Monday 25 February 2019

Prickles Hedgehogs' House Tour

"Hello there!" waves Mr Hawthorn Prickles.  "Welcome to our home!"

The Prickles family of hedgehogs has lived in Macadamia Grove for generations, always in the same little cottage!  As you can imagine, this current generation are very attached to their home, and to each other.

As you can see, this little cottage boasts a lovely big front garden, which all the family loves.  Gale in particular is never happier than when he is up to his knees in dirt, and he has an amazing talent for growing things, especially considering he is just eight years old.  The rest of the family tend to leave him to it, so Gale is very proud of their front yard, as it really is all his work.

Gale has managed to distract little Raspberry Prickles from "helping", by giving her some flowerpots to play with.  Raspberry means well, but can't tell the difference between a weed and any other plant (she is only two, after all!)  Gale feels he can do without her "help" among his precious plants!

Meanwhile, six-year-old Silk Prickles is content to enjoy the sunshine with her nose in a book.  Then again, Silk is happy nearly anywhere, if she has a book to read!

As Mrs Prickles is out at the bakery at the moment, and the rest of the family is enjoying themselves outside, Hawthorn has said he does not mind us taking a peep inside the house...

Here is the whole interior of the cottage.  Let's take a closer look...

The ground floor includes the kitchen...

... dining room ...

.... and Mrs Briar Prickles' all-important sewing area.  This is where she makes beautiful clothes and bedding for her customers, as well as taking on mending jobs.  She has been so busy lately with orders from her neighbours that she hasn't had time to replace the old curtains in her own kitchen!  The old ones were so tattered she just couldn't stand them anymore, but she very much wants to make some lovely new lacy ones.  Maybe this weekend...?

Here is a closer look at the dresser in the dining room.  The whole family use this cupboard a lot, and it holds anything and everything - food items, teapot and cups, pencils, paper, books, and the combs and brushes the Prickles family use to keep their quills tidy!

You can also see some of Briar's needlework hanging near the front door.

Upstairs now, and we first enter the bathroom...

... and finally, the bedroom.  As you can see, the family all share a bedroom (although Silk is rather smug about having her own cosy little recessed nook).  It is a bit of a squeeze (especially since Raspberry came along!), but as Briar says, "It is big enough for us."

And as Gale says, "Who would want to stay indoors for long, anyway?"

(By the way, Mrs Prickles has just arrived home to make lunch, and has mentioned one last picture she would like you to see.  It shows the sign outside their front gate.  Do feel free to knock on the Prickles' door if you should ever need their services!)

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of the Prickles' home.   Have a lovely week!

Saturday 2 February 2019

Sylvanian Baking

Just a quick one tonight - my daughter had her birthday earlier this week, and I thought you might like to see pictures of some of the sweet treats I made for the party.

For her birthday cake, Caitlyn requested a scale model of Rose Cottage, complete with the rabbits who live there in Macadamia Grove:  Rose, Cabbage and Lettuce Babblebrook (these are the names we have given her Babblebrook rabbit grandparent and baby figures - they were originally mine back in the eighties!).  Here is what I came up with:-


I am pretty happy with this, apart from the way the house is sagging at the front.  That was unfortunately due to the weather on the day I iced the cake (it was about 40 degrees Celsius here) - the chocolate ganache was melting under the icing!  Sigh...

Here is a closeup of some of the figures - Odette Hazelnut is arriving for Lettuce's birthday party, and has brought her a pink balloon!


I also made some decorated sugar cookies:


Caitlyn had a lovely birthday, and was very spoilt by all our family and friends, who brought her wonderful presents (some Sylvanian, some not, but all much appreciated!)  From us, she received the Sylvanian Families Grand Department Store gift set, which is super cute and full of the tiniest accessories!

Hope you are having a good weekend - I am trying to catch up on some much needed sleep, before Caitlyn starts the new school year on Monday!