The irises are flowering

Irises are the strangest looking flowers, aren't they? These purple ones on my allotment are flowering, and they're such a beautiful colour.

There aren't many flowers on my plot at the moment. The hyacinths have finished, the tulips are nearly over, but the Love-in-a-mist are about to emerge in their jewel-like shades of pink, purple and blue. Also the vivid orange of Calendula. That should keep the bees happy and well fed.

Back at home, I've been finishing a couple of crafty projects that've hung around for too long. I stretched this fishy embroidery over a square of cardboard, then added a felt backing and a hanging loop. (Funny, but until I took this photo I never realised the doors on the bookcase weren't hanging entirely level. How could I not have noticed?)

I also made the stripey binding for this wall hanging.

It's waiting for me to hang it on the wall, which I will get around to. Honestly, I will!

I had another session playing around the paints and the gell plate, and in particular adding colour to this padded envelope, with the idea of eventually making it into a junk journal cover.

I made some painty papers, including printing on tracing paper which works really well.

The padded envelope ended up red and gold, and a lot brighter than it appears in this photo, which has bleached out a lot of the colour. I don't know the theory of why cameras don't always capture the colour as we see it. Maybe I should google that?

I also slow-stitched a little fabric brooch. It's got the tiniest gold sequins, part of a vintage earring and a scrap of printed cotton with 'Why not?' on it. Again, the colour's not as bold in the picture as on the actual brooch.

It's backed with this lovely tweed. Wish I had more of it.

Oh, one more daft little thing - I finally found a good use for the metal bobbins I've kept from my previous sewing machine. I can't use them in my current machine as they're the wrong size and are metal, not plastic. But I realised I can use them as beads, of a kind. I added one to the tie on this journal. It works pretty well, don't you think?

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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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