Need a Baby Toy?

If you are looking for a toy for a baby/toddler, please let me recommend you check this shop on etsy. She makes the most wonderful soft toys for the little ones.

I purchased several things from her, including the ball pictured here. It is a perfect size for small hands and comes with a little bell inside. It is soft and easy to handle and her fabric choices are wonderful whether you are buying for a boy or girl.

She makes these balls in several sizes. She also makes great little animals that are just perfect for wee ones to hang on to and chew to their hearts content. And you can feel very comfortable that there is none of that naughty stuff you have to worry about these days.

My grandson was here to visit this week end and he seems to just love his ball! I was amazed at his ability to play catch at 9 months old. I am sure that this colorful, easy to handle ball had something to do with why he was so good at it - but mostly it is just because he is a genius!

So if you are in the market, give her shop a look. I think you will be please with what you see.

Tried Something New

One of my best clients at my shop on etsy Custom Ordered these bags. She plans to use them as Sock Knitting Project Bags. They are about 8 inches high and have a 6 inches across the round bottom.

When she placed the order and requested the special fabric, I was very excited to work out a pattern to make the bags to her specifications. After several stops and starts, I finally got them to come out ok. I tell you - the round bottom thing was not as easy as I thought it was going to be! I am sure there is a secret formula somewhere is sewing land with tricks on how to make this application easy. But, I don't know the secret so I struggled to have the circumference of the upper bag match the circumference of the circle bottom.

Anyway, I am thinking about making a few more in various sizes and giving them a try on etsy. There are other people who also make them so I am a little hesitant about stepping on toes. But my fabric choices usually are a little outside the norm so maybe I would be appealing to a different audience.

Let me know what you think of the bags and about my listing them on etsy. More importantly - if you know the "trick" to easy application of the round bottom - PLEASE SHARE!

Another Backyard Friend

Anyone who knows us, knows that we seem to have a wildlife sanctuary going on in our backyard. Like most of you, we have a large bird feeder on our deck that we keep filled for the many birds that frequent our woods. Grampy keeps building and adding more birdhouses of various types so those birds that build in a house have several to choose from.

However, our wildlife extends way beyond birds. We have a grouping of FLYING SQUIRRELS that comes to visit us every night. They are nocturnal so they come around after dark. Grampy has built them special feeders and we buy special food just for them. What a treat they are to watch. We have a couple of raccoon that visit every so often. They come up on the deck and try to eat the squirrel food. We also are visited by a friendly possum - again, he is looking for any tidbits of leftover squirrel food he might find.

In the winter we feed a herd of about 13 deer every night. We see them infrequently during the summer. But, they do treat us at least once a summer by bringing their fawns up for us to see. We also have turkey (not often but enough to make it exciting), coyote, rabbits, woodchuck and an occasional pheasant.

We have a pair of mallard ducks that comes back every year. They spend their lazy summer days swimming around in our fish pond and relaxing in the shade of my flowerbed. Unfortunately, they have never brought their babies to our pond for us to see and enjoy.

This hawk is our newest addition to the backyard zoo. He started hanging around and seemed to show little or no fear of Grampy when he got up close to him once when he was eating something on the ground. So we threw out some venison we had in the freezer that had been there way too long and needed to be disposed of anyway. So now he hangs around all the time waiting for us to throw some more goodies out for him.

I told Grampy that we are never going to be able to move - we have way too many creatures depending on us!

I Found a Great New Shop on etsy!!!

Ok - I found this great shop on etsy and I wanted to share it with you. If you are looking for quality wood toys, this is a great place to start your search! Amazing! I have put a link to this shop over there on the left under Places and Things I Like.

Now, I can't actually show you my purchase. Shhhh! it is a secret! Just suffice it to say that I have a grandson that is going to be very, very happy come his birthday or Christmas or just when I can't stand it any longer and give it to him just to see his smiley little face!

Just a note to all you toy buyers out there - etsy is a wonderful place to find toys for all ages. There is a wide variety of stuff for all ages and interests. Here is where you can find that special, unique gift. I have had a real struggle buying toy-type gifts for my grandchildren because it is becoming increasingly difficult to find something different AND something that you feel comfortable giving - knowing full well that the first place it is going to go is in the mouth!

Anyway, The Countree Toy Shoppe should be your jumping off place for exploring the wonderful world of etsy toys!