Normal service is resumed

My smartphone's working again!  Repaired.  New SIM card inserted.  Scratch on the screen but we'll ignore that.  Honestly, I really don't want to become someone who's wedded to their phone, but it's sooo handy.  Checking the weather report before you head outdoors (hello Storm Isha), doing a quick bit of online banking, seeing if your bus in running on time, taking photos of a pretty view or something you're making or doing.  Everyday life is perfectly possible without a smartphone, but the truth is everylife's simply easier with one.  

Anyway, let's show you what I've been up to.  Friday was fun as I'd signed up for a two hour lino cutting class.  As with the session I went to last year, this was at Leeds Art Gallery, and loosely themed around 'fantasy', with special regard to Angela Carter and her re-telling of traditional folk and fairy tales.  

We'd to draw an image of our choice, so I went for a wolf running through a snowy wood.  (You can just see it on the left of the photo above, on a sheet of photocopied images we were given as prompts.)  

I'm not entirely sure you'd know that from what I came up with!  But I had fun and it was a friendly group, and I'll be signing up for the next class too.  The other things I've been up to are definitely indoor-based as it's been too flipping cold outside for any kind of gardening.  

I was really pleased with this mini bunting.  Initially, these triangles were going to be stylised Christmas trees.  No, really!  I was browsing on Ann Wood's site where she generously provides lots of free patterns for cute little 'makes'.  This is the link for making scrappy Christmas trees which I saw and thought I'd like to sew, despite it being January and the festive session a long way off ... Sometimes you have to go where the mood takes you.  I like Ann Wood's use of subtle shades and natural fabrics, but I fancied something snazzier involving shiny glittery pretties.  

However, once I'd sewn my trees, they weren't giving out Christmassy vibes, so I idly wondered about turning them upside down and sewing them into bunting.  It worked perfectly, and they've found a temporary home on my bookcase. 

I've started making a larger version of the bunting to hang on the wall, and will show you that when it's finished.  Projects like this are an ideal way of using up short lengths of ribbon or braid that you don't want to throw away, but you're not sure why you're keeping.  I'm trying for a zero waste approach to crafting, and this bunting ticks the box.  

My last two or three evenings have been spent making and embellishing this fabric cuff.  I'd bought and worn to death a cuff years ago, from Accessorize, and ever since that fell to pieces I've hankered after a new one.  Not finding what I wanted in the shops, I made one. 

It's a first effort, so a learning experience.  I think the secret with these fabric cuffs is to avoid subtlety.  Layer on the fabric, stitch into it and stitch and stitch some more.  

By the way, if anyone's interested in me detailing how I made the cuff, let me know in the comments.  I want to make a second one, not as wide as my first effort, and can write instructions and take pictures as I go if wanted.  It's a really nice exercise in slow stitching, and you only need such tiny scraps of fabric to make your finished piece. 

Okay, that's all for now.  I'm going to curl up on the sofa and read more of 'House of Orphans' while Storm Isha whips the treetops around and hopefully doesn't do too much damage.  Bye!