Let Cities Grow, Inktense dyed threads and more charity shop finds

It's a grey Sunday afternoon, and we've had drizzly rain all day. I walked to church and back this morning, then it was pyjamas on at a ridiculously early time and to heck with anyone who called around unexpectedly! I spent the afternoon stitching, finishing what I'd intended to be a journal wrap but which might end up as something else. I'll photograph it tomorrow when the light's better. Yesterday I added backing fabric and hanging loops to my mini banner, the one I made after the Stitch Art workshop at Leeds Art Gallery.

I also added a few beads to the bottom of the banner, to help it hang nicely. The beads are fairly ugly grey metallic things that'd come in a scrap pack. They're quite weighty for their size, and I'd wondered what possible use I could find for them. Well, as usual, if you hang on to stuff, eventually that becomes clear.

These are two more attempts at dyeing white crochet cotton with Inktense. I applied more paint for a bolder colour, but again I had blue/green paint coming off the dry, supposedly colourfast thread, so I next time I'll try putting the newly dyed thread in the microwave to dry and seal the colour, instead of trying to iron it. If that makes sense? (UPDATE: Apparently, Inktense doesn't need heat to set it. Just been informed that by a Facebook user. I googled it and I think she's right. Which doesn't change the fact some colour's been coming off the thread once it's dry. Hmmmm, more experimentation is needed.)

I messed about with a slow stitch square, just randomly adding pink and green fabric scraps to a 4 inch square calico backing. Annie Claxton (from ArtyFartyAnnie on Facebook and YouTube) is organising a slow stitching swap from April onwards, and I made this square with that in mind. Then decided it wasn't good enough to swap, so stuck it in a journal instead.

But I might use the colours as a jumping-off point for something more thought-out that might be good enough to swap, so I don't feel my time was wasted. Finally, I thought I'd share a nice little haul from a local charity shop. Because I'm really in need of more books to read ... ha! As if! But I couldn't resist three interesting looking novels and a craft book, £4.50 for the lot.

Hope your weekend's been enjoyable, I'm about to tuck into a huge bowl of pasta so I'll say goodbye for now. Bye!

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Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

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....

Another week's flown by ...

Saturday's rolled around again, and it's not been the most eventful of days. Cleaning and hoovering, a walk to the shops to buy groceries, an hour on the allotment, then home to do some odd tasks in the garden. The strawberry plants are sending out runners, so I've been dealing with those, plus deadheading the perennial sunflowers, and cutting back the gone-over flowers on the sage and marjoram. I'm sad to see those blooms gone as the bees loved them. This afternoon I spent a few hours finishing 'Dawnlands' by Philippa Gregory. It's a really good book, a page turner where you care about the characters and want to be reassured everything's going to work out well for them. Plus you become enraged about the corruption of the so-called justice system at the time of the Stuart kings and queens, about transportation of prisoners to the West Indies, and about the vile nature of the sugar trade in the 1600s and the vast profits made from it....

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