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Blue skies and sunshine

The foxgloves are flowering, the days are warm and sunny, its light until late into the evening, what's not to like about this time of year?  Coats and scarves can stay in the wardrobe, though the only downside is I can't keep wearing boots and must break out the sandals.  Better give myself a pedicure before I show these trotters to the world though!  

Okay, here's a quick round-up of Friday, Saturday and today's fabric postcards for my '31 days in May' challenge.  

This is Friday's, under construction.  I had the urge to play about with crosses.  


Friday's completed piece.  

I like using a mix of denim and cottons as you get a pleasing difference in textures.  Saturday's postcard was another play on using crosses.  This contained upcycled tartan patterned material from a skirt (bought in the eighties from the now defunct Chelsea Girl) and scraps from a mens tie.  

I'm really pleased with the darker colours of this, as well as the scrappy crosses.  It doesn't matter that they're a bit wonky, that adds to the effect.  There're definitely ideas here I want to translate into a larger piece of patchwork.  

Let's round up this craftiness with today's offering.  


I do like a skinny black & white inserted stripe.  Those colours go well with green, and the postcard looks good against the luminous quilt ruler.  

Here are all the fabric 6 x 4 postcards I've made so far.  

And now you've seen those, how about a few more outdoor photos?  In the front garden the thyme's a mass of tiny flowers.  
The poached egg flowers - can't remember their fancy-pants official name - are out in force.  
This isn't a great photo, but the first of the oriental poppies is making an appearance.  It looks orange in this image, but it's a deep red in real life.  
There's borage in the garden, mixed in among the delicate Love-in-a-Mist.  
There are Shasta daisies popping up everywhere.  
Near the front door is what looks like a stone trough containing rosemary, chives and sage.  It's actually just four blocks of weathered looking stone pushed together and filled with soil.  The herbs don't mind the dry, somewhat sparse conditions and seem to flourish here.  
Okay, let's head indoors again.  I spent a very enjoyable time this Sunday morning playing with printing on fabric.  I'd seen an image on Instagram of a pattern made by using bubble wrap, so wanted to have a go myself.  Once again my dining table looked chaotic.  
The bubble wrap worked well, as did some blocks I'd got from - inevitably - a charity shop, bought for a fraction of the price they originally cost.  I used both acrylic paint and an ink pad in gorgeous oranges and yellow.  Both calico and silkier materials were printed on, and the designs looked very effective.  I'll incorporate them into a patchwork, not sure how yet.  


It's such good fun, playing around like a kid!  Don't you find?  



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