All posts tagged leaves

ScrapHappy October 2022

After the success of the decorated bollards over the summer, it seemed a good idea to ring the changes and make some for autumn.

These two are not entirely scrappy, as I did have to use some new yarn for the little witch, but her hair, stuffing and the buttons on her hat and wand and for her eyes are all scraps. All the rest is either from my scrap collection or is other people’s unwanted (unloved) yarn.

I think these are my most photographed creations ever… do look out for them on social media and let me know if they crop up.

-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, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill, Jan, 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.

18 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on October 15, 2022  •  Permalink
Posted in craft, Scrap Happy
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on October 15, 2022

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2022/10/15/scraphappy-october-2022/

ScrapHappy April 2019

Last month I was really inspired by Alys’ ScrapHappy greetings cards, so this month I decided to have a go myself. I have loads of card blanks and piles of scrap paper and fabric. I’d also got a 2018 calendar that I couldn’t bring myself to throw out, some old greetings cards and some bits and pieces left over from the days when I used to make a hundred or so Christmas cards to send every year.

I started simple with some glue, paper scraps and the old calendar. The first one I made was a bit messy and I applied  my glue unevenly, so it came out a bit wrinkled. Never mind, it’s a learning process and I was very pleased with my final attempt on the yellow card.

I made several just with paper and then moved on to some including paper, fabric (some swatches from when I was choosing curtains some time ago) and some leaf skeletons that have been hanging around for ages:

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Fabric and leaves on paper

And then I decided to add some stitching, using my sewing machine. I made three cards from scraps of fabric, including some leaf motifs from an old net curtain, having become rather taken with leaves by this point. These are fabric on fabric, plus one leaf skeleton, mounted on card. The one on the left incorporates lots of the tiny trimmings from all the other cards, thus using scraps from scraps.

Finally, I had a little play around with sewing a leaf skeleton onto paper. This was an experiment and I haven’t actually made this into a card, but here it is anyway:

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leaf stitched onto paper

So, here’s the complete set of scrappy cards (except one, which has already been sent):

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scrappy cards

So, thank you Alys for the inspiration, I’m sure I’ll be making many more.

-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 other folks often publish a ScrapHappy post, do check them out:

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan (me), Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie and Bekki

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.

29 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on April 15, 2019  •  Permalink
Posted in craft, Scrap Happy
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by The Snail of Happiness on April 15, 2019

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2019/04/15/scraphappy-april-2019/

A kale tale

At this time of year I start to be rather unenthusiastic about one particular crop, namely kale. It’s a great thing to grow – it provides fresh greens all through the winter from just a few plants and, when freshly picked, it is tender and delicious. But, it goes on for months and so eventually the novelty does wear off.

Yesterday, however, I was inspired. I had made bread rolls and had defrosted some of the delicious pulled pork that I cooked for the winter solstice; I picked winter salad leaves from the garden, made mayonnaise using eggs from the hens and opened a jar of sweet chilli sauce made from our home-grown chillies. However, I really wanted a bit of crunch. And then it dawned on me: kale-slaw. I shredded some kale (including some of the thinner stalks, grated a carrot, chopped the top of a sprouting onion and with the addition of some of the freshly made mayo – a tasty slaw.

Freshly made bread rolls
Kale-slaw
Winter salad leaves

 

12 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on March 20, 2017  •  Permalink
Posted in food and cooking, gardening and growing
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on March 20, 2017

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2017/03/20/a-kale-tale/

ITSA – it’s that snail again!

Just thought I would update you one the progress of the very special snail square. A suggestion from Kate Chiconi inspired me to be a bit more creative with the border for Young at fifty‘s contribution to my masterpiece, and to have a permaculture garden theme – not quite as formal as I first proposed. So, I have made some leaves:

A snail surely need a snack!

A snail surely need a snack!

And I have embroidered some stems:

Rambling stems

Rambling stems

I just need to combine the elements now… but that will have to wait until I’m back from my latest teaching gig!

To entertain me in the evenings whilst I am away, I’m going to make myself a pair of slippers… having completed those for Mr Snail-of-happiness, I couldn’t bear to be without some myself. I’m making them with slightly softer wool (this is from Texere), but for added strength, I’m incorporating a strand of sock yarn. I have chosen a self-patterning yarn, to add variety. I think this combination is going to be a little more gentle on my fingers, but may not be so hard-wearing… time will tell.

The beginnings of another slipper

The beginnings of another slipper

Oh, and I should mention the arrival of more squares this morning… they are up on the masterpiece page (with links), but here’s a little preview:

From Willow

From Willow

From Kate

From Kate

13 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on February 25, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in craft
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on February 25, 2014

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2014/02/25/itsa-its-that-snail-again/

From garden to kitchen

Although it has been a difficult growing season so far, we are starting to harvest a few crops now.

The new chickens are producing eggs already: Aliss lays a small egg nearly every day and these are getting progressively bigger, and Perdy is laying erratically, including one very long thin double yolker and two very small eggs on one day! Esme continues to lay almost every day and Lorna is doing her usual four days on ten days off approach to egg-laying.

The Harvest

Yesterday was, however, a triumph. Apart from a little chorizo, olive oil and black pepper, all of our dinner came out of the garden. No, I lie, two cloves of garlic came from the organic farm down the road. At the end of the afternoon we harvested a few potatoes from the bags in the ‘waste of space‘ area, I collected a variety of salad leaves from my polyculture plot (lettuce, Oriental greens, rocket), some red-veined sorrel (a perennial), rosemary and a ripe Hungarian wax pepper from the greenhouse. Added to the eggs from the past few day, this looked like the ingredients for a whole meal.

And so it was – chorizo omelette with rosemary and garlic potatoes and a green(ish) salad spiced up with a sliced Hungarian wax pepper. A roaring success and on a sunny day too.

Of course, it’s raining again now, but at least the raised beds are helping to avoid waterlogging.

The end-product

3 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on July 6, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in food and cooking, gardening and growing
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on July 6, 2012

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2012/07/06/garden-to-kitchen/

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