Ceramic painting

There's a little pottery shop down the road, you can go and paint something and they'll fire it in their kiln and you collect it in a week.  Fab for me, there's no trying to balance something on a pottery wheel!

I chose to go with some friends for my birthday and then got a few of them hooked - there was another birthday and then a Christmas painting party too.  Here's a couple of things I did.

Fantail bird

Cookie Jar

Quilting - machine (2008)

My first attempts at quilting were quite small, only 9 or 12 squares sewn together on the sewing machine, with a plain fleece back.  I made three of these for babies due around the same time, and got a bit annoyed that I couldn't keep the lines straight - but I was using different types of material, so now I know more, I'm not really surprised!

One little girl still uses hers, but as a blanket for her dolly - which is as it should be!

Quick sews

How to keep a radio safe in the helmet box of a scooter?  Padded case!





After a late request (Christmas Eve) for Santa hats, I quickly made up some, using leftover material.

Dressmaking - fancy dress

I was going to go to a friend's birthday party, the theme was either the letter M or 1961 - I chose to go as Cruella DeVille, because 101 Dalmations came out in 1961.  Here's my outfit - I made the dress, collar, gloves and handbag. - I think I look quite scary, myself!

Garden ornaments etc

I made garden ornaments, and then got into making the moulds for them - had to get very inventive when it was winter and took longer to dry, considering we were just living in a flat!

 

I used to help make paving slabs, the ones with pebble facing involved "rugasol" to draw out the cement, which would then wash off and leave the pebbles showing.  The downside was that it was extremely potent and needed a lot of fresh air when using it!

Rugmaking - in years gone by

I used to do rugmaking quite a lot, unfortunately I haven't got any left and only two photos of ones I did.  The swirly one used two lengths of wool, on a preset pattern.  The rugby player was made from leftover wool and I designed the whole thing myself.