I've just published a new pattern for a Log Play House. It is designed using thick wool felt and can be made by a confident beginner. More details about how to make it are here in my Etsy shop.

I loved making this pattern, though it has been in the pipeline for a surprisingly long time! The little people have been constantly spotting it in my studio and asking me can they play with it, being told over and over: no, not until I photograph it!

I love the sculptural qualities of thick wool felt and had a lot of fun with the roots and branch, getting them to look rooty and branchy! I think I have a bit of an obsession with branches and logs. There are other branch patterns in the pipeline and this one is also a favourite. I have also been known to move country with a collection of interesting sticks in tow. Perhaps this obsession is hereditary as my son constantly collects sticks. He even went through a phase of stealing interesting pieces of firewood from the log basket to hoard as if they were treasure. There is something extremely pleasing about a nice stick! So with this pattern, it is time again to celebrate the humble LOG!

There is a third birthday coming up in our house for a wee man who is totally obsessed by tools. My parents are amazed in shops when he runs past the toy section and straight to the tool section and starts picking up the most heavy and dangerous tools he can find and naming them all with pure excitement in his voice.

So a tool belt was called for. And instead of trying to design one, as is my habit, I called on the internets for help and found this great tutorial for a child's tool belt. It is clever and simply written. And it was so nice to just follow someone else's written instructions for once and not worry about size!

I made it in corduroy and lined it with a cotton/linen mix, but I'm sorry I didn't put interfacing in to help the corduroy keep its shape a bit better.

Instead of making a belt I used one I had to hand - originally purchased at a pride parade in Sligo. And with the extremely amazing and emotional week that it has been, seeing our small and traditionally Catholic country vote emphatically for gay marriage - it seems highly apt.