Growing like topsy ...

I thought I'd start with a round-up of what's growing on the allotment and in the garden. These hollyhocks have suddenly bloomed, and isn't that a glorious pink? The leaves do tend to get rust spots, which is a shame when the flowers are so beautiful.

Also on the allotment are evening primrose, dotted around where they've self-seeded, growing here among a sea of seed pods.

The marjoram's flowering too, and will be a bee magnet. They love it.

I think these white flowers are mallows.

The apple tree's going to provide plenty of fruit.

Should be lots of blackberries too. I know I can gather them from the hedgerows, but cultivated ones tend to be more productive than their wild counterparts.

Redcurrants are ripening.

Blackcurrants too.

Gooseberries too, or goose-gogs as we always called them.

In my front garden the valerian is everywhere, another favourite with the bees.

Astrantia, also known as Hattie's pin cushion, mixing with the vivid purple of catananche.

These orange flowers are, I think, commonly called fox & cubs. I never planted them, so the birds must've bought the seeds in.

Mexican daisies are a cheerful addition, and great for covering the hard edges of stone walls or paths.

I don't know for sure, but possibly these purple spikes are a perennial called veronica. Love the slender stems.

Apart from pottering about outside I've been messing about indoors too ...

I made this simple boro-inspired bag a while ago, and it's been hanging around, waiting for me to find a suitable strap for it. Well, I had a lightbulb moment yesterday while I was cutting up a charity shopped shirt. Why not repurpose the strips of shirt material where the buttonholes and buttons are?

So that's what I'm doing. I'm leaving the buttons in place, and I think I'll have just about enough length to make a crossbody strap. I'll be a little rough & ready, but that's fine, it fits in with the rest of the bag. I'm rather chuffed with that nifty bit of upcycling. Sometimes I surprise myself!

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Fabric bowls & electrical cables ...

To add to my seemingly never ending list of works-in-progress, I've started making a fabric bowl. Or should I call it a fabric basket? I'm not sure. Anyway, I've made the odd bowl or two before, like this blue & white one that I keep cotton perle in. I decided to use upholstery material, which has both advantages & disadvantages. On the good side, it has a certain stiffness, which helps the bowl stay in shape. On the irritating side, the kind of material I'm using frays like mad, and I'm forever picking up threads off the carpet. The bowl's a simple construction, and I've used a circle of cardboard covered with brown felt for the base. It'll look much better when I've embroidered and stitched into it. I've made a start on that, and appliqued on a rectangle of plum coloured velvet for extra interest. When not stitching, I've been catching up on my reading. I finished C J Sansom's 'Dark Fire'. Real...

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....

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