Off on a tangent...

Well, while working on the new idea I gave you a sneaky peek of last week, another idea popped up, which kind of took over.  And here it is, a parcel pincushion.

The address says 'pins & needles, the sewing box',

...the only problem I had with the design was what to stuff it with.  Felted wool has a lot of give, which is great for the rounded shapes involved in making animals, but can be a bit of a problem when it comes to anything requiring hard, straight edges.  The only solution I came up with was to use foam, a block of seat pad foam cut down to size.  Any other ideas??

I kind of like how it's turned out.  Think I'll be making some more of these for Etsy asap!

Sneaky peek,

I've been working on some brand new design ideas.  Still softies, or I suppose soft sculpture is more accurate.  It's not quite ready for the big reveal as at the moment I'm working out design, colour, scale etc, but when I'm ready, I'll be in need of second opinions.

Retro Cat,

will be on Etsy shortly.

I haven't made a cat for a while, obviously needed some practice.  I initially photographed the cat before realising I'd forgotten to add the whiskers!

Put some chalkboard paint on it...

Ta-da!

 

As the picture says, it's been a long time coming.  Our kitchen has been an ongoing saga, everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong.  We've had to take the floor up because of an ant infestation, the washing machine leaked and wrecked the new floor - twice, etc etc...

For now, rather than replace it, I've decided to make the most of what we've got, but one thing we hadn't got was a cooker splashback.  My original plan was to have a map behind a sheet of glass, but that was working out too expensive for a cheap fix it job.  So after a bit of googling and Pinterest-ing, I found this image.  

Problem is now Al is concerned I'm going to go over the top with the chalkboard paint (in the style of 'put a bird on it') now I've spied this, and this, and this, and this, or this.

Today...

It's the school holidays here in the UK (just a week for half term), add in some sun and it's a good week.  There they were,

having fun in the outdoor bathtub (actually it's an old paddling pool I spent an hour scrubbing clean this morning),

until the boy bit a hole in it.  Honestly, sometimes he forgets he has a brain.

The subsequent fall out was disturbing my sewing!

edited to add - please take a look at the survey I'm running in the sidebar, thanks --->