Easter Holidays

Lots of activity on the reserve this holiday! ( This scene of tranquillity is a “before” picture ).

The arty bits were held in the barn; which was NOT COLD and filled with the scent of blossom! Yippee.

There were workshops and the middle “ drop-in” event, which was another “spin into spring” day ( as last years was such a success ). Simple pompom creatures were made into bunnies and springy chicks.

There were demonstrations of knitting, crochet, and drop spindle spinning. Sadly I was so busy I didn’t get any pictures 😦 that day. If anyone did take pictures I’ll add some later. Between us we managed to teach the basics of spinning, knitting and crochet to quite a few people, including children; boys as well as girls.

We made all sorts of Easter bunny and chick things, in the workshop sessions.
There lots of bunny characters made from painted “dolly” pegs; some had chenille arms

and some had “crocheted chain” arms I made as we went along…

Yes, I am a glutton for punishment! But actually it was another way to demo some crochet to the uninitiated; and was an extra bit of fun. I think I will include this in my peg doll tutorial as it saves using pipe cleaners with little ones.

Just look at this funny, sweet couple!

We also created some Easter trees made with network wire and crepe paper – These are easy and very effective; if anyone wants a tutorial leave me a comment and I’ll send one. (The PDF is going to end up in the shop as well.)

Many of them had a sort of post psychedelic, magic roundaboutish, vibe!

Some had bunny visitors

and some had nests

and amazing illustrations of woodland dwellers added ( look at the base of this one carefully ! )

I loved this cheeky fox especially! He was peeping out from under a more natural tree. His creator was more of a wildlife purist than some of our younger craftspeople.

We also made felted eggs, from some wool of the Jacob sheep on site! The coloured wisps were extra bits- we didn’t dip dye the sheep!

These took longer than anticipated, and were very wet and messy, but everyone did have a go with a great deal of soapy relish.

Then there were baskets to take it all home in!

What sweet scenes on this one!

The owner managed to sort out these shapes out from a mixture of flowery ones left over from another event! Such a patience and a delicate touch.

Plus of course paper bunnies (morphed from the hares) and lots of marbled egg cards ! ( The marbling was also messy ! )

A lovely, sunny, good old fashioned day out.

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The weather has improved, yippee!

OMG SUNSHINE!!

Time to get on with pegbags; two have just been sold so will need some more in the shops. At least I can take pictures of them outside now. Here are some guys that have been waiting for their photo shoot for ages.

I made a cute little soldier but needed to decide which colour eyes.

I have tried a couple just as normal one- sided ones.

They were originally for a shop, so I was trying to cut down the time it takes to produce one. I like them, but I’m not sure if I should just abandon the double sided/opening ones which were the original concept.

It just does not seem worth selling through a retail outlet as the mark-up needed means either they become (what I think of as ) very expensive pegbags; or I work for peanuts. As it is they take about 3-4 hours to make. I am not sure why; it seemed to take less at first, but I guess they were slightly more simple. Now, with inserted beaks

and shaped padded feet

(and don’t get me started on dinosaur spines)

They just take longer. But it is hard not to make a creature when the fabric shouts so loudly at one to make him or her, LOL.I am still working from the fabric, up- as it were! I have loads of ideas of creature shapes but really can’t go buying more fabric when I can hardly move for “the Stash”…. so I am putting lots on hold ( but it is VERY hard when you have an idea, not to rush out, get fabric and make Mr Fox and Mr Badger). Sob!

Not to mention all the other toys and crochet all orbiting in a creative space holding pattern; which sometimes feels like it has slipped and is around my neck strangling me…

If only I had a house slave like the Romans…

and a dictation slave…

and a knitting slave…

HMM

Well must stop all this and get on with some sewing of the aforementioned pegbags.

I would love to see them in a real shop-
but the whole thing seems easier on-line; plus there is a personal connection to most people I have sold to, which I do enjoy ( even if it eats up more time ” it’s worth it ” ).

I would love to hear any comments on these subjects; selling and managing creative flow! Then I won’t feel like it is only me with the angst!

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Tinkerbell went to the ball…

Well – Tinkerbell did go to the ball, or Never Never Land…

The dress was a success, and has therefore moved off the ***(insert expletive of choice) *** sewing list, to the “I made it, yeah!” list.

Just a tip, if using a (stretchy) leotard as a base for a (gathered and stiff) tutu, looks like a good idea; make sure the model is on hand to fit it on at all times! Otherwise you need a willing pair of hands to hold it into stretched mode whilst you fight with the gathers to pin them on. Not to mention while you herringbone petal points all round.
Such fun! Not really. More a labour of love.
The shoes were a labour of love too, but much more fun and we all agree looked fabulous. If only you could wear shoes like this everyday… then we would all feel like Tinkerbell.

I hand crocheted the pompoms with eyelash yarn. They were made as little spheres and then I stuffed them; I think they worked better then normal pompoms but eyelash yarn is weird to work with, in the end I was going on blind faith because I could hardly see the stitches for fronds…

And then…

There were some lovely left overs – lots of bits of bright green sparkly net (tulle) and beads. Some of the bits of net (those not trodden ALL around the house) were put to good use in the last event – “Trees”.

We had tree sprites, leaf bowls and lollypop trees.

The latter two were made with leaf rubbings from real leaves collected onsite. All pleasantly eco minded – the leaves were placed under old envelopes and rubbed with crayons to get the imprint of their veins; the beautiful patterns looked great against the blue print inside the envelopes.

The “bowls” were lots of bits of packing card from Ikea, helpfully cut into cross shaped disks!
They use them to protect stacked china bowls, so it was quite nice to give them a new life as bowls themselves.

We also made miniature trees with the imprints and wooden twigs and sticks;

but my favourite was the tree sprites. I have always loved making little dolls from found natural “found objects” and also from wooden clothes pegs. This time they were both combined and the children made some gorgeous little creatures.

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