The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed I've also added a quick links list of my tutorials in my blog sidebar... but oooh it is nice to have them all together on their own page, and with lots of pictures! Simple things, eh? :)
I'm still a sucker for lovely buttons...
I'm still sewing lots of flower brooches, and birds - though the designs have changed quite a bit!
And I'm still making abstract mobiles after being commissioned to make the very first one over two years ago with the very loose and slightly unnerving brief to make a mobile that was "awesome" ... 
Do you ever look back at what you used to make? How has your work changed, and how has it stayed the same?
They're pretty much the same design as before, just with small changes to the stitched details which I'm sure most people wouldn't care about (or even notice) but which I feel is a vast improvement!
They can be found in my Etsy shop and on my website and hopefully in my other shops soon, once I find the spare time to get them all listed.
All the corsages were made from pieces of an old wool jumper I shrunk & turned into felt ages and ages ago. It's been sitting unloved in an old suitcase under the bed... and now it's got a new life as some brooches. Hurrah!
I want to try making these in other kinds of felt as well - and am looking forward to trying out lots of different colours- but I'm delighted with how lovely and thick and almost velvety the recycled felt is and how pleasingly chunky it makes the corsages. The beading takes a while but I think it's totally worth it (though I do now have a strange urge to eat blackberries...)
In very out of character bit of efficiency, I've even managed to get these listed over on Etsy already. You can find the smaller one here and the large one here.
Then I got to work cutting out lots and lots of shapes, leaving lots of colourful scraps left over. I never use a pattern, just mix shapes and colours freehand to make each mobile unique.
Then I arranged them into strands and stitched them all onto their ribbons ready for hanging in their new home:
Finally I took lots of snaps to record the piece before I put it in the post to its new owner!
With more eco flowers in my wip pile I've got a reason to stock up on pretty vintage buttons, but really who needs a reason to buy such nice things?
Lovely fabric covered in teacups! Such a nice thing to get in the post and very cheering on a Monday morning :)
I've also started listing my new eco felt flowers, which I actually designed after playing around with the leaf shapes from those bloom pieces. Funny how one thing leads to another, isn't it?
... and the smaller ones (still quite large at 4 inches across!) have a plastic comb sewn on so you can wear them in your hair:
As usual, all the designs will be listed gradually in my Etsy shop over the coming days. All the eco flowers are one of a kind, so - please excuse cheeky sales pitch! - if there's one you particularly want let me know (I'm always happy to reserve things).
... lots and lots of flowers! I'm really pleased about being able to offer an eco-friendly product (the felt is made from recycled plastic bottles) and the colours are very yummy, which I think makes for some very yummy flowers :)
The larger flowers are 12 cms / 4 and a half inches across and will become big statement brooches, and the smaller ones will be fascinators thanks to a pack of little plastic combs I bought last week.
EDIT: don't worry, I don't throw my scraps away! I use the larger pieces to make covered buttons and to make spotty pincushions, and the smallest bits become pincushion stuffing :)
Giant plastic buttons (5cms/2inches wide!) in bright candy colours:
Plus some super cute ladybird buttons:
I've been working on frog masks, wild rose brooches and a new mask design which has been in my sketchbook for months. It's always so great to finally get round to trying out an idea, and though it isn't quite right yet it's getting there...
I wear my own cherry blossom brooch all the time (it seems to go with half the things in my wardrobe) so I'm definitely keeping one of those hairbands for myself! A matching large cherry blossom brooch will be popping up in my shop soon, too.
And I've finally listed the pretty butterfly flowers - brooches and headbands in a choice of colours:
Even more flowery things coming soon, but I need a little break from photo editing for the moment! :)
The number picked from the random-number-generator hat was number 23 ... Dianna, who said "Happy Birthday! What a lovely way to celebrate it. Hope you have a fantastic day." Many congrats to Dianna and thanks to everyone who entered - it has been lovely sharing the birthday fun with you all this week!
