A birthday, some stitching and a wee baby rhino . . .

If your interest was piqued by the mention of a wee baby rhino in the title of this post, I shan't keep you waiting any longer, but get straight to it  :-)

So last week, in addition to it being my birthday, it was also World Rhino Day so I thought I'd share this pic with you :

Just look at the size of his feet !

 My friend B & her hubby live and work on a game reserve in north-western South Africa, and when this little newborn was abandoned by his rhino mum, B got to look after him for a wee while before he went off to a nearby sanctuary to be cared for until he's big & strong enough to go back into the wild.  Isn't he just the sweetest wee baby rhino you ever did see ?

Rhinos are an endangered species and I salute the efforts of peeps like my friends and so many others who work tireless to stop the poaching and help preserve these amazing creatures.

Right, now - back to my birthday . . .

Imagine my delight when I opened this lovely bundle of fabulous goodies from Sublime Stitching  {thanks Hubby-darling}

- some fun alphabet patterns and a whole bunch of yummy threads,

 which I am having immense fun with already.

Remember my chubby little screen-printed birdie that I made last week ?

Well, I'm pleased to say, he now has an eye, a wing, two spindly legs and some fluffy tail feathers. 

I should get around to embroidering the letters sometime in the week, then I haven't quite decided whether to make a cushion or just leave it as hoop art - what do you think ?

And never one to be outshone by a cute fellow creature, here's the Jerry-dog photo-bombing my pic to take a closer look . . .

I should also point out that once she discovered the little chubby birdie was neither real nor edible, she retreated in disgust.

Linking up today with lovely Chrissie for Stitching Sundays - do pop over and have a little hop around all the other fab stitchy projects.

'til next time,

xoxo

Stitching Sunday . . .

 I haven't done any stitching like cross-stitch or embroidery for many a year.  I remember learning to embroider as a little girl at primary school - and being very proud of a gingham embroidered tray cloth - and then my friend Sue taught me to cross-stitch, ooh probably at least 20 years ago, and I loved that too.  But I really haven't done much in the way of hand stitching for ages so when Chrissie blogged about organising a little Stitch-a-Long, I jumped at the opportunity to pick up my needle, sort out my cottons and get stitching again.

First up was the little freebie that came with Issue 30 of the Mollie Makes mag . . .

So pretty, isn't it ?  But being 20 years older too, I quickly came to realise that I need my reading glasses and daylight to do these tiny little cross stitches nowadays  !!

And as usual when launching myself into a new project - I just had to have some new books to 

match . . .
 I just can't help myself.
 C'est la vie . . .

All of these books are lovely, and just filled with inspiration and great projects. 

 So this week (besides hoping to finish the pretty cross-stitch rose), I'm working on some little hoops which I should hopefully get finished and be able to show you next week.

 Just simple little designs, nothing too elaborate . . .

I'm linking up with Chrissie Crafts for the very first Stitching Sunday - do pop over here for some great tips and to have a wee peek at some other stitchy projects.  And if you've got a stitching project of your own on the go at the mo, please do link up and share it too : - )

Wishing you a happy & crafty week ahead,

'til next time

xoxo