This month most of my scrap use was related to a new window display for the shop, to celebrate St David’s Day. The window was a joint effort and you can read about Mr Snail’s contributions here.

Our aim was to make a cosy scene including a whole range of items that you might find in a Welsh home. We already had blankets made from Cambrian wool, some sheep and dragon-themed bits and bobs and an ancient Welsh wool rug, but we wanted to add cushions and pictures, amongst other things.

I dug out some uninspiring bits of fabric – two were scraps of furnishing fabric, and one was a half-finished skirt that had arrived at the shop from goodness knows where. I used these to make cushion covers with a Welsh words theme. The two beige ones (Hiraeth and Cwtch) are pillow case style and the green one (Hwyl) has a zip – also rescued from an abandoned project. The cushion inners are old and had been lurking up in our loft for about two decades.

Then to a picture for Mr Snail’s mantlepiece. When we acquired the shop, it contained some random items. Some went to the charity shop down the road and some were put to one side for us to use (possibly). One of these was a faded print in a very battered frame. The print was removed and I used my (secondhand) die-cutter and dies and some pre-loved paper to cut out letters and mount them on to spell out a corruption of part of the Welsh national anthem:

The original is “Gwlad” (country), but “Gwlân” means wool… hence the tiny bit of knitting (cocktail stick and old beads for the needles; scrap yarn for the knitting). So, we are pledging loyalty to our wool! We also wanted a nod to St David and so I found an old frame in the loft at home, removed the tatty picture from that and used more scrap paper to create a very relevant quote attributed to Wales’ patron saint:

It means ‘Do the small things’ in the original context, but from our perspective it can also mean ‘Make the small things’.

You may have also noticed the crocheted daffodils – those were made from scrap cotton yarn, some random flower wires that were in a box of unwanted bits and some green paper tape from the same source. Of course we also had to make a suitable bollard cover for outdoors. Mr Snail made the cover from an unwanted ball that arrived in the shop and I made the flowers from scraps left over from a recent commission. I embroidered the stems from more scrap yarn.

So, all in all, a very scrappy window display.

-oOo-

I’ve been inspired to write this (and future) ScrapHappy posts by Kate,  Tall Tales from Chiconia. On the fifteenth of every month lots of folk often publish a ScrapHappy post, do check them out:

Kate,  Gun, Eva,  Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Edi, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jan (me), Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti, Debbierose, Nóilin and Viv

If you fancy joining, contact Kate and she’ll add you to the list. It would be lovely to see more non-sewing posts, but any use of scraps is welcome.