Some cuffs & brooches

In between the hail showers I took some pics of the cuffs & brooches I've been making this week.

The one on the right is a  request from a customer & I made a couple of bigger ones, one in the same fabric which will hopefully be in my Etsy shop soon & the top one in last weeks gauntlet fabric.

She wanted a couple of different shaped brooches, too.

Those are the 2 at the top, then I made a couple for the studio. I'll stitch the backs on while bonding with my boys (the DH & Youngest) while watching Day & Night. The preview looked silly but fun.....what more do you want in life after a hard day's work?


I decided to start another gauntlet in the sea green Neptune colors, just so Pam has choice. I like to give a bit of choice, just in case.....trying to please everybody all the time... huh. Oh & started another cuff, too.

Here's the finished gauntlet

I had a lovely card from my DH & put my engagement ring on for the day - we found it on February 14th 25 years ago in Portobello Road Market, London. It's wearing thin , the gold bit, so I don't wear it all the time, now. It's done well!  ;) Mine to him is left & he cut the heart shape out for me ;)

Look what I found in my compost bin - look away if you're squeemish!  I've nearly finished transferring one bin to another, exhausting work but it's got the juices flowing & I must start a plan of action in the garden, just a little at a time ;)

A snow day off work!

We had a wonderful walk into the Cuillins at the weekend, lots of snow in the hills & just about ok driving to get there. They all had a wonderful time sliding down & trudging up over & over again while I watched, enjoyed my extended family 'playing' together & froze my buns off sitting on the snow ;)  I did make an angel, going back to my own childhood & delighted in laying there watching the tiny clouds in an otherwise clear blue sky....for about 3 minutes, tops.

youngest, middlest, the gf, me, the 'dil', eldest.

It was a strange contrasty light with the end of the Cuillin Ridge between us & the sun.

                                                        
                                                                   Walking on into the Glen



An ice sculpture

& a helping hand ( he had to be pulled out when walking on a thin bit of ice for heavens sake!)

It was truly a winter wonderland here today. I enjoyed my first snow day off work yesterday - the snow had come around here overnight but the eldest & 'dil' just managed to start & finish their journey back to Edinbro after 2 extra days stuck here. The gf can't get back to near Glasgow tho & my DH bravely tried to get the youngest out of the village (up a steep hill) so he could get a bus to school but it was too slippery. Bring back the wonderful (expensive!) Landrover! So we're still a housefull & I'm trying not to be too distracted! I'm happy to bundle up, enjoy the snow while waiting to see if my last craft fair will be on this Saturday. It's out of our hands so we might as well eat mince pies!

& in the garden

I made a couple of brooches as Christmas presents for the 'dil' & the gf, a bit bigger than the ones I started to make for last years craft fairs.

And finally, a month of squares. I was 2 months behind & now I'm only 1 month behind - these are October's squares. In gathering them together, thinking I had lots to make to catch up, I'd find a little pile on my desk hiding under pieces of paper strewn about, or a small pile of them in a little bag for safe keeping, so I wasn't as behind as I thought. Hopefully I'll come across some  for November, tiny collections of bits & pieces of the day tidied into a little square or a piece of an experiment cut away for adding to my squares pile ready to find at a later date. When I empty my pockets I find papers or plastic stuffed in there - I'm always thinking This could be for a square! but take a little longer to assemble them into one place, ready to photograph. It's taught me such dicipline, making these squares, well, & showing them here in an organised fashion & I'll have such a collection by the end of the year, something to be proud of. I'm thinking already of what to do regularly next year, something like a collage a week, something for the studio. I'd like to work thru all my wonderful books & actually make that collage or hanging that I'm always saying I will get round to one day, giving it my own personal spin, of course.

We'll see.

I've shown the top 2 lines already. The 3rd are all the usual suspects except the 'braille' one, not sure if you can see that I've painted a pill packet & highlighted the braille dots. The last 2 strips are the usual again, including a bird stamp used for a Christmas card & the multicolored bear is similar to the sweet 16 birthday card for the youngest. The last 2 squares are the start of my trip to Oxford.

A short post today

as I'm in recovery after the first of 4 Christmas Craft Fairs. It was a fabulous bright sunny day, if a little baltic. I wasn't in the outdoor marquee but I was in the little hallway which leads into the main room, & along with 2 other tables, in a howling gale of a draft which froze my right ear off! The fireplace which normally has a warm Christmassy real fire had recently been converted to gas & was no longer working. Never mind, we had carols sung from the garlanded staircase, just lovely & I could sing along disturbing nobody ;) I felt a sense of Christmas peace, especially having made a few sales, after rather last minute frenetic  preperation.

Some decorations; my painted papers stuck to recycled mount board & my painted fabric (from last year) stitched into a pretty odd shape. I added some creative mess this year but it didn't seem to make ay difference to sales. I haven't cracked the decorations market yet. I'll try some fabric circles with bits hanging off next. Does anybody else out there make decorations?

and some brooches

My cuffs did well so I need to make some more for next weekend, craft fair no 2.

I've abandoned my garden recently & as it was another beautiful day ( ;)  )I was able, as part of my 'recovery' (they're enjoyable if a bit draining these craft fairs) to do a bit of catch up weeding & listen to the garden birds who've returned from wherever they were blown to last week. The sun has just become so low in the sky it only peeps over the first hill at the back of the house at about 12.30 & by 2pm it's gone behind the second hill.  I can see the sun elsewhere  in  the village (if it's out of course!) but it becomes rather precious in the garden at this time of year. It gets high enough again mid January, I think. 

I came across this bouy rusting away on a gravel bed in the garden so as it's falling apart I think I'll wrap some fabric around it & try some more rust dyeing. I should have treated it when we found it to preserve it for longer but there's nothing like a bit of organic decay, things naturally moving on. It's that time of year.