The month is galloping by

It was a day of sunshine and showers. The windy weather over the last few days has blown the petals off a few tulips, but most are intact. I've got several varieties, mainly vibrant shades of pink, purple and orange. Nothing too fancy as most of my bulbs - tulips, daffs and hyacinths - originally come from either Lidl or Wilko. Everything's coming to life in the garden now, including bluebells and even some cowslips in the rectangle of dandelions, moss, clover and a few clumps of grass that I optimistically label a lawn.

I hand-tied a quilt made for a relative's birthday present this morning, which was a task that needed doing. However, and very annoyingly, I found a seam where I'd not caught a raw edge of a block, so had to think up a way to disguise it. A trio of buttons has hopefully done the trick, and my mistake will go unnoticed.

Yodel finally delivered a parcel today, an impulse purchase from eBay of 22 mens ties. 14 of them are 100% silk. There are only a couple I'm not keen on the pattern/colour, though I'm sure I'll still find a use for them. When I've tackled some of the mountain of still-to-be-finished projects I've got half-completed I'll start arranging the ties to make cushion covers, though I'll need to do some unpicking first.

What else? Oh yes, I finished 'Still Life' and have begun reading 'Dark Aemilia' by Sally O'Reilly. It's set in 16th century London, and features Shakespeare and his so-called 'dark lady'. I haven't got too far into it, but it's looking very promising.

Okay, time to lounge on the sofa in pyjamas, drink tea and watch something on the iplayer. I'm currently re-watching episodes of 'Wisting'. Not a laugh a minute, but I do enjoy some Scandi style noir. Reminds me of when I used to be hooked on 'The Killing'. Sarah Lund and that distinctive jumper of hers. Remember that?

Have a good evening.

Comments

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....

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 ...

HOW TO MAKE: a petal gift bag

These petal gift bags are ridiculously quick to make and really pretty. I can't claim the idea's orginally mine - see Instragram for the source - but here's how I made them. The first bag was the one at the top of this photo, so choosing fabric was trial and error. I went for two prints, though the second bag - with the peppermint green material - shows you're better off choosing a plain and a patterned. Anyway, here goes with my first attempt, I picked green floral for my background and pink flowers for the petals. These cotton squares are 7 inches. Put the squares right sides together, sew all around 'em but leaving a gap of an inch or so unstitched. (I used a sewing machine, but hand-sew if you'd rather.) Trim a notch off each corner, turn rights sides out, poke out the corners and sew the gap closed. You might want to give it a press with the iron too. With the fabric you've picked for the petals fa...

rubykittyruby

Search This Blog