USEFUL CLUCKING .....

I've been asked many times if I make me things 'with hooks on'. Things like my largest fish, hearts and now my new tree design. The answer is alway no because that would make them useful. I don't want them to be useful. I want them to be totally non-functional, purely decorative and serving absolutely no purpose whatsoever apart from to be extremely cheerful and whimsical. So there.

Having said all that with indignation in my voice I would like to show you my newest design.
I was asked to make a chicken keyring fob thingy which is classed as 'being useful' - harumph - it had to be nice and big and it had to be a chicken. Now, I've not done chickens before because I just think that image is over done and that bores me rigid BUT a commission is a commission.














Those were the colours asked for but I'm wondering about giving them the Half an Acre treatment. Or I could just accept that people LIKE these more conventional schemes. So I've decided to make a big ole heap of chickens and see how they go.
Chicken opinions welcome .......

SNAKE MEETS SNAKE!

With the arrival of two sets of pictures from bunnies Neon and Little Spot, who have gone to live in Holland, we have discovered that there is a snake in common!

Our British snake is completely gobsmacked to see himself on the computer. I then had to explain that it was not him but a fellow, twin, snake living in a different country. He can't get over it as he thought he was the only one. Apart from the fact that he was one of about 10 thousand made by Ikea is lost on him! Our snake is a little less smart as its Dutch counterpart due to being dragged around by his tongue and dangled from the bannisters to be used for whinching things upwards by The Bunny Makers three boys! All in all its been a very exciting week at The Warren!

More News From Holland.

The Warren is thrilled to have heard from Little Spotty bunny who went to Holland with Neon Bunny - and some lovely pictures have arrived too. They were once again alarmed to see the snake - as they are wary of such slithery things after the nasty incident with Sock Snake and Widget but its obvious from the picture that this snake is much friendlier. Phew!

Below is Little Spotty's letter:



Hello bunnies back at The Warren,

here is a mail from your friend Little Spotty!
Since yesterday I live in Schiedam.
That's in The Netherlands.
I like it here, but I miss you bunnies.
Luckily I'm not the only sockbunny in Schiedam.
Neon lives here too!
His owner and mine are friends, so I can see Neon sometimes.
For a few days I lived with Neon and his new friends.
I don't live there any more, because I was a birthday present for Tessa (that's the friend of Neons owner).
I think Tessa likes me. :)
She love it when I tickle her cheeks with my ears and she lets me snuggle in her pockets.
I've made some new friends as you can see on the pictures!

Greetings,

Little Spotty and Tessa

It's so exciting that she is having a good time - the bunnies back here miss her too though. They miss all the 'bought bunnies' and love it when they get letters and photos back. It looks as though Snake isn't her only new pal though! This picture is her with Mr Jummy. I had to assure the bunnies (they really are a bit silly sometimes) that those teeth weren't for nibbling ears and that he was really quite friendly.




Little Spotty getting to know some of the other residents in her new home.

A great way to travel for a bunny when she is all hopped out!

ABOUT THE BUNNY MAKER

Well .... you see ..... The Bunny Maker is me, Anna.

 I had (or have) a little business called Half an Acre, making handmade wooden lovely things.  I never used to make bunnies until one day I did.  I made a bunny from a sock ........(more about that in a min.).

I live in West Sussex, with a husband, three small boys, lots of lego, pencils, paint, cushions and random objects.   One of these small boys, the eldest, loves bunnies, especially ones with soft, soft ears. He has 42. 42 bunnies.  On his bed. I made him another from a sock. Then another.  Then his two brothers wanted one. Then my friends' children wanted bunnies, and those bunnies needed bunny cousins.

I put a basket of them on the corner of my Half an Acre stall......

 Okay, I don't have a picture of that but this one shows the morphing of my stall into a 'Widget and Friends' stall.  This is the Marvelous Moveable Meadow that the bunnies sit in.
Anyway .... they ALL sold.  Then the next basket load sold.
So, due to demand for a website and more bunnies .... Widget and Friends was born.

Widget was one of the first bunnies I made and is pretty cute.  He has a nice scarf and his picture taken every day for a year and posted on his own special blog Widget's Year.. 

The bunnies are for sale through the Widget and Friends shop on Folksy.  You can also buy some Thock Thnakes there and the new handmade wooden beds for tired bunnies.

The blog here is very active; people send in news of the bunnies they have bought and great pictures too.  They all go up on the blog for everyone to see.  You can sneak a peek at them in The Bunny Gallery.  I am asked for custom bunnies on a regular basis and love the challenge.  You can see some of them in the Custom Bunny Gallery.

The Moveable Meadow

I did a sale last night and took along all the buns - every single one I had made up and ready. They were all thrilled to be going on an outing and in the evening too! Usually they are all bedded down in their burrows.
They weren't terribly helpful when I arrived and had to unpack the car. Trying to hop out of the tub trug I'd loaded them all into. It's a bit squashed in there and all the ears and noses get tickled and pulled by each other - the fuzzy bunnies really do get picked on.
I was really pleased with how the table looked - I'd set it up like a little garden with this great grassy, flowery stuff I'd bought from a highstreet shop who were thrilled to get rid of it all at half price! A portable meadow! It all looked pretty cute and the buns wanted to know why it wasn't like that back home at The Warren.

They squabbled a bit about who was going up on the watering can. Cupcake bunny got up first but he was quickly bought and some of the others got a turn later.

All the little baby buns had to be put into this planter as it was all too much and they kept falling off the table and bouncing around like little balls everywhere.
It was a good evening and quite a few bunnies got to go to new homes.

There are lots of bunnies about to be listed in the bunny shop so do keep dropping in for a look.
Widget and Friends Sock Bunny Shop on Folksy
or you can see them on the new, shiny, sparkly Half an Acre website

The Moveable Meadow

I did a sale last night and took along all the buns - every single one I had made up and ready. They were all thrilled to be going on an outing and in the evening too! Usually they are all bedded down in their burrows.
They weren't terribly helpful when I arrived and had to unpack the car. Trying to hop out of the tub trug I'd loaded them all into. It's a bit squashed in there and all the ears and noses get tickled and pulled by each other - the fuzzy bunnies really do get picked on.
I was really pleased with how the table looked - I'd set it up like a little garden with this great grassy, flowery stuff I'd bought from a highstreet shop who were thrilled to get rid of it all at half price! A portable meadow! It all looked pretty cute and the buns wanted to know why it wasn't like that back home at The Warren.

They squabbled a bit about who was going up on the watering can. Cupcake bunny got up first but he was quickly bought and some of the others got a turn later.

All the little baby buns had to be put into this planter as it was all too much and they kept falling off the table and bouncing around like little balls everywhere.
It was a good evening and quite a few bunnies got to go to new homes.

There are lots of bunnies about to be listed in the bunny shop so do keep dropping in for a look.
Widget and Friends Sock Bunny Shop on Folksy
or you can see them on the new, shiny, sparkly Half an Acre website

The Amazing Movable Meadow!

I did a sale last night with the bunnies from "Widget and Friends" - my other er ...'direction' .. I can't think of a good word for it! I took the Amazing Movable Meadow with me.
It looks fabulous even though I do say so myself and it got LOTS of attention.
The sale was a typical one in that I managed to spike many people on the way in with my bunny fencing thing and managed to spread my stuff over both of the tables next to me whilst everyone else was all neat and kept themselves to themselves. I managed to get it all in in 4 journeys - not bad considering.
Then something horrific happened!! I discovered there WAS NO COFFEE!! That was horrible! Don't tell me I should have taken my own little Famous Five picnic because I just can't face it - I want someone elses coffee and someone elses sandwiches and someone elses chocolate brownies. Okay there WERE brownies...... but brownies need coffee. So there.
As usual I lost faith in the human race several times...
"Is is a stress toy?" she said, pumping a bunny with all the vigour of a cardiac nurse in E.R.
"Squweeeeeeeeeeek! Squweeeeeeeeeekkk! Heeeeeeeeeelllllp" gasped the bunny.
I suppose the concept of a soft toy made from a sock is a difficult one for some people.

"What is is?" said another woman
"Its a bunny" I said dryly.
"What do you do with it?"
"It's a toy".
Sheeeeeeeeesh!

I also saw my doctor there. His wife had a stall. It was deeply un-nerving seeing him knowing that he knew all kinds of intimate details about me and after all doesn't he just stay at the doctors? I mean he can't have a non-doctory real-life? He was wearing pretty cool clothes and looked a little Richard Hammondy which was even more un-nerving. I'll be happier when he's back in his little room wearing something more traditional and I'm asking him about urine infections again.

I still had my usual 'self-doubt during sale' attack. When no-one is looking or buying and I wonder if I should jack it all in and have to run through a mental checklist of all the things that are going right for me elsewhere. One of those things which gave me the smiliest feeling all evening was getting a message from Ruth of BirdlandCreations saying that she had seen my fish on THE COVER of Aga Living magazine and on the inside pages too!!!!



















Can you see me? Down the bottom of the cover on the right and over there on the inside page!
I am thrilled - what is more I wouldn't have known if Ruth didn't have an Aga (not a little jealous) and hadn't have told me - so thank you Ruth!!

We are off to the Isle of Wight AGAIN tomorrow. I'm going to make up a whole heap of my Hag Stone Rounds this time so expect a few featured here when I get back.

What I don't understand is that I packed up my bunny stall and made it back to the car in two trips. I guess its like a car journey which always seems shorter on the way home!
Read more about the bunnies on their movable meadow on the sock bunny blog HERE

The Travelling Bunny Meadow!

I did a sale last night and took along all the buns - every single one I had made up and ready. They were all thrilled to be going on an outing and in the evening too! Usually they are all bedded down in their burrows.
They weren't terribly helpful when I arrived and had to unpack the car. Trying to hop out of the tub trug I'd loaded them all into. It's a bit squashed in there and all the ears and noses get tickled and pulled by each other - the fuzzy bunnies really do get picked on.
I was really pleased with how the table looked - I'd set it up like a little garden with this great grassy, flowery stuff I'd bought from a highstreet shop who were thrilled to get rid of it all at half price! A portable meadow! It all looked pretty cute and the buns wanted to know why it wasn't like that back home at The Warren.

They squabbled a bit about who was going up on the watering can. Cupcake bunny got up first but he was quickly bought and some of the others got a turn later.

All the little baby buns had to be put into this planter as it was all too much and they kept falling off the table and bouncing around like little balls everywhere.
It was a good evening and quite a few bunnies got to go to new homes.

There are lots of bunnies about to be listed in the bunny shop so do keep dropping in for a look.
Widget and Friends Sock Bunny Shop on Folksy
or you can see them on the new, shiny, sparkly Half an Acre website

YOU BIG BUNNY RABBIT CHEAT!!

Widget! That is outrageous! This is a competition for the biggest sunflower and you are not allowed to cheat with those fake things! Sunflowers don't bloom this early in England anyway so no-one will believe it anyway.

The Warren Overfloweth!

There are some changes being made at The Warren - things are moving along and hotting up for the bunnies! The Bunny Maker is pleased to announce the launch of "Widget and Friends" - the new brand name for the sock bunnies. Widget SockBunny is the central focus point of the brand, with the blog Widget's Year, still running in conjunction.


We've also got new bunnies coming out of our ears at The Warren! The Bunny Maker has had a massive sewing explosion and tens of new buns have been born. They are slowly making their way into the Bunny Shop on Folksy but very quickly being bought. The lovely ones in this picture are exclusive to Pamper Cake - a new outlet for 'Widget and Friends'.