CALLING ALL PIGEON FANCIERS!

Hello!

This is just a quick message for those of you on the pigeon fanciers' mailing list. I've sent out all the pigeon and hen release details so please check your e-mail/junk mail/spam inboxes.

In other news, I am still alive (as is Mr.P) and finally back in the rainy UK for good after a busy last week in Germany. I promise to answer all e-mails and post something interesting as soon as possible!

Have a great weekend :)

Mini Quilt Swap

After all the drama of last week I reckon it's time for a nice craft-related, non-violent, gingerbread-friendly post.

First of all (becuase I failed to make it appear at the bottom)... LOBSTER BISCUIT!

...which I couldn't resist and which was delicious in case you were wondering. Much better than real lobster.

Even more exciting was the parcel which arrived earlier this week. It was my "mini quilt swap" quilt from Nicky in Australia.

I love tortoises and requested something to bright to cheer up my boring German walls so Nicky came up with this original design which I absolutely love:

It's a shame you can't see so clearly on the photo, but her stitching is amazingly neat. This quilt has everything- buttons, ric-rac, freehand quilting, embroidery and beautiful fabrics. Even the back is beautifully done:

And if that wasn't enough, she also sent me a pretty handmade card and 3 balls of wool. Thank you so much again, Nicky!

Of course I knew exactly what to do with the red, white and blue yarn...

"Peckish" part II

Luckily I got there in time to save Fred, pulling Mr.Pigeon out of the box and confiscating his corkscrew. (You didn't seriously think I was going to turn Mr.Pigeon into a murderer did you?)

"Coooooooooooo!"



I only wanted a nibble, I promise, said Mr.P.




But I still made him apologise to Fred...

Fred told Mr.Pigeon not to worry about it.




But what drives a young pigeon to such violence?




It soon became clear that it was all my fault. I've been trying to cut down on all those tasty German sweet things. Without his daily dose of cake, Mr.Pigeon was suffering withdrawl symptoms and even began to hallucinate...

So after taping Mr.P's beak closed (in case of further incidents), I dashed out to the nearest Patisserie and returned with one big bag and one small bag...

...one for me and one for Mr.P...

...although somebody didn't seem to think this was fair...

...and made a beeline for the biggest pastry...for MY pastry.





Oi! Pigeon! No!

I wasn't having any of it...

MWA HA HA HA HAAAAAAA!




...and before I get any e-mails about pigeon cruelty, no pigeons were (badly) harmed in the making of this post.




Anyway, after he had stopped sulking and I had promised not to let him go too long without cake again, Mr.Pigeon decided to make it up to Fred by sharing his pain au chocolat.

What a happy ending :)

"Peckish" part I

Now, I bet you didn't know that it is every gingerbread man's dearest ambition to become a model in a Christmas catalogue...or even to strut their stuff in a bakery window.

Well, that's Fred's dream. He dreams of posing amongst the baubles and tinsel on a handsome fir tree or between the candles on a festive mantelpiece.

Being a kind gingerbread man owner, I offered to take some shots for his portfolio.

Here you can see "relaxed casual chic"...

..."the sultry look"...

..."the flirty look"...

...work it, Fred ...

...what the...?

Where did that pigeon go?

...

...LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU, FRED!...

Will Fred fall prey to a peckish Mr.Pigeon? Will somebody save him in time? Find out next time on...THE PIGEON LOFT!

A bit of a lazy post...

WARNING: this is a lazy post.

The dissertation (now more or less finished- yey!) has made sure that I've had no time in the past two weeks to make anything (except the odd pigeon foot, wing or body). I'm planning a nice, long pigeon and cake-filled post for next time so here are a few related links and things to keep you entertained in the meantime:



Nigel the massive crocheted dinosaur arrived safely at the Locket household and emerged from his equally massive yellow box to meet his new owner Fred on his 6th birthday. Lucy even used her impressive crochet skills to make a mini version of Nigel in blue to go with all the other fab dino-related presents she had made.

Emma (who makes some really beautiful jewellery) received Mr.C.Fish from the post below and he is now enjoying life in the UK with an assortment of other creatures.

Mr Pigeon 029 is a very lucky chap indeed. Clare made him FOUR snazzy new pigeon tank tops. You can see him modeling them all here.

Talking of pigeon tank tops, Bubble the pigeon's owner, Miss T (a very promising young knitter!), has knitted him some very fetching jumpers.

EDIT 15.06.08: THIS article from the Telegraph tells us that not only are pigeons a bit more intelligent than human 3-year-olds, they can distinguish between Picasso and Monet too! Maybe I should take Mr.P along to a gallery.

And finally something exciting arrived in the post this week...

A box. What is so exciting about this box? Well, I've been trawling the internet for aaaages looking for the perfect box for pigeon posting and think I have found it at last. The lovely box people kindly agreed to send me a free sample. All I had to do was persuade my feathered assistants to try it out for size...








...it was a perfect fit for both hen...











...and pigeon...










This means that postage costs for future pigeon purchasers will be lower. Hooray!

P.S: I.O.U a more exciting post next time. No box talk, I promise. Just cake and birds.

Mr. Pigeon's European Adventures

Hello! Apologies for the long absence. You'll be pleased to know I have a very good excuse- the parents were visiting me in Germany this week and it was my duty as their only daughter to exploit their hire car and empty their wallets. They very kindly took Mr. Pigeon and me to some very nice places. There are of course photos...


The first stop was Giengen an der Brenz, a small and pretty town in Bavaria. It is also home of Steiff, the stuffed animal company so we visited the museum. It really is worth a visit, it's amazing what they can make out of fluff and stuffing...

We got a catalogue to flick through over a piece of cake...




...no sign of any stuffed pigeons.




Next stop was Munich. Mr. Pigeon got very excited by this place...

...but it didn't really appeal to the human members of the party so we ended up in the Hofbraeuhaus with one of these...

...and one of these...

After all that beer, Mr. P needed some fresh air to clear his woolly head...

...so we went up to the Heidelberg castle...

...Mr. Pigeon didn't seem impressed...

..."shoddy brickwork" apparently.




He seemed happier in Hanschuhsheim...

...he knocked but nobody was in...

But it was ogling the French birds in Strasbourg that Mr.P was really looking forward to. He soon felt right at home...

...although I expect it's a good thing he can't read French...

...he even tried to blend in with the locals...

...they weren't very talkative.





So that's where we've been. Needless to say not an awful lot of crocheting has been going on.

Except for this chap...

But fear not, pigeon fanciers! Normal service has now been resumed, the dissertation is very slowly being written during the day and new pigeons are appearing in the evening :)

Mini Quilt

I can finally post pictures of my "Lucy Locket's Mini-Quilt Swap" mini quilt, which my swap partner Nicky in Australia received this week...

The photo was taken at night, standing on a chair at an odd angle so isn't very clear or straight. The word you can't read says "pink".

Now, I can’t avoid it any longer. I have now been tagged to do the “7 random things”, “4 things” and …erm… the “whatever the other one is called” meme by various people. The truth is, in between pigeon production, dissertation-writing and translations I have no time to do them… so I decided to bend the rules and get somebody else to do it for me…somebody with a lot of time on his hands wings...





1) What was I doing 10 years ago? 1998....?

I was probably still part of a sheep.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

I don't really have a to-do list, I’m a pigeon of leisure.

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Cake, seed, crumbs...just not toffee- it wasn't made for beaks (:>

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Buy a pigeon loft, a big bag of seed and give the rest to a pigeon hospital. Oh…and employ 100 pigeon-crocheters so that one day there might be more woolly pigeons in the world than real ones.

5) Places I have lived:

I was made in Salamanca (Spain), go “home” to Tynemouth (England), am currently nesting in Heidelberg (Germany) and next year will live in Bristol…but in all those places I’ve lived on a shelf with Miss Hennypenny and various brothers.

6) A random fact: You never see the original Mr.Pigeon 001. Although we are all made from his pattern, he looks very different from later pigeons (like the original Mickey Mouse or Homer Simpson). He’s much thinner, has light pink feet and has purple and white stripes on his wings.

I'm sure you need no reminding that the greatest musical event of the year is taking place in Belgrade this Saturday. As Mr. Pigeon was made in Spain, he will be waving his little red and yellow flag for THIS MAN.

A pigeon on a mission

I'd caught Mr.Pigeon staring thoughtfully up at my dictionary on quite a few occasions...



...I'd also caught him trying to read it...but I think it may have been a bit difficult as it is twice the size of our feathered friend...

...so I took pity on Mr. Pigeon and bought him a little present to make things easier for him...

...although I still wasn't sure what a pigeon would want with a German dictionary...

...I did ask, but was told to mind my own business....charming.

He then demanded a lift on my bicycle (with a folded piece of paper under his wing)...

...to one of my favourite places- Cafe Frisch, the best bakery in Heidelberg.

I was told to stay put and in he went still holding the little bit of paper...

( I should point out that I was alone, had been hanging around suspiciously outside the bakery for about 10 minutes holding a woolly pigeon , waiting for an opportune moment (i.e. a moment when nobody would be watching) and just as I though the coast was clear, that woman appeared and must have thought I was a complete lunatic...you can see it in her face)



Anyway, Mr. Pigeon emerged a few minutes later with a package and I gave him and his mystery item a lift home...

...what was written on the folded paper?

I thought so- "one piece of cake for Mr.Pigeon please"

Introducing....THE WONDER CHAIR!

I had a problem. It was a beautiful sunny day, the sun was shining directly onto my balcony but I had nowhere to sit. The spinny desk chair just wouldn't do so I set off on a mission to find a chair that was up for the job.



I found it in the first place I looked- near the station, sitting outside the shop in all its glory. I paid for it, was presented with a very long bag which I attached to myself and cycled home with at great risk to myself and other cyclists (you've seen the slapstick 'turning around holding a plank and hitting somebody' sketches? well imagine that but with a chair in a bag on my back and a lamp-post.)



What's so great about it? Attractive it is NOT but practical it most certainly IS. Look...it's even got a footrest built in...

"Now wait just one minute" I hear you say. "What's all this got to do with knitting and pigeons and...well, interesting things?"

Funny you should say that.



This chair not only has a yarn holder on one side...

...it has a pigeon holder on the other side!

Those chair designers think of everything.

And don't worry, Mr. Pigeon was well protected from the sun. I didn't want him burning his beak so we got his sun hat out...





And finally I'll leave you with a picture of the apple that cares.

Who needs a man when fruit can say it for 40 cents?

012 takes to the skies

Do you remember Mr. Pigeon 012? I first mentioned him in this post.


Since then Mr. P 012 has been to the rugby club bar for many a pint with his owner, has caused (too) many other rugby-shirted birds to be ordered and this week he finally got the chance to spread his little crocheted wings and fly.


Can you tell where he is?




Maybe this would help...

Mr.Pigeon's owner is taking flying lessons and after much badgering I persuaded him to take "Percy" along and take some photos to prove that crocheted pigeons really can fly.

Here Mr. P prepares for take-off...

...and sits on the throttle keeping a beady eye on all the instruments...

Mr. Pigeon 007 was understandably jealous as he has only ever flown with easyjet where you have to pay £2 for a cup of tea in a paper cup. So when we went to Cumbria for the day, 007 was taken here for some real afternoon tea with pigeon-sized apple turnovers, fruit cake and the biggest scones his little acrylic eyes had ever seen...

Not a bad life for two woolly pigeons :)

Bag, bloggers and bird

You'll be pleased to know this isn't another one of those posts where I try to hide the fact that I've been making nothing by distracting you with photos of pigeons.



It's been quite a productive day.



The finishing touches were put to this bag for a friend's 21st. It has cow print lining and a cow on the front. I tried to machine stitch "moo" onto the pocket too but failed miserably. Any tips on writing with a sewing machine?...



I got the metro bright and early (by student standards) to Whitley Bay where I met Clare and Lucy . We sauntered to Ring-a-Rosie, the finest wool shop in Whitley Bay, spent far too much money then went for a chat and a coffee. But I wasn't expecting to be showered with gifts!



Clare gave me a birthday card and this beautiful door-hanging cat. The colours are perfect (bet you're glad I didn't go for the obvious pun there) for my room and I can't get over how professional it looks...

Lucy gave us each a bag containing chocolate (not in a photographable state I'm afraid) and this fabtastic wallet. I love the fabrics and again it's extremely well made (with a zip and a popper and everything!) Now I can have a "home" and "abroad" purse to avoid euro/pound confusion.

Thank you so much, ladies- it really was great to meet you both and we had a lovely morning.

Who's "we" you say?

Mr.Pigeon and me of course!

A very happy birthday :)

I turned 21 on Saturday (which is over half way to 40 and apparently "all downhill from now on" as people kindly keep pointing out) and have come home from Germany for a few days.

On Friday I arrived home having taken 2 wrong trains, ending up in a Frankfurt ghetto, nearly missing the plane and getting to Newcastle only to find that although I had made the flight my suitcase hadn't! After the not-too-successful journey I was very pleased to arrive home to a big pile of post on my bed...

The parcels contain beautiful fabrics from Nature's Threads and from Japan, bright pink tweezers and a prize for winning Sarah's giveaway.

I knew I would be getting a lovely knitted coffee cup accessory but was delighted to find a beautifully sewn needle case too! This was the only photo where the sun wasn't so bright everything came out totally white. The needle case cover is a very jazzy orange and I am so impressed by how neat her work is.

Thank you so much, Sarah!

I got some great crafty things for my birthday as well including some more Japanese fabrics and a really good book about sewing your own clothes.

Hope everybody had as good a weekend as I've had!

p.s. in case you were wondering, the suitcase made it back home on Saturday morning- good old British Airways :)