The Roy Dog, a Portland tail ....

Have you heard about The Roy Dog? If not I am sure you are about to have a bit of a Google! Legend tells of a black dog who lives in a cave ...

He has one eye that glows red and one that glows green, but I’ve omitted the eyes that dangle in his shaggy mane, those of his victims! 

After all, this is a birthday gift for a young lass. She requested not to have all those! 

Roy dog has a vintage nose, plundered from my sewing chest. It looks nice and glossy in the evening sun on Portland. 

In Tout Quarry my plush version met the Portland stone version who’s been there for quite some time. 

He’s now waiting for socially distanced collection, in my gallery. 

I’ll miss him as he’s quite a character, much more than the real Roy-dog I suspect. I had fun deciding just how much of him to make shaggy to balance out that lovely mane, and I think he’s turned out quite well, with some needled sculpting of the face and paws. I’m looking forward to an unboxing, maybe on TikTok if I’m lucky! 

Owl together now ....

How about this awesome octogenarian gent, a superb felt and wool owl owned by an 86 year old neighbour of mine!

He wins 'most inspiring owl' this week and I'm honoured to have met him and taken his picture. 

Have you got a very old handmade toy you will never part with? 

Remember Crabby? GIVE-AWAY!

Crabby came back from his holiday in the US and skipped gratefully back into his shell which i had dusted weekly in his absence ... well ok, maybe not weekly!

Anyway Crabby wants you to look at this book and go 'ooooh, that looks good' ... you can peep inside it HERE!

And see dear crabby, spread completely naked across the pages, he is obviously really pleased to be back in his shell of course! And in this lovely book you can find out how you make your very own crustacean! I can sign copies for you and will have some at my open studio event this year, but how about a free e-book for you now?

If you want to enter the give-away for the e-book leave a comment below, and tell me what's the most interesting thing you have found on the beach? For further chances to win, share on facebook and twitter and leave another post letting me and Crabby know of course. We will do the draw on Sunday. See you then! xxxx

New Toy!

An exciting unexpected parcel landed on my door-step today, as I had won a prize in a magazine give-away!



So I quickly plugged it in and drew in my chopping board, wrote my name on the bottom of a glass, and added this to the book mark in my diary!




Then I realised a practical use for it, and wrote three names on three bottle caps!

hamster car arrives in rainy california!

looks like claire and the chickenpants have made him very welcome ...
mind you, i didnt realise he was so naughty !

any day now, hamster car will arrive in the usa ...

cant wait to see what he gets up to with the chickenpants ...

another 'art for the hands' ....

this one is being enjoyed by audrey, i hope it helps her with her busy hands when she feel anxious ...

skeleton - a project for the new year !

this wheeled toy featured a ginger and white but very grubby and oily dog ... but not any more ... a new project for me! i stripped down the deformed and smelly individual who was also filled with old foam chips - remember when most toys where?

now, what shall i do ...?

face lift ...

i took the clock face from an old toy that was wearing out, and washed the face carefully. then i used an embroidery hoop to fix the face to some new fabirc, and give life to - douglas!



thats some vintage bias binding that i recived in a freecycling package, along with zips, poppers and even ric-rac... i also gave douglas some new eyes, as the rpinted ones looked a bit flat. he is already helping my girls with their numbers and the idea of 'time'...

i just wish i had more time ...

hardware ....

we have legs ....



steve and i have been building the NXT alpha rex over a series of evenings. i love putting together lego. steve is good at finding the bits, and then likes doing robot programming on his laptop.
the robot can almost walk, with just legs like this.



the robot still needs arms and his head (twin sonic sensors), so that will keep us happy for a few evenings yet ...

better blog some more crafty sewing, cat ...

i had this toy, it played a nice lullaby but it didnt look so apealing, also the stuffing was very soggy and lumpy ...



so i gutted it
lets call it recycling
the stuffing and the musical box i put aside for re-use



and i made this rabbit ... upholstery and a nice fairy cotton-print ...



the stuffing is so firm, i believe i can hear base notes i couldn,t before ...

20 posts for january, a personal record?
i dont know, i'll have to have a poke around ...