Well it seems a ridiculous time to be making things from lovely cosy wool, but 

felt making is a process which I have to do outside, otherwise the kitchen would no doubt be awash with soapy water!......and who needs an excuse to get out into the much needed sunshine.

my creativity has been zapped of late, so it was good to make something  fun,colourful and useful...and an idea for the winter...perish the thought!

So, I have a hat and teacosy...dual purpose, ..... works well, if you don't mind looking slightly bonkers.

The rug  (last pic) is made on a peg loom and as far as I'm concerned the simplest form of

rug making... you can do it with your eyes shut....if enough people are interested, 

  I'll explain how to do it at a later date...with my eyes open!    

           

       So, the felt.  carded wool, dyed carded wool,soap, hot water and rolling mat (part of an old roller blind)..........

                                                       

                                                                                        From this...............

                                                                                               

                                                                                          To this...

   

  

                                                             

                                                             To this...

                                

                                                                                      To this.....

   

 

                                                                                             To this!

                                               .

                                            

                                            Peg Loom Rug. Took 5 hours and a good friend with some sheared sheep!

                                                                   

        

                  

            Meanwhile in the woodshed, Ben came to blows whilst chiseling ... the beautiful patina'd

table is now on hold... which is more than can be said for his thumb.....2 months in plaster, but

there's no stopping him and 4 days out of hospital, he's  back in the woodshed sharpening all his chisels and  cunningly grinding down some old ones into some marvellous new implements of destruction.... to, apparently be used one handedly... methinks some good clamps are in order..and more chocolate.

 I can't believe it's  been 2 months since our last blog! I've desperately been trying to find the time to post more stuff but between my laptop going on the blink and Sarah's car rattling apart it's been kinda hard to get on here. I've still managed to find the time to play - in fact if I'm honest, I've spent more time playing than I have doing everything else put together but it kinda feels like I could have got more done.

   I have managed to get better pics (below) of the Alabaster dish as promised (many thanks to dear Hils) and I was able to get much better pics of some jewellery and some other Alabaster bits. I won't put all the pics on here but you can now go onto our Flickr page and view them - along with many of Sarahs' fabulous painting and signwriting work. You can get onto our Flickr page by just clicking on the link on the right or scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the slideshow. It's all a bit random at the moment, we haven't quite got round to organizing them yet (soon, soon.....)  Ideally I'd like to get on here at least once a week but whether I do or not remains to be seen.....

   Anyway, enough prattling on and down to the actual crafty stuff;

I've just got a small shelf and draw unit finished for Jim, again made from Elm that we rescued,  this was an absolute joy to make and I am very happy with the look of them. I feel very pleased  to have made them for Jim and honoured that he liked them as much as he did. They were  made to say thank you for the wood he's gave us and for generally being such a top chap.

   I've got an Oak stool sat in the corner drying out at the moment, I finished it a couple of days ago but it's had to have lots of oil and spirit into it due to the amount of woodworm, it's made from a lovely reclaimed Oak plank we found on the farm.  It needed about half inch of rotten wood stripping from the edge before I could start, it was supposed to be a quick project whilst I waited for my new saw to arrive, but actually ended up taking quite a while due to the age and condition of the wood. Next time, I might just use nails!

I've just started on a large coffee table using a hefty chunk of the most gorgeous Burr Oak, the legs/ frame are reclaimed Oak posts (I think from farm gates) and when polished and oiled should have a stunning patina that you just couldn't get with new wood, piccies should come soon.

Jim's shelves, made from antique Elm with these beautiful Applewood Burr handles. As with all my other makings no glue, nails or screws have been used - which presented quite a challenge when constructing these draws! 

   

These splendid dovetails so impressed me. Ben had never attempted them before and I raised an inner eyebrow when he mentioned it but, in true Ben fashion, he mastered the most finickity joints perfectly (I know because my Dad's a master carpenter and boatbuilder!) {Sarah}
These little wedges (above) are the critical fixings which hold the whole shelves together. the tension provided by them spread through the wood and in turn hold all the other joints together.The finished Alabaster dish / candle holder. The picture below gives an indication of how the stone gives off a warm glow when it has a light near it. This was the first stone work I did with a chisel.

Yee Ha.... we made it to the beach  at last, for Bens' birthday.  Full of all sorts of treasure, fossil gems... and, found by Ben, a wheelbarrow which was mighty handy as he had spotted an

amazing piece of Alabaster, and tagged it a coffee table before you could say..." thank goodness for the wheelbarrow!"  It sure did beat lugging pieces up the beach in  rucksacks which we had previously lugged.
The beach is well known for marine fossils, and , once you start looking, huge turtle fossils are

everywhere, dinosaur footprints cover the fossilized mudflats, and all the while alabaster laden cliffs tower, massive chunks breaking away .... lucky for us!!   So good to sit by the sea in the sun.Goodbye beach, till our next outing...we'll try not to leave it so long. x