Under The Hedgerow

Zentangles

2011-04-06T11:32:00.001+01:00

Is anyone into Zentangles? I have known about them for quite a while, but didn't really bother to do much with them. However, the other night I had to do a night shift in my new job and to keep me wide awake I really need something to do. So i bought some micro pens and got my sketch book and this is what I did.
Some sort of fantasy flower, I love it! I really can't draw for toffee, but doing a Zentangle makes it so very easy to produce something that you feel very pleased with.

Zentangles were the invention of Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, take a look at their website and blog
here . The idea is that doing repeated patterns is akin to meditating, and to be honest I do feel calm and happy when I am drawing these patterns.

All the patterns have a name, and there are at least 144 and probably plenty more as people who are really into this art form are constantly making new patterns up.
Maybe some of you quillers will be inspired by these patterns and see if you can make some up using quilling shapes.

Oh Bobbins!

2011-01-16T09:55:00.001Z

Just want to let you know that I have lots of

needlework to finish, and now that I

have joined a branch of the

Embroiderer's guild I feel that I should make an

effort and crack on with getting these things done.

So quilling will be on hold for a while on this blog,

even though I have things in progress.

If you want to catch up with what I am doing needlework wise

come along and see me at Oh Bobbins!

here

Love and Kisses

2011-01-05T12:38:00.001Z

Happy New Year to you all! I do hope the holiday season was good for you.
I have to admit that NY eve is a bit like watching paint dry to me these days, I am afraid my raving it up at this particular time -or actually any other time - has long gone, along with the 6" platforms, the glitter and bacardi and coke (YUK)! You can tell I was a 70's teenager.
How on earth did I drink something so sickly? Thank goodness my taste buds have grown up!
So on NY eve I enjoyed a large G&T while watching CSI and weaving on my new Hazel Rose Loom.

My mum decided to go to bed at about 10 pm she was reading Revenger by Rory Clements a book she bought me for Christmas which I had just finished - couldn't put it down! He has another book called Martyr which is the first in the series about a chap called John Shakespeare - William's brother. If you like historical thrillers, then check it out. Anyway mum went to bed, took her book and a box of chocolates and as I said we stayed up watching tv. I went upstairs about an hour later and looked in on her but she was dozing still holding her book. She often drops off for a few minutes and then carries on where she left off. This seems to be a common thing with the elderly. So there we were, and just seconds before the fireworks went off at midnight she appears at the sitting room door fully dressed. "Good morning!" she trills.

John and I looked at each other, thinking that the Alzheimer's had finally kicked in! We had an awkward few minutes trying to convince her that it was midnight but we had a good laugh about it in the end.

When the fireworks did start, we went outside and the sky was full, there were 100's, of Chinese lanterns it did look beautiful - mum thought they were planes, and I didn't say what they were, sometimes it's easier for everyone to let her think what she likes.

Well enough of that, this is what I have been working on.

Thought I would get in early with the Valentine's stuff,I have got another one started so keep watching...

Simply Red

2010-12-17T22:45:00.000Z

Last night John and I went to see Simply Red, The Farewell Tour, at the Sheffield Arena. It was a surprise present from my 16 yr old son Daniel. He knows how much I enjoy their music and as this is the farewell tour I am not likely to see them sing these songs again.

I must admit it was a bit of a strange gig as far as the demographic was concerned, don't think there were many people under 30, maybe even 40 and it was the first gig I had been to where lots of the crowd had a walking stick, and no they were not to wave at Mick Hucknall.... The two ladies in front of us must have been 65-70 yrs, and there were plenty more besides them.
Now don't get me wrong, I am pleased that they are enjoying themselves and going out to these concerts, but as someone who in an earlier life was into hard rock, it just seemed a little strange. I guess its just me getting old I suppose.
Never was a truer word spoken than 'you are only as old as you feel'. Those people last night must have been feeling about 25, and I expect I was too.
But it was a fabulous night, support was Macy Gray who was very good and I really enjoyed myself.

Quilling has taken a bit of a back seat this week, the performance with the dog and the heart sort of broke my stride a bit, but it is St Valentines day in a few weeks and I need to get busy with that. So keep watching there will be stuff on here soon.

Oops!

2010-12-13T22:58:00.000Z

You can imagine I was not best pleased!

And this is the guilty party!

Apparently my mum went into the bureau where the heart was hanging on the key. Now my mum has Alzheimer's and can only seem to concentrate on one thing at a time, so despite the heart being about 6 inches high and wide, she never saw it. She opened the desk to get her hearing aid batteries out and the heart fell on the floor, where it stayed until Rufus felt a bit peckish and decided it was a tasty snack!

Meanwhile, I was in town doing present shopping, it was a very difficult morning as town was heaving! It is very tiring trying to dodge people, especially those who seem to stop immediately in front of you and as you are steaming along you have to do quick detour around them or bump in to them.

I wandered in to M&S and took one look at the queue at the sales desk and wandered quickly out again! Managed to get into John Lewis and there were only 12 people in front of me so I joined the queue for the pretty mug I was buying for Dan's girlfriend. She loves hot chocolate so I am going to fill the mug with various flavours, wrap it all in cellophane and attach various quilled bits to it - snowmen, flakes, etc

By the time I got home I was completely shattered! Only to be confronted by a guilty looking dog and a mum who had absolutely no idea why I was so cross. She has no idea about it.

One good piece of news is that my wonderful husband managed to get my Wishblade working, so tomorrow I can make something new and different.

Christmas past...

2010-12-12T11:07:00.004Z

Christmas is getting just a little closer now, Radio 2 have been playing lots of Christmas songs, my favourite is 'Don't Stop the Cavalry' by Jonah Lewie. This song came out in 1978.

It was never off the radio during my first Christmas away from home, I had been married for 8 months and had gone to live in Germany. It was a very bittersweet time, wanting to be grown up and married and wanting to be at home with my mum and dad. I was just 19 and had no idea what I was doing! I can laugh at it now, but crickey, what the heck was I doing!
If I knew how, I would have this song playing along on my blog.

I think my most treasured Christmas memories were when my children were small. Ooh it was lovely! All the excitement, making the most fabulous decorations covered in glue and glitter - the more glitter the better - at school and being proudly brought home to put on the tree. Then there were the school parties where we had to make jellies and buns sent in a container with the child's name on it. Oh and the school nativity play, oh my the tears that have been shed at those!
Now of course, my children are all grown, though Dan at 16 still lives at home and he still does get a bit excited, but when he goes to see his dad for the holiday, it makes it very boring at home, it's just like another day, with nice food and pretty decorations, and yes I know that is not the meaning of Christmas, but children are one of the most important parts of it. I definitely need grandchildren and at the moment there is fat chance of that happening!
If you have young children and right now they are winding you up and nagging at you, wondering what Santa might bring them, just take a deep breath and enjoy it. When they are grown, the chances are you will want it all back again!

I made this sleigh about 5 years ago, it has been bumping around in boxes, done house moves etc, so its looking a bit worse for wear. But it is one of my favourite pieces, there is a hobby horse, a doll, a pram, a car hanging off the back, candy canes, bells and holly.
I think if I can find time I shall try to make another one, I had to glue the sailing boat sails back on again last night and the top robin was hanging precariously off the side.

This past week since my creations have been on this blog I have made some new friends, and I would like to thank you all for the comments.
My stats have jumped enormously, and my Feedjit has shown that there are people from countries that have never been here, and I would love you all to just say hi, you don't particularly have to comment on what you see, but it would be fabulous if you could just say hello.

Snowflake Heart

2010-12-10T10:45:00.002Z

This is the only kind of snowflake I ever want to see! We have been inundated with the white stuff and to be honest I am soooo fed up with it. This morning it is a little bit warmer and the 2 feet of snow we had is now melting, I can actually see the path down the garden. However the forecast says we are to have more snow this weekend.
I am rubbish in snow, I can be counted upon to fall over, so with that in mind I have just ordered a set of Yaktrax which are metal spiky things that you attach to your shoes. Lets hope they work, or the dogs will be pulling me along on my rear end!

So here we have another heart, its ok, but it didn't turn out as well as I expected, the lettering is a bit wonky to start with. Never mind, you win some you lose some...

Christmas heart

2010-12-07T16:29:00.002Z

A few years ago, I started quilling hearts. They seemed to be quite popular amongst my quilling friends, and with the renewed quilling energy I am having, I thought I might do a Christmas one. I am not too sure of it yet, it seems somehow empty, with a lot of green background showing, but on the other hand I don't really want to add anything to it. Perhaps you would let me know what you think.

I do like the little red crystals around the edge, though in the picture they seem to have turned more orange.
The letters are actually red with gold edging and the papers are done by the lady who lives in Holland. I have had these papers for a long time, they were quite expensive and I am not sure that they are available any more, the gilding is the best I have ever seen.

Doing a Demo

2010-12-02T21:35:00.001Z

Yesterday I saw a question from Philippa at Quilliance who wished to know if anyone had done a demo for a ladies group.
I did one of these a few years ago when I lived in Broom. We had as local ladies group called imaginatively the Tuesday night group. There were about 15 ladies who met in the village hall and we did all sorts of demonstrations and crafts, and it really was most enjoyable. I did two demos for them, one on quilling and one on EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique.
But to answer Philippa's question this is what happened at the quilling one.

The gift tag above is what I made for them, I also made a kit for each of the ladies so they could make their own. I cut all the card out measured the strips and even stuck double sided tape on the back of the pieces of card so all they had to do was stick everything together.

The tables in the hall are the kind that you use for craft fairs, y'know about 6' long and couple of feet wide, and 4 were pushed together into a big rectangle and then one table across each end. On the first table I put my display, this was mainly cards and pictures, oh and I seem to remember I made one of those paper cake box cakes, that I decorated with the same poinsettias as is on the gift card.

I told them about the history of quilling, how long I had been doing it, bits about it being mentioned in Jane Austin's books etc. Then I passed out the gift tag kits and doing one myself I showed them how to quill. I know its difficult thinking that they might not be able to see everything, but lets face it, with a needle tool it's hardly brain surgery!
All the ladies in the group were apart from a couple -me included - were seniors, and they all totally enjoyed it and made a great poinsettia gift card. As they were quilling I went round to see each of them and helped showing them the finer tips. For the glue I placed PVA on a bit of plastic and used cocktail sticks.

It was a great evening and 4 of the group enjoyed it so much they enrolled in my next quilling class.

Here in Sheffield, I don't know of any ladies groups in my area, perhaps I should find out.

It's amazing...

2010-11-08T12:12:00.002Z

What seeing the Quilling Guild's magazine Quillers Today can do. Oh yes I was all set on getting rid of my papers and all my stuff, and there is some which I do want to get rid of still. But seeing the magazine made me think what was I doing...?
I have collected this quilling stuff for years and years, since about 1988 - another 10 years and I can call it vintage! Anyway things have happened since I last posted.

1, Edward has moved out of the attic
2, John and I have had a blitz on throwing things away - sometimes it does seem as though we live at the council tip!
3, I opened an Etsy shop properly here - I have had a shop on there for a few years, but never put anything in it!
4, Seem to have regained my love of quilling.
5, My mum has agreed to let us get things out of storage and into the house - carpets etc

Do you remember when last I was posting about quilling I was raving about frames? Well here is one that celebrates Autumn, a fall fairy surrounded by swirling leaves. The fairy was inspired by Diane Boden Crane's fairies in her book Miniature Quilling. The whole thing measures 7" x 5"

I plan on doing Winter, Spring and Summer and think they will make a nice decorative set to maybe put in a porch or conservatory window. I would love to know what you think...

As for selling my stuff, well there is some I would like to get rid of, mainly so I can have some space to buy new stuff! I don't have a huge house anymore so space is limited. I am still sorting it out now that Edward has gone to live with his friends again. He did manage to give us Freshers Flu before he left giving both John and I 2 weeks of feeling completely dreadful! Must have been bad as John had two days off work which is unheard of.
I have mainly packs of cards, tons of peel offs, a few quilling books, and some Lake City Craft quilling paper in various sizes and colours. If you would be interested in any of this, please email me or leave me a comment and I can get back to you.

Oh just one other thing, I didn't put a face on the fairy, I always make a complete pigs ear of doing faces, do you think it matters?

It's all gotta go..

2010-09-30T19:49:00.000+01:00

I have come to a conclusion, I really don't want to quill anymore. I know I felt so happy when I began again a few weeks ago, however, I think that was just because I wanted to have something I could be passionate about again. So here's a heads up, I will be getting rid of all my paper stuff - and there is a lot of it at silly prices and some of it for free. I will start putting things up on my selling blog here Will start doing this tomorrow and over the weekend.

I loved quilling, and had a great time doing it and teaching it but now its time for something else.

2010-09-21T17:38:00.001+01:00

Crickey, talk about cowboy builders! Even in the 14th Century there were some hanging about in Chesterfield in Derbyshire. You can read all about it here
Chesterfield is a pretty little town about 8 miles from home. Thursday is market day when there is quite a large collectables market in the square. Nice coffee shops, and lovely cake.

Happy Feet Dance!

2010-08-30T12:11:00.001+01:00

This gorgeous young man - yeah I know I'm biased - is coming home for Christmas! This is my eldest son Alex, and he is teaching English in Almaty in Kazakhstan, and I just can't wait to see him!

I have had a rotten sinus infection for the past week, my nose feels like I have been banging it against a brick wall. Thankfully it is going and I feel better enough to quill again. So there will definitely be quilling photos this week.

Just a quick note

2010-08-25T17:02:00.000+01:00

To tell you that yesterday I got off the bus from town outside Yummylicious - the cupcake shop. It was GCSE results day and I thought Dan might like a bun to celebrate. While I was in there I asked the young lady if she had liked the card I had sent them. She squealed with delight and went running into the back of the shop yelling "she's here, that woman who did that card!"

So apparently they liked it and they would like some more for the shop.

Might do another post later - with pics even - if I can get my head around what I am making now.
Catch you later....

2010-08-22T22:13:00.002+01:00

On Friday evening, my wonderful husband surprised me by ordering two looms from Wild Colours . I have been desperate for these, the 4" multi triangle and the 6" multi square. They will probably arrive in the morning.

However, my UFO box is overflowing and I promised myself that I would finish at least one thing before Monday morning. So here it is, one punch needle doll. I had done as far as the upper orange scallops, so needed to do the flowers and background and the bottom to finish it off. So I sat through Emmerdale and Coronation St. ( English soaps) and The Mentalist, punching away like crazy! I finally finished the heart during Match of the Day (well done Chelsea)! Then breathed a sigh of relief, now I can play with my looms with a clear conscience.

I first started punch needle about two years ago when I was introduced to prim blogs, prim being short for primitive. There are a few of these blogs on the left hand side of my blog list like Primitive Betty, and Not Forgotten Farm. Prim isn't such a big deal over here in the UK, though I would love someone to tell me otherwise! One of my favourite prim artists and my dearest friend Kathy has just started a blog and she is having a competition, to see who can tell how many wooden bowls she has in the photo. It would be wonderful if you could go and take a look and enter her contest to give her a huge welcome to Blogland. She also has a picture of the cutest kitties who live on her farm, everybody wants the one with the parti coloured face!

Yummylicious!

2010-08-19T23:09:00.000+01:00

Where I live, although in the 4th largest city in the UK, our little part of it is more like a village, we have our own street of shops which includes the post office a couple of banks, hair salons - we seem to have quite a few of those for some reason, 4 on the same stretch of 100 yds. We have a lovely flower shop where you need a mortgage to buy the flowers - I just look longingly in the window. We have a fantastic sandwich shop which is full and queuing from 11 am onwards, their jacket potatoes are awesome! We have a chemist/pharmacy and a Dr's office.
We now have a new shop called Yummylicious . If you click on the link you will see the wonderful cupckaes they make, and oh boy are they amazing!

My mum and I went there the first day they opened, mum had a vanilla 99 - like an ice cream with a flake stuck in it - and I had a Snickers Delight, basically a chocolate cup cake with a center of peanut butter and chocolate frosting coated with nuts. Certainly didn't do my blood sugar much good, but what the heck, sometimes you just have to.

So I had a bit of a thought, they do sell cards there, but from what I saw of them they were just mediocre printed mass produced jobs.
The thing is I am not very good at selling my own stuff, I know people like what I do and have had some fabulous comments from quillers who are definitely in the Premiership League of quillers, but going into a shop and asking if they would like to look at my stuff with a prospect of selling to them makes me cringe and curl up into a shivering wreck!

So what you see above is the card I made this morning, I had the idea that I would send it to them as a congratulation card on opening the new shop kind of thing. It does have my name and phone number on the back, so if they do like it they can contact me.

Now, when I see handmade cards, I hate the fact that 9 times out of 10 they do not have a page inside where you can write. I think it looks shoddy and half finished when all you have to write on, is the inside back page of the card. It's not difficult to fold a piece of paper and stick it with double sided tape to the inside of the card. It's really not difficult to stick a nice little peeloff on this. I dusted mine with pearlescent chalk.

I made the envelope - it was only small - out of card and decorated it with a balloon again dusted in chalk.

Now when I went to the shop, there was no one standing behind the counter so I dropped the card on it and ran! God I am such a wuss! Hope you like it!

Not ready!

2010-08-17T20:28:00.005+01:00

Sorry that the frames I promised yesterday are not ready to be shown yet, I am afraid they are not dry at the moment, I used quite a bit of crystal laquer on it, so i think its going to be a while longer before I can show you.

The card above, was made a few years ago, must be 2006. I wanted to achieve a antique look, which I think I did. The red pearlescent and gold card give it a rich and gorgeous look. This will always be one of my favourite cards.

2010-08-16T16:51:00.005+01:00

I love punches, I must have about... Hmm, well lets just say its in the hundreds. Leaves are always good punches. When you are a quiller, sometimes it's nice to have a leaf that isn't quilled, it adds a new direction to things.

The punches in the photograph are not ones I would normally put together, two types of holly leaf and two hearts, they don't really do much for each other. However in quilling these particular punches are very very useful.

They make fantastic frames!

I took a strip of paper and wrapped it around the punch, gluing as I went. I only did a couple of rows around the punch just to show you how it works, but even they are pretty solid. Make sure that you glue pretty well at the corners, this is obviously the weakest point, and on this shape the bottom corners hold the rest of the shape.

This is one that I made the other day just using scraps of different colours of paper, I used violet around the outside and then used a gold pen along the top to hide all the colours I had used. This has about 5 rows of paper wrapped around the punch and when the glue dried it is very solid.

You can use literally hundreds of things to make frames with. I am sure there are lots of things in your studio that you could use. Also in the bathroom or on your dressing table. Just taking a look earlier I realized I could use the bottles holding foundation makeup, a deodorant bottle, a moisturizing bottle, hairspray can. There are loads of different shapes, and I'm sure I can use them for something!

Make sure that the item does not have metal rims, especially things like hairspray cans, you have to make sure that you can get the paper off without altering the shape. I tend to leave it for a bit until the glue has dried and then just gently ease it off.

So, what can you find in your home to quill around? I would love to know. Tune in tomorrow to see what I made of the frames. Happy Quilling!

More old stuff

2010-08-12T17:24:00.004+01:00

Do you know, this is so great! Because I have not quilled for such a long time nor even looked at my pictures of what I did, I keep finding things in the attic that I have not seen for 4 years. I must admit I have impressed myself with the amount of stuff I made and the fact that, considering it has been boxed up and moved around it is still in great condition.

Don't ever think that quilling is a faffy delicate thing, its pretty darn strong.

I was pleased to find this card, I always liked it, it reminds me of a garden gate sign. The scrolls at each side remind me of wrought iron and combined with the trails of flowers falling below it and above it, makes me think of a cottage garden.

2010-08-08T21:23:00.006+01:00

Isn't the subconscious a wonderful and sometimes weird thing? For the past four years I have been reluctant to do any quilling. In 2006 my life was completely turned upside down, and during the main 'impact' I was quilling. Since then I have been faffing with textiles, it was very enjoyable, but it didn't give me the joy and excitement of playing with paper. Excitement is probably the wrong word, but I just never felt like that about the things I could do with yarn.

Last week I was looking on one of the craft selling sites - won't say which one because I suddenly saw something which just made me laugh at the sheer bloody mindedness of the maker. The maker had made something for which she was charging an exorbitant amount. I hope it sells for her, it won't, but you never know... trying their luck I expect. However it got me to thinking about my quilling and I suddenly thought stuff this for a game of soldiers, and got some papers and made what you see below. That night I had the most awful dreams of the 'main impact' all over again but instead of accepting it as I had before, I gave it what for and basically smacked it on the nose! Never again am I going to waste time feeling sorry for myself. I have had nightmares about this for four years, but never again.

So I made this Christmas cone with snowflakes and jewels to hang on the tree. I have dug my half written quilling book out from the attic, and tomorrow I am going to see someone who might lend me a room above her shop to teach quilling classes in. For the first time in ages I actually feel happy and that life is good again, amazing what a bit of paper can do isn't it!

Birthday Cone

2010-03-11T18:39:00.003Z

Ok, here we are, my first piece of quilling in 2 years... What do you think? You can click and see it properly.

This is a cone, a tussie mussie, what ever you want to call it. It's for my friend who's birthday it is and I wanted to do something a bit different and hopefully special, as she is going through a bit of a tough time -marriage break up. Just wanted to let her know she's loved and to hell with all men! Well not all of them, but you all know what I mean...

The cone is made from a very pretty scrapbooking card, and folded into a four sided cone - can a cone have sides? No, but never mind.
I quilled some roses and a few fringed flowers, punched some leaves and faffed about with tendrils of green quilling paper. It was only when I took a picture of it and saw it on the screen that I noticed that all the lower flowers were in a straight line...oops! Tip here, before you glue anything down, take a picture of it and load it up, look at it on the screen and all your mistakes come to life!

Well never mind, this is basically a prototype, the next ones will be bigger, it took a while to find nice chocolates to put inside it that would actually fit. There is also a pretty pen in there too.

The two hearts at the side are a greeting - one says Happy Birthday, and the other is like a little album, two hearts joined at the top with jump rings where you can write your message.

So I could hardly put this in an envelope could I? So I wandered on to our local florist and asked her if she could put cellophane round it, which she did and tied it at the top with a pretty bow.

I will let you know what she thought of it. Cya!

Glue

2010-03-09T23:06:00.003Z

What a complete and utter numpty I am! In my introduction to quilling yesterday, I forgot to mention a key product - GLUE.

The thing about quilling and glue is the motto "less is more." When you first start quilling you need to get a good quality PVA glue. The one below is the one I use and have used for 10 years or more. That large bottle was bought about 5 years ago and I fill my little fine point glue bottle up with it.

Perhaps to start with if you do not have a fine point glue bottle you can just put some on a saucer or a jar lid and use a cocktail stick. One good idea that lots of people use is to fill a contact lens holder with glue and when you are not using it screw the lid back on and it will keep for a while.

However if you are going to be serious about quilling a fine tip bottle is the thing you need. It dollops just the right amount out and is one of the most useful crafty things I have ever bought.

Quilling not Quilting!

2010-03-08T17:14:00.003Z

I have been persuaded by friends to reopen my quilling papers and get back to what I really know. Dunno how this is going to work I barely have room to breathe here never mind get tons of paper out. Oh well its all out now and settling quite nicely on the dining room table. Thankfully we can eat in the kitchen!

Ok so for those that don't know much about quilling, it is a very ancient craft, practised by ancient Egyptians and then religious orders used rolled bits of paper/parchment to decorate pictures or relics. It lost its favour until Georgian times when it became a genteel pastime for ladies of quality. There were magazines with patterns in which were very popular at this time. The Bronte sisters quilled and I think in one of their books there is a bit about rolling bits of paper for a purse.

It lost favour again until the 70s, when it became very brown - as most things were in those days!

These days there are lots of quilling groups on Yahoo, and plenty of sites to buy the tools and paper needed.
Below are the basic tools, scissors, rule, fine point tweezers, a cork mat - mine are dinner table mats - covered with wax paper. and a quilling tool.

There are some other tools which you may find useful, the three wooden sticks being different sizes are great for making a bell shaped piece. A crimping tool puts lovely zig-zags in a strip of paper and an embossing tool is useful for moulding punched leaves and petals.

Then of course you need the paper. I mostly use American paper from Lake City Crafts, this is 24inches long and comes in the most amazing colours. English papers are 18" long. Jane Jenkins sells the fabulous colours in what ever width you would like. She does holographic edged papers gilded papers, what ever you want papers...

The box below is my scrap box, some of the bits in here are getting on towards 15 years old, the poppies you can see are at least 10 years old. The colour has not faded, and quilled pieces are very very strong, you can even stand on some of them and they will not move at all.

So that is a quick introduction to quilling, next time we will go onto how to make shapes and what you can do with them.

Can't stop weaving!

2010-02-16T09:02:00.005Z

I am surrounded by little squares of woven sock wool! Weaving this on my Hazel Rose multi-loom. weaving with sock yarn is always a wonderful surprise, you just never know what kind of pattern you will get. The yarn below is Regia, Opal, and a couple of others that I can't remember the name of. These squares are 3.5" and I have a long way to go to before I can make anything from them.

These two squares are made from DK acrylic yarn, I used two strands and the resulting square comes out nice and firm. Love the colours on these two. These squares are woven on my 7" loom.

The James C Brett yarn is amazing! Never really gone for 100% acrylic but this stuff is fabulous. The different shades in each ball of yarn makes every square different. On the top here is the varigated blue, the middle is a fantastic colourway that would be great for an Autumn/Fall afghan.

And the bottom row is a slightly Springy colour way of pale mauves, green and brownish shades. I have only done 3 squares of each ball, and there are lots more colourways to come.

The 3 pictures below are also James C Brett Marble chunky.

Browns and Golds

Teal/Blue/Brown

Lilacs/Blues/ Greens

This yarn is King Cole Mirage DK in 50% wool and 50% acrylic, slightly fuzzy but weaves well on the multi-loom.

Can't stop, got some more weaving to do....

2009-12-31T08:28:00.002Z

For Christmas this year, I recieved a couple of Hazel Rose Looms, a 7 inch and a 3 1/2 inch square loom. Oh the joy I have had in the past week, though actually I never knew that 'over and under' could be so complicated!

The looms are beautifully made, mine are made in maple wood, though there are lots of different woods to choose from. The pegs/nails are painted alternate colours, which really does make a difference and so much easier than if they were just all black.

Now maybe its just me, but I really enjoyed seeing the weave come out, it was quite magical. The yarn I have used was just an acrylic - to practise with - but it was a varigated purple, blue, green mix. Although I have only shown you my first sample in purple, and its not a brilliant photograph, it looks amazingly tweedy, like you could have a very expensive skirt made from it if it was real tweed made from fabulous wool.

At the moment I am just faffing with it, trying different weaves out, using different yarn, but oh such fun!

Talking of wool, here is my little sheep, made from Gottland for his face and ears - which do not look very sheep like at all. And his fleece which is English sheep.

To be honest this doesn't look much like a sheep at all, the expression is very much like my Rufus dog...

Today is of course New Year's Eve and I would like to wish all my blogging friends and their families a very happy and prosperous 2010.

Thank you for all your interest in my general faffing with various crafts and all your lovely comments.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!