Hanging On The Telephone.......

I've come to the conclusion that all those years as a child spent constructing dolls house furniture, making dolls clothes and feeding fairies (acorn bowls, chestnut porridge and even being allowed to fry a tiny sparrow's egg that I found on the ground*) are finally paying off.  When I am asked  to knit something in miniature, it sets the cogs in my brain to working and the ideas just seem to pop out. I knew how I could make a tiny telephone, it was just the actual base beneath the knitted part that was a bit tricky when it came to assembling it.

I knew how I wanted to make the curly wire too, but it was a challenge finding the right materials - just because I want thin fabric piping in dark brown doesn't mean to say it is available in our local shops!  In the end I bought gold, made the wire and painted it.  The dial goes around too.....

The miniature lacy shawl was a doddle - the only sticking point was that most patterns I had for a triangular knit were a bit large, but by knitting this in crochet yarn on needles the thickness of cocktail sticks, I think it's come out OK.  This is 8 inches wide.......

I found a book on Amazon called 75 Seashells, Fish, Coral & Colorful Marine Life to Knit & Crochet - of course I had to have it!  I had time to play with making a seahorse - not terrific, I was tired and barely able to see straight after finishing the phone.  I wish I had some spare time to play some more, but there are bulldogs and lamps and salmon to knit - yes, you read that right, salmon.  Maybe I can adapt that from one of the new patterns.......

*No, I didn't eat any of the fairy meals, I wasn't a stupid child!  The fun was in the making.

I Know Where Fairies Live.....

Where I walk the dog every morning is fairly remote, a playing field only used at weekends and in the summer, the rest of the time it is just used by lone dogwalkers.

At the far corner of the field, away from everything, is a small group of trees.  Can you see something unusual?

How about now?  Let's go close and see just what that is......

I found this on Tuesday afternoon.  It has been very painstakingly made out of twigs all the same length and thickness.

It covers the entrance to a rabbit hole....or is it the gate to faeryland?

Whatever it is, it made me smile and I was glad it was still there yesterday when I took my camera along.  Perhaps somewhere there is a budding Andrew Goldsworthy?

Whenever there is something nice, isn't there always someone who wants to spoil it?  I'm pleased to say that Clovis just had a sniff then left it alone.

I wonder what we'll find today?

Faery Beary

Did you ever have a project that started off as something quite simple and then just took it's own direction during construction into something far more complicated?  My original intention was a simple mini teddy that might be suitable for a Christmas ornament. 

 Then, after playing around with ribbons, lace and felt, it seemed a good idea to put her in a tutu........

 ....with leg-warmers (hand-knitted of course!)....and a scarf............

Then I thought I'd finished...but what little girl who is dressing up in a tutu doesn't want wings as well?  And if you have wings, you have got to have a halo too......and if you look closely, she has a teeny-tiny silver bracelet.

This bear is just under 4 inches tall (10 cm) and sewn out of felt.  Her limbs are thread jointed with tiny buttons at each joint.  The leg-warmers and scarf are knitted from pure Shetland wool, and the tutu is sewn from felt and Chilean lace.  Her wings and halo are felt embroidered with silver silk thread made at Whitchurch Silk Mill - so all in all, she's a pretty special young lady. 

She will be going into my Etsy shop later today, along with the latest knitted dog set and the turaco painting.

Just a quick reminder,  if any of you have been thinking about commissioning me for a toy/painting/knitted item as a Christmas present, please get in touch fairly quickly -  time is moving at a fast pace and during December I am generally pretty busy with my own Christmas preparations/craft fairs/day job so better grab me while I am still relatively free!

Goodbye Childhood..........

Years ago, I was commissioned to paint a very large fantasy painting to hang in a little girl's bedroom. The instructions were to try and include night and day, horses/unicorns, fairies, parrots, mountains, a castle and to generally let my imagination run wild. It was one of the most enjoyable commissions I have ever had, and took months to complete. It had to be painted while sitting on the living room floor as there just wasn't room for it anywhere else and it certainly was far too big for my easel. It was quite a challenge finding reference pictures to use and making it all tie in as one complete scene - I even painted the little girl and her brother as fairy children.

Last week I was contacted by the mother of this little girl to ask how to best store this painting as it was coming down - the little girl is now at secondary school and I guess the time has come to put aside childish things! Made me feel a little sad....but I thought it was worth another look, especially as all the recent work I have is just potatoes. What a contrast!

There are Fairies at the Bottom of my Garden...Part 2

Meet Rosy, the second fairy this week. She's once again made in felt, but this time is blonde and has pink wings edged in vintage silk silver thread bought from a local silk mill. She has a rose bud in her hair and a thin embroidered silver circlet keeping her hair in place. As it is nearly Valentine's Day, she's holding a red felt heart, also edged in silver - the heart is removeable!

Rosy will be on Etsy tomorrow.

There are Fairies at the Bottom of my Garden........

....well, there is one at least flitting about! I received an enquiry about felt fairies yesterday and thought I had better make one or two for sale. This little lady was last night's handiwork and she'll be going on to Etsy later in the day.

The black dog portrait is now finished and ready for despatch - pictures later in the week as I don't like to show the world a painting before it reaches it's destination. It turned out pretty well in the end, despite my whining about how difficult it was. So now I am free for a while to get on with some of my own work - it's been a good six months or more since I was able to do this. Of course, if anyone would like a commission, I shan't turn it down....