January, February & March in Pictures

Sooo... what have I been up to in the first quarter of 2018?

In January...

... I shared a peek at a work in progress that STILL has not progressed to being a finished tutorial. It might be a brand new year, but "too many project ideas, not enough time to make them all" will forever sum up my life.

... I added two new patterns to my shop: felt poppies, and spring flowers.

... I shared a tutorial for using your yarn scraps to make fun stripey cards.

... I used Makelight's Year of Colour tool to see my 2017 Instagram colour palette (unsurprisingly, it turns out I've been using a lot of bright colours!).

... my felt weather mobile tutorial was published over on The Village Haberdashery's blog, along with templates for making some pun-tastic Valentine's Day cards.

... and someone who'd made my cat pincushion bought me a "coffee" to say thanks! (Yay!) The "buy me a coffee" button on my blog is basically a virtual tip jar - I was totally delighted that someone actually used it (and that a few more people have used it since). It's always lovely to hear that people have been using and enjoying my tutorials, or even just reading my blog, but getting kind words and a little bit of financial support feels AMAZING.

In January I also shared my first free pattern with my newsletter subscribers, blogged about trips to Kew Gardens, (part one and part two) and Oxford's Magdalen College, and three more of my tutorials for The Village Haberdashery got posted on their blog: a faux leather lightning bolt brooch, a geometric necklace, and an embroidered snowflakes wreath (completing my year of wreaths project).

In February...

...  this project was still not finished! When I posted this pic on Instagram  I wrote "These shapes are for a tutorial which is *still* a work in progress (January has been soooo busy!), so this post is me committing to getting it Finally Finished and up on my blog next week. Watch this space!", which, er, absolutely has not happened. Maybe it will happen soon? Fingers crossed!

In February I also stitched a mallard duck for my newsletter subscribers...

... came up with some creative ideas for decorating parcels...

... had two more projects published over on The Village Haberdashery's blog (a Valentine's-themed Tic Tac Toe set, and a trio of Plant Lady brooches)...

... blogged about exploring Carfax Tower & Oriel College in Oxford, confessed to not enjoying blogging about books, and had a destash-and-sample sale (many thanks to everyone who bought something!).

Then in March...

... I joined in with March Meet the Maker, sharing a bit about me and my business each day in response to the challenge prompts. It was a lot of fun, especially sharing behind-the-scenes pics like this giant To Do Chart I put together when working on one of my books...

 

... this snapshot of my dad painting skirting boards while I photographed a wreath tutorial (the joys of juggling self-employment and a renovation project!)...

... and how the fox design from my second book, Super-Cute Felt Animals, evolved from the early sketch to the finished project.

In March I also designed Chicken & Egg Easter ornaments for The Village Haberdashery...

... and they shared my tutorials for making a fun daffodil headband and pretty butterfly hairclips.

Here on my blog I wrote about my flat renovation project and our DIY progress last February, continued my series of posts about Kew Gardens with signs of spring and their wonderful Orchids Festival, and shared lots of snaps from a walk in the snow (gorgeous but very chilly for March!!).

Oh, and I also knitted lots of little white squares for my mini squares blanket! After many years working on this project, it's exciting seeing it slowly turning into a "real" blanket (instead of just a random cluster of knitted squares) and to be counting down the squares until it's finished. Isn't it looking lush?
 

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