Today i tried rag-rugging for the first time!

That red and gold bit is my work!

A spot of fettling ...

Back home from the pottery, I manage to find my very own 'kidney' from university days, and shape a pot while listening to children roll playing and fresh eggs boiling!



after creating this texture, I have to stop! I now need this pot fired, at once!



I can wait, especially since i scored at the charity shop, two pieces of nice woven fabric!


Nice label too - ain't that the truth? :-)

The purpose of a drawing ...

This kind of drawing I create in order to know, to carry away some information to work from, to sort out my ideas. It is done very rapidly, often with notes, and I really love its freshness! I will soon create 2 'car rats' based on these well-loved pets!

That's better!

OUCH!

He likes his coat, but not the needle felting needle in his eye!

Edward is coming along nicely ...

He wants me to do his eyes, and put buttons on his coat, tomorrow!

Eh? It's little E!

While Daisy has hit the ground running in her quest to learn to read, Matty can only read a few words, and one of her blocks was that we had not helped her get the sound E makes into her head ...

But I was feeling pushy, and also brave and experimental and went all out to prove to her that E says 'Eh', jumping in from Daisy who, although sweet isn't the best teacher in the world!


I pinned THIS little 'e' onto the curtain on Matty's side of the bedroom! She has got it! Combined use of an alphabet jigsaw, a drawing board and the works HEN, TENT and NEST and she was singing EH, EH, EHHHHHH, all the way up the stairs to bed!

We made a center parcs zip wire re-inactment video!

Thank you for looking after our girls!

a small cotton fabric and fleece chicken brooch for an awesome chicken sitter!

Art in Church ...

Sometimes, when I am listening, I draw what I 'see'...

Making faces!

This week we made ... Happy Memories!

Cat and some pink squirrels in the woods!



Matty riding Spirit, on 'the beach', all the girls amazed at the amazing zip wire over the lake!



Aerial Adventure? We can do that!



SQUIRREL! I feel like one of the dogs in the film 'UP', and we also saw 2 deer!


Did you do anything nice this week?

Lavender petite mouse!

another cute 3inch long pocket-pet made from tactile Sassy mini bear fabric and some hand-dyed wool-felt ears and tail!



Her Beady eyes are glass, and I twisted a strip of the wool felt to make a yarn-like tail!



She would like to meet Blue mouse, so is off to find him!

Merino Wool Sleeping Bag by Disana ...Holey!

This really lovely sleeping bag had a small hole so last evening I set about making a patch for it...



After backing a pretty piece of cotton with bondaweb, I pressed it onto the bag using the tip of my iron, then chose some cheerful thread to add some fun wonky stitches! i am all for patches that are proud of what they do!



Mary thinks this sleeping bag looks very smart now, and it feels lovely and soft not at all scratchy like some woollen things that mummy has felted!



Night night, Mary-baby!

Little Blue mouse ...

a 3inch long pocket pet made from tactile Sassy mini bear fabric and some hand-dyed wool-felt ears and tail!



The eyes are lovely glass beads!



Blue mouse will soon be in my Etsy shop...

Horsey, horsey ...

About a year ago we adopted this old horse from a nearby freecycler ... His mane and tail were knotted and dread-locked, and random attempts to brush them, or stick the mane back onto his head all failed! In this picture the tail looks quite well brushed, but then it would rub as it was rocked and all mess up again!



So I made a lovely new tactile, non-snagging tail, from some rather nice packaging rope. It swings beautifully when our horse gallops!



carefully removing tacks, glue and nylon hair revealed a rather elegant neck, and the rainbow hat, which is too itchy for Mary, keep him warm too!


I need to find him some kind eyes next, he has been painted here, and rather resembles a goat!

Remember Crabby?

A certain hermit crab went on a journey to the USA, and I haven't seen him in an age!



But soon we will, and you will actually be able to make your own! This is the first time I have actually sat down and turned my self-taught methods into a pattern and instructions that others could follow!


Crabby didn't make the front cover, but he is there, nestled inside! Can you wait for spring? I can't! But kep you r eye out for more information on this fun book!

A thingummy, and a page of ideas!

The lovely Daisy-D made a rather cool Thingummy-bob! We are learning about what all the K'ex parts can do, and sticking together all the wonderful bits and bobs we opened at Christmas!



And I had the privilege of sitting alone in a coffee bar with my posh coffee, and the A4 journal I use to record ideas for my book! I had a rather nice fountain pen too, and got down a couple of pages of ides for images to bring my children's book to life!


That mini book isn't the actual size of the book, but a mock up allowing me to turn pages and 'feel' my way around the story. I wrote inside with black pen and my best handwriting so Daisy, my reader, can read it too...

See-Hear!

finally the new memory card for my camera arrived, and I no longer need to limp along taking only 15 pictures at a time! The old 16MB card will go back in my jewellery box for spare again! It's actually the shiniest thing in my jewellery box to be honest ...



and I fiddled with a few projects, but I made and wired some lovely big ears ... for whom, do you think?

Book Cover ...

Mary Dressed up and looked pleased with herself!



As I decided that although I love the format of these WHSmith mid-year diaries, I really want one that looks more girly ...



So it was covered!

Bunting Template ...

I fired up my scanner after hand drawing this pattern...


Do you like Bunting? and Cushions? How about foot-rubs and blessings? Stay tuned for a sweet little community project ...

finished Sandals ....

And they are for me, says Sock-Jesus!



Aren't they lovely? Another little project I just had to get round to, they are made from felted Harris Tweed! (how naughty to felt Harris Tweed)



with his sandals, loin cloth, and white nightie, he is hardly dressed for winter, but it is amazingly mild for January, and so he didn't mind sitting in my hawthorn, and admiring my daffodils!


Is it nice where you are? xxx

Feet!

I made some claws, a spot of needle felting ...



and worked on some sandals, even though it is much too cold for wearing them!


They should be finished soon and will be shared tomorrow!

Books and Bricks and Logs!

I have been tackling my garden, particularly my 'patio' (cough) or the bit where the sheds used to be. The log pile was sprawling, and wet in some places after the recent stormy nights ripped the plastic cover (which was ex birthing pool carpet covering!

The chicken girls were pleased with all the woodlice I unearthed for them!



thinking of the book I am working on this year, I started to sketch daisy and Mary sharing books on the sofa ... but Mary slithered down! Then I let Daisy colour in the drawing.



And Matty coloured in this cartoon I did of me and the girls on the sofa. She has helpfully created a neck, for my floating head! I am very tempted to work back into this with pen, and see what comes up!


My book idea has come from a 'game' we play together, so its lovely that we can all work on it together. Daisy can now read my writing if I try my hardest to be neat!

a long time ago ...

In the olden days (according my one of my 5 year olds) i.e. the mid 1990s, I was given an awesome wool cardigan by a friend, and I tell you, living in a cold Edinburgh flat I never had the thing off! And here is it in 2004 at ferret-bath-time!



and again in the garden on a fresh spring day in 2008, just before Mary came to join our tribe. That's her, in that amazing belly! The girls and I seem to be making a massive mud-pie!



But the cardigan got a nibble from a moth at one point, and the sleeves wore at the ends, and I did a bit of stitching and wore it some more. Once when it was looking very tired and stretched across the shoulders, it was washed at 40' instead of 30', which tightened it up again beautifully.

This Christmas though I bought a new woollen cardigan with money from my Mum, and felted old cardi in the machine at 65' with craft projects in mind. Flat-Cat was born from the sleeves, and looks great sat on my sofa. The tummy and muzzle are made from pieces of linen curtain off-cuts from a neighbour!



Yes, Old Cardigan is BACK!