Facing up to it - 10

My January teeth are coloured red! With no hygienist at the orthodontists, I was happy to have a really good blast and polish with my regular dentist, Lucy James. 

No wire changes this time but lots of encouragement from Claire and I've taken a photo to show you the difference in my bands, the top ones are Os and the bottom ones are 8s which means the lower teeth hurt more!

Remember our Family Textiles? Cushions completed!

We had colourful fun trying to create some new posh cushions for our sofa ... Here is Daisy's Tiger, painted and with pastel detail added ...

And Mary's Meerkat featuring a nice bold green outline. 

And Matty's Fox, also showing great colour mixing and shading too. 

You dont have to encourage me to be colourful, the top i was wearing in the photo this was drawn from is almost that bright pink. 

Then we all tried quilting for the first time, and I began to make the art into actual cushion covers using a fun table cloth I found second hand.

Mary sewing and keeping a nice tension on her running stitch ... She is now 7 years old and very fond of sewing ...

Matty May and Daisy can now all enjoy a new cushion when reading books on the sofa ...

My own cushion receives approval by Salt Ferret herself! so much so she stayed still long enough for a photograph!

New white goat doll ...

I love these new white goats. I made  two of them and one was traded with an artist for fabulous stained glass art!

I want to call these goats Abe, because they make me think of Amish Buggy Drivers ....

Monkey Around ...

This Christmas because they love me so much, Innocent the smoothie guys sent me a smashing pair of socks ... And they don't send them in my size (they once sent me fab orange socks) so i get my crafting on ...

And so on boxing Day was born a fabulous Sock Money, who looked very festive and fitted this Special Hat rather nicely ...

I Instagrammed and Tweeted my new found friend but he does need a name, and perhaps a vocattion? Much love, Cat XXXX

Facing up to it - 9

Seasons greetings from me and my Christmas-tree-green teeth! I've had braces on my teeth for 278 days as this screen shot complete wth day-1 pic shows!

I've been photographed a lot this year as carnival queen and I've seen my smile changing. Here I am today...

I got a upgrade of top wire this time, which was really tough to put in. The same wire stayed in the bottom, this time without the double twists. Claire discovered one of the brackets was loose when she cut the silver ties off. 

Back in a months time in the new year. The surgery creeps closer!

Facing Up To It - 8 and a bit

I went to see the hygienist for the last time at DCH. She is leaving to work in care homes which is very commendable. But I do hope the NHS get a new one soon for the jaw surgery people.

Although my usual state is clean looking teeth I do stain very easily now I'm decorated with metal, rubber, and glue. So it's nice to get a deep clean when I can. 

I got blasted all over with bicarbonate of soda and then another clean with her grind and polish tool. The blasting even exfoliated my face too. Bonus!

Said farewell to hygienist, and she into complemented my gum health while reminding me I looked like a chewed tobacco. Hey ho. 

Don't be board .....

Found a superb chopping board in a charity shop and snapped it up for collaging ....

It already had red sides, so I covered each side in pages of prayer book, and overlapped the edges, sanding them once dry. I covered both sides and then scumbled white paint over the top. 

Now for some fun, cutting lettering from pretty paper using a sketch as a guide. All the letters were drawn on the back of the paper in reverse. 

After gluing them to the heart, I rubbed in some pastel colours and fixed them before varnishing the piece ...

Here is the other side of this truly double sided art!