An English Summer

It is absolutely chucking it down with rain outside (as it has been all weekend) and it's making me very glad to be stuck indoors with lots of sewing to do! Not great weather to take photos in, but luckily it was quite sunny for an hour or two yesterday morning and I managed to take a few product shots and also (finally) get some pictures taken of my beard disguises being modelled (this is what happens to you if you owe me a favour...) :
It was actually so sunny outside that when I tried to take pics of myself modelling one of the necklaces I made with all those circles (well half of them anyway) I ended up scowling into the sun rather too much (less "fierce" and more "slightly frightening) so a dark and grainy indoor shot will have to do: In half decent light, this is the full necklace:
The black cord is elastic, to make it easy to take on and off. I rather like the collar effect - it's not shown off very well on my t-shirt but it would look ace with something with a scooped neckline. And then this is the necklace I made with the rest of the circles - the've been sewn onto a long loop of ribbon, very dangly and fun: The observant amongst you will notice that I skipped a day's blogging (sorry about that). I was going to write about those necklaces yesterday evening but we went to a BBQ instead (an indoor one, obviously, given the rain!) and then afterwards I watched Doctor Who and did some sewing and forgot all about it (oops). I didn't actually get that much sewn during Doctor Who because I was a bit absorbed in the excitement of the finale (literally can't wait for the Christmas episode now...) but I did manage to get a few teacup brooches sewn and to try them out in blue which I've wanted to test out for aaages and just not got round to it...

UPDATE: sew your own little felt teacup brooches - printable PDF pattern now available from my shop, or in my Patreon pattern library.

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365 / 219 - Wips, Beards and a New Challenge

I'm still working on an assortment of odd projects, here are a few of them from yesterday:
I started a pair of felt glasses (soon to be a nerdy glasses disguise), embroidered some labels for my lavender tea bags, and did some work on my big abstract circles piece. I also finished beard disguises in every colour (brown, black, blond and ginger) though forgot to take proper photos before the light went today so the listing is a little sparse looking. Must remember to take some tomorrow...

In other news: I am starting an exciting new challenge next week!!

Excuse the double exclamation marks, but I really am rather excited about this one: through the whole month of April I will be doing a "design a day" challenge, making (at least) one completely new thing every day and blogging about it right here.

I have so many ideas I'm itching to try out, and designs half-sketched on scraps of paper stuck in drawers and folders... and next month I will be taking them out of my brain and turning them into an assortment of felty treats. Even if I just get a prototype made and rework it later, it will be so great to be making new things and seeing my ideas "in the felt", as it were. Here are just a few of the ideas floating round my brain at the moment - as doodled during my "proper job" last week:You can join in the fun, too! If you've got an idea for a brooch design, leave me a blog comment this week letting me know - if I use your idea I'll give you a discount code for use in my shop during April (so make sure there's a way for me to get in touch with you - I can't give you a code if you post anonymously!) ... oh, and if several people suggest the same thing it'll be the first person to suggest it who gets the discount :)

UPDATE: no more suggestions please as the challenge has now begun! :D

365 / 218 - The Return of The Beards

Yesterday was one of those days when you end up doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that and never really settling on one task or another. One of the projects I started and then put down again was this lot:
Beard disguises! Hurrah! I got two brown ones finished, but realised I still hadn't bought any black thread (so no black beards yet) or any white elastic (so no ginger or blond beards either) ... and moved on to sewing some other things. However, I've been out today and purchased both black thread and white elastic so I shall have no more excuses and there should be finished beards ready for the shop tomorrow.

It's very exciting to have the beards (almost) back, they are just too much fun, and I do so love confusing the staff at my local haberdashers who cannot figure out why I keep coming in and buying yet more elastic!

365 / 107 - brooch backs and beards

I went out babysitting last night, this is what I worked on while I was there:
I sewed some brooch backs onto finished brooches & stitched the fronts and backs together, and I did some work on beards and moustaches which are not very exciting to look at I'm afraid!

Today it is raining rather a lot so I am staying indoors and doing some housework (the house starts to fall apart a little when I am busy making beards etc) and later on I shall be curling up somewhere warm with a nice cup of tea and my work-in-progress box so I can continue to feed the beast that is those parcels.