Planning an itty bitty piece of patchwork

Nowhere, it seems, is there, on this planet of ours, a bedspread that is both big enough to cover with ease our European-style super king size bed AND sufficiently pleasing in the aesthetics department to meet my exacting visual requirements. OK, so I haven’t look exhaustively. But looked I have and nothing have I found. Nothing that meets both these pretty basic criteria, anyway. So what to do?

Hello to rug hooking

Here’s a tip for you: if you want to do an online search to find out more about the needlecraft of hooking, key in ‘rug hooking’ rather than ‘hooking’. Trust me, the search results for the latter are predictably colourful, but decidedly less useful.

So what is rug hooking? (It still doesn’t sound quite right, does it?) Well, it involves pulling yarn through holes in a canvas with a hook to create, for example, something like this:

Rug hooking doesn’t have to end in a rug, it would seem.

A crafty year!

Would you believe me if I told you that it has taken me an entire year to realise that I can make the photos in my posts bigger? Yes. Read it and weep uncontrollably, for it is sadly so. Worse, I have even reflected, from time to time, on what a shame it is that the photos are so small. In the words of the immortal Bart: doh!

Rub-a-dub-dub…

A Decopatched tub! Yes, indeedy: I have finished my epic bath panel makeover project and very splendid the bath does now most certainly look:

One prettier bath panel. Check.

(Alright, if you must insist on knowing, I do still need to apply a final coat of varnish to the whole thing, yes, but basically I’m there.)

Crowing about crochet

Here’s the thing, then: I’m learning to crochet. I’d wanted to find out more ever since I saw a kit for a sweet crocheted sheep in the ever-glorious Fringe and then, as luck would have it, it turned out that Fringe were running a beginner’s crochet workshop in April. Splendid, I thought, and booked myself a place.

Of mice and mischief

The prices of some cat toys are not even faintly ridiculous. They are blatantly, in yer face and quite unashamedly preposterous. Though not, admittedly, as preposterous as pushchairs for pets (yes, really, have a little look online but make sure you’re sitting down first). Our very own Feline Detectives, McCready and Gilmour, are indoor moggies so we make a real effort to make sure they have plenty of stimulation, but there’s no point in breaking the bank. Not if it means fewer chew sticks, anyway. This would, trust me, only precipitate the application of a succession of already well-honed hard stares, each more than worthy of the small bear from Darkest Peru himself. So what to do?

A hot, hot bath

It is, I admit (albeit somewhat grudgingly), altogether possible that there are things far worse than a cardboard bath panel. There are, in all undeniable probability, things that are worse even than a cardboard bath panel that has (inexplicably) a shiny black coating and various damaged patches. But I don’t like it, dammit, and something must be done about it, and that something is this:

Bath makeover time.

Cinnamon Bear Pair

So, it would appear that Cinnamon Bear is a fan of Uncle Neil. Clearly a bear with a musical ear and very good taste, then. Not that I doubted it for a second. Cinnamon Bear has also, it seems, been chatting to Colin the Robin, because – as I predicted – he suggested I might like to make him a female companion. Luckily, I was one step ahead of him:

Cinnamon Boy meets Cinnamon Girl.

Yes, thanks to my lovely little Cinnamon Bear kit from the ever-wonderful Fringe, we now have two little bears to try to save from the incorrigible clutches of the Feline Detectives, which – as we know from Colin’s brush with death – is no mean feat.

Birds of a feather

Hello! Who’s this?

The name’s Colin. Mrs Colin.

Yes, indeed. Colin‘s long-awaited lady love has finally deigned to put in a – rather splendid, if I may be so presumptuous as to suggest such a thing – appearance.

Six nations, one blanket

Yes, ok. So Wales didn’t win this year’s Six Nations. Mark isn’t over the moon and it’s very possible that Warren Gatland may never almost smile again. That’s sport for you. Up one minute, down the next. It’s enough to make anyone seasick. Still, at least the Cherries are on top of their game, keeping Mark nicely in Pollyanna mode…