I've been tidying up ...

Usually, if there's something to do other than cleaning & tidying I'll ditch the housework and have fun elsewhere. But occasionally you have to accept the inevitable and drag the vacuum cleaner around. My sitting room was looking like a bombsite, overflowing with crafty stuff, while the front bedroom wasn't much better. That was being used as a dumping ground for the crafty overflow. I blitzed both rooms, brushing carpets, wiping surfaces, binning what wasn't worth keeping and bagging up unwanted stuff for the charity shop. I also rearranged my bookshelves. Bringing together from various places all my craft books and - blimey! - I seem to have acquired rather a lot. I didn't realise I'd amassed so many.

Well, I shouldn't run out of inspiration any time soon, should I? Not with all those reference books to hand. I also shouldn't buy any more books for a while ...

I bundled lots of paper scraps into this pink storage tub, then played around with an idea I'd seen on Instagram, for making homemade washi tape (of a sort).

That diverted me for a few minutes. (I'm easily distracted.)

You can stencil and use ink pads and printing stamps to add interest to your tape. I would've made more, but I needed to crack on with the cleaning.

With a tidier house and a virtuous, even slightly smug glow, I settled down to my stitching. This little fishy piece is nearly done. The colours are more vivid than in the photo, which has kind of washed them out.

This is another completed page for the Ann Wood 100 days stitchbook challenge, and below is the page I'm currently working on. Day 67, would you believe! I'm so looking forward to making up my fabric book and seeing all the pages displayed together.

Anyway, there's not much more to tell you, so I'll keep this blog post short and (reasonably) sweet. Having finished reading 'The Mad Women's Ball', set in France, I've returned to 15th century England and Philippa Gregory 'The Kingmaker's Daughter'. It's about Anne Neville, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, who grows up to marry the man who'll inherit the throne and become Richard III. Once I've read that I'll only have a dozen books on my once-towering To-Be-Read pile. Slowly but surely I'm getting through them.

Hope you're well and enjoying the Spring weather (assuming it's springtime for you too, that is.) Bye for now.

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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....

In praise of wool

Just a quick post today. I'm offering you a short but peaceful break from the overwhelmingness (is that a word?) of Christmas. By now you've probably eaten your bodyweight in sweets//roast potatoes/pigs in blankets/cake/After Eights ... whatever your festive indulgences are. You're under-exericsed, over-stimulated, feeling broke and possibly guilty about an argument with a relative or friend you've never entirely got on with. So, here's something to take your mind off all that. I've two videos to refresh and revive, and they both concern wool. Interesting fact. Well, I found it interesting. About 1% - yup, one per cent - of the world's textiles are made of wool. Out of curiosity, I also googled how much is made of cotton. That's higher, but it's only about 24% and that's heading downward instead of up. Synthetic fibres are the bulk of all textile manufacture. Anyway, back to woolly wonders. My firs...

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 ...

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