Welcome


Hello, my name is Dionne and I have been crafting for a very long time. As a very young child my mother tried to teach me to knit, it was a disaster. However, it must have sparked an interest in making things and, partly to prove that I was not totally useless and partly because I really wanted to make things, I taught myself to crochet. Over the years I have developed a love of cross stitch and all types of paper craft ..... I eventually even taught myself to knit.


I am married to a very understanding man, thank goodness, because I spend all my time either crafting, thinking about crafting or talking about crafting. I am hopeless at housework and dinner is often late!


Thank you for visiting my blog.


Dionne

Wednesday 23 January 2019

Primrose in the Pink

I am a big fan of Susan Hickson and her Mary Jane's Tearoom's bear and rabbit patterns, they are cute and cuddly and great fun to make.

I like to spread the love wherever I can and in recent years I have made my oldest and dearest friend one or two of these patterns.  Last year I made her Primrose Rabbit, she is such a little sweetheart.  As I also have a Primrose Rabbit of my own, my friend decided to call her rabbit Dulcie, which means Sweet.


Dulcie is dressed in shades of pink from her primrose jumper to her hair slides.  All of her clothes are made of 4 ply cotton. 


Her pretty pink jumper has a primrose design in the centre and a darker pink trim around the edges.


Her knickerbockers have a picot edge and a slit in the back for her tail to got through, as indeed do her knickers.


I had a little artistic moment with her knickers and added a little floral motif around the legs.


Dulcie's Mary Jane style shoes have a strap and tiny button fastening.


I attached her flower to a brooch pin to make hair slides, or indeed a brooch.


Dulcie herself is made of 100% alpaca wool and her stockings are DK cotton.  She stands approximately 15 1/2 inches high (40cm) in her stocking feet.


A quick look at her back and you can see her lovely fluffy tail.


Dionne


Friday 18 January 2019

A Little Cotton Rabbit for Lucy's Mum

I have another piebald Little Cotton Rabbit to share with you today, I made this one for Lucy's mum.  Like the one I posted on Wednesday, this rabbit is made from Aron yarn, but this time I used 3 mm knitting needles, making her about 12 inches high (including ).


The pattern I used is actually called Boy Bunny with a Piebald Patch and it is available from Ravelry.  I decided to reverse the colour scheme from the last rabbit but it wasn't until later that I realised that this would give her a white nose!


Her eyes are French Knots, or rather a series of French Knots.  


I know there is concern about whether I remember to knit my LCRs wearing underwear.  As you can see, this one has puple pants.


and, of course, she has a large fluffy tail


More blue trainers from the Julie Williams 'Shoe Supplement' (which is available free from Ravelry), they are made in baby soft double knit yarn.  I think I did a slightly better job at tying the laces this time.


The dress design is called Seaside Dress by SuzyMarie and is available free from Ravelry, it is made from 4 ply cotton yarns.

Have a great weekend.


Dionne

Wednesday 16 January 2019

Pietra Rabbit

I still have a couple of Christmas presents to post, they got left behind because of all of the Advent presents I posted pre-Christmas.  I have just had a look at what I have left to share and coincidentally they are all Little Cotton Rabbits.

This is Pietra Rabbit, which I made for my friend Jane.  Jane is quite a fan of all things Italian, hence the name.  (Between the two of us, I think she was actually going to be Peter Rabbit until Jane unwrapped the dress!)


With hindsight I realised that I should have made a note of the size of this rabbit.  I made her on size 5 mm knitting needles using Aron yarn.  LCRs made with alpaca double knit are around 8-9 inches high, this one must have been about 16 or 17 inches high, so this one is quite a bit bigger than the normal.


I made Pietra with a piebald design and I used small black buttons for eyes.  the pattern is actually called Boy Bunny with a Piebald Patch and it is available from Ravelry.   She has a large fluffy tail, which pops through her shorts.


I gave Pietra some blue trainers from the Julie Williams 'Shoe Supplement', which is available free from Ravelry.  I find tying those laces really fiddly!


This bunny has fancy striped underwear, made in pink and blue to match her dress and shoes.


The jumper and shorts are made from 4 ply bamboo yarn - a surprisingly soft yarn which is much thicker than the normal 4 ply.


The pink and blue dress is made from baby soft double knit yarn.


Have a great day and thank you for spending time with me today.


Dionne

Friday 11 January 2019

Lucy's Little Rabbit

I thought I would give you a rest from my ramblings for a few days, did you miss me?  I missed your company, thank you for being here today.

Do you remember Lucy's Teddy Bear Monkey?  Well, for Christmas, Lucy received a friend for her monkey, say hello to Lucy's Teddy Bear Rabbit.


Bunny Girl in a Dotty Dress is one of Julie William's patterns from her 'Little Cotton Rabbits' range, which is available from Ravelry. 


Before you write to tell me that this rabbit is wearing a dress with a Snowman, I actually made her more than one dress, and I added a festive twist to the dots by making them look more like Christmas Baubles.


and one in pink and purple.


I wanted to make this little rabbit extra special, so I made her the slippers from Julie Williams 'Shoe Supplement', which is available free from Ravelry.  They were fiddly, but so cute - well worth the cramp I got in my fingers.


I know you like to check that I put her in underwear, so here is the proof.

 

I was tempted not to share the following picture because it looks for all the world like I stitched the tail off centre, but I promised you, it was in the middle.  The reason I included this photo is because I wanted to show you that this time I knitted the tail instead of making a pom pom.


Lucy got her own copy of all of the Little Cotton Rabbit clothes which went into my BFFs Advent Calender.
 

I hope you enjoyed this late posted Christmas present.


Dionne

Friday 4 January 2019

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

My husband started the New Year by coming down with influenza, I am afraid that he is pretty poorly.  I had hoped to avoid it because I had the flu jab in October but I was so wrong - as today has progressed I am feeling worse and worse .... so I am confident that I have it too.

Anyhow, today I have the last of my 2018 Advent Calender outfits to share with you.  This set of cream and brown clothes feature a sweet reindeer motif.


I persuaded my little bunny, Daisy to model this complete outfit, so you can see what it would look like on - I am afraid she kept sliding down the wall as I tried to photograph her.


Thank you for bearing with me during this slight psychotic episode, I can only hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have.


Dionne

Thursday 3 January 2019

Scandinavian Hearts

It's three days into the New Year already.   Our household is a bit sickly at the moment, hubby has a bad cold and I think I may be coming down with it now - but onwards and upwards!

This week I am sharing with the complete outfits from last year's Advent Calender, today is the turn of the Scandinavian styled hearts.  If you have missed all of my posts over the past month and no idea what I am talking about, where have you been?  You can catch up by scrolling back.


To give you an idea of what this outfit looks like on, here it is modelled by my Anaka - sadly hats just do not suit her, they are always too big for her head.


It is entirely possible that I have made so many posts over the past month that I just cannot stop myself ...... sorry!


Dionne

PS  Look who has arrived wearing their new clothes, it's Donovan and Daisy ....



Wednesday 2 January 2019

Helpful Elf

Did you have to go back to work today?  Before all the people in Scotland rush to tell me that they have today off, I do know that they have an extra Bank Holiday compared to the rest of the UK.

Yesterday I posted the complete Santa outfit from my friend's Advent Calender, I am back  today to share with you the elf outfit.

If you have been taking this journey with me over the past month you will know all about the individual items and why I made them, so I shall not repeat myself and just get on with it.


Here we have my bear, Candy, demonstrating the complete elf outfit.  Is it just me, or does she look a bit like Robin Hood?


Here we have Santa with his helpful elf.  Umm, they look like they may have partied a little too hard on New Year's Eve! .... it's the stands, they are a bit short for these bears.




Dionne

Tuesday 1 January 2019

Father Christmas

Happy New Year.

I hope you are having a relaxing day.  Did you do the whole party thing last night?  I hope you did not over indulge.  Do you have a lot of clearing up to do today?  I have a bit to do but I did most of it last night before going to bed, I hate getting up to smelly washing up and old food.

Many of you have been following my Advent Adventures last year (that seems a strange thing to say, not use to it being another year yet).  In the lead up to Christmas Day I gave my oldest and dearest friend one item of clothing for her Mary Jane's Tearoom bears and, by Christmas Eve, she had four complete outfits for her bears Donovan and Daisy to wear over Christmas.

If you have been visiting every day you have already seen these individual items but I thought you might like to see the complete outfits, starting with Santa.


I persuaded one of my bears, this is Romeo, to model the Santa outfit for you.


I wish you and your family health and happiness for 2019, have a great day.


Dionne