Final 2017 Catch Up

 I had a lot of odd balls of cheap acrylic yarn, so with an eye towards a fast approaching Autumn, I set out to make each dog a blanket of their own. Arthur's colour is blue, so I made sure to include blue in his. The colours were inspired by looking up through the oak leaves at a blue Summer sky.

 Dobby's colour is red. Her blanket is in sunset colours.

 Lyla's colour is bright pink. This (sunglasses worthy) loud blanket used up the brightest colours I had!

Squeak's colour is pale pink. It looked good teamed with all my grey scraps, some acid green and petrol blue. As Squeak is bigger than the others, so is her blanket.

A friend's elderly mother rescued an elderly yorkshire terrier. This granny square was made from the left overs of the leftovers.

A coil pot having been biscuit fired.

I followed my pottery teacher's advice for how to pit fire pottery in the garden. It is an ancient technique with 40% breakage rate.

After a restless night I uncovered the pot. It survived! I had been so worried.

It needed a good wash to get the ash off.

Then waxing to bring the colour out.

I now have a special bowl to keep the stones I have collected from special places, in.

Mouse started to form in my hand after I had made some tiles. I took some clay home and made his body. I really like how he turned out. I hope he survives firing.

I came across a Troll Woman sculpture on facebook. I wondered how the elements fitted together so made a version of my own to understand the original better from what views I could find online.

The original is at the Reykjavik Art museum and is by Asmundur Sveinsson.

These blue and white glazed tiles are waiting to be fired.

These ones with a glass inlay however are done. One day all these star tiles will go around a craft room sink.

Once this is cut down the middle it will be an eco printed silk scarf. It was made using the iron blanket method, rather than dipping the leaves in rust water.

Do you remember the story of the Green Knight from Arthurian legend? I think there is a remnant of a pre Christian December deity in the tale with the holly and everlasting life associations. This outdoor pottery was my interpretation. He has a holly leaf helmet and eyes from a medieval manuscript.

A leather pouch to keep my pottery tools in. 

Janus was the Roman god we associate with January as the month looks both ways. He was the god of doorways. I tried to make one face eastern and the other western. I think it can be improved on a lot, but I like the concept.

This is a miniature of the wooden carving of the Boar's head Tavern sign below. it needs to be fired next.

It is an exhibit in the Globe Theatre Museum in London. Read more below, for the connection with Shakespeare.

My boar is a little tribute to the boar I have met in the Forest. They have been so respectful and given me a wide berth when crossing my path. I think they are special, but I am careful especially when they have young to protect.

I bought all 4 Mystery of Salem's Quilt Guild patterns by Crabapple Hill. Unfortunately it was huge! I don't have that kind of wall space in this little cottage so I made mine 50% smaller. This meant that the fancy pieced border would have been too much, so instead I added grey spiders, black crows and a New England big border. It seemed appropriate as the real Salem is in Massachusetts.

My 70 something uncle keeps hi brain alive by going to uni classes. I made him a rust printed a4 jotter cover.

From the leftovers I made a pencil case teamed with a piece of leather.

Now some jolly makes for myself. A case to keep my adult colouring in books and pens in. I really loved working with bright batiks.

What better then to line it in a procion dyed calico? Bright colours are so uplifting!

I wanted to make a bag to keep my writing stuff together. It can take an a4 file, an i pad and several pens.

It had a tropical frog theme to go with the gorgeous bright batik jungle type of fabrics.

I couldn't resist adding a frog patch pocket. What better for adventures even if they are only inside your head?

These 2 houses were finished this week. They came from issue 9 of Simply Vintage. There are simpler ways to assemble them than the instructions given but I liked the shape.

They had waited to be made since 2013, so they are a big tick on my list. I have just 2 other longstanding items left to make. One is a Cathedrals quilt, and the other is Rosewood Cottage. I bought the pattern at the 2012 Birmingham Quilt Show. I think I ought to begin it as a main project next.

That is the end of the huge catch up of my craftings from where my old blog left off last September. From now on it will just be small craft posts and the occasional share of the Forest and places I visit.