His and Hers–not exciting but hopefully functional

David has been nagging me for such a long time to make him a strap cover for his binoculars. I have finally got around to doing it. I do sympathise and the ordinary straps really do rub your neck when you’re not wearing a polo-shirt so I made myself one too. These are made from an old sheet and although they’re not the ideal birding colour I’m hopeful that they will keep us slightly more comfortable during our summer birding aboard.

       

Mum’s Monkey Business

Archie is really pleased with Mickey the Monkey now that Mum has finished her first (& quite probably last) knitted soft toy.

She spotted this pattern in Yours magazine and was brave enough to give it a try. You can see what she was aiming for and you’d have to agree, she did a pretty good job of it.

She twisted my arm to embroider the facial features but Mum did everything else. Sorry about the quality of the photos, I only had my phone with me up in Wales this weekend but here he is in all his glory…

Upcycled Paper Beads

This is my preparation for the WCHS co-curricular day tomorrow. I can’t give away too much information just yet as the girls don’t know what they are doing but I’ll explain and post some more photos after the event.

So, I’ve been making my first ever batch of upcycled paper beads. I chose a nice orange advert from an old Sainsburys magazine and cut 17 isosceles triangles from it. They are cut lengthways (to make them as long as possible) and all have a base of 2cm. I then rolled the beads using a cocktail stick to start them off. The rolled paper then needed to be secured so I varnished it. Tomorrow I will be using acrylic varnish but I only had clear nail varnish at home so I tried that. For the record, it gives a nicer shine but is not as easy to use as the acrylic varnish.

Once dry I threaded them all onto a piece of elastic to make an African-style paper bead necklace, which I look forward to wearing with my authentic Ghanaian dress tomorrow.

 

Another Year, Another Special Leaving Card

We’re almost at the end of another year at Woodford, which inevitably means that a few people are leaving us. This summer we’re losing a fantastic maths teacher who is almost certainly one of the best colleagues that I will ever have. He has kept me entertained for three years and has helped me through some of the hardest times of my life. His enthusiasm is infectious and he loves teaching almost as much as I do. I’m going to miss him so much although possibly not his ridiculously creased shirts!
 

So, on my first weekend at home for a very long time, I had to make an equally special piece to be mounted on his leaving card. As usual, everyone’s been signing a blank card as I like to protect my creations until they are handed to the intended recipient. I decided to base my card on an optical illusion this year and used the following image as a guideline…
 

An hour later I had finished pricking the card and was ready to get stitching…
 

 

Four and a half hours later the piece is mounted on gold and black card and is ready to be mounted on the A5 card in school on Tuesday. What a productive Sunday afternoon!
 

Handmade says it better

Last week we officially said goodbye to the class of 2013. As usual, it was an emotional day (at least for me) and I can honestly say that this a year group that will be sorely missed. They’ve been amazing. Anyway, amongst many other touching gifts and cards I received these very special handmade pieces. Apparently they “just had to be handmade” for me!

The first card is an upcycled piece, which I absolutely love.

The second card is hand-drawn and I particularly liked that the student had started on the other side, wasn’t happy with the image and just turned over. I definitely approve of not having thrown it away and started again!

The third card was actually a booklet created by five of my form. Again, it’s all hand-drawn and mounted. The messages inside made my Mum cry!

Best of all… This year one of my form knitted me a teddy bear. You really can’t get much better than that. Not to mention the time taken, it’s thoughtful, creative and incredibly personal. I’m so very grateful.