Buttons and Hounds

I love buttons.
This is a fact.
I have boxes of buttons, bags of buttons, some new, some old, some faded, some gifted, some treasured.
So while thinking of a new picture for daughter's bedroom, it wasn't long before the buttons came to mind, and a joint project began.
One box of buttons, one tube of glue, one ikea white picture frame and the finished result -



Both myself and daughter have sorted buttons together for a few years now, and making this picture together, and hanging it in her newly decorated room, felt good. It now takes pride of place, hanging above the little black fireplace (and the restoration of that is another story...)



Making a picture for a child's room also led me to think about other ways to create wall decor that steps away from the twee and the predictable, and maybe how my hounds (or at least their images!) can find their way into bedrooms in a soothing sleep encouraging way. Over the past week I have been working on my latest wall art, the Greyhound at Night, now added to my etsy shop.



Which I think would be perfect for any age bedroom, surely the comfort of a hound guarding over you at night would help send you into happy dreamland. Made from a wonderful starry fabric, with the instructions to "shh..." embroidered next to a sleeping moon.

Creating Corsages

I love crocheting flower brooches and corsages, and up until recently I'd been making them mainly in one colour, sometimes felting them, sometimes adding a contrasting colour button. Recently I've been inspired by the ever growing collection of coloured balls of wool that lie at my feet each evening to create some multi-coloured ones.

This one is quite chic I think - classic white and slate grey - both fine wools which create a delicate looking flower.



When the light is a bit brighter here I shall take some photos of the more vivid colour combinations I'm coming up with (imagine purples and vivid greens and bight reds and that'll give you some idea!)

Wind The Bobbin Up

A few blog posts ago I let out a cry to the universe - "Please help me sort out this tangle of a thread mess!". And the Universe heard me. And replied. Firstly another Etsy seller, djbebe, kindly commented and sent me a link to a picture of a very organised thread box, then family members (my mum) became aware of my plight and sourced the land to supply me with the tools.


Firstly I was provided with this brilliant thread winder, simply slot in your piece of cardboard and wind, wind, wind. I found this strangely relaxing. Untangling knots was not. A knot was definitely not. Not to the Knot....oh - enough of the knots!





Then, much thread winding later, they were all given a new home. A shiny new thread box. Neat. And Tidy. No knots.


Spurred on by this strange state of neatness and order, I then developed an urge to tackle the abundance of buttons that were spilling out of my sewing box. As a small girl sorting through buttons would have given me immense pleasure, and I wondered if this was a genetic trait. I suggested my daughter join in the fun to test this theory. Not only did she join in but took complete charge of the Button Box, sorting by colour, texture and size.








Finished result? Buttontastic.