could use.  It was quite a difficult thing putting it onto an inch square, however I tried a new technique today - well I made it up but I've never done this before!  I found a piece of variegated blue material which looked like water and I have some plain linen strips left over from leg waxing!!!  So I drew the duck onto this having put some bondaweb behind it and coloured the duck in with pro-markers then cut it out and ironed it on!!  It looked pretty good just like that but I did want to embroider it so I just embroidered over the top of the colours I'd marked out - it was really enjoyable and I think worked.  I also left the tail feathers free and wet them to bring them into a peak for the tail peak.  Here is my duck:

We have an arduous time ahead of us now, a very dear old friend's very unexpected funeral on Thursday, a 6 hour drive away, so we are leaving tomorrow to stay with mutual friends to go down together on Thursday morning.  Then would you believe it my husband is working at a hotel very nearby the next day for lunch so it has saved us two long 12 hour round trips.  With the same drive back in Friday afternoon/evening traffic it will probably be midnight before we get home!  I just hate being sat in the car for that long!  So I shall enjoy a relaxing weekend.  Hope your week will be nicer than mine. Thanks for visiting my blog and for any comments you leave.

EIM - Rooster/Cockrel

So this week's challenge on EIM is Rooster or Cockerel - I have had many beauties, one was very tame called Laddie and was a Buff Cochin and I used to be able to pick him up and he'd sit on my lap for cuddles!!  But I decided to do an artistic version of a rooster using different coloured threads that I couched on to try and give the effect of feather plumes in his tail.  I really enjoyed doing this whilst watching a recorded program of the Oscars so it was very relaxing.

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of the week and our weather improves, thanks for calling in and any comments you leave and don't forget to visit the other inchie makers work.

Every Inchie Monday - Horse

Well it seems we're back to Every Inchie Wednesday - for me anyway!!!  But I do have a good excuse - I was looking after my granddaughter of 2 all weekend and Monday and on Tuesday we were so exhausted I couldn't do a thing!!  So anyway this week's challenge on Every Inchie Monday is Horse.  I thought a beautiful palomino with that wonderful creamy mane would be ideal so here she is. 

Still no sign of my 2016 inchies - I'm just hoping they'll turn up when I'm looking for something else!!  I can't worry about it now.  I still have the last four as they were still in my sewing bag!  At least I know where they are not!!  Well it's really miserable here - chucking it down with rain, don't feel like doing anything bar curling up with a book in front of a nice fire!  Enjoy your day and thanks for popping in.  Don't forget to click the link to view other horse inchies.

Every Inchie Monday - Cow

Well it is actually Monday for once!!  I have tried to get my cow done but boy was she difficult.  I was going to do the cow that jumped over the moon but thought she would be so tiny you probably wouldn't see her!  So I opted for one of my favourite types of cows - the highland cattle which we saw when we went to Scotland 5 years ago.  They are so beautiful and I thought I could make her golden locks in her fringe out of bullion knots!!  Great idea but in reality ... I was on the point of discarding it as rubbish when my husband stepped in to see what I was moaning about and said it was beautiful!  I don't know if he was just humouring me because he wanted me to stop as he was hungry for lunch or not!!  Anyway since I had put so much work into it and I don't now have time to start again I am going to run with it.  I am tempted to put a picture of the photo I was copying.  These inchies sound simple but they are not!  And to cap it all I have lost my 2016 inchies - still cannot find them anywhere having turned the place upside down - literally.  Am wondering now if they've been thrown away by mistake but am hoping they will eventually turn up.  Fingers crossed.  Thanks for stopping by and hope your week is a good one.  Oh and now I think I've burnt my marmalade - forgot it was still bubbling away on the hob!!!

Don't forget to click the link to visit Every Inchie Monday to see the other talented people's inchies.

Every Inchie Monday - Pig

Well it seems I'm destined to finish my projects on a Wednesday!  There is just no time before!  I need to get next week's done before Sunday!  Anyway I am not finding these inchies easy - no not at all.  I suppose I shy away from the obvious but maybe that's what I just need to do.  This week the challenge is Pig and having looked at everybody else's dear little piggys I should have just done that because they are all so cute, however my first thought was of Peppa Pig which is my little 2 year old granddaughter's favourite program on the TV and we have to endure it every time she comes!! And so here is my Peppa Pig.

Thank you for dropping by and any comments you leave and please don't forget to visit the other inchie makers brilliant work by clicking here - I forgot her arms!

Every Inchie Monday - Donkey

Well you'd think for me this was Every Inchie Wednesday - just can't seem to do it on time!!  But - there is a reason - Because like the fool that I am I have to go and make everything complicated.  So for Donkey I decided it would be great to do one of those old games we all used to love playing - "stick the tail on the donkey"!  But on an inch - and how to get the tail to come on and off.  I thought about poppers - and then whilst watching a tutorial on making side pockets and flaps in an album I decided to buy some mini magnets - however I wasn't sure what I was ordering and although they were small 2mm x 5mm I thought they'd be small enough - and of course I had to wait for them to come which they did yesterday!  Then  they weren't really small enough but in the end I had to use one however trying to secure the tail onto the other magnet was impossible so I opted for a tiny washer which clung to the magnet which I had to put under the brown fabric for the donkey's bottom!  So when I tried ironing on the fabric with the magnet underneath I forgot that iron's are just that and of course the next thing was the material and magnet were stuck to the iron! With much huffing and hawing I managed to get the material ironed down but it went a bit wonky and the magnet distorted the fabric so I have had to sew it in.  Trying to plait the donkey's tail and leave a tuft was interesting to say the least but this is what I ended up with:

So this is Donkey with tail and below is Donkey without tail! I don't understand why I can't get them to sit side by side but it will not allow it. 

 

I also redid dog from last week - I wasn't really very happy with my doodle - I thought it was a good idea but it looked better on the paper than on the fabric!!  So I decided to choose one of the 7 German Shepherds we've had over the last 44 years.   I think he's most like Sam or Max who were paler versions, all the others were really black and tan.  My husband's father was a dog handler in the police force and so he had grown up with German Shepherds so our first was Jason a rescue dog who was brought into the kennels at dead of night with cricket gloves on and they said he was fierce but when I saw him I just saw a frightened young dog, he was only 10 months old - so I went to see him everyday for a week during my lunch hour and just sat with him so he could get used to my smell.  On the third day I got a bit restless and tried to pat him and he snarled at me but I froze with my hand out - not really sure why - it stunned me as it was so quick but his mouth hovered round my hand but he didn't bite.  I was a bit nervous the next day and nearly didn't go but decided to as I thought if he was going to bit me he would have yesterday, and so I was a bit late - and do you know what?  He was up at the window watching out for me!  That day we had a break through because a young basset dog escaped from her kennel, ( I think I mentioned her before in another post - my parents adopted her) she was only 8 months old and I've never seen such a change in a dog.  Jason became a puppy and I watched him frolic and play with Snoopy for the rest of the hour.  By the fifth day I had him on a lead and took him home at the weekend.  He was devoted to me but unfortunately got leukemia when he was 6 and we lost him, but we then had Ben and Sam who lived to the ripe old ages of 13 and 12.  We then bought Monty and Rommel but at the ages of 18 months they started packing and went for a sheep and a goat and we had to separate them and rehome them.  So then we had Harvey a long haired Shepherd but he got a problem where his cartilage didn't grow and could hardly walk at 10 months and he had to be put down bless him so we re-homed Max an 11 month old was-to-be stud dog but then the breeder decided to sell up and retire..  He was a wonderful dog and died at 13.  So here is my German Shepherd I'm afraid his eye looks wonky but he's got Max's smile:

Sorry there was so much to read I got a bit carried away going down memory lane.  Thanks for visiting and please visit all the other inchies made by talented people by clicking the link here and thanks for any comments leave.