If you want to get ahead.....

get a hat (groan), couldn't resist that.    Hats are essential wear in this part of the world.  If you are not wearing one when the wind whips off the North Sea your hair ends up looking like a haystack in a high wind.  I have just finished these two.  The top one is crocheted with a knitted band.  The pattern is available to buy as a download from Interweave's website.

This one is crocheted Bruges lace, the pattern is in Interweave's crochet accessories book I got for Christmas.  Wilberforce does not look very impressed with it.

It was John's birthday last week and I bought him a sweatshirt and then needlefelted it with this fish motif.  He had seen it in one of my craft books previously and said he would like it.  The black labrador card is 3D decoupage although you can't tell from this photo.

 I have managed to do a bit of sewing recently - this credit/loyalty card pattern was free online from warehousefabrics inc.  and for the lining I used some pink fabric leftover from yet another hat I made. 

I have stitched another fashion sketch from "Fashions of Yesterday and Today" but my camera went doolally yesterday so I haven't been able to take a picture.  I did finish this black labrador kit from Heritage Crafts which has been on the frame for a while.  It really reminds me of our darling Sidney, so lifelike.

New year, new crafts

 

Can't believe it is 11th January already - what happened to Christmas and the new year?  I didn't have much time for crafting over Christmas but since then have started some new projects and finished off some older ones.  The embroidered brooches above only take about an hour each to make using buttonhole stitch and French knots.  I have found them very addictive.

 

I have also gone back to needle felting.  I made this butterfly brooch a few months back and had a teddy bears head in my workbox so I decided to make the body and finish it off.  I am still very much a beginner at this craft and it is far from perfect but I am learning with each new project.  I have a felted flower brooch in progress but have to wait for some green wool to arrive as I only have a small selection of colours at the moment and am building up my stash gradually.

 

Wilberforce and Higgins bought me this gorgeous cross stitch book for Christmas, they have very good taste!  There are about 10 designs in here I would like to make and have made a start on the cover design already.

Talking of "the boys" here there are.  This is the view that faces me when I am sitting in my stitching chair.  Wilberforce likes to lay on the coffee table like one of the Trafalgar Square lions while Higgins prefers to lay on his back on the sofa.  For a working dog he certainly likes his kip!