The house that Jack built

Meet Jackson. Everbody calls him Jack. By day Jack is an architect extraordinaire, but by night he is a ‘do-it-yourself’ kinda guy.

Meet Jack’s wife, Jill. Jill is a designer extraordinaire. Jack and Jill are the perfect match.

Meet Jake and Olive. They are Jack and Jill’s kids. They are not your average, run-of-the-mill kinda kids……they are extraordinary, too.

Meet Felicia and Scamp. Felicia is a rather glamorous feline. She purrs her way through the day trying to  hide from the canine pest, Scamp. As for Scamp……Scamp by name and Scamp by nature. He is a mischievous doggity dawg. His favourite pastime is to sniff out Felicia and cause her great vexation.

One day Jack and Jill happened upon a plot of land down Forget-me-not Lane. Now some would think that Jack and Jill would prefer a plot on a hill…….but no, that would be just a li'l too predictable! Although the view on the hill was a glorious sight, they much preferred the little plot where Forget-me-nots flowered in floralicious profusion. Besides, they didn't want to risk falling down the hill with a pail of water and hurting poor ole Jack's head! After all, hospital costs these days are a tad exorbitant!

So Jack put his DIY skills to the test. With every spare moment, he slowly began to build his house. Nail by nail, plank by plank, Jack's house began to rise above the Forget-me-nots until one day the cute li'l house was a sight to behold.

When Jack had built his house, his creative wife, Jill, decorated the interiors, adding a woman's touch. Oh my…..Jill did the most amazing job. She hunted down one-of-a-kind treasures to fill her cute li'l house, she sewed pretty curtains, planted oodles of rose bushes....... and began to put her magic touch to the house that Jack built.

Oh.....Jake and Olive helped as well……..but they much preferred to run off and play with Felicia and Scamp. Oh my goodness that Scamp and Jake get into all manner of scrapes. Olive thought of a lovely name for her family's new home....."Storybook Cottage".

With the last nail hammered in and the last chandelier fitted to the decorative ceilings, Jack, Jill, Jake and Olive moved into their cute as cute house making it a home. After all a house is not home unless there is a family to fill it with love.

Family portrait time! Doesn't Jack look as proud as punch! Yes indeedy, if Jack's chest gets any bigger, he might just topple over!

Deary, deary  me……..Felicia has catapulted herself onto the roof!! Fleeing from that pesky Scamp.....again!

....This cute li'l house is a back pack. I bought this pattern for some of my girls who wanted to make an owl backpack. Normally me and the girls whip up our creations from our imaginations, but in this instance I wanted to introduce the girls to a commercial pattern; initiating them to the process of reading a pattern and teaching concepts associated with a pattern. They even surprised themselves at their stellar job with the backpacks. I wasn't at all surprised at their creations, as they are terribly clever girls. Don't the backpacks look wonderful??

Of course I put my own slant on the house. I wanted all the stitching to be free hand machine stitched, giving my cute li'l house a primitive and childlike appeal.

As I stitched the house backpack, my imagination begun to run away; down that yellow brick road of creativity. I thought I might make a family of dolls for a child to play with and when they have finished playing, gather up the dolls and place them in the li'l house to hang out.

As for the dolls, I wanted to create something simple......(yes simple). Now, I have just discovered the wonderful, enticing and entrapping world of Pinterest!  Oh my goodness, how on earth did I ever exist before happening upon this wonderful phenomena!! "Oh come on", I can read your exasperated thoughts....."for crying out loud, Pinterest  was discovered aeons ago!" Perhaps for y'all, but here in this far rural outpost, it seems the electric voice-transmission device called the telephone was discovered not so long ago!!! Yes indeedy, here in this rather idyllic backwater, it only seems like yesterday that we stopped booting our carrier pigeons out into the cold to convey our written messages to our neighbours!!!

So, with each clickety click after clickety click, I took a sightseeing tour of Pinterest,  to gain some inspiration for my dolls; and inspiration I gained.....bucket loads actually. Oh my goodness, the world is filled with sooooo many clever people with sooooo many  brilliant ideas. It is so easy to disappear into the land of Pinterest  and follow each winding path leading to more glorious sights than before. But alas.....one does have to return to the land of living and live daily life. 'Tis a pity really as Pinterest is a land of glorious inspiration.

After sketching a few pictures  and gathering some fabrics my stitching began. This doll caught my eye on Pinterest.  I was charmed by it's simplicity. Viv dreamt up this sweet doll and sells other sweet pretties on Etsy.

                                             

So that is how "The House that Jack built" came about. I am going to gather Jack and his li'l family and place them in their pretty li'l house backpack and introduce them to the school community. Yes indeedy, it is that time of the year when The Northern Rivers Festival comes to town and li'l ole me is going to try and flog my wares yet again, just like this time last year. But just between you and me....I secretly want Jack and his li'l family  to live with me forevermore!

So for now Jack and his family are safely ensconced in their cute li'l "Storybook Cottage" backpack, just hanging around in the esteemed company of some other purty bags,  until it is time for the school fair. I really, really lurve the Southern gal bag.....a present from my husband many a moon ago.

So for now, it's toodles from me (and Jack and his family).....have a lovely weekend everyone!!