My New Oxford Hedgehogs

It's amazing how when people discover that you collect hedgehogs how your collection can grow without you even trying. Here are pictures of new hedgehogs I've been given (mainly for Christmas) or bought myself since arriving.

50p pendant and Cath Kidston pincushion - bought by me

£1 beanie from Thursday market bought by me

Harold the Hedgehog birthday cake - from M&S

Harold the Hedgehog birthday cake - from M&S

Sylvanian family - sent by family for Christmas

Christmas gifts from Sarah and Bethany

My hedgie display - decked out for Christmas

Hedgehogs in Oxford

Here are some pictures of hedgehogs and hedgehoggy things that I've seen around Oxford >'.'<

Advert for a cake made by Sinasbury's

I have since seen and eaten one of these

In shop window of Oxfam shop

At Boswells - a little too pricey for me

Also at Boswells

Hedgehog-kit - Also at Boswells

For sale at an antique & craft shop

At the Covered Market Hospice shop

No comment

Pin cushion - I might just buy one!

More brushes at Boswells

Mrs Tiggy!

Old collector's edition

PS I've changed this post to make the pictures easier to see. Hope you like them ^.^

My Hedgehog Collection - Part Three

It's taken me a while, but here I finally post the last of my hedgehog collection: All my Mrs Tiggy-winkles and Pindsvin - a very special Danish hedgie.

Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

The largest is a knitted one we found at a flea market. It's not the best workmanship, but she was rather cheap, so we bought her. She's actually grown on me the longer I've had her.

The second largest was originally bought for me by my mother. About 6 months later, one of my best school friends gave me the exact same one for my birthday. We phoned the shop where my mum had got mine from and they let us exchange her for another Beatrix Potter character. There wasn't much choice, but I came home with a sweet Goody Tiptoes. The one in the middle, was a another one my mum found to make up for her one having been replaced.

The Tiggy holding the number 5 was birthday present a few years ago. You may have seen her in one of the photos of my shelved hedgehogs in part 1. There's nothing significant about the number 5, it just happened to be what my parents found. If you look very closely, she is shaking hands with a little mouse.

The final ornament one was my graduation present in 2010 for my bachelors degree and lives in a display cabinet.

 

Pindsvin

This is one of my most special hedgehogs. My mother has a number of Royal Copenhagen (the Danish version of Royal Dalton) porcelain figurines, which she inherited from her Danish grandmother and mother. My parents had this hedgehog specially ordered from a supplier of RC for my 21s Birthday. I call it Pindsvin - the Danish name for "hedgehog".

My Cabbage Patch Dolls (1)

When I was in Primary School (in the mid-90s) Cabbage Patch Dolls, which had been popular in the 80s, came back into fashion. Five of my school friends and I all had our own Cabbage Patch Dolls which we'd acquired from different sources. Some were the new imported ones, some were the South African variety - slightly cheaper and different in design, but with the legitimate label and signature. Some were inherited from mothers or sisters. Between us we all had at least a CP Kid (the older kind with fully-covering woollen hair) or a CP Baby (the smaller kind with a tuft of fake hair) or both. We played with these dolls fervently, as though they were our own children; taking them to the make-shift "park" (in our garden,) where the wash-line and a coat-hanger made a useful fufi-slide), sending them to school, holding birthday parties for them (complete with presents and miniature snacks), and making costumes and choreographing dances for their ballet concerts. We didn't seem to care that most girls our age had given up on dolls long ago. These dolls were our lives and we thrived on them.

It's a pity that in the 90s, taking photographs was a harder task. and it is these days. It was the pre-digital camera decade, and photographs of the dolls and their escapades are rare. How I'd love some pictures of all those ballet costumes we made.

Over a decade later, I still have my dolls. They sit prettily on a shelf in my bedroom observing me as I read, study, compose essays and struggle over Greek or Latin conjugations. This is something of a tribute to them and the role they played in my childhood life.

Meet Allysan 
(pronounced like "Alison")

Allysan's birthday is on 21 November 1997. She was my first Cabbage Patch doll and there is an interesting story behind how I came to get her. I was in Grade 4 and I had just got braces to push back my "buck teeth". I was one of those unfortunate kids who also had to wear a "headgear" at night. At the same time, my mum found Allysan in a toy shop. She is a South African made Cabbage Patch doll and came complete with her own set of braces (also a headgear). Why she needed it for her one tooth is beyond me, but that, coupled with the fact that she was far cheaper than the imported variety meant that my mum couldn't resist buying her for me.

Unlike the imported ones, mine did not come with a name. I chose Alison, as it was the second of two names my parents had considered for me. When I was born, they decided I looked more like a "Sonja", and Alison was cast aside. The unusual spelling came later, and will be explained in a later post.

Arabella

Allysan had a number of close friends (my friends dolls who were also CP kids): Brianne (one of the new imported kind) was her best friend and lived just down the road. The others were Gabby and Rosie (80s style CPKs) and Anita (a South African one like her). She also had a cousin named Arabella, my sister's doll. My mother also has two South African CPKs called Hannah and Theo (the latter being one of the few boys).

Allysan went to Sunshine Patch Preschool and was in Mrs Honey's class. Her favourite animal was a pig (don't try to figure out a 9 year-olds logic in assigning a favourite animal for her doll) and her favourite colour yellow. Every night she would sleep with her favourite toy - Owly (a knitted owl I had made in school about the same time that I got her.)

Allysan has performed in various ballet concerts, as well as Christmas and Easter plays (often written by me). When I reached highschool and stopped playing with dolls, she has continued to be present in the annual Nativity Scene which I set up at Christmas. She has played numerous rolls including that of Mary and of one of the Magi. Since all but one of the dolls owned by my sister, mother and I are girls, and all but one of the roles in the nativity scene belong to men - the poor girls are frequently given men's roles for the scene. Thankfully they accept this gracefully.

Ally and Theo as Mary and Joseph (2005)

Ally as Mary (2006)

That's all I've got to share for now. In the next instalment you will meet Lilly, my Cabbage Patch Baby.

Me? Obsessed with hedgehogs?

Whatever gave you that crazy idea?

Apart from my actual collection of hedgehog ornaments and plushies, I have also collected a number of other hedgehog things over the years. I blame it mainly on my mother, who has a knack for finding these things. And when you're trying to find presents for someone - what better way (if they are fond of hedgehogs) than to get them some more hedgehog stuff?

I'm not complaining, just trying to defend myself - to argue that I am not completely obsessed. At least not yet. And to prove it, I will be leaving many of my hedgehogs and hedgehog stuff behind when I head off to Oxford. If I was really obsessed, then I wouldn't be able to. So there. Are you convinced?

My Bed

My Pyjama Tops

My Jewellery
(necklaces and earrings)

My Book Ends

Toilet Roll Holders

My Doorway

Garden "Gnome"

See also

My Hedgehog Collection - Part 1 
My Hedgehog Collection - Part 2

My Hedgehog Collection - Part Two

Here is the second lot of photos of my hedgehogs (the one's that don't fit on my desk shelves).

1. Plushies

This is a picture of some of my "fluffy" hedgehogs, that sit on top of my desk shelves. The yellow one is a punk hedgehog named Spike and the one that looks like Mickey Mouse, guess what...Mickey!

2. Home Made

These two I made myself. The one on the left was made from a kit (yes, she is in one of the previous photos). Her name is Hannatjie (diminutive of Hannah - which was the name she came with, but I already had a hedgehog with that name). The one on the left is completely knitted with a pattern my cousin bought me. She's called Elle, after the brand of wool I used.

3. My bookshelf

Firstly, book ends, a door stop and some others. The mottled one on the left is made with wire and beads - a traditional South African souvenir (though hedgehog wire animals are rare).

4. Normous, Tween and Nute

These three have an interesting story. My mother ordered them for me as presents over the telephone one year. When they asked whether she wanted small, medium or large, she said "one of each". The price obviously indicated that they'd be roughly the same size as normal hedgehog toys.

But they weren't. Apparently when the box arrived my family were mortified and didn't know where to hide them. They succeeded however, and I knew nothing until I opened the present containing the large one on my birthday. It was a huge laugh, as my mother explained to me how she had managed to accidentally buy such a huge hog. The fact that he was orange (an important colour to me) added to the humour. You can only imagine my further surprise, when 4 days later, I opened the present containing the medium and "small" sized ones for Christmas.

 

The silver thing underneath them is a 30 cm (1 ft) ruler; they are sitting on an average sized bed pillow.

I named the first one "Normous" (short for E. Normous) the day I got him. To follow the pattern the others are called Tween (for In B Tween) and Nute (for My Nute).

To read read more and see pictures of my other hedgehogs - click on the link below

My Hedgehog Collection - Part One

My Hedgehog Collection - Part One

I know my TLC friends have already seen these, but I figured it was time for a new post, so here are some pictures of my dear hedgehog collection. These are hedgies I have collected for the last 13 years or so - each have their own name.