Work In Progress (WIP)

The problem with doing so many different crafty things is I often get involved in a new project without properly finishing the previous one. I always have several projects on the go at any one time which is great because if I get bored with one I can always pick up another but it does mean I have lots of unfinished work hanging around my flat!

With this in mind I've decided to start doing a regular (maybe monthly?) Work in Progress (WIP) post - partly to show you what I've been up to, partly to try and shame myself into finishing them! Hopefully by the time I do my next WIP post some of these will be finished:

1. Emily Peacock Hug and Kiss cushions


I finished my Hug tapestry over a year and a half ago and the Kiss one sometime last summer. These have now been sitting around for over a year waiting to be turned into cushions. I've bought the backing fabric, the bobble trim and the cushion inserts and yet somehow I still haven't managed to spend a few hours making these into lovely cushions for my bed. I have no excuses!

2. Granny Square Cushion

These granny squares have been sitting around the house since the early summer waiting to become a cushion! They were originally going to be a blanket but the cotton I was using was really splitty and I decided it would drive me mad making a whole blanket so a cushion it is! I need to block these first (I've not done that before) and then decide how I am going to attach them together and how I am going to back the cushion - either fabric or more crochet. All this indecision has left me doing nothing!!

3. Fused glass jewellery

I've got loads of these pretty glass cabochons waiting to be turned into jewellery. Most of them are made of dichroic glass which really sparkles - they should be lovely when I get round to doing something with them!

I've also got these ones which have been attached to jewellery findings already. I want to take some decent pictures of these to put in my folksy shop. I've had a go a few times now but haven't managed to get any good enough photos yet - it is difficult to photograph glass!

4. Emily Peacock and Rob Ryan tapestry

I was given this kit for Christmas and it is a perfect present for me - I am a big fan of both Emily Peacock's and Rob Ryan's work. This is actually going quite well at the moment. I started this in the Spring and am about halfway through it now. I have finished most of the tricky picture part of the tapestry and now I am just working on the background. This means it is perfect for evenings in front of the TV when I want to do some sewing but need something that doesn't take too much concentration.

5. Granny Square blanket


Even though I have decided to make my other granny squares into a cushion I still wanted to make a granny square blanket with a white background. I am using a granny square pattern by Jane Brocket that I found in Mollie Makes magazine. I love this pattern - it makes quite a large square with a really nice squishy feel to it. The pattern is based on a blanket of 54 squares but I would really like to make mine bigger than that so I think it might be crocheting this one for a long time yet. I've done 20 squares so far so we'll see if I change my mind when I've got a bit further! I've realised that I probably shouldn't have chosen such expensive yarn - this is going to be one expensive blanket!

6. Fused glass photographs

I am currently trying to take photos of my fused glass pieces. Mainly to keep a record of what I have made and also to show you on this blog. Also I am thinking of trying to sell some pieces in future - there is only so much glass I can fit in my flat but I would like to keep making so I think I will have to sell some to stop myself getting buried in it (this is only a small fraction of what I have made) and also to help fund future making!

7. Stained glass pieces

I have two small stained glass pieces which I need to solder some chain onto for hanging and then polish up so they are finished. I won't put any pictures here as I am hoping to do that in the next couple of days (ha! a likely story...!) and then I will put up some pictures then.

8. Plushies

I have various monsters and fish in various states of completions that I am making for gifts and my folksy shop. These look a bit sad without their stuffing so I'll put some pictures up when I'm finished!

Phew! That was a long post! I feel a bit exhausted thinking about all the things I need to get on with, let alone actually doing them! Hopefully next time I do a WIP post some of these items will be finished.....

Dotty xx

PS. Sorry if the pics are a bit dark - its a horrible day here. Not good for taking photos but perfect for staying in and making!

Fused Glass

I haven't had much time for blogging this week as I have been taking a fused glass course all week. With all the things I normally do in the daytime having to fit into the evenings everything has been a bit busy!

I'll show you some pictures of what I have been up to this week when it is all out of the kiln but in the meantime I thought I could show you some of the pieces I have made over the last year since I started fused glass.

A lattice piece which has since been slumped over a mould to make a bowl:

A coaster made with loads of stringers (thin strips of glass):

A flat piece in some of my favourite glass colours which I am planning to make into a shallow dish:

A multicoloured light catcher which glints and sparkles when I hang it in front of a window:



I love fused glass so much and I'm so glad I have found such a fun and exciting hobby! I'm sure I will talk about this in later posts as I can't get enough of it and would really like to move into selling some of it at some point but for now I hope you have enjoyed these pictures!

Dotty xx

PS. Thank you to all of you who have popped over from the folksy forums to comment or follow my blog. It is so nice of you to come by and I am so pleased that you have. I am looking forward to investigating all of your blogs in more detail after my course finishes tomorrow!

Creating a buzzzzz!

Just a quick post today - I thought I'd show some pictures of a softie I made recently as a gift.


He's been received now so I don't have to hide him any longer!



I was thinking of making some more to pop in my folksy shop. What do you think?



I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Dotty xx

New loves – Crochet

I have decided to do a series of posts on crafts I have picked up whilst I’ve been away and not blogging. I thought I’d start with crochet. I only started crocheting at the beginning of the year and I am completely hooked! (Sorry, I never get tired of that pun!)

I’ve always liked crochet but for some reason thought it was something I would never be able to do. I suppose it’s because I have always associated it with knitting and the one time I tried knitting was disastrous – I was so uncoordinated with the needles and ended up in a grumpy impatient mess!Then earlier this year I noticed that a new crafts venue near where I live was offering drop in crochet and knitting on a Wednesday. So I headed to The Create Place and Marie gave me my first ever lesson in crochet. At first I found it so hard and couldn’t find a way to hold the hook that felt natural but eventually managed a couple of rows of single crochet. I was just getting used to that when Marie suggested I try a double crochet and then once I had mastered that a triple crochet. By the time I left that morning I was grinning wildly and I was clutching a square of purple crocheted yarn that I was insanely proud of......so proud in fact that it sat on my mantelpiece for about a month!

After that I was addicted – I went straight to the shops and bought some yarn and hooks and began trawling the internet for interesting (and simple projects) I could try.The first proper thing I made was the wrist warmers using the tutorial on the wonderful Attic24 blog.


These are coordinated to match a scarf I already have and were a really good beginner project. Plus they taught me a new stitch – half treble (which I call half double because I learnt the American terminology – v confusing!).


After that I was away and started work some circular cushion covers inspired by those in Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench. I couldn’t get the pattern in the book to work for me so with some more help from Marie I came up with these:

And in closeup:

At the same time as I was making the cushions I became obsessed with the idea of making some crochet bunting. There were loads of lovely bunting patterns about there (just look at this flickr gallery that Lucy from Attic24 put together) but there wasn’t anything that was exactly what I was looking for. In the end, after a lot of trial and error I came up with my own pattern and I’m really pleased with how it turned out.


I’m only giving you a sneak peak here as I was thinking I might do another post on the bunting and maybe even a tutorial if anyone is interested?

Finally, what would a crochet post be without a mention of granny squares! After a few months of crocheting I asked Marie to give me a lesson on granny squares. She showed me how to make a classic granny as well as her own pattern (similar to a sunburst pattern). I went away and this is what I came up with:


I was originally going to make them into a blanket but I decided a cushion would be better to start with! The cotton I used split really easily and it was going to be too frustrating to make the hundreds of squares I needed to make a blanket. Now I just need block these squares, attach them altogether and work out how to make a cushion cover…..that should be easy enough, right?!

I’ve actually already started on some squares for a blanket with different yarn but I think I’ve rambled on enough now so I’ll save that for another post!

Have any of you tried crochet? What patterns and crochet blogs do you like? I’m always on the lookout for new ideas!

Dotty xx

I’m back!

Hellllooooooo! Anyone out there?

I’m back! Finally! It’s been a while….and I’m sorry I left you for so long. Things got pretty complicated in my life for a while and I wasn’t very well. And then by the time things started to improve I’d got out of the habit of blogging.

Anyway, you don’t want to hear about that – you want to know all about the crafting! You’ll be pleased to hear that the lull in blogging wasn’t combined with a lull in crafting. In fact I think I’ve been doing more and more. I find making things very therapeutic and it has been very helpful in improving my health. I’ve carried on with sewing and monster making but I’ve also learned some new skills which I am looking forward to telling you about.

But, before all that, I wanted to talk about this post. I signed up for pay it forward AGES ago and started working away on my gifts for the people who had signed up. I had most of my gifts complete months (years!) ago and then things went a little bit downhill and the PIF project fell by the wayside. I feel really bad about it, especially as Beaky sent me such a lovely gift. So, before I started blogging again I wanted to make up for it and send my PIF gifts on and start with a clean slate. I managed to get hold of Sue from BeeDesigns and her gift is on its way as I write. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get in touch with Sandra or Wilkie and both of their blogs seem to be defunct now :o( Guys, if you are out there then please get in touch…….

Right, that’s the business out of the way. Now for some sneaky previews of what I have been up to in my time away……

There’s crochet:

And fused glass:

Screenprinting:

And stained glass:

Patchwork:

And Tapestry:

And finally a spot of mosaic:

More detail in later posts…..

I’m looking forward to it.

Dotty xx

Hours of Stitching

I never thought tapestry would be my thing until I spied some beautiful designs by Emily Peacock. They are much more modern and funky than most of the tapestries out there. After some very heavy hinting I was given a set of two kits for my birthday to make a HUG and a KISS design (Picture is from Emily’s etsy site.):


So, since the summer I have been spending my spare hours quietly stitching away in front of the TV. And it has been a lot of hours! And finally something to show for it:

Although I made a few little errors along the way I am really pleased with the results. As the days (months!) passed my technique improved and I’m hoping KISS will turn out a bit neater! I also found it a very relaxing craft and once I got in "the zone" I could stitch away for ages - very therapeutic!

One down and one to go! Next to start work can’t wait to get the KISS tapestry finished too….

I haven’t decided what to do with the tapestries once they are both finished. Emily shows them made into cushions on her website but I think they might get damaged too quickly in my flat (I have a propensity for throwing red wine around the place!). I am thinking of getting them framed and putting them above the doors as they are just the right size for that. Anyway, if it takes me as long to complete KISS as it did to do HUG I have a few more months to worry about it yet….!

Dotty xx

The Pig of Happiness