Nimblejacks

A Flurry of Felty flowers

2011-11-25T13:23:00.000Z

Nimblejacks HQ has been a flurry of feltiness this last week as I've been finishing off several batches of Petite Felt Flower brooches for my Etsy shop and my new Nimblejacks UK shop. What a great way to cheer yourself up on a windy chilly winter day than sorting through such a brightly coloured mix of felt. I especially liked making these forget me not blue brooches below. Ahh summer skies....

I'm not exactly sure what colours these are, a sort of dark mysterious plummy? The lovely ceramic heart buttons are of course from my favourite UK supplier whose handiwork always brings a smile to my face.

Isn't this button fab? Once again my clever mum, queen of all things antique and lovely came up trumps with some brilliant french button finds for my brooches. These aqua ones are amazing.

There's something I love about pistachio and plum together, it's cheery and soothing all at the same time. The pistachio Baby Bamboo fibre is amazingly soft and easy to work with.

This Monochrome combination has been a huge hit, here it's teamed up with another find these lovely flower shaped buttons. The brooch has 100% wool felt, pre-felt and a layer of upcycled wool jumper felt.

Ahh, autumn these colours below are very evocative of bonfires, crispy leaves and warm evenings in by the fire..

This week I am on cushion making, tweedy birds key rings and some felt cupcakes for The Wool Croft in Abergavenny. If you are in her area do call in it's a gorgeous piece of knitting heaven and well worth a visit. Tell Ginevra I said Hi! x

A Flurry of Felty flowers

2011-11-25T13:10:00.000Z

Nimblejacks HQ has been a flurry of feltiness this last week as I've been finishing off sveral batches of etite Felt Flower brooches

Tweedy Birds Flying into Nimbs

2011-09-22T10:35:00.000+01:00

Well, I've had a summer off to spend time with my lovely family. I just can't believe how the years fly past with an 8yr and a 10yr old tomorrow!!! Where has the time gone? We are just getting underway with a new building project here at the Barn which is an exciting if daunting prospect after 10yrs off, I must say. I spent the day yesterday with my neighbours 20yr old son shifting 300 slates that were stacked in the way of where the JCB needs to work. There's nothing like lifiting slates that weigh the same as my spaniel in the case of the 4ft long ones, to remind you UNFIT!!! Whew, my muscles are complaining today. As I was sorting my fabrics out I came across these lovely Tweedy offcuts I had bought and set to one side. So sewing machine out, music on and hey presto some snuggly tweedy bird cushions in mix n match shades. very appropriate as it feels positively Autumnal in in Gower today.

With the tweed out I ran up a batch of tweedy Bird Key rings for my new shops as well. These make great stocking fillers for friends and family. My mum has 2, one for the back door and one for her car keys. I use mine when I'm walking Olly, the spaniel. If the keys fall out my pocket I know I'd notice with my tweedy bird keeping an eye on them! These are also for sale with Ginevra at The Wool Croft Abergavenny

Having spent many an hour cutting out Tweedy Chickens , the kids announced it would be great to have some REAL chickens........ a trip up the Rhondda Valley after much research and chatting to our local farmers here are our 4 girls. What you can't see in the photo is the bench hubby plonked right in front of the run for the new sport of "Chicken Watching" :D They have individual personalities this lot. Ginger the Rhondda Ranger is all bravado and bluster but is really a bit of a scardy pants. She's the oldest and should come into lay in a week or so.

Next to Ginger is Rocky the Black Rock, named by my son! She's the leader really and very friendly. Sitting to her left is out White Light Sussex Point called Flo and by her is Stella the Black Rock. Stella and Flo are hilarious they eat together chatter art each other and groom one another, just like their namesakes, the kids gt grandma Stella and her sister Flo.

Ginger the Rhondda Ranger!
Ginger seems to like to sit with her bottom facing the wind much to the kids amusement. They are handled each day and are amazingly friendly and entertaining I wish we had got chickens sooner. Cheeky chooks ahoy

Denim beach huts & Lovebugs

2011-05-19T18:34:00.000+01:00

My project for today was 2 beach hut large cushions and 2 Lovebug VW beetle cushions and yay all done & in the Etsy shop they went. I love the super big buttons we picked up. If I fall over in the barn I will certainly have a soft landing with all these cushions I'm making! Nimblejacks has been in some more Etsy Treasury listings which is always lovely for me.

I love this one so Bright and Summery

Citroens

2011-05-14T12:48:00.000+01:00

Whilst I'm waiting to get my website up and running I've been popping everything into the Etsy shop, lots of pretty crochet brooches and rings. Speaking of runnin K and I are taking part in the Race for Life run in Swansea in July. We have bought suitably brightest Pink tops to wear and have been trying to squeeze in a bit of running before then so we don't fail miserably. Of our targer of £300 we are up to £105 not including Gift Aid so thanks to everyone who has sponsored us to date!.
Inbetween times I had a custom order request to make a pair of Citroen 2CV cushions! Not one to refuse an order or a challenge I made these yesterday.

Etsy Frontpage!!!!!

2011-04-10T13:27:00.001+01:00

Keep Calm!!! Keep Calm Claire!!!! I made the Etsy Front page woo hooo!!!! (leaps around like a mad spring lamb!!!)
Well okay strictly speaking mum made the front page after all they are her crochet motifs but woo hoo nonetheless.

http://www.etsy.com/index.php

"soo excited I'm so excited " xxxxxc

Tweedy Heaven

2011-04-06T15:18:00.000+01:00

So today I have been making some more tweedy cushions for the website stock. I am using British made Tweed and wool fabrics, some of the cushions are made using vintage blankets, some are wool fabric or tweed yardage I have bought as well. Oh and at last some lovely sunshine here in Gower, perfect, well maybe not if you are inside sewing but I did escape for a wee while to mow the lawn and catch a few rays of loveliness.

School run now and then some summer breezy cushions laterxx

Treasury

2011-03-23T10:45:00.000Z

Three more lovely treasury pages featuring my work, which is lovely! I'm busy busy taking photos for my new website today since it is glorious sunshine on Gower. Watch this space for news of the website launch.

Meanwhile I am busy making some more lovely heather coloured wool fabric cushions and some snuggly VW Campervan cushions for the new site as well.

Treasury

2011-02-21T19:47:00.000Z

It's been a great few weeks- my handicraft and felting has been in a few treasuries on Etsy.

What a lovely start to the Nimblejacks year! Busy sewing up lots of lovely soft crochet flowers into brooches and some for cushion decoration. And I am officially sad I got all excited by my new mannequin that arrived!

New Year

2011-01-20T12:28:00.000Z

It's a new year, new day and lovely weather here in Gower today. You can't beat a brisk walk with your pooch on a sandy sunny blue skyd beach to start your day, even when said pooch fetches you and old shoe, a dead eel and a bird wing!!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/65695637/adjustable-felt-wool-ring-seascape I've been listing plenty of lovely new things in my Etsy shop, in fact I had great sales before and after Christmas this year which was wonderful.

Here are some mnore of Mum's fab crochet flowers turned into brooches, lots of these have been faourited on Etsy so hopefully they will be future sales. She's the queen of crochet alright.

I spent quite some time tracking down silver plated adjustable ring blanks that don't pinch your finger! These blanks were just the ticket, very comfy too. I seem to be someone with big knuckles and skinny fingers so I'm a big fan of these. Watch this space for more colourways. I ordered some cute recycled card boxes too for them from the Tiny Box Co.

Some more Welsh Wooly brooches too..

Quincetastic!

2010-11-11T14:18:00.001Z

Today has been Quince cooking day at the barn, so my whole home has the most wonderful aroma wafting about the place, which is very hard to describe. Some people think it smells like cooked rhubarb, my friend thinks it smells a little like Turkish Delight..........

These gnarly, yellow, highly perfumed fruits are a bit of a rarity these days in the UK but I was lucky enough to have a freind with some fruiting trees and a generous heart too:D There are soo many recipes online and in books for various Quince jelly, membrillo, jam and many more where to start? having made one batch of Apple and QUince jelly which was so easy to do and delish I thought I'd give it another go and whilst at it try and make some Apple and Quince Jam.

Wierd right? Looks like a papaya, is like a really tough pear inside, and by tought I do mean TOUGH! My global knife was blunt by the end and my hans knackered they are the street gand leader of the fruit world " Well Ard!"

This was my Jelly from last time , it can be used with roast meats, a spoonful in casseroles,gravy etc and just look at the jewel like colour...

Here's the quince cooking away this takes at least 2 1/2 hours for the fruit to soften ( I did say hard!), and already there's that beautiful pink colour forming.

Meanwhile on the other side of my hob, in the jam pan are apples and quince boiling away with the cores and skin tied up in a muslin bag to be pulled out later.

Not to forget Nimblejacks, whilst the quince were softening I finished off 2 Revvy sling bags, sooo tempted to keep this one I love the colour!

The Apple and Quince Jam mix now has the sugar added, the muslin bag removed and is boiled steadily for about 10mins.

Here's my natty Jam Jar lids and labels from jam jar shop

This meanwhile is my Quince Jelly mix dripping gently through a jelly bag, I will not poke it, I will resist the urge, poking leads to cloudy jelly!

This will stand overnight now and then tomorrow it's back on the hob with the juice in one pan and the pulp in the other to make Membrillo, delicious with manchego cheese. Oh and the blue bowl was spare jam so I had some for my lunch, cooks perks and all that :D

Can you guess what all the family are getting as stocking fillers?

Homemade Plum Brown Sauce
Homemade Quince Jelly
Homemmade Quince and Apple Jam
Homemade Lemon Curd
Membrillo

Cosy Autumn Cushions

2010-10-15T16:06:00.001+01:00

On a nippy Autumnal day I've been giving my new Overlocker an outing and running up some lovely soft wool cushions. What do you think?

This is my Little House design with bunting and bushes to boot. The cushion itself is made from super soft and cosy 100% wool. With my recent button order came some natty little silver buttons engraved with flowers which were just perfect for these.

In the spirit of upcycling I chopped up a lovely old brown coudroy jacket to makes these flowers. Super soft super tactile.

Little house number 2!

FInally the sun has shown it's face, Olly and I had a lovely walk on the beach today, he even brought me a gift of a dead sea gull, mmmm nice! At least he hadn't rolled in it :D

I actually used some woolen blankets I bought in the sales to make the cushions, and made use of the decorative edging on the back of the cushion for the flap edging too.

On the beachy theme we redecorated one of the barn rooms, gone is the flowery mural I painted and instead it's surfy chic, complete with VW Van cushions made by yours truly as a B'day prezzie for K.

I love this from my brother for the room! If only I had the time to paint sopmething like this.....

And so, with Halloween not so very far away here's the barn with home grown pumpkins just waiting to be carved ha ha haaaaaa..........

Alive and Kicking!

2010-10-05T19:55:00.000+01:00

Ah ha! I am alive and kicking post summer hoboing (is that a real word?) about. Renting out the barn was amazingly a great success much to my relif as well it must be said. All the families who stayed loved the barn and the gardens and felt at home which was great because that's what a holiday home should be like I think a homre from home, without all the cleaning and laundry. I think we may have stayed in 6 different places ourselves!!!! It seems a blu looking back. A holiday chalet by the sea courtesy of a friend's parents. That involved much mackerel fishing on hubby and wee ones parts I can tell you : Pembrokeshire where we ate lobster we caught ! How about that? A friend's house, Grandmas and many more whew! Haven't got a clue where we packed away half our belongings.

Look at these, despite total lack of love and care whilst we were away we managed to produce all these after our first ever Pumpkin season. Not bad eh?

Theuir days are numbered......haaaaaaa hhahahahahah (evil laugh)

Olly has had a friend to stay in the day as we are dog sitting Pepper, she is a bundle of fun but whew! It's a dogs life and Olly seems to love his new girlfriend :D

This is the fruit on my crab apple tree, now I know they are piddly but I am reliably informed they are edible and having mad Quince and apple jelly last week these are destined for the pot too. You should have seen me last week big blue Ikea bag over my shoulder scrumping the hedgerows on Gower for Hawthorns, rosehips and elderberries. To date we've made Hawsin sauce, Plum Ketchup ( that is soooo tasty) and gets better with age.

True to form Mum has been crocheting like the clappers and sending me parcels of goodies she has created and I've talked her into making me some to sell on Etsy for her. Others I've been making into these cute hair slides.

Next jobs on the to do list, weed the triffid like garden, make some autumnal VW van cushions oh and relax at some point!! Good to be backxx

Volcano Mountains of Rice cripsies

2010-07-17T21:28:00.000+01:00

With visitors on the horizon the Veggie bed is full to bursting with Peas, rocket, lettuce, carrots, beetroot. courgettes, shallots and many more so I really hope people do feel they can help themselves whilst on holiday here. Nimblejacks has been busy and I've been beavering away making a host of wee felt flower brooches using mum's lovely crochet motifs.

I think I can safely say there's one of every colour to choose from

Some are more autumnal perhaps , some mad and summery some soft and sweet..

I also found a monchrome jumper I had feltes and made these B&W ones

Most fun today though aside from an incredibly mucky and pongy muddy assault course party (peew) was making the rice crispie toffee volcano for a kids sleepover complete with jelly worm sweet lava!! How much is left? What do you think !:D

Barn storming and blossoms

2010-06-09T12:55:00.000+01:00

I finally had to give in and go and see the chiropractor yesterday, the oldback has been giving me jip for a while now and so at last I told myself to go and get sorted! Adter much massaging and niggling I came away much better....until half way home a 4WD in front of me knocked down a lamb and then drove off after seeing the poor lamb was still alive and bleating but injured. There's me hazards on phoning my long suffering friend who is thankfully a verterinary nurse for the meregency number. Now I know I'd be a terrible farmer's wife and it's a lamb and that a farmer maybe wouldn't bother but I can't stand by seeing an injured animal and do nothing. Dicky back and all I lifted him into my boot (weighed about the same as my spaniel!) and off back to town and the vets I went. WHEW. All's well other than I smacked my knee on the car boot putting him in! OUCh!

Summer's here in Gower and the peas are flowering, the hoverflies and mason bees have visited them them already I can almost taste those succulent peas already mm.

Everywhere I looked this morning there was vibrant colour, these potentilla are vivid in the sunshine.

Some of the flowers do seem to have a hint of alien otherworldliness about them like the globe thistles.....

the poppies, these remind wee man of gigantic mantis heads! Nice.

Wierd looking giant scabious flower buds...... after a couple of weeks of employing a neighbour's son to help with the heavy lifting and cement mixing the back garden is almost ready for visitors. Our first guests arrive in July,,,eeee where to store all our things???? Headless chicken!!!!! No really we'll be fine and at least we are finally tackiling those barn jobs we've avoided to date! Whilst the barn is rented out we'll be in pembrokeshire for a week, a summer chalet by the beach, friend's maybe a bell tent watch that space. We even considered a yurt!!!!

Spot the dog.......

and here where's that spaniel???

hubby's monster deck project to make use of the old stone quarry at the back of the garden complerte with BBQ and smoker.

and here is is not hiding this time our Olly, looking scruffy after a beach wlak and swim.

The barn has many hidden parts to the garden like this terrace, the part under the trees the secret garden so we really hope that the families staying here over the summer have a fantastic holiday , one lady sis say "oh and er I have a springer spaniel- is that a problem?" Well thought I , you've come to the right place then. Olly agrees

rosey cozy

2010-05-17T11:48:00.000+01:00

The barn has been a hive of cushion making activity this last week! If anyone fell over in the house at least they would have a softer than soft landing, because wherever you look there's a cuchion. Hubby thinks they are secretly breeding and multiplying on their own.........wierd :D I lvoe this pale pink tweedy fabric which I also bought in a soft sage green for the reverse of them. It's not the easiest to sew but it has a lovely texture to it. Going along the seaside theme, what with living on a beautiful peninsula surrounded by sea, it's been beach huts, VW camper vans and beetles to date, who knows what may appear next..... You may notice I've included my favourite ceramic beads from Mary, I just can't get enough of them. We had a fab weekend of crab hunting in rockpools, which is a feat in itself when you try to navigate the leathal super slippy Kelp! Our poor friend who took us ended up with an untimely nobbling dip in the welsh sea as a result of killer kelp, but it was worth it as we dined like kings on crab and lobster, you can't beat a free tea like that. But for the wee ones their highlight was beans cooked in a billy can on an open fire on the secluded beach, that's the life .x

Fish smoker

2010-04-18T19:19:00.000+01:00

Now does he look chuffed or not? Here's my man with the home built smoker named "PUFF" and christened with a beer. It has even done the unthinkable and converted the smallest member of the household from a fish hater to a fish eating monster!!! Oak smoke, some brining and 30mins in the smoke and wow so delicious.

Who knew an old grain bin, a dustbin lid and a broken milk frother would be so useful? Olly was being driven nuts by the smells wafting round the garden it was doggy torture for him.

And at the end? Not a bit left.... now that is the way to spend the last evening of the Eatser holidays in the sun., with home caught home smoked fish with good friends. Bliss

VW Van mania!

2010-04-13T20:57:00.000+01:00

It's VW Van mania in my houseright now. I've been cutting and sewing all day wee VWs... for cushions covers as a special request from Sue at Bay Bistro. Hopefully by the end of the week they'll be in sale. I'm not sure if I'm aproning, VWing,,,,,,,,,,,, ha ha but so good to be busy. The rest of the time it's been wet suit buying, boogey bording, cooking all the usual suspects for holiday activities and mostly sewing big time. So little time for blogging at the mo, but I shall be here even if briefly to see what you are all up to. Pls Pls give me some feedback on the vans. xxc

Margam Pk Bushcraft Show

2010-04-04T15:50:00.000+01:00

What a day first torrential rain then glorious sunshine all around. After a dodgy start it turned out to be a fantastic easter Sunday.The Bushcrafte show at Margam Pk was great, how to make smokers for food, chainsaw carving, bodging, fire starting, wild food and more.

Bodging was a great hit with the kids they even had a go at making a wood curl flower!

We were amazed at what one strapping lady could achieve with her scary assortment of chainsaws! Who Knew?

Cats, owls....... If I had the money I would have bought the owl he was lovely.

Easter also meant Easter hats, this year my creation was chicken covered in stolen feathers from hubbys fly tying box, I don't think he's noticed they are missing as yet. What with chocloate mania setting in we melted some down and made yummy scrummy brownies the best way to end your sunday. For me, I'm apron making after finishing 23 curly locks felt brooches off and 22 cupcake pincushions. If you are out and about in Gower go and visit Sue at The Bay Bistro http://www.thebaybistro.com/ where not only can you get the best coffee on Gower, but you can now buy my things!! Yay!!!!

Felt Flower Corsages

2010-03-10T15:10:00.000Z

What a morning! I walked Olly bags as he is affectionately know these days down the beach, his new daily routine. It's working wonders as recently letting him off the lead had become a nightmare of seagull chasing and vanishing off at great speed down the beach until he was a speck in the distance. Walking with 7+ other dogs is somehting bnew for him, but truth be told his brain we think is not where most males brain lives, but in his nose. He spends all his time nose to the ground whiffling smells out!! Much mad whistling and running down the beach away from him seems to work so far and yet.... he is going away a little further again so we took tasy dairylea cheese as a temptation to return to me and lo and behold it worked. Whew!! Now my food trip top Tesco was meant to involve seeking out a new mobile phone with which I can tweet access my shop etc, but the fates were against me, the computers crashed in the shop, it wouldn't find our address etc etc. By the end of it I was starving -which is a big mistake when half way round a food shop selling naughty things to tempt you. One bag of rocky road cookies later (oops) I finally made it home. You can see from my piccys I've been a busy bee maing some Wet felted flower corsages. The new ones have a dual brooch /hair clip on them so they can be used as a hair slide or brooch. I made a big batch of felt sushi beads to for selling as they are fun to make and an easy shop filler as well. Thanks to some research by me online I found some biodegradeable clear bags and recycled card toppers to package them in. A quick stamp of my custom stamps and hey presto! I still really like aqua and crown together. My biggest challenge was how to photograph my brooch/corsages not something you can easliy do yourself I can tell you. Over to MrB when he got back from school. He especially likes the big red brooch and thinks I should make many more :D perhaps he is biased? Time to unpack the food shop, fetch the rascals, post my Mother's Day card off and have a cuppa before some more fluffy feltiness. Love to all Clairex

pear cake

2010-02-02T16:59:00.001Z

Congrats to http://judybloomflowers.blogspot.com/ winner of the bklog giveaway for one of my welsh wooly needle felted flower brooches, all the way to the US.xx

The TinyBox Co little recycled boxes in use with my fav wet felted flower brooch, all tucked in safe with some tissue paper. I have a lovely stamp on the way with Nimblejacks and handmade on it and a recyle stamp too.

This is my big pile of hand cut flower bases for the needle felted flowers and the curly locks flowers waiting to be zig zagged..........

After a night of slaving over a hot sewing machoine I got 50 key fobs sewn and finished off so a very productive time was had, using all the pieces oof fabric too small to use for bags.

MMMM yummy Pear and Almond cake made for last nights band praccy here, it literally was eaten steaming hot from the oven and it was yummy yummy. I'm thinking we'll have to rename their band The Bloaters if they keep consuming cake every time they get together! I did 2 hr walk for training for the McMillian summer 22miler around Gower today, in the rain with 2 freinds and very nice it was too. Tonight is karate, 1hr of getting a numb bum whilst watching said karate. Tomorrow hmmm needle felting galore I think it's a great way to tone up your upper arms :D

Daizy Dayz Giveaway

2010-01-26T16:35:00.001Z

Daisy Dayz has me on her blog in a Giveaway. It's the first time I've ever really entered into one of these but as she's a fellow welshie, based in cardiff and has plenty of worldwide traffic through her blog I thought I would have a go! I've seen some lovely give aways on her blog so it's great to be a part of it. It's amazing how many people blogged, commented,hearted etc So on the 28th we shall see which lucky person won my welsh wooly brooch above..... Speaking of these I'm busy sorting and cutting out more of the bases to needle felt onto, as I have a "Lush" as they say in wales bag of slubby wool to use for them.

Lots of net trawling saw me sort out some recycled packaging for my sushi beads. I managed to track down biodegradeable see through bags, recycled card toppers to go on them, and recycled boxes for the wet felted brooches too, the boxes were from The Tiny Box Co and the rest from Eco-Craft. Rather than go for expensive printing I opted for the Eco route and got myself a handmade rubber stamp ordered with my logo on from Terbear on Etsy I think her shop's great I can't wait to get my stamp.

Other things that caught my eye on Etsy was Reyaveltman and her lovely handfelted trumpet flowers. These must have taken her an age to make, I don't think i would have the patience for these.
What a clever lady she is.

UnravelMe he he I spotted these in her shop whilst perusing one day and they really tickled me, how often do we put apples in our bag only to find them battered and bruised? here's the solution!

Dog Daisy fI ollow you- you follow me, but I don't think I can follow you in the amazing handiwork stakes. I think the colours nad designs are just beautiful and one day I shall treat myself to something:D shhh don't tell the hubby--- follow her on
http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com
time to cook tea -pre karate xxc

Treasury West

2010-01-25T10:39:00.000Z

Treasury

I had a lovely suprise this morning, being featured in Treasury West!!It was my welsh wooly rosey posey needle felted brooch, just there in the middle at the botttom. A big thank you to MireLoom

for including me. I have a stinking cold boo hoo, Olly's gone to the vets for his "op" today and it's not the same sitting here at my computer without my pooch at my feet. Keep your fingers crossed for him. When he comes home then the fun begins as he is a terror at getting the vet cone off his head, it's going to be a long week! xxC

Felt like felting some flowers

2010-01-21T12:21:00.007Z

Back up and running at last, what a faff, it took me ages just to reload and set up again my camera software, then the printer drivers and so on, down with computer virus makers I say the swines.Sadly one of my best Etsy sellers has stopped making her beautoful lampwork beads, I'm so sad because I spent a long time trawling the net I never found any that came close to the craftsmanship of her work. But after a bit of time researching over Christmas at last I found a UK based crafter who lives wierdly enough in the town I went to school in in Norfolk. Her beads are just lovely and very unusual, ther are so many colours and patterns in each bead, they are very lovely. These ones above are a sort of pink creamy green mottled pattern, perfect with the pink and green felt beads.
Now this day was NOBBLING I had K taking the photos for me with the camera on auto and considering her age ( or lack of it) she did a pretty good job for me. I mean have you tried taking photos of yourself wearing something! Brrrrrrr we had numb fingers at the end it was -1!!!
This one is soooooooper long! But I do love the cream cadillac beads and the swirly black abnd aqua felt beads together.
Below are more of my new lampwork beads with swirled aqua and lilac. Having a break from the computer gave me a chance to catch up on cooking , walking felting it has been really nice! Me minus the net who'd have thought it. Olly and I did a marathon walk a couple of days ago 3 hrs and he slept for the rest of ths day bless him. We survived the walk with a bitch on heat and Olly feeling a little randy with no liasons whew!! It's all to get ready for the McMillan Gower walk in the summer, lets hope my legs will make it.
Lovely lilacs and aquas, oh for a sea that colour and warm...
Soft Mulberry colours...
Mad lime and pink chosen by K and amazingly very popular, Key Lime Pie!
Now I'm not saving it's been cold here in Gower but this Starfish was frozen in the sea!!!!! Brrrrr
My boy, Olly looking cute what you can't see is the Bonio biccy just out of shot you can almost hear him drooling can't you?
K and I made felt sushi beads to bag up and sell at the Gower Show in the summer this year, on a cold rainy day. It's agreat fun thing to do, they are quick not expensive to make and always make us smile when we chop them in slices.
Over Christmas I bought a tutorial for making felt flowers, and with my computer out of action I finally had a go at makintg some with the roving that I have far too much of here at the barn. Lurking in the roving bag was also some silk throwsters waste I had totally forgotten about so I popped a little of that in them too.
What do you think? The first one, the purple one at the end here was very rounded and neat, but I think I prefer the slightly feathered edges of the petals in these here.
Mad pink was k's choice!
This aqua and white is my best effort I think the colours are very fairy like and pretty, I shall try and make some more of these for the show. Any ideas for how to package them welcome!
It looks like a fairy flower...
K took these as I was making my first attempt at felted flowers, this was before I got prune fingers.
here come the prune fingers
Et voila! neater and rounder than later flowers and massive, so I scaled down the resist pattern to make smaller flowers.
Mt other learning session was teaching myself to make felt cupcakes from the sweater cuff I had leftover after felting jumpers. There has been a huge bag of these in my cupboard for a while and I don't like to waste things.
This on makes me think of thos chocolates that have a boozy cherry inside:D

So that's me today, back online about to go out for a coffee at a friend's house, posting an Etsy sale off to Aberdeen, making lasagne later and lighting the logburner. Happy new year to all of you out there, I shall be popping into my favourite blogs to catch up tomorrow. Love Clairexxxx

Computer hiccups

2010-01-20T13:41:00.000Z

I will be poisting porperly soon, I've only just got my poor computer back from the Doc (AKA our mate) I really can't understand the mentality of hackers and virus breeders out there, my poor machine got slower and slower and then conked out boo hoo, so everything's been reloaded rebuilt etc what a faf.... never mind it's mended now- life without my computer was wierd I kept thinking I'll just go and look that up on the net,,,,no wait I can't!!! Still I made loads of felt cupckae pincushions, 20 necklaces, 6 lovely handfelted brooches, did lots of cooking with the kids and did a 3 hr walk yesterday with Olly to prepare for the McMillan summer Gower walk whew!!

Necklace fluury ( not snow though)

2009-12-19T13:08:00.002Z

Well yesterday, last night and today has seen a flurry of necklaces going into my Etsy shop, but no snow flurries here in Wales yet! The kids are gutted as Mutti and Pops ( grandparents) over in Essex have some :D Actually we have glorious sunshine and frost today. You may see from the photos it is strong sunshine it was flaring off the necklaces as I was trying to take photos. The coffee and aqua mix is still my favourite.
Key Lime Blush necklace with mum's crochet hearts on it and those lovely handmade buttons.
Underwater Love, hot and strong colours ...
Damson Wine, very apt..
I love these oval felted bead I had from Etsy, it was very lazy of me I should have made them myself really but there can't do it all.

It's been nice to have sunshine and not piddlin down rain to take photos in for a change. Off to grandma's for roast dinner yummy yummy in our tummies. I don';=t know about you but I always enjoy a roast more when I havn't slaved over it!!!

Post my previous blog post naughty Olly licked his wound right open again so he has a flap of skin hanging open partly healed! Argh just when we thought we'd be able to take him down the beach again. So back to the stretchy bandage again and boring walks on the path. Little horror what are we going to do with him?! Funny we haven't put any prezzies under out tree- who do you think might eat them?????

Making a creative moment out of a slight Hiccup

2009-12-16T17:13:00.003Z

I had the fortune to come across a tutorial for making felt beads without wool roving or getting all wet and soapy the other day. I know it will take some trial and error I think the process depends hugely on your washing machine the cycle it runs through, the soap and especially the jumper you use. This was a boiled wool Geiger jumper originally, I usually felt using those hard tumble dryer balls you buy - I think maybe they were a bit heavy handed for this. Some came out round, some rolled round and the rest were softly rounded pebble shapes. Hmmmmmm, brain working I thought ! I can use htese" they are really soft and not itchy at all like some of the round felt beads can be. They are also less chunky. have you tried getting your arm through a coat sleeve wearing a round felt bead bracelet??

I have had some lovely lampwork beads in my bead stash for a while and they matched the felt beads beautifully.
I love the lilacy swirl in the beads.
A tower of felty pebbly bracelets in the winter sun.
More Welsh Wooly Brooches these and the Curly Locks are selling well in the Gallery.
Purples....
Oohh and I love this creamy red I think it was called Toasted Muffin!
Curly Locks in pinks
wines
Lilacs
fluffy browns
The boy with his foot. Actually post this Cath and I took his bandage off and it's healed nicely even with Olly obsessively licking it every 5 minutes with his raspy tongue.
It is for sure a Dog's Life here:D

Bad paw day...

2009-12-11T10:58:00.002Z

There do seem to be strawberries here a lot in our house this week! 4 More little sweeties mad and Etsy shopped now, in various sizes. I will when I head of food shopping be buying the real thing along with some thick unhealthy clotted cream..
You wouldn't think from the sun shining there on my hand it was absolutely nobbling when I took this shot, cold but crisp and blue sky at last after what seems like months of endless raining. I know we live in Wales but come on.
Last night at 10pm, disaster. Olly decided next doors cat needed chasing at break neck speed across the garden and into the hedge, he was recalled and popped in his bed for the night and that was when Andy saw it , the blood. Having pinned him down( no easy feet with a springer it's like wrrestling a slippery eel, we bathed it and could see a big deep curving cut on his leg. my buying down sterile pads and tape all those months ago when we first got him suddenly didn't seem like such a daft idea. One vets trip this morning where my best friend works and hey presto- dog with fetching blue leg!
Antibiotic tablets hidden in some whiskers fishy cat food (whatever works right?) and a new bandage each day until tuesday. Sorry Ols no beach or farm walks for a few days.
Has it slowed him down? Nope not a bit :Dxxx

Strawberries, pass the cream

2009-12-08T18:01:00.003Z

Today has been positively miserable here in Gower, a right gloomy drizzly day. Just perfect for staying in with the dog and the cats with a cuppa beavering away on all things felty. More Curly Locks brooches have gone into my Etsy shop, along with some key fobs. I've had all the off cuts from making the bags in a bow, so I've put them to good use for key fobs/wristlets.
This one really is as bright as it looks in the photo. Through Etsy i found a great seller of dyed sheep locks. They are such fun to work with, teasing out the curls and then needle felting them on. It is, it has to be said doggy torture he seems to have a taste for them so I need to make sure he can't reach his sniffer over the edge of the table and hoover them up!
I've made these before as special orders for friends both in girls and mum's sizes and thought I'd make a few for Etsy on this gloomy old day.
The trouble is I could murder a bowl of strawberries and clotted cream right now.
This one is a girls size the mums size is waiting to be finished right now.

I was pottering on the net and came across these tonight, they brought a smile to my face I really do think they are fantastic wooly aliens don't you? FeltFinland has made brilliant aliens . Just Out of This World!!

Off for a cuppa whilst home alone, tuesday is Karate night. I say alone that's except for the 2 cats and Olly of course, he is mostly human after all..xx

Back Online :D

2009-11-30T20:40:00.007Z

Well here I am finally I have made it back to blogland after what seems soooo long away. I don't know about anyone else out there with children, work and so on but it all caught up with us here the last few months, and so blogging had to take a big back seat in my life. It's been hectic hectic what with new -dog several jobs and never seeming to have enough money to make ends meet right now. The silver lining in our gloom is this wee boy below just look!I do believe he's flying! zoom and and check out that tongue woo hoo what a happy boy our Olly is down the beach. He's all of 8 1/2 months now it seems like so long ago that we brought him home, from the start he's been one of the family and after the initial horror of puppy puddles everywhere he's house trained and a smashing chap.
We really hand on heart could not have asked for a better addition to the family he is such a gentle natured dog with all the kids ours included. We never have to worry about him with children and his food bowl, he even lets the cat eat his food first!! He doe shave one vice though and that is shoes. Woe betide any shoe left alone for a minute because it will be shoe napped by Olly to be rapidly munched up. There are no whole Crocs in our house. The lesson is put your shoes away.
Digging is another hobby, although thankfully not in the garden (yet)
This fishing net weight had a handy pre tied rope attached so it came home with Ols and I from our 2 hour epic walk. It was meant to be a gentle amble until we found a big chunk of the coastal path washed away with a diversion so the walk too twice as long and boy did my legs tell me about it the next day. Mr Springer though was still full of beans.
I think any Springer owner should have a photo like this to show they never sit still!!!!!!!!
Slade cove near Oxwich bay, rocky choppy and very scenic.
This is our nearest beach called Port Eynon at the farthest end and Horton this nearer end when the tides out they become one long sweep and a great walk. The kids love this beach.
Awwwwww..........................
Double awwwww................
Erm is that dog on my sofa??? Shhh don't tell the dog trainer I'l get a black mark against my name:D He's not on there normally he has adopted the pouffee as his own, or my foot usually the right one.
We had a lovely lovely man come and stay with us here at the barn last week, a visitor who stayed with us last year who was most amused that we called our sourdough bread starter Boris! Charles Jardine is a well known well respected fly fishing expert and a charming thoughtful man to boot. he'd some to hand out some certificates at Andy's school for children who had taken part in a fishing course for special needs kids. Look what he wrote for Andy in his book he left as a gift. What kind words..
Nimblejacks wise I've been flat out maing bags, brooches and more for the 2 galleries and in the next few days I shall be stocking up my Etsy shop at long last.
This was Ikea fabric really good quality and lovely to sew.
Some MAD fabric I had in my cupboard and at last had the nerve to make into something!
The reversed side of the Ikea fabric bag.
My Welsh Flower felt brooches. Some time ago I ordered some hand dyed Cotswold locks and then promptly forgot I even had them. On a day of unusual quiet here at the barn I was brainstorming for some new brooch ideas and came up with these. The locks are carefully needle felted into the felt flower base around a central rose like flower made from upcycled felted jumper.
From the wool show we all went to I had a big bag of hand dyed hand spun wool roving, which normally I use for the Loopy Wool brooches and in a moment of experimentation with the Clover felting tool I had a try at felting them onto the brooch bases.

This is my fav all those autumnal shades.

For some reason the camera does wierd things when photographing the peacock greens and blues.....
In the next few days I shall be motoring away with more of these and eagerly awaiting the arrival of some more locks in lovely shades. It's school xmas fayre week, lifeguard try outs ( not me!), works dos, than a 6yr old's birthday and yes his hair is still white, 2 birthday parties whew I'm knackered already. But tomorrow I shall have relaxing music and be decorating the house at the families request in the day, they like to come in from school and see it all there for them sigh .

Off to eat some Pear and Almond cake (thanks River Cottage for the recipe) yummilicious go on try it

Bread of heaven! Bread of heaven feed me till I want no moooooorrreee!!!

2009-06-28T16:48:00.006+01:00

Disaster, I took this photo just before Andy's back decided to give way on him! Digging holes for cement doesn't agree with his dodgy lower back and as a result he can't move, and is laid out on the sofa with an ice pack on his back. Our summer of stone walling is looking in dire straits right now. I can see me trying my hand at it under his watchful eye. The stonewalling part I could do it's the actually getting the sand into the cement mixer. Anyone who knows me well will tell you my hand eye co-ordination is awful........it should be interesting!!
For some bedtime reading Andy and I got these in the post yesterday. The bread books are for me and the River Cottage Edible Seashore is for Andy. We have a good friend he goes out fishing with who regularly forages the seahore with his wife and kids, but on our own we aren't so confident in what to eat and when. This little handbook was just what we were after. In fact the boys caught Bass the other night and being conservation minded, Andy released them back into the sea. They were within the limit of size but knowing they are struggling he wnated to let it go. The amount of fellow fishermen who threw their hands up at this was well quite a few. That's why I love Andy though he's thoughtful about these things and he didn't feel right keeping it so back it went for next time when he's bigger. My best friend of 18+ years has been here this week for some R&R, that is the amount of R&R you get with a puppy 2 cats and 2 kids here- and he had a brainwave about the lemon muffins which I've listed the recipe before on my blog. How about filling the middle with some zingy homemade lemon curd. Disaster or genius?

Lovely creamy yellow eggs from our friendly neighbouring chickens which we chickensit sometimes.
The finished lemon curd, I am always amazed at what a doddle it is to make in the microwave and it is zingy and mouthwateringly yummy even when napalm hot!
We made 2 big jar fulls and kept this wee bowl for filling the muffins with. I was a bit dubious as to if it would work or not...................................
But look at that yummy stripe of homemade lemonlicious curd sitting there, they were in fact better than we thought, moist yummy and creamy lemony and there's none left today.
On my ever changing list of things to make my reworked reversible bag pattern, which is smaller and sewn differntly is ever evolving. I have had this chicken pattern fabric for a while and decided to finally make myself a shoulder bag with it. Fellow talented bloggers out there like 23Beechill may cringe a bit at my dodgy zigzag applique, it's the first I've really attempted and the green felt was thicker than I remembered, but I really liked it and have 4 more on the go!!! You know me never one to sit still for long.
From my River Cottage book the kids and I attemoted a basic loaf using Spelt and White flour this was how we should knead.....
These are my mits minus my wedding ring as it has silver flowers on it which make a perfect haven for sticky dough! My arm muscles can testify it's a good work out for those bingo wings.
This is K having a good bash at it.
And yay hey presto! 2 Loaves, did we wait for it to cool? Nope no way we got half way and then caved smeared them with Cover (* I'm not a butter eater) and devoured it in no time.
It was hard work, it took some time, and yet i'd make more it was quite theraputic.

Crusty yummy bread. I like the spraying the loaf with a mist of water and having a tin with boiling water splashed in inside the oven it really did seem to produce a good crust that didn't shred our gums. The book also said to keep some of the dough back to add to my next mix each time, after chatting to the kids about yeast being a living thing and venturing into making a starter for sourdough which we have to feed "be still my pet" Homer Simpson they had this vision of it growing and taking over the house I think!! I'll let you know if they start having dough monster nightmares.
Glass of wine in hand, sewing machine having a pause I'm thinking of the week ahead. There's plenty of computer work to do, bags to sew and small puppy to persuade that he wnats to wlk to heel and that the front door does not need sprinkling with pee on a regular basis. I have in fact read all my doggy literature given to me by the dof trainer, I'm such a swot! It was really interesting though I think I need the training as the lead work is very hit and miss at the moment. My best friend heads home tomorrow and so on to Sports Day ( bring back the three legged race I say!)camping at the school, trying to get hubby's dicky back sorted and the household sort out that having 4 of you entails.

Ah yes and I must FEED the STARTER someone wrote on the pot it's in feed me now!! Let's hope it can't read.

Woof woof!

2009-06-19T13:05:00.002+01:00

Woof wood, that's Olly's conversation at the moment, along with the odd letting off of wind very charming. My poor garden is starting to look neglected what with trying to keep an eye on Olly and all, there are triffidlike weeds all over the place. I had forgotten how wierd the Acaena looks up close, it has an air of strange martian plant life about it with the red spiny burrs popping up like little sputniks.

For the benefit of Mum I apologise for my every occurring typos I type at speed when I get time and not by touch typing!!!!! I poopped in to the wool shop in Mumbles this morning to get some wool for the girl's crochet and to hunt out some hot pink wool to post off to Mum. Success on all fronts yay. Just look at the lovely raspberry colour of this poppy, it looks good enough to eat...

The giant scabious are up to 6 feet already with their hairy scaled buds waiting to pop open to reveal beautiful creamy green flowers within.

Of all the foliage plants I think ladie's Mantle is the prettiest in the early morning, they may seed willy nilly but it's worth a bit of weeding to get shots like this.My other fav plant is the drumstick alliums, mine have been in 5 years now so they are gradually getting smaller, but as they flush with colour they are very pretty.

I have my best friend coming to stay tomorrow for a week with us K and L can't wait, luckily for Nick he gets the ned room with the mezzanine so our early waking at the barn shouldn't disturb his holiday lie ins:D We've got a roller blading party to take the kids to in the nmorning. Last time my friend Cath and I with much hilarity and taking the pee out of each other got up, got blades on like the kdis and had a hilarious time!!! Andy on roller blades? Like Bambi on ice he said and sadly they don't have any in HUGE size, can you tell he was soooooo sad about that (not a bit) so he's got orders no laughing at Cath and I or else!

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me!

2009-06-14T18:45:00.006+01:00

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me! So today I am 35 blimey where has all the time flown away to? It wasn't quite the birthday mrning we all would have liked we had to get up at 6am to let the neighbour's dogs, chickens, ducks etc out, this in turn wakes up poor old olly who was out for the ount and then our 2 with the early morning grumps! Whew. The animals are in our care until friday night, this time it has been a week too long I think especially for Andy who is sorting them all out before heading off to school to teach. I had some yummy choccies ( got an ulcer so they'll have to stay tucked in their box for the moment, some wine, a DVD my sewing machine, some birthday money and my LADDER which is up ready to give access to the mezzanine an dlooks just the ticket. Not bad after 10yrs of a step ladder. I spent yesterday making an insideouty bag for a gift for someone, with the help of L. I was sewing away thinking isn't this lovely? and then realized my machine was doing something very wierd.My little helper had adjusted the stitch length as I'd been sewing to teeny weeny stitches arggh so I had to carry on that way or unpick the whole thing. On the plus side it makes for strong seams. Bless his cotton socks...

The fabric came from Ikea and is very surfy/Roxyesque so I hope it goes down well with the recipient. I'm being cagey in case she reads this. You'll soon know who you are:D Some of mum and my felt/crochet flower combinations were appliqued on, one on each side of the dark denim.

All in all it's a really easy bag to make, Andy rescaled the original pattern for me as it was huge and uses up a lot of fabric leaving you with oddments you can't do much with.

The denim is quite heavy weight and came from a real aladdin's cave of a fabric shop ehre in swansea, it's torture if you like fabric soooo much to choose from. Ikea was a fluke I've never really looked at fabric in there generally it's quite wacky but I picked up some lovely fabrics last time.

Reversed the insideouty bag looks like this..

Or reversed the other way like this......

With one off at friends for a picnic at the ebach the rest of the Banbury tribe headed out for a walk down Stembridge, a lovely wooded glade kind of ramble along a stream and through billowing wild flower meadows.

Here's Olly having a swim!!! he is scared stiff of the sea but on seeing the stream leapt in and started doggy paddling his way down it, bless Mr B here in soggy walking shoes, that man loves his dog.

I'm told this teeny bridge is the oldest one out here on Gower, I'll have to try and find out just how old it is.

At this point in our walk Andy doubled back to move the car so Olly didn't get too tired and L and I carried out executing something that was very Waltons meet Little House on the Prarie, leaping through the long grass with our dog. you'd like to think it lookes very picturesque, I'm sure in reality we looked like a right mad bunch but Olly's springer character was in full swing, chasing butterflies, diving in and out the long grass.

Run Olly, run!......................................

Blue skies on a sunday walk througha quite natural wildflower meadow what could be nicer?

A lovely it somewhat tattered butterfly spotted by L, we made sure Olly left it well alone.

This is the last bit of wooded walk before you pop out in a field, 2 villages down car waiting thanks to MrB.

On an unusual birthday morning I'm waiting for the oven repair man to come ( yes my life's that exciting) heading out for a coffee with my sister in law, if the oven repair man arrives before midday and then tonight en masse we are taking Olly to see the gun dog trainer, follwed by? Curry on the way home mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Hearts and Hell's Angels

2009-06-12T20:08:00.009+01:00

Lovely lovelies made by Mum for me in the brilliant bamboo yarn that's turned out to be perfect for crochet. Clever mum that she is , she's been making up her own various patterns and adapting others, what Mum has that I don't is great tension for making these wee pieces.

This on reminded Mum and I of forget me nots, maybe the shape or perhaps the colour? Ha ha Mr B is meant to be getting the kids quietly to bed and I can hear great hilarity and jumping about from up there!!! Honestly.

We lovingly call the the Leggy ones, their skinny chain stitch petals work really well against the felt for me.

Rose pink bamboo yarn heart adpated from a german pattern by Mum.

So now the klaughing is crying *sigh* hey ho it's his turn to settle them tonight before popping out for a spot of fishing , I shall say nothing and carry on my typing:D

A whole box full, how lucky am I, I know I harp on about it but what a clever Mum I have!

I sorted Father's Day prezzies for the 2 dads by ordering a box of Kate's fab Brownies. If you are lloking for a differnet totally delicious I am going to die happy eating it gift these are they. try them that's all I can say. She lives just up the road from me and I went for the "Buy 2 get one for you offer", picked mine up and it was tirture. All the way to the park with Olly the delicious smell of fresh cooked warm brownie was wafting out the box at me....shall I eat one..... shall i? Yum yum in my tum *sigh* Here's the link pop over for a look. Kate's yummylicious Brownies

Here's my growing stock box 4 deep inplaces. I have a gift of a handbag to make first and then onto necklaces this week, Olly depending! On nosing through other blogs I found this one Pam de Groot have a look at her spectacular designs.

This wee wierd specimen was found by K on llangennith beach yesterday whilst walking Olly and is a masked crab, funny little thing it spends it's life under the sand, sadly his spectacular feelers fell off in the car on the way home, to the tune of tears and "Can't we superglue them on?" Nope crab and superglue was a dismal failure!

And so I am now ing here at the computer, lulled ( ha ha ) by the sounds of the hells angel biker festival that lurks in the next village. When we first moved here there was no sign of it. Now don't get me wrong I have nothing against the bikers, in fact the kdis and I like to check out all the wierd and wonderful bikes and sidecars, but the big BUT is the heavy metal music goes on until 6am!!!!! Friday, sat and sunday. Sunday is taking the mick when everyone has work the next day. Lying in our bed, velux shut we can here all the words to Yingwe Malmsteen's "Woo, Oh Black Betty....Bam a Lam wooo oh black betty ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,," My plan is to have too much wine for once and sleep through I hope! Last year at 8am they started up again. They don't even offer free tickets to us locals, not that I'd go but the thought would count. Mustn't grumble, I know!!

Olly is out for the count whilst farting still whew! Success tody in finding agreat gundog trainer who sees me for what I am not a shooter, let's face it my family know if I tried to shoot anything I'd end up shooting myself by accident- but a new dog owner with a pooch with strong instincts and very intelligent. We are all popping over to him on monday(My Birthday 35 here I come) for a trip with Olly. Wierd birthday I hear you say, well no I'm really looking forward to it. Not so much the oven and tumble dryer repair in the morning I think that bill is going to give me a premature heart attack. My birthday prezzie? A wooden aldder for our mezzanine!!! Who says romance is dead? Honestly I own up ok, I actually asked for the ladder so our poor guests can get to bed safely at last after 10 years of a wibbly step ladder. One too many G&Ts and woops there you went. It arrived today with snap crackle and pop bubble wrap which had driven the driven mad for 2 hours and was it just the ticket? Yes it was I am a happy bunny, brownie in hand, trouser button undone to fit said brownie in, glass of rose in other hand ahhhhhhhh

Olly's first beach trip!

2009-06-09T18:24:00.003+01:00

Mum, there's something up my nose!! Olly's first trip to the beach happened yesterday, it was all new for him and his sniffer. His first reaction was to sniff the sand and then sneeze then he thought maybe it was edible, blurgh nope. I think my favourite part of him is his nose and chops just look it's like a chocolate button nose with sea lion whiskers.

On Horton beach where we took our walk there was one lone sea holly plant, busy growing away looking healthy and sharp, I'd never noticed it before and there was just one. It is the most fabulous colour. Olly was fascinated by the sea and had the odd foray into it but I made the mistake of going down when the tide was coming in and he kept keeping half an eye, I think he thought it was chasing him! At the barn it was blowing a gale when we left so I'd donned my thick Plain LAzy hoody, however at the beach it was boiling, sunny and now wind! Whew.

Now some people love to live right next to the sea, I can understand the attraction, but these lovely houses really are right by it and in the winter storms the path we walk along just after these houses ghets washed away. Several attempts have been made to shore up the cliff but the sea is mightier than them. I don't think I'd rest easy at night!!

You could certainly say you had a sea view from your garden though couldn't you?

WHilst Olly took a moment to lie down in the sand I took a few rock piccys, this beach has all kinds of wierd striped and swirly rocks as well as rocks with holes all the way through them. I used to come here to collect small rocks with holes to use as weights for my mobiles. I thought initially someone had drawn these cirlces on and then i noticed they are some kind of quartz. Nature's great.

Now it may be my eyes but that looks like a B to me! For Banbury, I took this to show the kids, they thought it was fab:D

Hey mum look at me!

A happy pup on a lovely beach....................

Hair cut at last i'm starting to feel like the wild woman of borneo! Oh and the grey hairs boo hoo, still the bonus of my blond hair mysteriously becoming more redish is the grey ones aren't too obvious! I'm going to sit there and enjoy the pampering, try not to nod off and sip a cup of tea. Did I mention both our neighbours are away? So we are in charge of chickens, ducks, doves, 2 dogs and lots of chicks one side and 4 cats the other side plus our own 2 cats and a pup! Bonkers, miaow, woof, cheep, bok, quack, coo and cock a doodle doo- well "doodle doo" the cockerel has lost the other part from his call!!!

Wow it's been a busy busy term already!

2009-06-09T10:00:00.002+01:00

Welcome to the mad house,it has been bonkers here what with one off sick for a whole week and trying to keep up the good work with Olly's house training, sewing, typing etc etc! Last week just wooshed past and in contrast this week seems to be in sloooooowwww motion so far. A good friend who is the double bass player in hubby's band was here for the cake and coffee session last night and informed me how well my stuff is selling in the 2 shops. It's good to have some friendly spies now and again:D With that in mind I've been trying to beaver away making some more stock with partial success, last week was a washout in terms of production, one small eprson wanting to cuddle up as they felt poo and one small dog going bonkers, neither are good companions with getting lots of work done. Still that's life with family and pets:D The Bloomin' Big felt brooches are selling very well, I even sent one to Dubai and another to OZ. I shall have to get that map and pop some pins in for all the countries they've winged their way to.

I certainly couldn't produce such lovely brooches without the talented crochet of my Mum she's churning them out like no one's business! The brief lesson I had showed my creative flair does not stretch to crochet. k however seems to be picking it up, she's even got her mates crocheting at break time! Clever girl. I'm noticing in the shops there is a lot of aqua and green together so I've included some of these in the deisgns.

Meanwhile the recent rain after the hot spell ( yes we had 26C here in Wales) has meant the veg bed has gone mad, the broad beans are gigantic, the roicket is well- rocketing away, red onions are swelling nicely, peas are flowering and courgette plants sprouting their new leaves. Yummy, can't wait. As a family we've had about 20 salads from the garden already, I can't believe the wee people will eat the peppery mustard leaves and the rocket!

How happy is he? I love those velvety chops..............

Olly in his bean bag, letting it all hang out so to speak. he's training well, although not in the puppy classes as they were booked up for 5 months!!! So far he has mastered "hup" as sit. "wait" well sort of, "Come" for return to me and "Give" for drop it clever boy. His only vice is shoe stealing, hubby's size 11 crocs have a multitude of tiny teeth marks in them! Crocs the new dog toy. Olly and I are off for a brief beach wlak, avoiding the sea as there's lots of algae after the hot weather and I'm informed by friends with pooches it can make the dogs sick. Then when he's snoozing on with sewing and some computer work tonight. I may just have to take a raspberry and redcurrant muffin along for our walk yummy.

When I have some peace I must catch up with all your blogs!

Olly and the holys....

2009-05-31T18:42:00.005+01:00

Perfect poppy.... The centre of these is sort of strring some felty ideas in my head at the moment, not sure what....A felty middle couched and some crochet bits...

Now how's about that for a pollen covered bizzy bees bottom? Finally the bees has discovered the bee house we mad 2 weeks ago and they are packing it full of pollen and bees. I noticed today just how much the bees adore the flowers of the broad beans, and that they are scented I'd never taken the time to smell the broad bean flowers before they were sweeter than I expected.

I have to admit I don't like broad beans but to humour my dad I agreed to grow my own and to eat them when young an tender I think my memory of them was from school hard boiled icky ones. An suggestions as to how to cook etc welcome:D

The weather seems to have suited the Rocket plants which have appeared like triffids and are very yummy and psicy, nothing like the limp expensive bags of yuck from the supermarket. With continuous cropping in mind, the second planting of peas are up.

Life here is busy what with Olly, Half term and visitors. The visitors were the best bit though having my Mum and Dad here for a couple of days. mum was crocheting like a demon. We spent a bit of time surfing the net looking for new flower and heart patterns to try. Now I know I may be biased but I reckon Mum's own designs are the best. I mean besides designing her own she's reading patterns in German, French and Dutch!!!! On the off chance I may have inherited the crochet gene I attempted a go, and nope no chance. I have no tension ( plenty in my shoulder) none in my hands! In fact K was better at it by miles. I'll stick to the felt and the sewing.

One white ear passing by my camera at great speed today in the gorgeous sunshine.

One brown ear at slower motion going back the other way! He's certainly full of beans our boy. I can't thank Laurie enough for all her helpful advice on springers you're a star (PS survived the pasta, even enjoyed it oh and found the Croc under the bathroom sink) 9pm is mad dog hour every night just when you'd love to sit and relax with CSI or Grey's Anatomy. Anything on the floor seems to be fair game for test eating including sticks, shoes, poo (I know gross) my plants and pants. Nice

But just look at him he is so cute and playful! Just after this he ripped up my thrift plant...hmmm cute hmmmmmm

His yellow dummy which he adores for retrieving I wonder how long it will last for?

Like I said sticks are fair game, thank god he's got pet insurance!

Now tell me those spots aren't just so strokeable? I like to smooth them when he's fasto on the bean bag...

Fetch!!!! It is still warm here after a boiling day when by 2 I gave up weeding the garden for fear of heat stroke and came in to potter. Oh I hate creeping twitch grass and down with creeping buttercup and ban the cleavers too, they have gone mental in the garden it's a take over bid!!

Yum.

Love me, love me, love me it's all in the eyes or are they saying "FEED ME" "FEED ME".................................................................... Here comes my glass of wine 2 hrs until Olly turns into the roadrunner. Kids and pets I think I need a holiday, oh wait we've supposed to have just ahd one, why then do i feel knackered!

Poorly Olly

2009-05-15T12:56:00.002+01:00

Olly has a porly tum poor thing, which I hear is a common thing after coming to a new home. it' s such a shame as he has settled in with the family brilliantly. He is a super little dog. 2 trips to the vet and with a much lighter wallet than I went in with he's on the not so yummy diet of plain chicken, rice or scrambled eggs with a rather icky looking paste we add to soothe his guts. Much to the children's amusement this paste wiffs a bit like carob, very odd indeed. Then came the steroid injection, bless his little paws he was a star in the car and at the vets, and thanks heavens for a best friend who works at the vets Cath you're a star:D

His favourite places to doze are at our feet when you sit on the sofa. This is keira's blanket!

The brown furry bean bag which looks very like a gigantic version of our rotund black cat. last night Olly wouldn't settle until he found mamba the black cat, they had a sniff a look and then satisfied Olly nodded off on the bean bag, leaving Mamba wondering what it was all about, a big thing for ourr cat who is slightly intellectually challenged shall we say:D

Look at that face,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

It's a dogs life! Cath and are are off to see Hannah Montanna of all things with our 2 the things we mums have to do I ask you. Ahead is a weekend of roller skating party ( a madhouse I can tell you with lots of bumps and bruises), swimming lessons, beach visit,sewing, typing and poop watch who thought I would be so pleased to see a pile of poop on the lawn, what has my life come to? I can only say it's a bit like having a new baby to look after, except this one can fetch at 9 weeks :D

Introducing Olly

2009-05-11T19:46:00.003+01:00

Here he is dozing away happy and contended in his new home. We had a fantastic journey home yesterday. Olly spent some time chewing the towel, watching the trees and hedgerows go by before finally conking out and nodding off on my lap. I felt like a bit of a wally sat there with my bin bag, bath mat and towel. He was such a good little chap, he saved the wee and poo until we got him home.

There's that one white ear we all loved when we saw him! Yesterday was a gorgeous day here on Gower and for the first time in ages we as a family sat out in the sunshine in our lovely garden with our Olly, various visitors popping in to meet him, drinking coffee, eating cakes and chilling. It has been far too long since we did this together. life can get so hectic it's easy to forget to make time to recharge your batteries.

Olly's den put together by the kids for him, doggy bed, blanket, paper in case of little accidents, water and yes a hot water bottle that looks like a cow!

How's that for a picture to treasure? That is one very very happy boy and which one? Probably both I'd say:D

Hubby's feet looking gigantic nest to small pooch! Them there be size 12 Crocs! Olly went to bed in his crate at 10pm, after some howling like a wee wolf we made him a lukewarm hottie which he snuggled up to and nodded off until 5am this morning. Not abd for his first night here. needless to say apart from some computer work I got little done today, but we had no accidents in the house, he even fetched a rope and sat at heel! That must have been fluke surely? Mamba our sheep shaped cat is warming to Olly although somewhat unsure and Jazz? Not impressed, but we gave her plenty of love and affection last night. Well after our first BBQ of the term, Olly is sleeping the kids watching a film and all's right here . Love to allxxxx

Bizzzzzzy Beeeezzzz

2009-05-09T12:28:00.005+01:00

In between getting ready for Olly swimming lessons and insect house making I made some sushi beads which are drying in the sunshine on the lounge window sill. Mad pink, orange and lilac sushis, but I have some cord wrapped beads in these colours to use:D

Lilac( although it looks like grey in the photo) and lime, aqua and purple....

The finished rolls, finally I mastered getting a solid core to them!

The finished bee home on the right the old one on the left didn't they do well? Will let you know when the first residents move in zzzzzz

This is the bee box we bought 2 years ago when we first started our veg bed outside the kitchen back door.They aren't cheap to buy that's for sure and having had it used 3 times last year, the kids asked if they could try and make one with dad. Now this is when having a hubby who is a technology teacher is extra handy, that and a shed full of tools amassed over 10 years of building the barn. In amongst all the wierd and wonderful bits of wood in the shed we had some oak floor boards that had gone wibbly so they have now benn recycled into a bee home. We were all amazed by just how many bamboo rods your need to fill up the box!

Using a very very long screw with the sharp head filed off ( this followed me the mother stabbing herself in the finger with a non filed one) using a highly untechnical broggling motion the soft pith was easily poked out leaving a bee sized tube ready for nesting.

A great job for boys this one wood, nails and dismantling something what a happy chappy....

This is the family's standard thinking expression, dad plays mandolin and mandola with this face, uncles drum with it, small boys draw and write using this tongue out look!!!! It's quite something to see all the family playing music together all with this tongue out look!!!!

Broggle.....broggle....

et voila! A bucket full, this was only half of what we needed little did we know.

Turning my brain inside out!

2009-05-06T14:20:00.005+01:00

Ha ha who knew my hubby could fly! Who says grown ups don't have fun:D For my Mum's birthday this year she rather fancied me making her a handbag. Now this isn't something I have ever tried before and possibly it was a bit over my skill level but I'm always up for a challenge so with a pattern I bought on Etsy in hand I've spent today sewing my socks off.

I had 3 lovely fabrics, 2 that are heavier weight canvas cottons types and a thinner lilacy lining material. It's the first time I've used the magnetic snaps I bought as well. They were amazingly easy to use. Hand on heart some of the descriptions with the pattern had me baffled for sometime, but with a bit of jiggery pockery and some guess work on my part it all came together pretty well. Are you shocked? Well I was -other than a skirt I made on the sewing machine when I was 14, and that's all of 20 years ago and the inside out bag this is the 3rd thing I've ever sewn on a machine.

Here is the trusty machine, my Christmas and birthday gift from my mum and dad so it was quite fitting I made mum's gift on it! Learning my lesson from the nice but floppy inside out bag I was very good , lining and interfacing the bag -I even tried some pockets.

Turning the whole thing through the hole was a lesson in patience and thank goodness I have small hands! Wow that was the tricky bit, however- seams intact I got it through the hole and it looked like this

Over the snap is one of Mary's great ceramic buttons, a heart for my mumxx

2 little open front pockets..

And 3 insdie pockets for phone, pen, lippy etc

I know mum wanted a red handbag, but having hunted high and lo and drawn blank I opted for a summery one that she can take on her holidays. We all know how much a mum can cram in her handbag so there's plenty of room in here.

Finished! Whew. Those fab sewers of you out there etc it's not your standard I wish it were but bar stabbing myself on my super sharp new pins and getting very cross with attempting to sew corners through interfacing and lining neatly it's not a bad job. Keep your fingers crossed mum likes itxxxc

Going loopy

2009-05-01T22:56:00.002+01:00

It's 11pm all's quiet hubbys out cold after a bonkers week in work and what with gutting and redoing bathrooms and so on:D Kids are snoozing too. I should enjoy the quiet before Olly comes to us next weekend. I shopped for dog bed, bowls, car guard, teeny lead and collar etc today. We'll need to geta gate on the front garden ASAP to prevent and Great Escapes by pup. In the bried miment of sun today I got the camera out and took some shots so i can list some brooches on Etsy. 9 new things added on there. I've got one custom order to make tomorrow before we go for a Cwch with Olly. ( not a typo it's welsh for cuddle).

I am so so chuffed with my loopy wooden gadget I bought it's the best thing I've bought in well I don't know ages I guess:D Just look at these lovely colours of yarn I can play with on it.

Sea Breeze is Ks favourite so far

Wierdly for me I'm liking the Sunsets, maybe I'm longing for summer...

Posie was my friend's choice...

Sunset with a heart shaped button

I popped 2 Cuddly Cuffs on Etsy to see if there's any interest as well. Rock Me &

Lovely Lilacs. Why didn't I try upcycling jumpers sooner? It's all about learning new things, trying new designs so much fun.

Once things have quitened down ( ah ha I hear you say with a puppy imminent) Hubby's going to help me create a webpage for Nimblejacks. I love Etsy but I would also like to have my own site too. I'm trying to build up a collection of nice shots that mayve we could use on there hence arty farty ones like these popping up:D

Enough my eyes are dying on me time to pop the lenses out and collapse in bed, let's hope I don't wake up with jazz the cat on my head again, maybe I don't turn my brain off when I'm sleeping there see,s to be excess heat radiating off my noodle that the cat likes!!!

Our new addition!!!!

2009-04-28T12:26:00.004+01:00

Here he is our little honey, in just a week and three quarters he'll be the newest addition to our family. In keeping with our motley crew of a one eyed cat and a cat that's shaped like a sheep he was the last one left because everyone wanted a springer spaniel that had 2 brown ears and a brown top to their head!!! Here in the Banbury house we like, different, we like the exception to the rule so he chose us. His mum and dad are lovely tempraments, very gentle and well trained so we've got a good start there. What will our cats think? Well mamba( the sheep shaped one) sleeps on the boiler mostly and comes out for 2 things, food and cuddles late at night so I don't imagine she will notice a difference. Jass ( one eyed) will have some fun though when pup is older. For a 12yr old cat she's full of fun and games. The classic toe pouncing when you are dozing in bed, running off with my felting off cuts and then yowling at them, cuddles with L and more. I have resisted a dog until now as I've always been a kitty owner unlike hubby and a bit of a scardy pants with big dogs , but I think the kids are the right age now,I work from home and we love our beach walks so we've stuck whilst the iron's hot and maybe I've mellowed and got used to the 2 lovely big dogs who live next door (sleeping in my lounge right now as their owners are away).
After much debate over a bacon sarnie with the kids the names Scoobie, Hamish, Ghillie( re: ghillie McDog what a fab name), Ozzy, Beezie and finally Olly and at breakfast my 2 announced that THEY had decided he was Olly and of course he just looked like an Olly according to them! The Breeder who also trains dogs thought that they made a good choice, easy to call, short and so on. They were very pleased with themselves :D

I feel a week and a half will seem a very long time here, but we're going to see him again this saturday for a few cuddles- I can't wait *sigh* and that's me the non dog person -who knew

Woderful Wonderwool Wales

2009-04-25T23:34:00.002+01:00

Today we went to the Royal Welsh Showground to WonderWool and the Mid Wales Mouthful. Hubby kiddies and my lovely friend Elid. Sooooo much yummy food to try, tasty drinks to sip, we nibbled on, scotch eggs with cranberries in, welsh perry, chilli cashews, cam away with smoked Sewen, nettle cheese yum yum yum. I'm typing here with my rotund black cat sat purring on my lap, kids abed, hubby fasto after a week of GCSE marking, but my brain's whirring full of ideas after looking at all the felt, wool, threads today so many ideas.............. Must trun brain off or I'll never sleep:D

Look at this amazing wool, what a colour combination. and a fantatsic price too. I got straight home, whippedou the handy wooden gadget thingy I bought today and ......

Ok so it looks a little wierd here but it's brilliant, simple, quick, textural and great fun to do.

A 4 layered looped flower shaped is made which I can then add felt or crochet to and a button.

With Mutti's crochet flower and Mary's yummy button. What do you think??

Chilli coated cashews, fiery but scrummy.

Our selection of goodies, nettle cheese, local sossies, beetroot chutney, strawberry and juniper jam....rumble rumble

This was a HUGE hit with K:d Really the best relish I've tasted in ages. Search it out and consume.

To be opened at breakfast, if I ever get to bed that is:D nite allxx

Not fallen of the face of the earth!

2009-04-21T12:03:00.004+01:00

Hi all, no I haven't fallen off the face of the earth-school holidays whew! What with hubby being at his sisters the whole time gutting the entire bathroom and then tiling and installing a new one, it's been chaos here. When he lost the will to live and tile I went over and did the grouting:D Who says we don't have exciting holidays?! Our 2 were stars though for us and were contented with painting, trampoline, cooking and mucking about in the garden. We planted shallots, red onions, the braod beans they planted are up and racing skyward. Yesterday we spent time planting parsnip, carrot, rocket and peas. They have a real interest in growing their food which is so nice as it's one of my passions.

I think flea beetle or some kind of weevil have been having a munch on the braod beans though I may need to cover them.

Almost Jurassic in their emerging, the ferns are stretching out for Spring in the garden along with the Rhubarb and sadly the weeds!!!!! 4 hours of weeding and one sore back later I was starting to win against the weed army:D For once we had glorious weather here it's been a great 2 weeks even with the bathroom saga. Today I am sat here solo, in peace and quiet - although I have to say now they're in school I miss my 2!!

With great expectation I've been waiting for the tulips to open and oh.....what was meant to be brilliant white was- pink? Wierd all of them pink I suppose a mix up was made at the farm still they are a pretty colour and lovely nonetheless so they will stay.

Deep, dark and glossy like velevet "Queen of the Night" is my favourite flower at this time of year......

After a day spent pondering and cutting and sewing, unpicking and resewing. Fiddling with iron on interfacing and die cutting I finally worked out a design and sew method for the cuffs that is efficient and strong, whilst still allowing them to be

soft and flexible. Now I have more time free I am motoring on with them in all manner of colour combinations.

K loves these colours together, using upcycled felted jumper, plain wool felt, elasticated round cord and the pretty ceramic buttons.

My own favourite, hot pink and aqua. The jumper I felted was a 14 so it has felted into a gorgeous large lot of felt yay! The double elasticated cord works well with the big buttons.

Momchrome and red, and at last a use for the buttons I ordered by mistake, they are HUGE.

A "Cosy of Cuffs"

Off now to sew some more,have a fruit tea, an orange and cranberry muffin and listen to the radio whilst doing all of the above. Hopefully after karate tonight I can catch up with what you're all up to xxxxC

PS got a stinking cold and can't breathe :C

Coming up with something different

2009-04-08T20:21:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I spent time fiddling basically! i've been trying to come up with some sort of design for felt bracelets, something that's Nimblejacks and me, not the same as everything else out there ie: felt beads and crystal or glass beads on some elastic. Most of the day and a few sewn prototypes in the bin later I came up with this. It's soft, flexible like armour is as it's jointed and fun.

This one was made using an upcycled felted jumper. Of course you'll all know where the lovely heart button came from.

After much fiddling around I used iron on interfacing between the wool soft felt on the reverse and the upcylced felted jumper on the face. This solved the floppy issues I was having at the beginning.

There's a few hidden stitches keeping the top corners of the hearts down and inside a length of waxed cotton cord to give the whole thing extra strength.

On the opposite end I used some hand felted wool rope to make a loop.I have also got some pretty elasticated cord that could be used for the same job.

Here it is laid flat........

In my usual way I've cut out en masse to make my life easier next time round, I've got a hold of some pretty jumpers to felt and a great colour range too.

Just the sewing part now whew!! The rest of the day was feeding next doors chickens, amusing the tribe here and contemplating some ice creamthat's calling me from the freezer right now:D

Still alive...just

2009-04-04T17:52:00.002+01:00

Happy Easter, anyone with kiddies will now be aware it's Easter holidays! Here on Gower the arrival of caravans certainly makes you aware it's holiday time. That's the problem with living somewhere so beautiful everyone wants to come and see it too. On a day of glorious sunshine I've been indoors getting covered in fluff cutting out upcylced felted sweaters into flowers and hearts for brooches. My poor Dyson hoover nearly had a heart attck sucking all the fluff up. In just under 10 minutes the kids and I made the batter for these blueberry and milk chocolate muffins, adpated from a raspberry muffin recipe. None of us liked getting the raspberry pips lodged in our teesth so we opted for some frozen blueberries instead with chopped up milk chocolate buttons. It's very likely not all those buttons made it into the mixing bowl...where can they have gone I wonder??? Yummy, moist and fresh, PS 2 left

I'm in the midst of laying out and then sewing some more giant felt brooches, I need to list some in my Etsy shop and some for the galleries. My mum's even got their secretary crocheting the flowers now!! Thanks Gill!! :D I made Gill a felted cupcake pincushion as a thankyou, and bizarrely she saw one in covent garden for £25!!!! All those yummy mummies have far too much cash if they pay that.

Here's my handiwork box, containing a zillion felt flowers and hearts. I prefer to cut a huge batch out and make a stock pile, that way when I want to make them up it's much quicker.

I've used a mix of wool felt, upcycled felted sweaters, hand felted flowers and mum's crochet flowers.

In a moment of quiet, which last week was a very rare thing I mocked up a prototype wrist cuff. I bought a great piece of denim fabric last month, so I used a cute spotty lining fabric on the inside and the denimon the outside. Some of the upcycled jumpers were felted and cut out into heart shapes and appliqued on. I couldn't resist some of the lovely ceramic buttons and used one as a fastener.

My wrist is a bit skinny so I think I'kk make it a wee bit longer next time round. Turning it right side out through the hole was a bit tricky but a bamboo chop stick turned out to be a brilliant help.

I may try the same thing with other felt and fabrics too. With K it was a huge hit so perhaps some scaled down ones may appear.

An hour of swimming and a skating party this morning is catching up with the tribe I can hear the beginnings of moaning from the lounge....

My friend asked for a custom order of a smaller felt strawberry bracelet, this time I made three, one fore her, one for the gallery and one for Etsy. Tomorrow we are doing a very unhealthy thing, cooked breakfast at Eddies surf cafe at Llangennith beach and then a beach walk ( that's the only healthy part!) Camera I must remember the camera this time!!!

Made with love and care

2009-03-24T18:44:00.005Z

Working with wool seems to cause dry hands I decided today! I'm using some rather odd looking lotion called "Glove n'save" we used to use it at the dentists I worked at it is fantastic stuff for really nourishing and rehydrating tired mitts! You can use it on your feet etc too. you'll have to excuse typos in this post i have a new smaller keyboard minus the numeric keypad. my arms are short and I was forever moving the keypad to reach the mouse. this more compact one if fab but I'm just getting used to it. I took my deilvery of felty goodies to gallery one today, gallery 2 will be later in the week. For the most part
I've been working on these GIANT felt flower brooches, using some of the beautiful crochet flowers my mum has made for me.
Soft pinks, grey felt, upcylced felted jumper and crocheted flower, with a couple of teeny seed beads to keep the second medium flower in place.

Coral, dark rose and upcycled felted stripy sweater I love this sweater it felted perfectly in the machine and it's given me a few ideas of colour combos.

First 5 complete...........

See what I mean they are BIG!

My lovely labels made via ETSY

This little group of pics shows what I'm up to tonight. The red brooch is for mym mum as a thankyou for all ehr crochet hard work. Oooooh look at those ceramic flower buttons adorable.

Sun is shining, living is well busy!!

2009-03-22T13:18:00.002Z

Happy Mother's Day to you all! The sun is shining here in Gower a glorious day. I've been out weeding and nosing at my garden. Just look at the cheery faces of the daffs out today. My mum's headed home afteer staying with us this week, here's her mits busy crocheting away a lovely coral coloured flower. She's been churning them out all week:D Once hubby's home and I'm off the hook later I shall be beavering away making some GIANT felt flower brooches for the galleries.

*NEWS FLASH* I took the bull by the horns and made an appointment with the gallery director at the Taliesin here at the Uni in swansea to enquire if they would be interested in selling my work. I'm not a confident person in these situations and I think having my mum sat in the coffee shop upstairs was a huge boost:D Lo and behold they said yes!!!! Yay big smiles all round I am so pleased. The next few days will be sorting stock to take there and sewing up some big felt flower brooches. I had some natty little fabric labels made by boodybabies in the Uk there was a huge minimum order amount , this shop offered a sensible amount at a great price and even though they were from the US they arrived within days!! All neatly bundled and ready cut. Rather than making HUGE Nimblejacks labels to go on the large felt flower brooches I'm going to sew these tiny fabric labels behind the brooch bar back. Neater, smaller and Nimblejacks name will be on there too.

This Vinca came from a cutting from Darwin's garden! Part of his very own plant breeding ( given with permission when my lovely dad asked for me!)

After several boiling sessions in the washing machine I've sourced some great wool jumpers to felt and thanks to the glorious weather they've been drying outside on my washing line. This red sweater was a bit of a shock. It went from a size 16 in really huge knit wool, down to a 6!!!! The bigger the knit the more the fibers can "felt and knit" together. It made really thick textural felt. Time for food before the troops start eating each other!!!!

Buzy bees today

2009-03-15T17:59:00.002Z

After beavering away like a bizy buzy bee last nigth I finished this bracelet which was a customorder for a friend. Fruity felted strawberry bracelet.

And oh for once sunshine for taking piccies outside, my camera doesn't take such good shots with the flash, or maybe it's me that doesn't take such good shots with the flash.

Pircie? Any ideas out there? I'm really unsure what to charge I've never made anything like it before-HELP!

This was the remains of a yummy chocolate cake after 4 nervous welsh people watched the rugby here yesterday/
Signs of spring are cropping up all around the gaeden this is the first anemone I've seen, what a fabulous colour too.
I sole 2 items to a lady in th US 2 days ago and she also then sent an Alchemy/ custom order request for 2 huge felt heart brooches. I even checked the sizes with her as they were so big. The pinks one is 5" across and the reds 4" whoppers. I was really pleased with how they turned out so I hope she will love them too. They're being packaged up tomorrow with her other 2 purchases and whoosh off to the US they go.
She loved these teeny buttons so I used a few of them on the big pink heart. Hubbys out fishing will there be fish for tea? or will it be pasta.... I shall let you knowxxx

Stock

2009-03-12T14:04:00.007Z

I've been busy beavering away here trying to gradually build up smoe spare stock. We have a big show here called The Gower Show in August and we've always been away for it before. This will be our first year here! So I thought I'd take the plunge and have a stall this year, being a bit of a namby pamby at selling things and chatting to total starngers I'm roping in my lovely mum and some friends to help out. I don't think I've ever totally got over the shy thing :D
hearts haven't solf so well here at the gallery I sell through, flowers go great guns as do the necklaces. As if on queue though I had an Etsy order through for a mini heart duo and a big pink padded heart brooch plus the added bonus of a custom order from the same lady. Different tastes across the Atlantic? The hearts are my favourite:D As you can see I'm using my gorgeous hand made ceramic buttons still, just waiting for the next batch through the post.

Blooms, part of a batch of felt flower brooches, using this time some of the upcycled wool jumpers I'v sourced and felted in my washing machine. It's a great way of finding unusual colours and textures to mix into the designs.

My K and I really liked the pink and green mix on these buttons.

Spotty heart button s seem to be the most popular ones I've been asked to use on the jewellery made for custom orders to date. Is it a trend this year????

hearts and flowers.......

Stock box of brooches to date. i'm busy making up and sewing necklaces today as well as felting some more woolies in the trusty washing machine. There's a vague wiff of damp wool down this end of the house!!

Burning Embers, necklace, not colours I'd normally choose however I really like this mix of felt sushis, glass beads and upcycled jumper felts.

Part of the charm of upcycling the jumpers is the pattering retained from the machine knitting like on the orange heart here. I used to buy machine knitted felt which in the UK was a hideous price, upcycling sweaters is much more fun and envitonmentally friendly.

Mojito, felt neckalce/ Hot lime and aqua colours with a big needle felted bead. The fabric it's resting on is more of a pistachio than it looks in the photo and used to be an angora sweater I felted, it's all soft and tactile and will be great for a future project i have in mind. I've never been able to wear things like this as the fine fibres get behind my contact lenses. eurgh

At k's request I attempted to make a necklace using the felt strawberries I made a couple of weeks ago for a friend, this ws the result. The vintage resin red wibbly beads came from an Etsy seller and I tried wet felting over the ends of the cord for a change it makes a nice soft back to the necklace.

getting them to hang was an exercise in knot tying and hiding in the end. Luckily I've got a few of these large wooden beads in my kit that fitted perfectly.

Is it one for mums or daughters I wonder.......

spring is springing or is that sprung

2009-03-09T13:49:00.004Z

Beautiful Hellebores.... I managed to squeeze some time out of my mad day to potter around the garden with my camera and see what is sprouting, silently growing with some milder weather. And look at that blue sky wow! What a tonic after a weekend of awful weather. It's still blowing a gale here but glorious sunshine reigns.

Underneath the shade of the tree boughs it's hard to see the true beauty of these colours. Out in the sunlight though they're amazing. This is their second year in and they're much taller this year too, so it's possible to see them as you walk through the "wooded " part of our garden.

Cute and perky these narcissi have opened this week, I couldn't resist taking a shot of them against the brilliant blue sky.

Zingy spring....

These sedums came from my Dad's garden, their fab feature is that the colder the temperature gets the more orangey red they become . Close up like these they have a hint of alien life form about them!!!!

My favourite plants the orintal poppies are back in life and full growth, this one is Lauren's Lilac, I have about 25 of them! They've got fantastic textural hairy leaves too.

I'm always attracetd to the srchitectural spirals and shapes of these rusty foxglove leaf rosettes, later in the year this will be a flower spike taller than me:D

Morning dew on the hellebores, I was in my nightie taking this shot shhh don't tell my neighbours they'll think I'm nuts.

If I rememebr rightly these should be tulips "Queen of the Night" ... dark, velevety and shiny. I've just had great news, my Mutti is coming to stay next week yay!!!! Can't wait, must spring clean though what with typing, sewing, felting and the kdis we're looking a wee bit dusty here. Oh and lastly I went to a tiny aladdin's cave of a fbaric shop here, I mean you actually couldn't move for fabric it was everywhere I'm amazed it wasn't hanging from the ceiling too. There at the back my holy grail.....fabric for inside bags lots of lovely colours with teent tiny patterns on just what I was after. To top it off in the market RicRac tape for 18p a metre yay!!!!! Sewing here I come, well after cleaning , cooking tea, feeding the hungry housefull etc!

Flowers from the heart

2009-03-03T18:38:00.004Z

I had a nose around the fabric shops in Swansea today, well the 2 that we have. Oh for a fab shop like the one I remmeber my mum and I going to years ago with everything in it. There's so little choice, online was much better but I do prefer to "feel" the weight of the fabric. I bought this duck egg blue fabric a while back although I can't remeber for the life of me where from!!!

These I bought as the last 2m end of rolls today the colours are a bit brighter than they came out in the photo. These are much sturdier almost canvas feel fabrics which will be great for some of my future projects. A really kind friend gave me some fabric sampler books yesterday with swatches that match these brilliantly, so I may use some of each.

My other radical purchase? Ha ha some super sharp fabrci scissors. A thimble as I have a callous on my middle finger f my right hand from pushing needles through felt! I can just see my finger print on CSI "She was a sewer you can see by the blank on her finger print where the skins worn off!" There were some new pins, hubby's nan's ones were losing their heads!

Invisible thread, not sure what for yet but I thought it may well come in handy:D

Look what my super clever mum (aka as Mutti to me) has been beavering away at. Ever since our holiday in France last year, when mum was determined to relearn crochet from french patterns she's had the bit between the teeth to master crochet flowers. I'm using them on my brooches etc. I think they're brilliant.

I really like the double layered effect of the petals. We've been trying to find the best thread to make them from too, these were made with some thread mum sourced from germany, with a bit more give and twist in it.

Lovely lilacs.

The red poppy shape really appealed to me. I can think of a multitude of uses for these.

Pistachio double layered flower this was my favourite of them all I think for the shape and colour. I know for a fact I have no natural tension when it comes to knitting. Mum's mum was a pro knitter but I think that gene passed me by:D

Coral coloured.

These fabrics will be great for lining bags they pattern is wuite small and they match in well with some of the fabrics I bought today. I can see pockets made from these........

Beads, beads Everywhere!!

2009-03-03T08:08:00.006Z

This is what my table looks like! It's just as well we haven't got guests over for dinner for a week or so we'd be eating off our laps. There's some new colour combinations I'm trying and some lovely beads I found on Etsy too.My natty storgae boxes are bursting with felt beads and handmade sushi beads all ready to be created into something gorgeous. Last night was band practice night and at the risk of the boys having to rename themselves the "Bloaters" from all the cake and muffins consumed whilst here I made a healthier option this time. Mum and I have been making this recipe for years. It was on the inside of a StIvel Gold tub lid in the 80s. It's moist and yummy and low fat best of all the kids really love it. Although it has oats in it it's not as flaky or dry as flapjack. Inspirationally named "Apricot & Prune slice" you can of course leave out the prune if you wish:D

Recipe

6oz Rolled Oats

60z Demarera Sugar

60z SR Flour

8oz Marg

1 large bag of soft ready to eat dried apricots & siome soft ready to eat prunes if fancied!

Line an 8 x 7" tin or anything of similar dimension with silicone paper. Melt the marg and stir in the oats, flour, sugar and mix until well combined and no dry flour can be seen. It's so easy this recipe!!!

Put half the mix into the tin and using a rubber spatula press flat into all the corners and base. You want the whole base covered. It's an exercise in patience and spatula work. You'd swear it will never make it but it will. Remember it puffs up as it cooks so don't worry if it looks a bit thin.

Rip your apricots/punes in half and lay flat all over the base to cover, like tiling a roof! with sticky fingers!

Place the rest of your oaty mix ontop. Again spread, spread. If your tool sticks try using some cling film on top and use your hand to persuade the mix across the fruit.

Bake at 350F for 30mins.

Take it out the tin to cool on its paper and when still warm or cold slice up. You need a good sharp knife to get through the fruit :D Enjoy There's one bit left here.

PS Thanks Doda for reminding me to list the recipe!!

A wonky photo, sorry I tripped over the man's enormous crocs as I took it! This is my stash cupboard bursting at the seams as ever. Oh for more storage I think with a family we all crave more storage.

I like to work by laying out all the necklaces like this first, coming back to them later and seeing if I want ro rearrange etc before stringing them.

I'm not a fan of orange or yellow myself but I know others who are so I'm making a real effort to broaden the colours I use for my jewellery. K is a great help with that she has a great eye for colour combinations I'd never dream of putting together.

Remember those strawberries? K asked me if there was anyway I could make them into a necklace. Could I? So I'm having a go. I had the lovely lucite vintage wibbly red beads from Etsy a while back and the red and white sushis have been waiting to be used. I am pondering how best to attach the strawbs !!

Inside Outy Bag

2009-02-26T17:49:00.005Z

First of all I couldn't resist this photo of my cat one minute she was nosing out the window, look at that gorgeous pink nose leather and whiskers....

The next she was keeled over fasto and these paws were crying out to be photographed. My favourite parts of my cat:D I came across a great tutorial for making a reversible bag via Doda's blog which originally came from Lula Louise there were clear and easy to follow photographs and written instructions too. I think I'd class myself as a medium to advanced beginner although the last big thing I had sewed was 17 yrs ago in school! It was an aqua pencil skirt I can still remember it, I sewed my finger with the school's sewing machine:D Lurking in the cupboard was some of the fabric I used for Ks noticeboard and some I'd had free, the perfect pair.

Having printed off the sheets and taped them together to make the pattern I did shorten the length a bit as my fabric wasn't quite long enough in the end.

In my trusty kit of things is this wierd wooden fold out measure that I think was hubby's Grandad's and his Nan's tin of pins.

Thank goodness we have a long table for me to work on the pieces of fabric cut out were quite long! And you can just see my most excellent new sewing machine that my lovely mum and dad bought me for Christmas and Birthday.

H ha I love the strepsils tin that Andy's Nan kept her pins in I think my mum has her mum's one only it's a Horlicks tablet tin!!! It's not the same now I can't say I could leave my kids a cool tin like this nothing comes in them anymore.

At this point I just have the sides to sew up and the bottoms to attach, it really was a great tutorial and hubby is going to scale it down for me a t work too for a smaller bag design.

Below is a wierd shot, so sorry pf me with the bag, I was too short to take a piccy using the bathroom mirror, well i could have stood on the bath and risked cracking my head open as I slid into it or gone for the windy shot outside. The latter won.

So here's one side....

and here's the inside out!!!

Just after this i had a brain wave and whilst sititng outside school in the car I added a felt rope loop and a felt bead as a fastener, one for each fabric side. Modesty aside I was chuffed maybe I'm not so rusty on the sewing machine after all, I can feel myself going bag sewing mad!!!!

Needle Felting

2009-02-26T08:53:00.003Z

When deliberating how to make some more space in our end room, which doubles as my office, the play room oh I should have said triples because there's a sleeping platform up on the mezzanine above! We decided to remove the bed and get a sofa, and wow what a difference space at last, no more stubbing toes on playmbil or hot wheels tracks. The mandolin, mandola and guitars are going up on the wall on nice holders- who needs artwork when you're drowning in instruments.

And yes it is RED not our usual earthy colour choice but it's great, it's really lifted the room and thw whole family can relax on it together.

Swirly needle felted big wool beads, these will be used as the centre of long felt bead necklaces. As an experiment I tried needle felting thew swirl on dry, in the past I wet the roving first, half the bead were needle felted wet and hald dry . Overall I think needle felting the pattern on dry worked much better and was a faster methos for me. It's hard work on a creaky shoulder though it was complaining this morning.

This was a tester using some hand carded wool batt I'd bought, it doesn't show up well on camera but it had angelina fiber and sparkly bits in it.

Mad hot pink and grey wool sushi beads drying by the big felt beads, if they're sat on the sushi mat on top of the boiler they dry in no time.

Yesterdays batch of beads. Today is computer work half the day and gaint felt brooch making the other half of the day.

Feeling or felt fruity

2009-02-11T14:38:00.003Z

Last nights project was felt strawberries, one of the mums I know asked me if I could try making some for her daughter's birthday tomorrow, initially I thought about needle felting them but after a quick bit of www research I opted for the sew and stuff method. Luckily with Valentine's day close by I had plwnty of red felt lurking in my store cupboard and some nice green for the leaves too.
Here they are wee semi circles machined up the side to make a cone shape, that I turned inside out then and sewed running/baste sticth along the top edge. I discovered fairly quickly that even doubled up thread snaps when you pull the drawstrings up, so I used my upholstery thread for this bit which worked a treat.

All stuffed and drawstinged up but a bit naked as yet.....

Four yummy strawbs with their leaves ready to be sewn on. I did a quick bit of green running stitch on the leaves just to make them look abit more interesting too.

Hey presto leaves on, I sewed through the strawberry and through the leaves so that when the stitch was pulled tight it puckered the leaves up a bit and gave them some shape.

With some creamy yellow DMC i sewed some "pips" onto all of them and they then looke like this one. Oh yes and that is real sunshine on my hand yay for sunny Wales today.

This sweet weblike bag came with my dyed wool locks remember those bags I said I would reuse? As I looked at this though I was reminded of sunny days at mum and dad's house with the argument over who got the biggest strawberry!! Dad used to pinch it out of the bowl when noone was looking- we always knew it was him of course. No biggest strawberry, with time to spare before picking up time I knocked out a whopper!!

Ah a strawberry family huddle or would that be a scrum if they are welsh strawberries?

I ahd the morning in town nosing through the charity shops looking for wool jumpers to felt in the washing machine, I think the shop owners thought I was a little odd when I explained what they were for. After tea I shall have my first go at boil washing and felting if it's a success it would be a bonus as I get mine from US normally and I can't believe how much shipping has increased lately.

Oops nearly 3 best dash!

Prune Finger Day

2009-02-08T17:56:00.005Z

Today I thought I would try my hand at making my own felt sheets. I had 2 different methods instructions and in the end did a bit of both! I still have prune fingera aftera day of felt sushi bead making , felt pebble rolling and felt sheet making. The 2 terrors here think that a wet bamboo mat smells disgusting, I think I may have to agree!!! Overall for a first attempt it was ok I think the wool bat I used had too much fuzzy fine fibers in it which didn't felt as well as I would have liked but a press with the iron helped a bit with the unruly ones. Oh yes I also discovered some of the dye leached out and dyed my bath towel pink! The lesson is use an old towel:C

The different textures of the wools and silk throwsters waste is interesting though and I used a plain wool roving on the reverse of the sheet to make the more expensive roving go further. I had some lovely fibers from EnchantedYarn on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5089066. I received in the post 3 gorgeous bags of dyed wool locks. The Cotwold locks named "The Woods are Dark" and "Violaceous" and "SPice" arrived in natty drawstring bags that looked like woven spider's webs, I shall be using these as gift bags they were almost as nice as the locks that came in them. The art of silk paper making is not something I know anything about, but my felt book did describe making something similar to then add to the face of your partially felted sheet to create a lovely felt sheet. With spray starch, iron and locks in hand I had a go.

Much hilarity ensued when having lovingly arrnaged the locks, throwster's wastes and so forth I sprayed the starch and hey presto the lot took off as if wafted by the wind. I had no idea the force the starch sprays out with and I had stood a good distance away too. After that with some tentative spraying I found the optimum way to spray was standing on a chair over the sheet and doing gentle sprays from above. With a gentle iron on both sides of the baking parchment, hey presto silk paper. It's not very strong but it was stable enough that I could lift it gingerly and I think it would attach well to a partially felted sheet.

These yumy colours I'm thinking oif felting onto a cream or brown sheet....The changing tones of the throwster's waste was lovely.

Our other experiment today was making felt pebbles. I'd seen some on the internet before , but I couldn't find a good tutorial so K and I followed the sort of instructions that you would use to make felted soap and it worked pretty well for us. We both had pruny fingers at the end though and part way through the soapy stones got a wee bit slippery but with some agitation, squeezing and rinsing we were really pleased with them. They fooled Andy for a moment when he came in at least!
In my roving bad I only had one colour of grey, I'd like to get a bit more variation in the stones so I may be online shopping for some tomorrow.

A trio of felted pebbles. Mine's the top left, K's the top right andL's the bottom one with the 2 tone greys. Roasted lamb is wafting about at the moment I'm just waiting for the roasties to finish as I'm typing. Can you hear my tummy rumbling????

Felt sushi beads in hot pink, purple and maroon. These felted really well, I think because the pink wool had very short wiry fibers that knitted together tightly.

K's choice of lime green, brick red and yellow....they should get lighter but I can never wait until they are dry before cutting the roll open to see their lovely colouredness.

Lime and aqua sushi's, a bit fuzzy but lovely and thick and bright. They make me think of key lime or absinth or maybe it's creme de menthe

So sushid out my poor fingers are pruny still but these felted really well today some days are like that.

Today's handiwork, Tomorrow is felt sheets, sewing brooches, and maybe snow who knows. My friend has one week left until her due date so we are on stanby here as her hubby works away. It's her first baby and her mum's on the other side of the world so all keep your fingers crossed the birth goes well for her. Beepers going , roasties ready, roast lamb here I come yum

Snowed in well not quite!!

2009-02-05T10:54:00.006Z

What with all the snow and disruptions it's been a funny old week so far. I spent the weekend making some custom orders and finishing off the Stuffed heart brooches and felt flowers as well as making 2 HUGE felt flower brooches for the lovely lady who owns the gallery where I sell some of my jewelery. My Sizzix cutter just can't cut anything as big as 5" and all the dies on the market that do stumble with thick felt, so it was back to the super shrap scissors ( as my finger joint can confirm) they are sharp. After some fiddling about I found a knack to cutting the thick felt by pinching it between my fiorefinger and thumb tightly with one hand whilst cutting with the other. If I didn't do this the thick felts fibers start moving about causing bevelling on the shape. These ones below are in the Etsy shop. How cute is Mary's handmade stone button there? Now then who is the big kid in this photo??????

One for the Etsy shop Pretty pastel plums heart brooch.

This was the view from the bedroom window at 6am no need to mention who woke us up so early!!! With the sports setting on the camers caught the snow flakes floating down.

The lonely last leeks are just peeping through the dusting of snow in the long veg bed there. 3 more and we've eaten them all and I think somewhere under there are the last 10 parsnips too. That's a job I need to do is sort out my seed order for this years veggie choices. As I'm typoing the snow is drifting down, school's shut tiny terrors are out there having a snow fight.

Now this wierd looking beastie is down to Andy flytying obsessive that he's become her's trrying saltwater flytying, this ones a wee crab!!

He's pretty good I wonder what the fish will make of him down Gower?
Sorry about the strange lightling on this one it was in a brief moment of blazing sunshine!!! A stash of goodies made for the Postmistress and her friends delivered yesterday. I'm coming around to lime green and aqua so you may see more of these colours.......
I had another yummy delivery from Mary of the beautiful cermaic handpainted buttons too, slightly different designs this time and I was thrilled I feel like a child openeing a bag of fab sweeties everytime they are perfect for my brooches.

Just to try something different I bought some DMC thread to use for the blanket stitching which changes colour along its length. Pink>dk pink> cream > pink The top 2 of these 4 flower brooches has it, the jury's out at the moment. Meanwhile I really need to make some sushi beads permitting I did the classic, "my hair's in my eyes" flicked my head to my left and ping shoulder muscle went again. With cricked neck I may be slower rolling the beads today or maybe it's a little know of cure for cricked necks and I'll be moibile by tea time I'll let you know :D

just a quickie before bed

2009-01-25T22:18:00.003Z

Just a quick blog tonight , we had a lovely dinner with friends and family last night, drank coffee far too late and went to bed at 1:30 only to be woken up by the kids at 5:30am ugh. Today I was blanket stitching and stuffing hearts! These have a sort of retro maybe 80s feel according to the hubby here. Tomorrow I've some more hearts to do and some necklaces to design and string too and then fingers crossed later in the week I'm going to approach a lovely gallery shop to see if they would display my work :D

Still on the hunt for some lovely coloured wool locks to felt with, everything seems to be from abroad, I can't believe there isn't a great UK based seller of them. There's lots of tops and batts but no prettily coloured locks:C Have a lovely week everyone, off to bed now before I flake out at the computer.xx

whew!

2009-01-22T11:45:00.002Z

Love in Monochrome! The colour combinations were an experiment but I actually really like them together. I've finally found a use for the black spotty ceramic buttons too. All the hearts and flower are laid out ready for sewing a huge task but thankfully one I find quite theraputic.

Reds and greys for valentines day. I'm trying to get these finished ready to go to the gallery next week, in the hope some of the hubbys/ partners etc going there for coffee may buy one for their loved one! I'm also trying to get a good stock box made so that I can approach a second shop here with my work. The sun is shining its socks off here in Gower today, after a hideous night of torrential rain. Those of you who have velux windows in their bedrooms will know exactly what I'm getting at here. :D

I've got a good range of colours this time, muted shades, greys, pinks etc I honestlt think no brooch is ever the same! I'm going to sew and stuff the heart brooches first what with feb 14th approaching. Next it'll be the flower brooches and then onto making some new necklaces.

It's going to be a busy few days here. We've got my sister in law and hubby coming for dinner saturday, the usual swimming, I think i should go for lessons. Somehow over the years I've lost the knack I can swim but seem to have lost my love for it. Maybe it was when i started wearing contact lenses? I clearly remember at 14 swimming without my glasses on underwater and pinging my mum's bikini only to find it was a total stranger who was less than amused! Needless to say I wore my glasses when swimming after that! Oh for about 4 more hours in the day after the kids have gone to bed. The older they get the later bedtime creeps and the less evening we have. I am sad I know but I'm in love with my new cupboard it's fantastic and so much tidier downsatirs and I can actually find things when i'm looking for them. Who knew some shelves and a door could make your life complete:D

Lint wednesday

2009-01-21T19:38:00.006Z

Today was certainly linty, I spent all day with my trusty die cutter, cutting out felt shapes ready for making broockes, necklaces etc. I prefer to have a good session on this rather than hauling it all out to to odd bits and bobs. By lunvhtime I had lint all over me! As a new years thought I'm trying a bit of upcycling too. The machine knitted wool felt I buy is lovely but so very expensive I have a heart attack whenever I order it, but I do love the texture of it. In a moment of nosing around on Etsy I came acrossa listing for a detash lot of wool jumper felted scraps from a lady who makes emo/goth stly arm warmers from the sleeves. The box came in the post and I am so exctied it was full to bursting with lovely knitted wool felted materila in lovely colours and textures too which I wouldn't have had with the normal machine knitted felt.

In future no wool jumper is safe I shall be boiling them up to felt them and slicing them up too!!!
As far as I know this would be upcycling rather than recycling, making them into something lovely. My lovely wooden dresser laid out with what felt like a zillion cut outs of felt, my hand feels bruised from pressing the handle down on the die cutter. Amazingly I found it quite theraputic.

Jumper lovliness turned into felt flowers for brooches, The stipes were an added bonus and I really like them! It would take me ages to make felt from scratch like this, and becasue they've been hot washed there is no frayed edges when I cut them.

Hearts, flowers etc........ the pastel striped ones have a ridgey design on them from the jumper too.

Striped greys and browns with a thick wool felt main flower.

A selection of what i'm putting together I have my button boxes out on the table ready for assembly tomorrow. my nrains giving up so I've learnt never to sew when tired. I especially like the pinky ones.
Natural shades the biscuit coloured top flower was from a wool tank top!

Pretty in pinks, my friends asked for 2 of these when I've finished them.

I had a question from an Etsy customer about the origins of the wool I use, if any merino came from Australia. She was against any use of that as they advocate mulesling of the merino sheep. I'd never heard of it I have to say so I looked it up and thought yurgh. But then blow fly is horrid in sheep too. Luckily all the wool I use comes from countries where it isn't used but it did make me think it is important to know where your supplies come from exactly. When I read up on angoras well, I didn't fancy my cuppa afterwards. Not a wool i'd use anyway as a contact lense wearer it's hell in your eye if you wear lenses. Her question though did make me chat to my wool suppliers and I learnt a lot more about the kinds of sheep, the textures of wool, I discoverd 2 suppliers sell ethically reared sheep too which was nice. Silence reigns in the barn. Hubby is beavering away on some architectural drawings the tribe are snoozing only the cat is going mad becasue it's windy she's tearing round like a wild thing!

Still here

2009-01-14T10:13:00.003Z

Hi Yep I'm still here but with my best friend here for the week i haven't had time to blog. Woopee I logged on today to check my e mail and yay another Etsy sale, this time one of the cute petite brooch pairs to a lady in the US. I've ventured into the world of Folksy too. Andy has mentioned a few times htta some less internet savvy folks like himself may be put off by the $ on Etsy if they are Uk buyers. I know a few of you fellow brits have shops on there. It does seem a little quiet as yet byt like with Etsy I think it's worth persisitng with. It was nobbling taking the kids to school today my poor finger tips were numb by the time we got home.

I am eagerly awaiting some lovely gorgeous fibres to come from a reat Etsy seller I found on the weekend http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5418418 ArtemisArtemis based in New Zealand. This is Border Leicester Fleece , called Spetember Morning although looking out at my winter garden now from where I'm typing I can see most of these colours in my flower beds.

Lovely fluffy Kid Mohair in grapey colours, I'm going to try a technique mentioned in a felting book I have where you tease out very fine silk or wool fibres with pattern and colour to them, like these curly ones and spray with starch before ironing between baking parchment which should result in "Silk Paper". This can then be applied to you felt to make a really interesting felt sheet. Never tried it before and it could co wierdly wrong but I love to learn and experiment so when my wool arrives I'll post how I do!Broken Dream ( not sure that's a great selling name!) crazy carded batt.Sunspots crazy carded batt, these colours are so earthy and warm I just HAD to buy this one to try! I'm on the hunt for a bamboo blind today ready for felt making! I don't think my teeny sushi mat is big enough somehow. I'm thinking felt brooches and hearts with one layer of handmade felt using these fibres to add some extra wow to them. After much trawling about in forums and online shops I managed to track down some felt like the thick Nepal felt I use at a better price, longer and just as nice from another US supplier, I also bought some great thinnwe wool felt sheets that have extra wool fibres in a darker colour with an almost tweedy feel to them. My mate and I are off to see "Twilight" in the daylight tomorrow it's been such a busy week it was the only time we could get there!

Tidy up

2009-01-09T12:16:00.002Z

For those lovely fellow blogger who visit my blog already you'll know all anout me, but following my lovely mums advice I've edited my blog. You who know me will know what's missing. In this day and age I think smum is right about putting too much about you and yours on the net for anyone to see. it doesn't take too much to work out where you are etc. So my blog will still have the recipes on and my handiwork with felt, but the personal stays just that personal from now on. It's a sad sihn of the times in some ways but I can see where mum's coming from and better safe than very sorry is a much better position than if only. :D

Remove

2009-01-09T12:09:00.001Z

Sunny days

2009-01-08T11:32:00.006Z

Looking at their feathers is giving me ideas for felting......

I have to admit to being a dunce on bird names but wow look at the colours of these 2- that green wing feather was so vibrant in the sunshine.
No it's not that cold thier beaks really are blue
Blooms, the felt flower brooches. The ones I've made before for the gallery that have sold like hot cakes were similar but without those lovely cermaic buttons on them, these are all for my Etsy shop this time.
The sqaure buttons were HUGE! I think i was a bit gob smacked when I opened the packet, that said though I've sold some already with these on as they're very different and a bit wacky!

Ruby red for Valentines, I'll be making some more of these once I've motored on with my computer work for my parents this week. My best friend's also coming to stay for a week this saturday it'll be great and he's such a good house guest too, we only ever differ on how to cook a roast ha ha!

Well, off to the computer to do some work, I haven't baked anything for a while either so that'll be my weekend job

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T12:59:00.007Z

Happy New Year to you all, everyone here is finally healthy thank goodness I hope the rest of you can say the same. We had a great Christmas, very relaxing, lots of beach trips too. This piccy is of our friend's house. We had all the wood in our barn from Matt the friend whose house this is- every window sill, the ash for the stairs, oak flooring the whole shabang! On New Years Day we and other friends of theirs piled over to help raise up a green oak colonade for their house extension. It went up so quick and then we all stayed for mulled wine, JPs chilli and muffins made by yours truly. I can't think of a better way to spend a day.

Matt is wearing the glowing jacket!!

My man doing a cracking job on building a new fitted cupboard where the old barn doors used to be in our kitchen, Finally somewhere for all my felt things and Andy's fishing gear yay!!!

A clutch of padded brooches, I remembered Valentines day and so I'm busy making some more traditional red ones. I've got some beautiful red ceramic handmade buttons for them.

I saw this when I went to drop of some stock to the gallery in Mumbles!!!! Mumbles supposidly can be translated as "breasts!!!!" Now what does that picture look like???

I've been listed in an Etsy Treasury too which I'm always excited about. If you get a mo pop over to Etsy and have a peek. http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=30512

Have a wonderful Year ahead all of you when I get a chance tonight I'm blogging having a catch up on what you've all been up to, I've been offline for a while.:D

Enough said a parsnip can speak a thousand words

2008-12-23T18:17:00.006Z

Brooches made today and had another Etsy sale as well so I'm chuffed to bits about that.