Recycling update

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Me and pencils don't really work together.

I have a lot of stuff going on in my head but as soon as I try to illustrate it with a pen and a piece of paper it just seems to get a bit lost in translation.

Anyway, I have done my best and hopefully these pics show how to cut fabric strips as I did yesterday. When you finish cutting the fabric you can roll it in to a great big ball of yarn-like stuff and crochet it into a mat or whatever takes your fancy.

I've even recycled and old receipt for the purpose of this demonstration. A bit easier to photgraph on the kitchen table than an old teletubby duvet cover which I am in the process of cutting up now.

And now the clever bit with the guide lines drawn in  .. tee hee..

Obviously there are wee kinks in the yarn where you turn the fabric but they crochet in quite nicely and I think they kind of add to the effect.

If you change colours  along the way the ends will have to be worked in but hopefully that won't put you off.

A little bit of recycling

I did a bit of cutting and crocheting today. It was meant to be a practice run really but I'm quite pleased with the result.

This was a piece of fleece fabric, left over from a long forgotten project and left to languish in the basement with a lot of other long forgotten projects.

I had come across an article recently about recycling fabrics by cutting them in to strips and crocheting them into a bath mat. The strips are about 15mm wide and crocheted on a 10mm hook so once you get past the cutting the crocheting bit is really quick.

I think, to be honest that the fleece was a bit too thick but it worked up really quickly and is now about 12 inches in diameter and that only took four rounds with my big fat 10mm hook.

I'm going to have to root around for something else to cut up now as I have just about run out of this fleece. It would obviously defeat the purpose if I went out and bought fabric wouldn't it...

Happy New Year.....

Maybe this posting should be called "Happy New Month"

Or maybe " Where have you been since Christmas ?"

I could tell you all about our terrible weather, the layers of thermal underwear that have made getting dressed each day  a bit like the preparation for an Arctic Expedition.

I could tell you that frostbite had got the better of my typing fingers, not to mention the difficulty of crocheting with your gloves on.

Or I could just say that I have been enjoying a bit of a blogging break.

January is always a bit quiet... (really quiet this year !!) and I try to use this time to plan my strategy for the year ahead. I've just started planning which craft fairs to do. Is it just me or does there always seem to be two good fairs on the same day and I have yet to figure out how to be in two places at once?

Maybe that could be this years' challenge... Possibly not.

I hope everyone out there is well and I look forward to catching up with all my favourite blogs now that I am back on the computer.

Fiona x

Oh, and by the way. A friend of mine has just joined the blogging world. Kerstin is a very talented ceramics artist and has some of her work in Buy Design. Maybe you would like to pop over for a visit to

alythceramicstudio to offer some bloggy encouragement.

Santa Clause is coming to town....

I'm not about to show any more snow and icicles here today. Not because there isn't an abundance of snow and icicles just waiting to be photographed, simply because we're getting a bit bored of them now.

It's now four weeks since our first snow fall and the novelty has worn off. I'm missing grass and black roads and walking the dog without having to worry about her getting lost in a snow drift... And just simply walking without fear of landing on my bum when that sneaky black ice hides under innocent looking snow.

However, tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I have many reasons to be happy. Snow has definately had a beneficial effect on business and shopping local is 'the new black'. Why would anyone willing trek all the way to Dundee or Perth in this weather when my little shop is so much easier to get to.

So.. one more day in the shop then it will be time to sit back, relax and enjoy Christmas with my family.

The Tree is decorated, the cupboards and the fridge are well stocked. Presents are all wrapped, with the exception of my sister's which I haven't quite finished making yet, but we won't be seeing her till next week so no need to panic.

All that remains is for me to wish all my blogging friends a very happy and peaceful Christmas and a successful and happy New Year ahead.

Lots of love from Fiona xoxo

Reasons to be cheerful

Two weeks since the snow started falling on Alyth we are enjoying (???) a bit of a thaw today.

With temperatures soaring above freezing point to the dizzy heights of 2 degrees it's a great chance to get the paths and drives cleared up a bit. Icicles have been falling steadily off of door and window frames. My son 'helped' to dislodge a massive icicle yesterday from the back of the house, which in one way was good, ie it's not threatening to pull the drainpipe away from the wall. However it landed on my rotary clothes line and left it totally mangled. Hey ho... I wasn't planning on hanging my washing outside anyway.

The big reason to be cheerful though is that I won the Christmas Window Competition. Yoo Hoo..

If you didn't see my previous post then click HERE 

I'm really chuffed to have been picked as the best window in town.

Now that the streets are getting a bit clearer of snow I will get out and about and show you some of the other window displays over the weekend.

Wherever you are, stay warm xoxo

Shadow Shot Sunday

During the summer.... ahh seems like a long time ago.. I came across the blog of Hey Harriet with the lovely challenge of photographing shadows and posting them on Sundays to share with shadow followers around the world. I really enjoyed looking at everyday things in different ways and trying to improve my photographic skills along the way.

So in a bid to get away from talking about snow I decided to look for shadows here in Alyth this morning. The sun was very weak, but any sun at all and no snow is a blessing so I did my best.

That's me, in the middle. My shadow looks like the Bishop in our chess set. A bit bizarre as I'm pretty sure I look nothing like a Bishop but then they do say that the camera never lies...

It was just a quick walk through the wee park and it looks so pretty.

So far the burn hasn't frozen over as it did last winter. It was lovely to see the sky so blue and the hills in the distance. I'm going to have to try and get some shots in the evening when the lights along the burn are lit. We have been adding to them over the last few years and they now go all the way up to the second bridge and look gorgeous.. so Christmassy.

No excuses for this shot which I took yesterday.

He's a Fireman.

One of the local volunteer firemen to be exact.

They came out to remove some massive icicles hanging from the roofs. We were all a bit concerned that someone could get hurt if the icicles fell off.

So that's it for now.

Shadows

Snow

and Firemen.

Have a look over HERE for more shadows x

Two sides to every story..

On the inside of My Creative Space is a lovely fluffy snowflake.

And on the outside.... real live icicles.

Visit lots of creative spaces at kootoyoo.

Just click HERE