work in progress - snails and turtles

I have been making progress with my snail. The hardest part for me, as a on-sewer, was connecting the shell to the body! All I have left to do now is the attenae...

Naughtily, I have moved on to the next character, before completing the previous, but I do get itchy fingers and have to control myself!
So the next plush is going to be...... *drum roll!*
A Turtle...

I really need to keep myself in check and not just get carried away with the making. I need to make sure that I write up the pattern properly and not just leave my scribblings on rough bits of paper, as these are all put up for sale on Etsy, and can be made up in the colourway of the buyers choice, so I do actually need to be able to repeat these, if I'm lucky enough to sell any.

Weather update:- Gone is the endless days of down pouring rain, and its been replaced with scorching heat - hello sunshine!

Bargain of the week :- Lovely vase picked up from my local charity shop



Brighton and fishes.....

So... the fishy that I had started last week, has been completed! And it looks like a Fishy!! But I confess that I had to cheat a little bit as both sides didnt quite match up!! I dont think this was down to my pattern though, rather that I did too many rounds, so wasnt paying enough attention, but this is a good thing as i'm confident that it would work on a re-make.

Now i'm moving onto a new animal and a new pattern to contend with. The next one will be a Snail...

In other news, me and hubby took a day trip to Brighton.

This is a city that we love (hence we got married there) and would take regular trips there if the travel wasnt so pricey! We took a visit to hubbies Nan, and kept her company for the morning. Then made our way to the sea-front where we had a huge but traditional lunch...



You cant take a trip to Brighton, without walking round the lanes. Such a great mix of boutiques, gift stores, cafes and alternative products.

And it was great to see so many stores embracing the Jubilee theme in their windows.



There were alot of chocolatiers and candy stores to tempt us, one being CyberCandy, which had a whole feast of products imported from America, Canada and Australia.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather. It managed to stay bright for the majority of the day, and only got caught in a couple of short heavy showers, and the sky did look pretty menacing at times.

After a rejuvinating cup of coffee, we went back to the pier, we cant resist having a go on the 2p machines, they are pretty addictive..





 We were exhausted after our journey home, and didnt get back till late, but it was an enjoyable and satisfying day...

Work in progress Wednesday

Continiung on from my previous post, I have now completed the Owl order and he is wending his way northwards as we speak... I think quite a few makers will agree, that it is easy to end up working in similar colourways, as we are drawn to certain colour ranges. So for me, this opportunity, to work with someone elses choice was most enjoyable. We did have a bit of deliberation on which tone to use for the eyes, but I am very pleased with the results.

Moving on from that pattern, I decided to be extremely adventurous and attempt my own pattern! I'm loving the big, colourful circle which is the main body of the owl, which got me thinking if there were any other animals I could come up with, where I could utilise the same circle.

I have thought of a few, but my first attempt is going to be a fish! I have completed the first side, and so far it does have a fish form and am hoping that I can achieve a matching other side from following my scrawled notes!

I'm not really going to be able to tell whether or not this pattern is successful until I have sewn it together and stuffed it! I will let you know in the next post if a Fish has been born or major alterations will have to be done!

completing projects...

Well the weather has been bleak, I have yet another cold and the 'staffing' issues at work continue... but it's not all doom and gloom! I still have my 'Hooky' projects to keep me going!
I wanted to move on from the 'birdies' and have had loads of ideas buzzing round my head, but unsure which, if any I should actually go ahead with. So whilst I've been deliberating, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go back to various past projects, that had been put aside or put on hold!

Remember the crochet scarf - each day I've been adding to it's length - I am also considering adding some 'needle-felting' embellishment at each end. I feel this would bring it more to life and make it more unique, plus a great excuse for me to play with my new toy.

Previously, I had purchased a pattern for a crochet Owl, http://www.etsy.com/shop/ATERGcrochet, which I had made one side of. I made the matching other side, and made his big eyes. I didn't understand the pattern for the beak, so I did make that bit up! Then I sewed him all together, which was relatively painless, stuffed him and ta dah...

My lovely colourful Owlie, all mine, and he will sit on the side with pride!

Incidently, as I was tweeting about his progress, I had interest from Happycatflower (the winning bidder of my knit relief birdies), who wanted to know what would happen to the owl on completion. She was disappointed to learn that I would be keeping him, but I am now in the process of making her her very own Owlie in her very own colourway!

I have also finished the last couple of birdies, now that I've found suitable ribbons and buttons to complete them. So we have small and large, red,white and blue, Jubilee birdies - a way of celebrating everything British this year - but in an understated way!