R.I.P. precious Sniffy.

I had to do another vet intervention today. Poor old Sniffy finally seemed to reach the end of her looong tether with her dodgy back legs and sore eye. She was a poor looking wee thing - thin fur and a bloody face, 2 gammy back legs and a big hip lump. And she smelled. The most fastidious of our girls was, not to put too fine a point on it, honkin'.



I checked back my photo files and found some cuties - she always was our favourite (which always made me feel guilty, not supposed to have favourite pets, are you?). Here she is the day we brought her home, all big ears and cute nose.


And later that same day sparked out. That's Rizzo behind her (the blog banner star) and Riley's white bum!

Me and the Snifter having an eskimo kiss. I especially like the toy pram in the garden - it is tiny (this is 2 and a half years ago)

But Sniffy was really the Chook's first pet. Bought for her 5th birthday and as friendly as the day is long. They were buddies from day one. Bless.

So, rest in prawn crackers precious wee creature. You made some special life long memories for a wee girl.

all I want for Christmas is YOOOOOOOOO!!

Yup, it's official. Santa is coming soon! I am at this very second hearing my first play of the vocal gymnast that is Mariah Carey (ack!), I saw the Coke "Holidays are Coming" advert this morning and it was minus 3 here last night and my car door was frozen shut. IT'S DECEMBER!!!



Proper post with photos of my tree later - my favourite part of the season is putting the tree up! Woop!!

a couple things.

My weekend has whooshed past and I've managed to get none of the things done that I'd planned. But there 's a brilliant giveaway going on over at Sugar Spun Quilts including the Free Bird FQ's above. It's a new blog to me and it is full of cool things - go check her out!!

And the other wee thing is my Chookie has a shiner! Her right eye met someone elses head on Friday lunch at school and now that the swelling has subsided she has a lovely black and purple eyelid. Niiiice. *rollseyes* Always something!

the best laid plans of rats and Lynzo's

I had a lazy day planned today involving lots of gift sewing, no shopping, no leaving the house and as little outside world interaction as possible. And then our phone rang at ten o'clock this morning. It was our local vets receptionist asking if we would be interested in rehoming a few rats. Someone she knew needed to slim down their menagerie from 7 to 3 and would we be interested?


Now, I've been looking forward to NOT having a huge rat cage in our kitchen. Old Sniffy is on her last legs (literally - her back end has gone completely) and I don't think she'll see Christmas. :( But we have REALLY missed our nosey and friendly girls. So I went for a look. And came home with 2 boys.

These guys are Zep and Axl. I left their brothers Lemmy and Meatloaf (do you see a naming theme?!?) but met their dad, Ozzy, who was a beautiful peach dumbo rat. These wee guys were too cute and very tame.


This is Zep making a bid for freedom. He is so relaxed and calm while still being mucho inquisitive.

And this wee chap is the erstewhile Axl who the Chook has renamed Wilson. No, we have no idea where that came from, either. He is a bit more timid and jumpy but still MUCH tamer than our girls were when we got them.

Auld Sniffy has been moved into the smaller hospital cage - she doesn't get about much and I didn't want her being upset by 2 boisterous youngsters. And so we're back to rats in the kitchen (what are we gonna do? Heh, love UB40!)

Figgy Pud all finished.

I finished Mum's Christmas quilt last week but it was dark and I didn't take any photos before I gave it to her. It finally brightened up a bit today (it has been SO dark and dreich the last week) so I popped in after school with the Chook and my trusty wee Fuji in hand.


It's small, only 46in square. *edited* I forgot to put the link in to the tutorial it's based on! Ooops! Go here to Piece N' Quilt for loads of great tutes!
I quilted it in a circular pattern. I though it was a nice bit of juxtaposition with all the squares. It was fiddly but pretty easy to do.

And what's a quilt without a wee throw cushion to match? Cute, innit?

The pattern for the flower is from a tutorial here and it was super easy and rather sweet. I did forget to get a shot of the back (doh!) but it's mostly the brown tree fabric with some taupe sashing to break it up, a couple little D9P's and red snowflakes.

Hopefully more productive Christmas present making tomorrow for more ticks on Santa's list!

konnichiwa!

I love Japan. The people, the culture and especially the food. So it should be no surprise that sushi is in amongst the Chookie's un-childlike favourite foods (alongside olives, haggis and squid - she has a strong palate!). And with sushi comes chopsticks!!! Which she has finally mastered!!




Those pieces of chicken are TINY!!

buzz!

I've been a busy bee! I had a 3 day weekend (school in-service days Thursday and Friday last week) and I spent most of it sewing. I've 3 big ticks on my Christmas makes list but I can't show you coz I know at least one recipient reads here. So, honest, that's three bits of three different presents above. I had fun!!