Rag Pets

The Botanic Garden

I visited the Botanic Garden with friends last week. It was so very nice to be surrounded by such lush greenery when it's been really dreary and drab outside, and spring seems still to be a long way off.

I didn't have a proper camera with me, so I made do with my phone's camera instead, which is why these pictures don't quite do justice to the beauty of the gardens. The Botanic Garden is such a gorgeous place, the oldest greenhouses were built in the late 1800's and their beautiful white iron filigree creates a lovely backdrop for the plants.

It was lovely to get a bit of a respite from the greyness outside and to walk through room after room of the most wonderful plants and enticing scents. There were a few rooms that smelled so nice that I wished it were possible to bottle the scent! Walking around the gardens was like being transported into another world, somewhere warm and exotic where there's no hurry at all.

The visit to the gardens did me good, it was nice to have a reminder of how amongst all this grey, there's still verdant life and that maybe, just maybe, spring will come after all.

Thank you

I sent the rest of the money to Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (they have a website now: http://jears.org/) this morning, as the e-checks I was waiting for cleared during the night. Thank you once again to all who participated in the raffle and gave so generously.

Here's one of the reasons I'm doing all this:

I am still amazed by how much money we raised, and knowing that the dolly and crafty communities are continuing to raise dizzying, amazing amounts for Japan is really heartening.

There are two groups who are organizing art and craft charity auctions to benefit the rescue and recovery effort in Japan. Handmade For Japan's acutions start today, and Arts & Crafts United for Japan are still accepting submissions until the 31st of this month. Handmade For Japan have a whole lot of spectacular ceramic pieces up for bids, and Huffington Post has an excellent article written by Sarah Archer on the people and artists involved: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-archer/post_1854_b_839488.html
The article also expresses another reason why I find it important to help Japan:

"Bidding on works in "Handmade for Japan" is a fitting way to support the immediate rescue and recovery effort in Japan, and it is also way to give thanks to Japan for the way their aesthetics have helped all of us see the world around us in a different way. It is hard to ignore the parallels: the country that is beloved for its deeply considered, thoughtful craft and design is also a place where people seem to think nothing of putting others before themselves in a desperate situation. In a culture where the smallest detail is deserving of attention, no one is left behind."

Like I've mentioned in previous posts, I owe a lot of my inspiration to Japan, and being able to give back in their time of need means a lot me. So once again, thank you to all of you who have donated to aid Japan, and thank you to all who are going to do so. You are wonderful people!

You guys rock!

You lot are really and truly amazing and the most caring, generous bunch of people ever! All together we've raised an incredible $480 for Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support!
Animals tend to be forgotten in the midst of all the chaos a catastrophe brings, so it's truly heartening to see so many of you willing to help out all the four legged (or two legged, or with no legs at all!) critters that can't help themselves, and as a result, their humans as well.

I'm sure you're all eager to hear who Kibou is going home to, so here's the results of the raffle:

And the winner is ticket number 71, Cathryn Craig! Yay!

I'll be sending Kibou on her way to you tomorrow. She's eager to get to travel and to spread hope along the way. :)

And to add to the good news, JEARS reports that it's been confirmed that everyone, human and animal, on Cat Island is safe and that they're all doing well under the circumstances. You can read about it here: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=209658595713309

Please everyone keep on hoping for the best for Japan and it's residents, both humans and animals. You can also keep on supporting the rescue and relief effort in Japan by donating to the Red Cross of your country, or any number of charitable organizations, of which I've listed a few here:
Global Giving
Doctors Without Borders
World Vision
ShelterBox
World Vets
Save the Children
World Society for the Protection of Animals


P.S.: I am making the donation to JEARS in two parts, as I'm still waiting for a few e-checks to clear. I sent $460 to JEARS today with a note to say that it was raised by 40 wonderfully generous individuals, and I'll be sending the rest as it becomes available to my account.

Hug Japan

The earthquake and following tsunami in Japan have shook my heart too. Many of my friends and acquaintances in Japan were effected by the disaster, and they are still reeling from it and trying to cope with the aftermath. I have never been to Japan (I wish to go there one day though), but I still have an affinity for the place where my hobby (Chadô, The Art of Tea), most of my sewing tools and a lot of my fabrics come from. Japan is where my style, both of my work and of the way I dress, and plenty of my inspiration originates from. To me, it is the home of all things cute and amazing, and it breaks my heart to see the destruction and utter devastation of the catastrophe. I've even stopped following the news a few times when it all just go a bit too much for me.
I've been especially hard hit by all the news about lost and forlorn pets, and even though there's been some good news too -that the residents, both human and feline, of Tashirojima, Cat Island, have survived the tsunami that almost swept the island off the map and the story of the lady who upon returning to her ruined home finds her pet cat has survived against all odds- I know that there are still loads of animals (and their humans too) in need.

I don't have a lot of money to give, but what I do have an abundance of is time and skill. So, I am raffling off Kibou (希望, it means "hope" in Japanese) the little rag-cat to raise money for the Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support. All the proceeds from this raffle will go to Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support, and shipping costs will come out of my own purse.

(You can see more pictures of Kibou in my Flickr, just click any of the photos here to be transported there.)

Kibou is a perfectly pocket-sized rag-cat (she's about 32 cm tall) and she's made out of soft linen and stuffed with rags and polyfill. She has little button eyes, an embroidered nose, a linen coloured button for a belly button and pretty blushy cheeks.

Kibou's dress is made out of white cotton and it has lace at the hem and a big red button with a velvet ribbon bow at the neck. The dress closes at the shoulder with a snap.

Raffle tickets are $5 each and you can buy as many as you like. As this is for charity, I'm not limiting the number of tickets, and you'll have until next Monday, the 21st of March, to take part in the raffle. I will pick a winner when the raffle closes on Monday with the aid of random.org.
You can pay for your ticket(s) through PayPal, and my PayPal-address is: *address removed, as the raffle has now ended* (please don't use the word "raffle" anywhere in your payment, simply write "Japan" as the subject instead).

Please also consider donating to Japan's rescue and relief effort through the Red Cross of your country. And hug your family, friends and pets.

Edited on Monday the 21^st: The raffle is now closed and I'll be posting the results and winner soon. Thank you ever so much everyone!

Happy Hinamatsuri!

It's Hinamatsuri, Japanese Doll Festival, or Girls' Day today. Of course, Hinamatsuri isn't celebrated here in Finland, but as I am a girl and also very fond of dolls, it's a holiday I like to observe none the less.
I'm spending the day dressing my dolls and hanging out with the Rag Pets and the best girl in the world, my cat BooBoo.

I'm going to the tearoom for a Hinamatsuri tea gathering on Saturday, and I'm really looking forward to it. A friend and me will be making sweets for the gathering tomorrow, and I'll be serving as the hantô, the teishu's (host, tea maker) assistant at the gathering. It's promised to be a warm, or a whole lot warmer than it's been in ages at least, spring-y day on Saturday, perfect weather for celebrating all things girly and... umh, dolly.

Happy Hinamatsuri to all you girls and dolls! :)

love, love, love

It's Valentine's Day (or Ystävänpäivä, "Friend's Day" as it's called here) and to celebrate this day filed with love and kindness and all things nice, I made a special Valentine's Rag Pet.

This is Fancy the rag-deer.
Fancy is a very dear deer indeed. She loves chocolate bon-bons, love letters and all her dear friends.

(There's lots more photos of Fancy in my Flickr, just click on any of the photos here to go there.)

Fancy is made from chocolate brown wool and she has a white wool applique mark on her face and spots on her bum. She has a dark chocolate plastic button for a belly button, safety eyes and a perky little deer tail.
Fancy is wearing a pink and yellow seersucker dress with a linen Bambi-heart applique, Peter Pan collar with a red satin bow and ric-rac and lace on the hem. She's also got a red & white spotted cotton ear-bow.

♡♡♡

Wishing you all a really lovely and very happy Valentine's Day!

New things

A new year always brings with it new things and new beginnings.

I started a 365 Pictures Project this month, I'm going to try and take a photo every day for a whole year. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision this, but since I now have an iPhone with a rather nice camera and growing love for brilliant and fun photography apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic, I think I have a fair chance of seeing this through! It's nice to challenge myself, to see if I can stick to this and if I can come up with 365 photos that aren't all of the cat!
You can follow my progress of taking 365 pictures over on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitty_vane/sets/72157625827674961/

Another new thing I've started is a Tumblr blog. All the cool kids seem to have one, and I'd like to be a little bit cool so I thought I'd make one too. I also have a whole lot of pretty pictures and things that I've collected and I thought it'd be nice to share them with others to be inspired by too instead of just stuffing them into a folder.

You can find my Tumblr here: http://passengerpigeon.tumblr.com/
I thought long and hard about the name for my Tumblr, and I settled on Passenger Pigeon, because the "passenger" in passenger pigeon comes from the French word passager, meaning "to pass by", which is apt since my Tumblr will be a collection of bits and bobs I've come by while surfing about and that have caught my fancy. And of course, because pigeons are most awesome!

The last new thing is actually old news now, but since I'm a little bit behind on my feeds, it's still somewhat new to me: I was featured on the Absolutely Small blog! :)
Contrary to the answers I gave in the interview which I did at the end of last year, I just finished "Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen which was magical and whimsical and I'm now reading "Driving Sideways" by Jess Riley which is wonderfully funny. The teddy bear making course I mentioned is over, but I'm still working on my Storybook Rag Pets. The "flu buster"-tea recipe is still current, with spring's flu season ahead of us and all. :)
Claire, the person behind Absolutely Small, and the ever brilliant utterly fantastic Chickenpants, is a really great person, super funny and so creative she makes people (she's currently on maternity leave) and if you haven't already, go acquaint yourself with her and her work!

Yay! Happy Twin Day!

My brother and me, at about age 2 or so, having the time of our lives!

Today is National Twin Day, and as a twin myself I'm happy to have a day dedicated to being a twin. :)
I have a twin brother, and asides from being born on the same day (I'm all of 7 minutes older than my brother), I don't think we differ much from any other siblings. Then again, I have no experience of being anything other than a twin, so I can't really say for sure. As kids we were close, we were a unit, more a "we" than "me", but as we got older we grew more apart -as I suspect all siblings do. We don't look any more alike than any other brother-sister pair, and we have different and distinct personalities. Still, I really value being one half of an extraordinary (twins make up less than 2% of the world's population) pair and even though being a twin isn't all roses and rainbows and special connections, I wouldn't change it for the world!

Happy Twin Day dear brother! :)

Winter Wednesday

Sometimes others have said all you want to say much better and more eloquently than you ever could, and this is one of those times for me. So, here is a poem by William Bronk (whose surname makes me giggle) that perfectly puts into words the oddly melancholy yet tremendous beauty of winter as it is right now.

Broken sky mirror,

blue-shadowed snow,

June is far now,

hold while you can; show

bare of branch

stark of stalk:

ache us to know.

- Winter Vocative by William Bronk

Happy 2011!

Happy new year everyone! 2011 is the year of the rabbit, and I hope this year will be as wonderful as fluffy little bunnies are cute! :)

I posted about my Creativity Chart before, and here it is all done and filled:

It was really nice to colour in those little squares every day I did something creative and leaving one blank does feel a bit bad. So I can happily say that the Creativity Chart worked! I made myself a new one today, and I hope this one will be a lot more colourful than the one before. I don't usually make any new year's resolutions, but I've decided that this year I'll try to do more, make more and simply live more.

With 2010 being gone and 2011 freshly arrived, it's that exciting time when you have a brand new shiny year just waiting to be lived. All those days to do things, for stuff to happen and for experiences to be experienced. It's quite heady to think of all that time unfolding ahead of you really. Now all that's left to do is, well, to get on with it!