Not So Prickly Customers...

 I crocheted this adorable cacti collection this week, pattern from the book Whimsical Stitches.  This is a birthday surprise for someone who really loves their plants...

I Must Be Potty...

I saw these tiny wooden flowerpots in a magazine article and had to get some! They're so little!

This is one of the things I had in mind to use them for - I knitted the cactus last night using the equivalent of cocktail sticks.  This is the larger of the two sizes.

I had an idea for jewellery using the smaller pots - I've yet to see if it is workable, might involve drilling and eye-strain.

A Waiting Game...

It's been hard finding time to work on this over the past few days, but today I needed to keep busy for a few hours so it was great to lose myself in painting - the time flew by.

I'm waiting to find out if my zebra painting got into the Society of Wildlife Artists exhibition - results will be posted this afternoon.  I'm not getting my hopes up too much, but it would be fantastic if it succeeded.

I saw some little cacti and air plants in glass jars with gravel at the local garden centre a while back. They were really cute but very expensive, so I decided to have a go at making my own. I got two nice jam jars, bought a glass dessert bowl from the local supermarket for a couple of pounds, bought some fish tank gravel & gave it a good wash, bought three tiny cacti and then assembled the above.

The shells are from our holiday in Alderney last year.  (My luggage always seems to have shells in it somehow - even when we went to Boston I had a pocketful!)

I was thinking to give these as gifts...but they might end up staying here!

These little guys are rejects - had to design a character and these were the initial attempts.  They will get a bit of attention to make them sturdier over the next couple of weeks and then hopefully will be in my Etsy shop.

Soggy Saturday...

 After making a cactus for the animated film, I thought it might be nice to make some variations for sale.  This is the first one so far.  I plan on using all sorts of tiny pots that I have accumulated, so the sizes should alter as well.

The flower is made from looped embroidery silk and sewn on the top.

I had a go at crocheting a snowflake from a pattern in the Christmas edition of Making magazine.  The photo does not do it justice - I am very pleased with the way this looks, especially after using fabric stiffener.  I can imagine several of these hanging on a mobile and twirling in the air.

Iam just about drying out after a morning trip to Alton and the craft/farmers' market.  It was pouring with rain so we didn't want to browse for too long, just bought various local made cheese, venison and vegetables.  I couldn't leave without visiting my new favourite yarn store.  This beautiful Lima alpaca/wool mix yarn is being sold for £2 a ball, and the larger teal balls were £3 each.  I have no idea what will be made with them, but just had to have some! It's a serious addiction y'know...

Not Such A Prickly Customer...

This was a fun little thing to make.  Whilst this one is already spoken for, I think I would like to make more of these cute mini knitted cacti - you'd never have to worry about watering them!

A Prickly Customer....

Still using up the neon yarn, a bright orange shade this time. The photo doesn't dazzle like the yarn does in real life. I've crocheted the same basic square shoulder bag, with a blue panel on the front to represent the sky. I racked my brains to think what on earth to applique on such a hot colour and came up with the idea of a desert cactus. Perhaps it had something to do with a post I read on PG's blog about cacti which may have sewn a seed in my subconscious!

Anyway, here he is made of green felt with tiny button eyes and a cheerful smile. I've sewn him on with blanket stitch using bright green embroidery silk and scattered spines on him with the same silk.

I have another bag in blue awaiting a design but I am still torn between an underwater theme or cherry blossom - too tired today to make the decision. I've painted three potato illustrations in the space of a week as well as working on the portrait. Time to veg out in front of the TV with a beer I think......