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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Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out....

What are you watching? Part One

Another cold, bright day, and I spent the morning indoors, reluctantly dragging a vacuum cleaner around before getting down to the nicer task of adding wadding to the back of this patchwork. Backing fabric's now tacked on, and it's ready to be stitched. I also squeezed in some reading. I'm currently immersed in 'Transcription' by ever-excellent Kate Atkinson, who can be relied upon for a well-written book. The book I recently finished - hmm, not so good. I'd fancied a lightweight cosy crime, something easy, quick to read, and picked 'A Pen dipped in Poison' by J.M. Hall. Oh my, I've never come across a story in which so many people sigh. Characters sighing all over the place! There's a fair amount of frowning too, and one character is constantly depicted as stirring a cup of coffee, supposedly to indicate thoughtfulness. Seriously, if I was in a coffee shop with her I'd be snatching that spoon out of her hand and yelling 'For g...

HOW TO MAKE: these decorative birds

I suggested yesterday that I'd run through how to make a fabric bird wall or window hanging (can't think of a snappier title for it than that!) so here goes. I'll start with the first decorative hanging I made. It's something you could make in any colour combination you want, and would look good hanging at a window with translucent beads that'd catch the light I used five birds for this, but you could make it longer if you prefer. (Incidentally, if you're wondering about what's hanging off the bottom on this, it's a metal Christmas decoration, shaped like a lantern. For some reason I thought it looked appropriate to leave it there, looped over the end.) WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO GATHER TOGETHER: Assorted scraps of fabric for the front of the birds - aim for a mix of colours and textures. Silk looks good, as does anything with embroidery or intricate patterns. You might aim for a hippy-ish boho look, or maybe you're ...

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