Ooops! I did it again. Bought yet another book that is ...

I finished reading Ann Patchett's excellent 'The Dutch House' the other day, and started on Sarah Winman's 'Still Life'. Which meant my To-Be-Read pile was a tiny bit smaller. Only now it's not as I succumbed to another charity bookshelf purchase. A lovely hardback copy of Kate Summerscale's 'The Haunting of Alma Fielding'. I am partial to a hardback, just that bit classier than a paperback somehow. Summerscale wrote 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' and I enjoyed that, so I've high hopes of Alma and her mysterious haunting.

'Still Life' is one of those books that you start and immediately feel like you're in safe hands. It's set in 1944 Italy, a meeting between Ulysses, a young British soldier, and Evelyn, a lively 64 year old art historian. The blurb on the back of the book claims it's 'Big-hearted, sweeping and full of unforgettable characters'. Just the ticket, eh?

What else have I been up to today? Lots of sewing. The hoovering went undone, and rainfall meant I'd a valid excuse not to bother with any laundry as it couldn't be pegged out on the washing line. But housework will always wait if there's something crafty to be getting on with.

I added wadding and backing fabric to this -

Forgive the slightly blurry photo. This second view of the same quilt shows the backing's made of two different materials, continuing with that mainly blue theme of the top.

I also started working my way through this quilting book.

Irene Roderick illustrates how she makes a series of different shapes, so I began with skinny lines.

First off, I cut a strip of purple 3/4 of an inch wide, and used that as an insert between two pieces of my dark blue background fabric. Making one long skinny line. Then I made another strip of alternating pieces of purple and blue - rather fiddly to do - and sewed that as an insert. Your eye only sees the skinny purple rectangles as the blue melt into the background.

The next insert is about half and half purple and blue.

After that, I sewed stripes that were angled, varying the width of the inserts, giving a sort of fan shape.

I'm going to try various techniques from the book, mainly using these two colours, and hopefully at the end I'll arrange the odd sized blocks into some kind of overall design. Or at least have a jumping off point for a design.

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Fabric bowls & electrical cables ...

To add to my seemingly never ending list of works-in-progress, I've started making a fabric bowl. Or should I call it a fabric basket? I'm not sure. Anyway, I've made the odd bowl or two before, like this blue & white one that I keep cotton perle in. I decided to use upholstery material, which has both advantages & disadvantages. On the good side, it has a certain stiffness, which helps the bowl stay in shape. On the irritating side, the kind of material I'm using frays like mad, and I'm forever picking up threads off the carpet. The bowl's a simple construction, and I've used a circle of cardboard covered with brown felt for the base. It'll look much better when I've embroidered and stitched into it. I've made a start on that, and appliqued on a rectangle of plum coloured velvet for extra interest. When not stitching, I've been catching up on my reading. I finished C J Sansom's 'Dark Fire'. Real...

Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Another fabric bowl & what's starting to look like a craft room ...

Hello on what's been a beautiful autumn day. Bright blue clear sky, a chilly start but warming up in the afternoon. I've been on a long walk around a local nature reserve, not wanting to stay inside when it's so lovely outdoors. In the last week or so, I've been finishing this fabric bowl, and have started making another. But mainly I've been having a bit of a change-around in my house. I've hauled furniture from one room to another, clutter-cleared cupboards and bagged up things for the charity shop, and generally hoovered and cleaned all those dusty corners. I'd finally made a decision about turning the dumping ground of the front bedroom into a craft room. It's taking shape, though it really has taken some effort. Larger pieces of material are stacked on shelves, grouped into colours. Lower down is my Sissix machine and die cuts, and at the base of the shelving are beads and jewellery making supplies...

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