Random Witterings!

I’ve been collecting Fimo Polymer Clay stuff with the desire to try and make some little cat fridge magnets or something like that.  I’ve never tried using Fimo before nor really done much in the way of sculpting so have been putting it off until I had some inspiration… or bravery

The mood struck me today so I got everything out then decided I really needed to learn about it first – how it feels, how easy it is to manipulate and how it looks after it’s been baked.  Since I like making jewellery I thought I would have a go at some beads.  I’d received a free heart mould when I’d bought some Fimo so thought I would use that (I also had a nice red Fimo clay).  I’m actually really pleased with the way they turned out.  They looked how I wanted them to, I could envision a use for them and most importantly, I learnt a lot about the clay.  My fingers ache now with all the kneading but it was worth it

Here is a pic of the finished beads!

I like making the odd bit of jewellery, mainly when I come across something I would like to use and inspiration strikes.  I also love making chains.  I could sit for hours (and often do) linking rings together into a kind of chain-mail style chain.  I use a 2-in-1 or a 4-in-1 pattern depending on how wide I want it to be.

Last time I went over to Hobbycraft I found these lovely leaf shaped beads in a variety of colours.  I found the autumnal colour ones the most attractive and decided to make myself a set of earrings, necklace and bracelet.  These are the results!

I finally got the rug properly finished, I used an iron on binding tape for the edges on the underside which worked really well.  Both cats have had a go on it and Bubbles thinks it’s her new love rug (she stands and kneads on it for ages while purring her head off).  Really pleased with the finished result and it’s great seeing it down in front of the fire and part of the room

Worked a bit more on the cross-stitch so it’s time for another photo   Leigh correctly guessed it involves a cat somewhere (surprise surprise!) but not what the whole picture is, so I can at least retain a little mystery about it

More soon!

Apologies to Rolf Harris for borrowing his catchphrase

So I’ve already started on my next craft project and it’s a really cute cross-stitch.  I’m not going to tell you what the design is other than that!  Yes, it’s mystery cross-stitch theatre

The picture so far…

More soon!

The rug is finally finished!  I just need to trim the excess and put some rug binding on before it can go down in front of the fire   I’m sure the cats will love ignoring it, even though all the way through making it, they kept trying to lie on it

Here is the last in progress picture

And here it is finished!

I decided to set out all the pictures in thumbnail form so you could look through them all at once.  For me, it’s great seeing it all come together!

I really enjoy doing cross-stitch and have done it for many years.  I’ve finished a few large projects and lots of little ones as gifts for friends and family.  I’ve not really kept any kind of picture record of projects that have been completed, but as Tony kindly took some pictures of the larger projects that I kept, I thought I would post them here

This was the first large project I finished.  Probably one of my favourites too even tho I cursed it a lot when I was doing it.

As I had 2 cats at the time, one black (my old darling Squeak) and the ever cute ginger Bubbles, I loved this one as a representation of them.   Happily it is still appropriate as Fizz is also black

I couldn’t resist this kit when I saw it, it makes me smile whenever I see it on the window sill

This is the most recent one I’ve finished.  It actually took 10 years from starting it to finishing it but I didn’t work on it solidly in that time, I probably packed it away for a couple of years and did other projects in the meantime.  Also due to a couple of annoying errors, it ended up being unpicked completely and started again.  Thankfully it wasn’t too far along when I had to do that.  I’m still pleased with it now it’s finished and I just need to get a good frame for it.

I have loads of kits to be started so I will witter about it here when I decided which one to do next after the rug is finished

The rug is really close to being finished now, and I’m really pleased with the way it’s turning out!  Fizz is already trying to sit on it

Here are some more progress pics.

I’ve been working hard on the rug, just slacking on posting pictures   I’ve found it much easier doing it, with it spread on my desk so I’ve been watching DVD’s on my PC – Watched Season 3 of Bones, Season 1 of The Dresden Files and am continuing through my Buffy boxsets (on season 4 currently).  It’s been really nice just watching them as I work

Anyway, enough wittering, here are some pics!

It looks a lot better in the photos than it does close up, it’s hard to see the design properly when you are working on it so it’s really good having these pics so I can see how it’s taking shape.

More pics soon!

This morning Tony asked me…

“Is this how you would expect zombie intestines to look?”

He was asking about one of his miniatures he’d painted which was superb, but still… not a question I ever thought I’d be asked 

He’s keeping a diary of painting on his blog here – it’s well worth checking out!