needle felted Pinky. . . . again ( additional pic)

So far it's going okay except Pinky won't let me look at her head anymore, I have to use my Flickr photo's :-)

Sometimes I want to make something big. . . like life size.

I try to make the owls and gnomes (!?) life size but I wanted really big his time.

Pinky is my ideal model but I think the amount of work to make her really life size is too much right now.

So I decided to make just her head. It might sound creepy to have just a head but I think of it as a portrait, like a painting. 

I made a pattern and sewed it from felt, stuff it with wool and needle felt wool onto the head.

Pinky sighs and I laugh, given her an extra cookie. . . . 

She gave me the stinky eye :-)

So far I'm having fun 

to be continued. . . . .

The complete little owl family

 Above : sleepy baby

 Above: curious baby

 Above: puzzled baby :-)

 Above: Petronius :-)

Above: Mama owl

In my Etsy- shop now :-)

Petronius shows his family. . . . .

From the left to the right:

Mother, Suzanne,baby, Petronius ( in the background and asleep as usual), The Sandman, baby, mother Holle with baby

MOTHER HOLLE ! ! !

The Sandman and Suzanne had been staying for almost a month with Uncle Ukki and now it was time to go home.

During the night he sprinkled his magic sand and during the day they were still looking for Mother Holle.

Well, the Sandman decided to go to his own house and keep on searching from there.

They passed Mother Holle's house on their way home and the Sandman thought he might as well check her house.

FRICKETY FRACKETY FRACK ! ( he picked those words up from a lady in  Sycamore USA ) 

WHOOOOHOOOO ! Hallo Mr. Sandman !

The Sandman fell backwards in the snow and Suzanne's eyes almost popped out of her gorgeous little head.

My goodness Mother Holle ! You are home !
Yes yes, come on in ! I'll tell you about my little adventure over a nice cup a tea.

 Well, Mr. Sandman, I promised you to keep an eye on Petronius. . .oh look at this photo I have of the three of you  . . . . . .

I'm so glad he is such a help for you.

Where was I . . . . .. .

Oh yes, keep an eye on him . . . . . .

One morning I went to your castle to find his bed empty ! That was extremely odd, Petronius would never go out of his bed before noon.

So you understand I had to go look for him and it took me 4 weeks to find him !

He was in hiding you see, because he had fallen in love with this beautiful little owl by the name of Harebell and well you know, she laid eggs and he couldn't leave her of course.

When I found him he was a father of three beautiful owl babies !

Oooooh I wish I took a photo of them ! But the good news: in a few days he will be home again together with his babies !

The Sandman couldn't believe it, Petronius had children. . .. and a wife . .. . . 

He was very very excited and Suzanne laughed so hard he and Mother Holle had to cover their ears !

Mother Holle I'm so glad you are all right and Petronius too, you must have had quite an adventure looking for him. I'll bet want to tell us all about it but for now, we go home and have ourself a nice sleep. 

Uncle Ukki tells the story of Mother Holle

Uncle Ukki moved with the children to his winter-home and one day much to their surprise, a Raven delivered two little mousies onto their doorstep : Baby Sugar and her sister Lola.

Sugar could only sleep if Lola played a little song on her music box.

Of course they were received with open arms and they felt immediately at home.

One night the little ones were nicely tucked in, ready for their bedtime story.

 Uncle Ukki, we are a bit confused ! Ginny said

We don't really understand what the Sandman and Mother Holle got to do with each other.Can you please explain?

Oh my goodness little ones, didn't I tell you about them ? 

Well, it's a long story and a bit complicated but I try to tell it so you'll understand.

Mother Holle is very very old, maybe as old as the world.

She is the patroness of gnomes, spinners and weavers and she used to hang out with Wodan, the ancient German god.

Nowadays she lives in a European forest and she protects the castle of the Sandman. 

She can make snow by shaking her pillow and making her bed

If someone comes looking for the Sandman ( mainly manufacturers of sleeping pills ) she makes so much snow that these people get lost and  give up looking for him.

In ancient times, between Christmas until the first days of January,

she went on a Wild Hunt with Wodan.

They had an army of dead people, animals and fairies and went in  pursuit for the Wolf Fenrir who has eaten the Sun.

They always succeeded, that is why the Sun comes back in January.

During the Hunt Mother Holle also checks if the spinners and weavers had finished their yearly work and haven't been lazy.

Well, she is of course very old and she enjoys her peaceful life in the mountains now.

Her disappearing is very strange, so I hope the Sandman finds her soon. 

Hahahaa, you all fall asleep little ones !

Sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite :-)

 

She must be here somewhere . . . .

Well, the latest tip came from Gabi, she lives in Bavaria, Germany.

Again, the Sandman and Suzanne rushed over there and look at all that snow !

Yes oh yes ! She must be here somewhere ! 

Now it's just a matter of good old fashioned looking for traces and ask the animals around here.

NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH

Uncle Ukki received a tip from Marita ( http://maritapollicina.blogspot.com/ ) : She told him she was in the Dolomites Italy and there was lots and lots of snow !

Aha ! Maybe Mother Holle ( aka Mother Hulda ) is in Italy !

He rushed over there with Suzanne but it was fruitless, no Mother Holle

The snow was gone . . . . . .  well, the search goes on.

Thank you Marita, Uncle Ukki appreciates every tip !


p.s.  we just received another tip, stay tuned!

Hatchoo. . . . . .hatchoo

It's that time of year again. . . . sneezing, coughing, running nose. 

You wouldn't say it if you look outside , it feels like early spring. I even heard the birds sing like springtime!

Although we've had 2 stormy days with "dijk-alert" the temperature is ridiculous. 

Well, my body must have thought we are in the heart of Winter so I have to catch a cold :-(

Can't work unless I tie a hanky under my nose but then I won't be able to breath at all so better to sit up and write a bit.

Mr. Sandman and Suzanne had a very good New-Years night. Suzanne did her job as if there were no fireworks at all and Uncle Ukki is very pleased with his training. 

He is considering training the poor geese who are flying around in panic on this night but it will takes time to organize such a big enterprise. He is hoping to get a hold of Nils Holgersson.

The Sandman is staying with Uncle Ukki for a while, he is in between the sprinkling of magical sand and working on a special mission.

As we know, when it snows, they say: Mother Holle is making her bed.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2591/2591-h/2591-h.htm#2H_4_0022

Well there is no snow and if there is, it's in unusual places and  Mother Holle is missing so the Sandman is spending his free time to look for her and for as long that takes he stays with Uncle Ukki. Mainly because Uncle Ukki has connections in several worlds and is using all of his powers to get information.

Mmmmm this could be a major adventure. . . . . 

For now :

The Sandman and Suzanne are saying goodbye and stay tuned !

Happy New Year !!!!!!!!

Hello again! I was in Germany a little sooner then expected. Didn't have time to wish you a wonderful New-years eve and all the best you can think of for 2012 ! Well, hereby I wish you everything you want for everyone you love including yourself !

The reason for our speedy departure was this :

I was looking for a wood stove  for our house in Germany. I've heard the electrical power can be off so every now and then due to storms or something and because we were planning on spending new years eve there I thought well, if the power goes down I can still cook and be warm if I have a wood stove. 

I was looking on the internet and there it was : a 1920s coal/wood oven/stove , Art Deco style, enamel, chrome, perfect condition for a bargain. The seller lives in the southern parts of the Netherlands and we practically passes his village when we go to Germany. We were planning on leaving December the 28th but the seller told us there was a lot of people interested so we decided to go immediately. 

We packed our bags and Pinky and went on our way to see this beauty.

It was beautiful !! And it weighs 160 Kilograms :-( . . . . . cast iron .. . . .

We managed to get the monster into the car and while we were driving to the house we really were worried how to get the thing in the basement.

 We had to go through the garden and that's steep and curvy and slippery :-(

Well, we arrived at the house at 6 in the afternoon and it was already dark so we left it for the next morning.

Thank goodness, our supersweet neighbour heard us the next morning and came to say hello. He was so kind to offer his help and after a frightening hour of dragging and pushing and heavy breathing and some curses the thing was in the basement !!!

Boy, we were soooo glad !! 

We couldn't install it properly because the stove pipe was from a total different kind then usual and I have to search the internet for a fitting pipe but it is standing proud and shiny !!!

Next thing to do was making a dining table, we really wanted to have a fancy dinner on the eve and we didn't had a table yet.

I bought a little desk in Holland for 25 Euro , I didn't need the desk but I needed the legs :-), we don't have enough room in the car to take a table with us so we had to make one in Germany .

I think I have explained our house is actually 2 houses, a good proper house and a attached house that needs a lot of TLC.

We call the TLC house the old-men's house, the last inhabitants were 2 old men.

This old-men's house has 2 basements and it's full of usable stuff like wood, beams, isolation things etc. 

We found some great pieces of timber and tadaaaaa: DINING TABLE !

The tabletop is painted and drying on my sewing machine table and on the floor is the frame with the desk legs.

And this is how it looks finished :-)

I also didn't have nice lamps to hang above the table so I bought 2 white iron rings, wrapped some fake ivy and red berries around it and a string of Christmas lights. 

I cut of the plugs and connected new electrical flexes and plugs and Voila ! 

We were ready for a nice meal with local wine ;-)

See the felted bowl on the table? With the acorns and balls ? Beautiful Christmas present from Kim :-)

Here is a nice pic from our mantle which I decorated with shadow puppets, I love them !

And to complement the hole assemble : 

Pinky !!!!!

We did some work on the little entrance but I still want to paint the floor in a chequered pattern.

Hehehehe the polar bear was a Christmas present to myself. . . . 

Okidoki, tomorrow I will get back to work, there is this donkey calling me and the Sandman is getting a little impatient !

 Helen X