Appreciating Design!

One of my favourite occupations is to admire creativity - whether it be in the form of words (written or spoken), pictures (2 and 3D), sounds, textures, aromas or tastes!
I love catching up with blogs, facebook statuses, on-line crafty shops, and being antisocial with a good book!  I am intrigued by knitting and crochet patterns, inspired by tutorials, calmed by photos, delighted by illustrations, and prompted to think by musings...
I know how much time, dedication and thought is put into designing each and every  post, project pattern, perambulation, piece and product..

I have mentioned before that I have a scientific background, 

however, I might not have said out loud that my early attempts at  creativity were frustrated by the finished article not bearing a suitable resemblance to the fabulous image in my head! 

I know I have confessed to wanting to run before I can walk... 

and have been thinking about all of this a lot recently... in particular the fact that in the past I seem to skip the experimental or design part of a project entirely, in a sprint to finish, and consequently land at a less than satisfying final product.

I was enabled to appreciate design earlier in the year when I made a birthday cake - easy peasy..round cake, white icing and a green X  - sorted! 

It wasn't until I looked closely at the iconic logo that it is so much more than a green X on white! (Maybe I was subconsciously avoiding the white box that generates so many emotions and gobbles so much time!) 

I'm sure the multi-talented design team that produced the logo would have been disappointed in my dismissive initial impression, but I hope to rectify that by saying how much more I appreciate their work now that I have studied it carefully!

The silvery wool top was great to needlefelt with  - I'm not sure what it was as it came in a bag of mixed fibres from Sara's Texture Crafts....

It was a well received birthday card!

On another designer subject...the process of wet felting is liberating and I have been really pleased with all of my pieces so far, especially as there is still an element of surprise in the finished product.  Some fibres disappear when wet and slowly reveal themselves as they dry, some move or wriggle or wiggle and others change shape as they are felted. Colours blend and different tones appear depending on neighbouring hues.
I have been having fun designing and experimenting; choosing colours, techniques and textures for a project a friend has requested..this week she's hopefully going to see some of the ideas I have so far..and maybe I'll have the confidence to reveal them here too! I am hoping that the element of surprise will be reduced slightly in the finished piece..as I have another one of those fabulous pictures in my head....

In a bid to encourage my stages of  design-ability  (and to aid my sieve like memory) I do now have a bulging sketch book full of scribbles, hastily jotted notes of quantities, colours, things to improve and what worked well, and lists of what went where so the same item is not given to the same person twice!

Speaking of designers...Jenny over at love and peas* designs the most amazing mixed media and fabric creations...she is currently running a giveaway for a custom made embroidery...if you hurry you might catch it!

I'm off to appreciate some more designs...thawing footprints in the snow and snowpeople!
and later this week I'm going to (get) Lost in Lace at BMAG....

Smells!

There are lots of new aromas in the house today

Sensational scented lillies...becoming more pungent as each bloom explodes....

Recently baked butter biscuits...

these are our second batch in two days...the first lot didn't hang around long enough for a photo!!

The  delicious and really easy recipe is from Tracey and we have transformed them into ghost biscuits...

The delicate sweet smell of summer meadows fabric conditioner as this wet felted project dries out...its a secret so only a patch is available for viewing!

Looking forward to some more autumnal aromas... distant bonfires, roasting pumpkins, sparkling fireworks and crunchy leaves (not so keen on the smell of the soggy variety!)

What's getting up your nose today I wonder?!

Birthday Cup Cake!

 As I was creating my cup cake I knew who would be receiving it...

it was my dad's birthday this week so he had two cakes - this famous fluffy one

...and this squidgy yummy one.....

a joint creation for dad/grandad.

The photo does not really show how 3 dimensional it was ..nor how smoothly the delicious icing was applied by Random Wooliness Junior!

Its amazing how it only really looked like Gromit when he perfectly placed the chocolate teacake nose!

Nests!

I love making little nesty bowly things!  I had been itching to make one with this amazingly fluffy blended silk and merino, Falling leaves from Wheeldale Woolcrafts

.....so here it is:

...bottoms up!

and full up:

On the subject of nests.......

these won't be hanging around long.....

T 4 2!

I've been keeping my fingers busy with these mug cosies!

Given as birthday gifts to friends... with the warning that they may be more decorative than practical!

The pinky purple wool is hand dyed Teeswater bought whilst on holiday in Teesdale...it reminds me of heather.

The green wool was the end of a ball from a friend and just made it round the mug!!




Something to go with a cup of tea?

Billionaire's Shortbread

In the absence of spring sunshine for woolly photos:

My son had been asking to recreate his Nanna's millionaire's shortbread...so armed with 3 recipes and a spare Saturday the other week we began the project!!
It tasted yummy and disappeared fast..the only minor critisism being there was maybe a bit too much caramel..(obviously my son has not inherited such a sweet tooth as me!!).
One of the fave songs on our playlist at present is I want to be a Billionaire (X factor has a lot to answer for!!) so we thought our mega caramel layer cake lived up to its new opulent name of Billionaires shortbread!