Daisies, ribbons and even more seed packets!

Rain fell for a sizeable part of the day, so gardening and allotmenting were put aside. I did venture out to take a few photos of the garden. These Mexican daisies are everywhere, blooming away like crazy. The lemon verbena is doing well, and smells heavenly. Such a fresh sharp scent. You can't resist brushing your hand against the leaves as you pass by.

The thyme's covered in little flowers attracting busy bees, the purple of the verbena looks wonderful against the mustardy yellow of the dill with its plentiful umbels. There's the vibrant sunshine yellow of the rudbeckia, the flagrant orange of crocosmia ... a garden, however imperfect, is a blessing, isn't it?

I popped into town for some groceries, and managed a quick rummage in a charity shop too. Picked up this signed copy of 'Tidelands' by Philippa Gregory - I do love a hefty hardback book with a nice dust jacket- as well as a few crafty supples. Four rolls of ribbon, a little sewing kit with pre-threaded needles and these sheets of pearlised adhesive paper. That bundle set me back a grand total of £2.57. A bargain, wouldn't you say? Ribbons are always useful for adding a flourish to present wrapping, and the white and yellow ones are particularly pretty.

The other thing I did today was to continue my experiments with gelli printing, which is getting totally addictive. More seed packets were assembled.

I particularly liked the colour combinations of these two pieces, so stuck 'em in my 'quilt ideas' notebook, where I collect photos and quick sketches and thoughts about quilts I'd like to make in future. I'd love to get some fabric paints and translate these colours and patterns into cloth. I love the raspberry colour on the left, and the blackberry purple with the sludgy green on the right. I can imagine quilting stitches being used to sew around the circular shapes caused by the bubble wrap, making the surface of the quilt resemble the original bubble wrap itself.

Not sure if it'd work, but I'd love a mixture of fabrics in such a quilt - silky material that's printed on, alongside the smooth luxury of velvet. Rich sumptuous shades. Jewel-like colours. Wouldn't that be something?

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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 more the minimal Scandi

Paper flowers, leaves, feathers ...

I had a few requests after posting this photo on Facebook, people asking if I could explain how I made these paper flowers. Your wish is my command, and here's the info. It's all very simple and you don't need any advanced drawing skills. So grab a stack of gell prints, a pair of scissors and off we go! The type of print that seems to work best is one where there's a fair amount of detail, rather than a block of solid plain colour. Prints where you've maybe channelled your inner Elizabeth St. Hilaire and 'layered layered layered' as she's always urging us to do. POPPIES If we start with simple poppy seed heads and stalks, they're cut freehand from paper that's mainly shades of orange and brown. I glued those on to a sheet of white copier paper, then cut them out, leaving a narrow border around each. Backing the gell print with the white paper adds that contrasting border, but also strengthens the piece, especially the thin stalks. I

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. The glue's su

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