Friday 29 December 2023

Angus & Flora 2023 Week Four

December 22nd::  The Elves discovered a stash of cardboard tubes in the bathroom and have been having a tree building competition. Flora's tree is very impressive and bedazzled with tinsel, Angus' is...barely a sapling!

It's the last few days of Angus and Flora! Thank you everyone if you have been following along, I hope these two characters have brought you a little daily smile and some festive cheer. I am absolutely sure that they have already booked their train ticket to return next year! 


December 23rd:: Zipwire!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee............................


December 24th:: Happy Christmas Eve!! The Elves are celebrating at Bedgebury Pinetum, enjoying the light displays, eating marshmallows, and Flora even got a Christmas kiss!

We had such a wonderful evening at Bedgebury, it's an amazing light trail through the Pinetum with little food and drink stops along the way, a section to toast marshmallows, a Father Christmas stop and a couple of little old fashioned children's rides at the start (which Baby F went on twice and would have gone on many more times!). Reece and I have been a couple of times before but this was the first time with Baby F and he was beside himself with excitement!





Luckily it was fairly dry and sheltered as you walked around, although very windy in the carpark, and the little breeze you had made the lights dance all the more. We enjoyed loaded mac 'n cheese, mulled apple juice, hot chocolate and marshmallows on the way round which all just topped off the evening. 

Pretty much all you say on the way round is "ooo", "wow" "look at that!", "that's amazing!" or "so pretty!" I think we might try and go on Christmas Eve again next year, it was a magical experience that really kick started the festive three days. Maybe next year Baby F will have decided to walk around rather than just bounce up and down in his buggy with excitement. 

From my family to yours, I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas period! Happy New Year too!






Wednesday 27 December 2023

Angus & Flora 2023 Week Three

 

December 15th:: As I understand it, the Elves are having a mulled cider bath in the slow cooker. What I don't understand, is why the cider is still in the glass bottle?


December 16th:: Angus and Flora are having a tinsel party!! It's an immersive experience a bit like a silent disco but with more rustling and a sinking feeling as you wiggle further into the scratchy shininess.


December 17th:: New friends have been made in the kitchen!


December 18th::  Angus and Flora are Christmas trees! Can you tell? They've made themselves into a woodland with some wrapping paper tubes and green tissue paper. I'm not sure how they get themselves down. 


December 19th:: Busy little bees Angus and Flora have been cataloguing the Christmas presents currently under our tree for family and friends. They are being graded by weight, size, shape and how well they have been wrapped! No pressure. 


December 20th:: The Elves love this game, they bring it with them every year and nag anyone they come across to join in! For once Angus has even been allowed to be the banker!


December 21st:: Angus and Flora are getting ready for a fancy dress party they've been invited to. Angus is wondering whether his Christmas Pudding outfit is a little too tight and Flora's plans of being Captain Underpants have hit a snag - she can't get the pants on!

Angus & Flora 2023 Week Two

December 8th:: Angus and Flora felt that the computer and desk weren't feeling festive enough so have taken it upon themselves to decorate it and make it more jolly. They've used mini lights, tinsel, ribbons and wrapped chocolates....Although Angus appears to be cracking those open already so they may not last until Christmas!!



December 9th:: Fireman Angus is rescuing a good citizen from a burning building (one of those modern ones with big screens on the side) using his high tech fire engine and bubble wand fire fighting gadgets!


December 10th:: Angus and Flora are taking a relaxing bubble bath after their sooty rescue game yesterday. It will be good to get them smelling nice and clean!


December 11th:: Angus and Flora are playing a complicated elf game which at first appears to resemble Pick Up Sticks but is apparently not. (Partially because they aren't real sticks, they are sherbet sticks.) Flora is winning and Angus is miffed. 


December 12th:: The Elves have been invited to a party and are playing Pin the Nose! It's been noses flying everywhere but now it seems Angus might be cheating and peeking!


December 13th:: After cheating in the game yesterday. Angus turned fugitive and became wanted by the Rozzers. Luckily he's been brought safely behind bars by Superflora the Superhero Elf! Thank goodness she's here to keep our hallway safe. 


December 14th:: Angus and Flora have invited some of their friends into a special den they've made, to sit and tell Christmas stories around the Haribo bear campfire. Flora is mid-tale..., let's listen..."and then Rudolph said to the man in the pram, give us a lick of your lollipop..."

Sunday 17 December 2023

November Thunder & Lightning ATCs

 

BOOM! CRASH! GRUMBLE! FLASH!

You can almost hear the thunder booming and grumbling in these cards. They are all so wonderfully evocative and totally unique. There's hammering rain, there's lightning strikes, there's starry night skies, even crashing waves. It's all very noisy looking - if you know what I mean. 


There are fewer cards this month but the quality of each of them is exactly the same high standard. We had this last year actually where it dipped off towards the end of the year, it's totally understandable as the calendar fills up with things to be done pre-Christmas, then the usual festive things in the run up to Christmas. The calendar is busy for most, and for creative people who like to make gifts for loved ones it becomes even busier! We almost need to make two themes a month from June to account for it. 


I like all of the blue that has been used in these cards. It's surprisingly more colourful than I thought it would be, but then I also plumped for a dark blue myself so I shouldn't be that surprised really. Lightning has been portrayed in both silver and gold which is interesting. I suppose the flashing of light could be taken in either way, it's both of them at the same time. 


The simplicity of the card above is very striking. The blue block stitching onto blue aida fabric is very subtle, but then when outlined in gold it becomes slightly more padded looking and fades into the background so that the attention is brought to that golden streak of light. It's very effective. 


Suzi's more textured lighthouse piece is really lovely, again lots of blue with the beautifully contrasting red and white of the lighthouse itself, beaming its light across the murky polka dot waters, topped with lacey waves. The lightning looks to be done in stem stitch for the thinner stranders and a satin type stitch for the bold streak. 


I am thinking that the silvery stars on this piece have been added on by heat transfer. The background fabric looks to be hand painted or coloured, then with the stars perhaps ironed on to fix them and little metallic cross stars stitched in as well. The lightning streak also looks painted and edged with back stitch in a pale thread with metallic thread whipped through it. (I'm speculating on all of these really, if you have a different idea of how they were made do comment below!)


Abi has had a similar idea but I think has used a star printed jersey fabric, beautifully embroidering over some of the stars - look how neat they are! Such tiny stitches! The lightning is layered fabrics, each just couched down at the edges, with metallic threads couched onto the lowest grey fabric for some wonderful sparkle, and  further detail added with a single strand back stitch through the middle of the streak. It's almost like a lightning bolt out of a comic strip with that bold yellow. 


I am really intrigued by the above card. I can't figure out whether the striped stitching has been done by hand or if it is part of the fabric design itself. If by hand it's so neat and straight!! The little beads catch the light really nicely and the whole piece looks like it's absolutely pouring down with rain. Sometimes the rain itself can sound like thunder. At my Guide hut we have an old metal roof which isn't insulated (terrible on the heating bill) and if it rains really hard you actually can't hear anyone speak - it sort of looks like that would be the kind of rain occurring here, crashing into puddles and flicking up sprays of water. 


Amazingly there is only one swap left for this year, and I think I'll have to make the deadline fairly flexible due to the post and bank holidays and everyone being busy around Christmas. Hopefully there will be a few moments where anyone who hasn't finished their card can sit in a cheesy haze by the fire and finish off their stitching to post in before New Year. I can't wait to see photos of everyone's collections and check through my own to see what they look like together. 

If you would like to join in with next years' swap everyone is more than welcome. Pop me an email at sales@dottytextiles.com and I can forward you a PDF of more information. The themes are below for you to get the little grey cells whirring and inspiration building. 

Angus & Flora 2023 Week One

 


December 1st:: Your favourite festive troublesome twosome are back for another countdown to Christmas! Angus and Flora arrived in the night in a flower pot! They brought with them advent calendars for each of us, a bag full of festive cheer and, a balloon pump?


I had the striking realisation on the 1st December that I've had Angus and Flora since 2016 and that this is the sixth year of my creating silly little scenarios for them to help us count down to Christmas. They've been on sleepovers and camps, visited Rainbows and Guides, come on days out, been to Disneyland Paris and made a lot of mess! 
Hopefully you are still along to watch their crazy journey (and don't think that I'm too mad!). Here is the first week of their 2023 count down!!


December 2nd:: Sir Angus has bravely saved Lady Flora from the dastardly clutches of Baby F the Picklepants and is sweeping her to safety with the aid of his trusty steed, Fluffy. 
Who knows what perils may yet lay before them in this epic adventure of good against evil?


December 3rd:: The Elves have surprised us with a little real Christmas tree!! I suppose decorating it will be today's plan - they've even bought a new tractor bauble for a certain tractor obsessed small boy!


December 4th:: Angus and Flora are making pompom snowflakes and a bit of a pompom mess quite frankly. There could be quite a lot to tidy up later!

December 5th:: It's the annual sack race! (Or sock race for some.) Blue Ted Ted is definitely taking the lead with Big Ted Ted lumbering behind at the rear. Can Angus or Flora catch up and steal the ribbon?! Who are you voting for?


December 6th:: It looks like Angus and Flora have been having a great time playing with Baby F's construction track! (Baby F was not at all sure about Flora playing with his truck and quite swiftly stole it off her.)


December 7th:: Looks like hanging up paper chains has taken a turn for the worse!!

Stay tuned for more Angus & Flora exploits!! Or follow along on my Instagram stories where they have their own highlight button. 

Wednesday 13 December 2023

New Naked Stitchscape Kits

 

I've been selling out of a lot of kit ranges in the run up to Christmas which is absolutely fantastic! I took the opportunity to make up some new Naked Stitchscape kits with some fresh new fabric combinations and I really love these! Quite a few of them have a slightly Autumnal feel to them, presumably inspired by the season, but each has a slightly different story about it. 

If you haven't come across these kits before they were inspired several years ago by a slightly snotty lady who came up to my stall at a craft fair just as I was venturing into kit making. I had about three kits at the time; Summer Sweet, #inthehoop Spring and a Christmas mini hoop. 

"Do these all have instructions in? I'm far too advanced to be following any instructions, these are way beneath my skill level."

I was slightly affronted and felt that she was unnecessarily rude, and I've obviously taken it really personally but it has all turned out for the best because she inspired the Naked kit - a kit without instructions!


Instead, what you get in this kit is a booklet of suggestions, my go-to stitches and how to make them, ways of looking at certain types of print and suggestions of what stitches you could do over the top, and some of my developed techniques, should you wish to give them a go. There are no rules, no templates, no layering instructions. It is completely up to you what you make or how you use the items in the kit. 

A 12cm hoop is included along with a square of calico backing fabric, five strips of really lovely cotton prints, five different colours of Anchor or DMC embroidery floss (about 2 metres of each colour), a bag of mixed beads or sequins and a length of some kind of trimming (lace/fancy yarn/cord etc). 
All of them have been colour co-ordinated together so it's up to you if you work the layers in the same order that I've put them in or change them up completely. 



It's a great way to easily get a range of colours that have been put together for you and you can concentrate on the stitching part. Obviously because the booklet only has suggestions in, you can use whatever stitches you like - if you are an afficionado at gold work techniques, why not bring some of that in too? Or if you've previously only done cross stitch, perhaps pick up a pack that has a gingham/squared or even polka dot print in it and work cross stitch over those patterns to build your confidence.





I've delayed putting these in my Etsy shop so far as they have been coming around all of the craft markets and events I've been doing but I am just about the press the button on adding them to my Etsy shop now so grab one whilst you can! (Other Naked kits are also available in my website shop.)