Slow Progress

Urgh - I have the lurgy. A nasty virus has been working its way round the family and settled on me last Wednesday. I am now on day 5 of being poorly and still getting worse, which is very unusual for me!

The thing I hate the most about being ill is that I can't work (either at my salaried job, or at my lovely craft work). I have neither the concentration skills to work on the challenging Harry Potter socks, nor the ability to sit at the sewing machine to make any of the mounting orders of phone cases, bags and toys without descending into a coughing fit. Fortunately everyone is very kind and patient, but I still wish I could just get on!

However as any crafty person will agree, it's impossible to sit around and do nothing. At first I pulled out my scraps blanket and added a few rows to that, then when it was long enough (it's been needing an extra few inches for a while now!), I swapped my crochet hook for knitting needles and started making mini squares. At first I had no particular design in mind for them, I was just pulling scraps of yarn out of a huge bag and knitting mindlessly, but Calum has requested that I use them for making a blanket for him. Hooray - another project! Like I need another project on the go, hahaha. Here's my first few squares:

In the background you can see Calum's newly revamped chair - up until a couple of months ago it was still painted pink and white from when his big sister (now aged 13) owned it!

Hopefully, normal service will be resumed shortly.

Happy New Year - Da Cat is BACK!!

Well hello again, what a long time it has been since I blogged! New year, new start I think. I will try and keep up this time!
Although I have had a blogging break, I have not been on a craft break - in fact, it's because I have been so ridiculously busy that I haven't had time to write. So I'm sorry for abandoning you all, and I promise I will make it up to you by wafting around that magical word ... GIVEAWAY ... coming soon to a blog near you!

Anyhoo, re the pictures - this was an ordinary pine kitchen chair, which I stripped, sanded, painted with two coats of pale blue, then dry-brush with some off-white, then painted on the cat picture with acrylics, finishing off with a couple of coats of varnish on the top. Am very pleased that I resisted the urge to overwork the fur and am quite happy with the result! (It evens says "Miaou" on the back of the chair!)
I hope you all had a great Christmas and a good start to 2010 - look forward to catching up with what you are all up to in the near future.

A little bit of kitsch

I love bright colours, but generally tend to steer away from anything too kitsch (WHAT??? I hear you say?) - no really, I do! However I couldn't resist making this heart-shaped cushion.


To soften the effect, I used a red and a bright pink knitted together, so that it gave a mottled effect. I quite like the way it has come out. Perfect for a rather dark corner in the hall.