Securing Christmas and Hopping into 2019

Hi ya!

Thanks so much to everybunny who left a comment about me blogging again. I must say, I'm really happy to be back. I am truly looking forward to some fun times ahead!

So, how was your Christmas? Sabrina decided this was the best place to wait for Santa.

David and I started a tradition five years ago. We have a lovely Christmas Eve dinner and then go to the movies and eat a big bucket of popcorn on Christmas day. hee,hee,hee. It's fabulous! We went to see Aquaman. It was just ok in my opinion. I would rather have seen Mary Poppins, but David isn't keen on musicals.

I decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving and while I have loved having my cottage decorated for the season, I decided today, as my friend Captain would say, to "Secure Christmas," which means put everything away.

Ever since Hurricane Florence, I feel like my little Bayfield Cottage has been in a state of "dirty." Now, local friends will say I'm nuts because I'm a clean freak, but you know how it is when it's your own home. The windows need cleaning, the baseboards need dusting, the cupboards and closets need to be cleaned out and everything needs to be tided.

Plus, David is off work for 12 days and is painting "Bunnyville" for me!!! I guess I'm just excited to have a fresh studio and I want everything to be ship shape before January 1st.

Speaking of January 1st, my "Within and Inch of Your Life" project/challenge will kick off then. If you have been following me on Instagram and Facebook, you will have seen my daily 1" hexies that I have been stitching every day since my 50th birthday on March 27.

I have had so many friends interested in doing their own piece, that I have decided to start a Facebook group "The Raspberry Rabbits - Within and Inch Club." Here I will share some inspiration and fun ideas on what you can stitch and how to put them together in unique ways. It will also be a place for friends to share what they are stitching, encourage each other and to stay motivated. We are going to have such a fun adventure together!

The club is FREE to join on Facebook and I still have some supplies available if you need them. Hop on over to my SHOP. 

Henry and Hannah continue to do very well. However, I still cannot put them together unsupervised in the same condo yet as Henry is like a toddler. I'm constantly telling him to "get out of there, put that down, stop pulling on the pen, don't dig the carpet, you can't chew that, stop pestering Hannah" and so on.

In addition to things like "Henry.... why did you put your toy in your water bowl?

"Ummmmm... it wasn't me."

Hee, hee,hee. The little bugger just cracks me up! Anyway, until he can calm down a bit, I don't want him pestering Hannah. My old girl likes her stuff they way it is and especially likes her own potty. ;)

See ya back here next week and looking forward to hopping into 2019!

Hoppy New Year,
Michelle, the Bunnies and Sabrina Kitty too

Blogging and Henry the VIII

Well hellooooooooo my friends! Did you think I ran away? Well, I kinda did. I was exhausted from all the goings on in November and traveling to Houston and well, life in general. I needed some time to sit and just "be." Sometimes, as a creative person with a creative business that has to wear many hats and keep up with everything, I simply need to take a break.

I must say that the break did me some good. My world has become so go, go, go with all this social media stuff. It can be exhausting. I have found that I miss the old days of blogging. It was so much fun to hop in and visit with friends, peer into their worlds, read their stories and share their adventures. It was one of my most favorite hobbies.

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest... they have all become a flash of information overload. I feel like everything is just coming at me at once and it's overwhelming trying to keep up. Now, while I enjoy visiting with friends there, and I enjoy being able to share things instantly on my pages, I find that I miss the slowness, calmness and peacefulness of blogging. So, starting today, I am going to return to posting on this little old blog every Wednesday. If you would like to follow along, you can sign up (on the right sidebar) to receive my posts in your inbox.

Ok now that I have said that, I want to share something really exciting with you! I would like to introduce my newest family member here at Bayfield Cottage, Henry the VIII.

I named him this as he is my 8th adopted rescue rabbit.


"Henry the VII? Does this mean I'm royalty?"

For a while now I have been thinking about getting another bunny so that Hannah bunny would have company when I travel with teaching. David is wonderful about taking care of her and Sabrina, but they are my babies and he doesn't dote on them like I do. Plus, it has been 3 1/2 years since I lost Harrington and while I will always miss him and could never replace him, my heart was ready to love and give a forever home to a bunny in need.

"Mama, I'm lonely when you go away for work."

Here's Henry's story:

During hurricane Florence in September, Henry was found running lose in a neighborhood. A lady found him and kept him for a while trying to find his owner. After several weeks and no luck finding his owner, she took him to the animal shelter. Here he sat and again nobody came to claim him.

My local rabbit rescue, The New Hanover County Rabbit Rescue, went to the shelter to get him as they didn't want him to be euthanized. Henry was a mess. His legs and belly had urine scald from him being kept in a small nasty cage. I feel like he was probably kept in a wire bottomed hutch in someones back yard and was left there during the hurricane. Poor little lass.

There was just something about him that made me fall in love with him instantly. Maybe it was his wonky ear, which reminded me of my beloved Harrington, or maybe it was his story after thinking about him outside during that horrific hurricane. I just knew I had to contact my rescue and inquire about him.

Well, he was neutered two weeks ago and last Wednesday I brought him home. I was going to just "foster" him for a while to see how he did with Hannah. The rescue said they thought he was around 6 years old and I thought that would be good with my 9 to 11 year old gal. Well, he's totally not even close to being 6. He runs around and gets into everything like a toddler! LOL!!! He makes me laugh so hard. I honestly think he was a typical Easter bunny child gift that got tossed out in a pen in the back yard when the child got bored with him. Grrrrrr..... Anyway, I think he definitely not more than 3 years old and maybe younger. Vets can never really tell with bunnies who are between a year and six years old.

One loaf of bun.

Needless to say, by Saturday, three days after I thought I would foster him, I knew I would never let him go and I officially adopted him. Yep, I'm a sucker for super cute, fuzziness!

"What's that you say? I'm super cute and I get to stay? Yaaaaaay!"

He and Hannah are both the sweetest bunnies and there has been no fighting or stomping. They will eventually share the same playpen, but for now, it is supervised play dates as he still has some "testosterone" in him and I don't want him jumping on Hannah's back and hurting her.

"Tell him to stop with the humping already! Geesh!"

This is a painting that my friend Val painted and gave to me three years ago. It's called "Sir Henry in the Garden." I think it is rather perfect hanging here in the forever home of Henry the VIII.

I'm looking forward to sharing more stories about the bunnies, Sabrina kitty, Bayfield Cottage and lots of creative adventures here in my little place in the crazy social media world. A place where we can all just visit for a bit and really connect with one another like we use to do.

We'll see ya back here next Wednesday. Until then, have a peaceful and Very Hoppy Christmas!

"That's right Henry. You got it. This is called the 'mush your face to the floor and look super cute look.' Mama can't resist it. She will stop everything to pet us and give us a treat."

Hugs and friends,
Michelle and the fuzzy ones

November is Here!

Helloooooooooo! Hannah here. Mama apologizes for being a day late with this post. Sometimes her life doesn't go according to plan and she has to go with the flow. This month she asked me to give you an update. So let's hop to it shall we?

First, we are very hoppy that Fall is finally arriving here in Bunnyville. It's been dreadfully hot and Sabrina kitty and I have shed our fur all over the place. Mama said she could have three more bunnies and kitties with the amount of fur that came off us. The humidity has been really bad too. It makes me want to mush down into the floor as much as possible and not move.

However, since it is Fall according to the calendar, I wanted to showcase one of Mama's favorite designs, "Falling for You." It's two squirrels getting married under a giant acorn. If you have ever attended one of Mama's chats, you know the silly story behind it. This is a fun project to make and features Mama's signature "Reverse Wool Applique." Hop on over to our SHOP to get the instant gratification PDF pattern. We truly appreciate your friendship and support of our small business.

Mama took this photo one morning on her return from her morning walk. She loves how the light beams were casting a magical glow over our Bayfield Cottage. She knew it was going to be a wonderful day.

She was also pleased that her beloved Gandalf tree had survived hurricane Florence. That's a  Lowes store in the back to give you some idea of how big and mighty Gandalf is. Such an old and wise fella. Mama really wants to sit under him and read a book and drink her latte, but nobody is allowed in there.  Probably a good thing as not everybunny is kind to nature.

Speaking of nature, Daddy brought Mama this beautiful bouquet of flowers. She said it was perfect as she loves all the simple colors and wild elements.

She said that these remind her of tiny French knots in her embroidery.

Next, she went on a little outing with her friends. They ate lunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe. She fell in love with these metal, cutout, lighted panels and

even their lovely napkins. The food was absolutely delicious and she can't wait to go there again!

Here she is with her friend Patty, aka "Pattykins." Mama, Daddy, Pattykins and Jim had a wonderful evening out in downtown Wilmington. Everyone needed a break from the weeks of hard work cleaning up after the storm. There is still so much damage everywhere. It will take months, if not a year or so to get things back to normal.

Speaking of clean up. Here is the Fema truck picking our two large trees that fell over.

Mama went to visit Mommy Syl and Captain too. It was a nice and relaxing visit. She loves her friends who became her family.

Mama and Daddy also went to visit Auntie Robin and Auntie Lea at their new home. Auntie Robin is Daddy's sister. It was a really wonderful visit!

They want to the Conservator Center here in NC. They took a tour and learned about all the wonderful, well loved and well cared for animals there. They highly recommend it!

Mama loved this white lion.

She also loved the Curious Peddler shop! She spotted Sunny the cat in the window. Sunny was taking a nap in this planter. She is a rescue kitty that was dumped downtown as a kitten. She is such a sweetie and brought in many a customer to see if she was real. Mama and Daddy loved the shop. It was filled with beautiful and unique items and felt like a warm hug inside. The owner Teresa Dallas is so friendly and kind and has gift for arranging displays. Of course, they purchased a treasure or two and will show you them next month as they are for Christmas. They love supporting small businesses full of care and kindness.

Next, Mama kept finding the bird feeders empty and all sorts of a mess.

She finally found the bandit early one morning. Of course, Mama was super excited as she normally is about critters and named her Rita. Many many years ago there was a Smokey the Bear commercial that featured a singing raccoon named Rita. There is a huge tree on the other side of the fence and Rita lives there. Rita shows up late at night or really early in the morning to finish up the birdseed before she heads back to her tree. To quote Mama, "She is just so precious!!!!!"

Moving on to more of "Within and Inch of my Life" project. Here are a few favorites from October. This first one is about those Oui yogurt jars.

Mama has become a bit of a hoarder with the jars. LOL!!! She says she's going to do something with them, but I haven't seen anything yet.

Next, this one is about the ice cream truck that went through the neighborhood in the middle of October.

It was so weird as it was so hot like Summer outside, but there was the pumpkin on the porch for Halloween. Mother Nature sure has been nuts this year.

Next is a little bunny from our friend, Babs.

Babs purchased this wooden bunny when she was a little girl back in the 50's. She remembers being so excited to go into the "Japanese" shop that was filled with all sorts of goodies. She had a quarter in her pocket and was ready to buy a treasure. It's funny how little, inexpensive things made kids so excited back then. Simpler times for sure.

Scissors, scissors, scissors. How many pairs do you have?

Of course, the bunny ones are our favorites.

Our neighborhood goes all out for Halloween. They weren't about to let the storm ruin their fun.

So even though many houses still had blue tarps on their roofs, the decorations were out in full force!

Daddy loves to carve our pumpkin every year. This is what he did this year.

There has been so much violence and hatred in the world. It is all so exhausting and upsetting.

Mama has been trying to meditate on Peace. It's not always easy when there are days that are still utterly shocking and make her cry.

Well, the project continues to grow! Seven months down and five to go. She hasn't missed a day yet.

Mama heads to the International Quilt Festival in Houston to teach on November 7th. She spent over a month packaging kits, goody bags and supplies for her students. Here she is with the five boxes that made their way to Houston. It cost her over $355 to ship them. Yikes!

Well, this finishes up my duties posting for Mama this month.

I'll leave you with this photo of lazy Sabrina kitty who decided to take a nap in a sunbeam instead of helping me with this post. Cats.... ;)

See ya next month if not before! Remember, you can follow Mama on her Facebook and Instagram pages, The Raspberry Rabbits. She posts there every day!

Love always,
Hannah bunny