Wednesday Wool

Autumn approaches, a little chill in the air in the evenings and I'm looking towards my wood burner, wondering if it is too soon to get some flames going.
I've adding some wool beanie hats to my shop in anticipation of our need to to get warm and cozy, along with some other wool goodies:









All available in my Etsy shop.

Sewing For The Greyhounds

Ever since adopting my greyhound Casey I have tried to support greyhound rescue charities in whatever way I could - either taking Casey along to greyhound rescue promotion events, attending fund raising dog shows, and of course donating items to the handmade4hounds shop on Etsy.

My local greyhound rescue, Greyhound Gap, will be running an auction for a week from the 3rd September. All the auction goodies have been donated, and already there are items being added to the on-line forum in preparation.

These are the 2 items I have been working on over the past few days for the auction:

Small embroidered greyhound picture, the hound profile is the logo for the Greyhound Gap charity:



Phone/gadget cover, featuring a greyhound profile:



The auction is being run to raise funds for one of Greyhound Gap's sponser dogs, Fleck. Greyhound Gap's founder, Lisa writes:

"Fleck is one of our sponsor dogs who landed in our care worse for wear, his ears had been home docked with scissors and his tail has undergone what we think seems to be a dodgy/home amputation. He was also very under weight with bite marks all around his ankles, they seem to be scars from possible rat bites and there is every chance that he has been left for a long number of years in a shed with minimal care.
Fleck also had co ordination problems and sadly recently he had a fall where he splayed himself out and hurt himself. This lead to us needing to investigate and it seems he may have a problem with compressed discs or disc damage at the lower end of his spine."

Read more on Fleck here.

Fleck will be undergoing his investigations on the 6th September. Lets hope the auction raises his much needed funds.

The Muse

So often we hear about designers, directors, artists having a muse - sometimes a model or an actress.
I would like to introduce my very own personal muse.
He lives with me, used to have a career in the racing industry but luckily no longer has to do this, he now spends a lot of his time lying on his back with his legs in the air (quite zen like, he can lie like this for hours without moving).
Please meet Casey.....




His unique greyhound profile is currently gracing some of my latest creations





He has taken to the life of a muse with ease, as long as there is a regular supply of treats and walks through the woods, not to mention the odd belly rub.
I'm sure other muses must demand similar.

Holidays and Hounds

Braving the Great British Weather, buckets and spades packed, we headed off to Pembrokeshire, Wales for a week - this time taking our hounds along. Alfie, our lurcher, is a nervous boy and we did wonder how he would cope on his 1st holiday with us.

We needn't have worried.

Beaches were a breeze.



Castles - no fear



Woodland Walks - a chance to lie down



Pembrokeshire is lovely, outstanding beaches and we were lucky to be staying somewhere that had a wonderful view across the hills and estuary. We will be returning, with the hounds again of course.

Meanwhile back at home the vegetable patch had been quite prolific:

It's A Tartan Day

I have a wonderful Aunt who very kindly sent me a batch of Harris Tweed tartan from her home in Scotland, alongside some other lovely woollen fabrics, a fantastic gift to receive for a fabric addict like myself.



Today I decided to try how they would look if I crafted them into a brooch, and chose one of the warm brown tartans, which was the perfect background for a lovely little orange vintage button, one of my favourites.



I've padded the brooch too to give it some depth, and edged it with a contrasting orange. It will be in my Etsy shop as from today, hot off the sewing machine.



Lots more tartan, lots more ideas........

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.

The Ears Of A Cat

"Dear Parent
Please send your child to school dressed as the super-hero of their choice....."

Oh yes one of those frantic moments of putting together a costume with very short notice.

Cat-woman was the heroine of choice, costume sorted (black clothes, no problem), cat ears to be made:

Cat Ears Steps:
I took a plain headband, measured out some black material,a rectangular piece, and wrapped it along the headband.
I hand-stitched it together along the inside.
Now for the ears - I cut out a square piece of black fabric, ironed on some interfacing to strengthen it, then cut out 4 ear shapes.
I stitched 2 ear shapes together, interfacing on the inside for both pieces - I used an edging stitch on the sewing machine.
The bottom edge of the ears was trimmed to match the shape of the headband, and I then hand-stitched the ears onto the headband.

And cat ears were made.