Will it ever rain again?

Another sunny day, and it's amazing the countryside's so green & lush when we've not had more than the merest sprinkle of raindrops for the best part of two months. I was hoping for a bumper crop of strawberries on my allotment, but the plants are desperately thirsty and I don't reckon I'll be scoffing bowlfuls of plump, juicy berries this year.

But at least the foxgloves are almost ready to flower, and they've self-seeded everywhere. It should be quite a show.

A couple of years ago, at least, I planted a packet of red clover seeds, and not a single one germinated. Then, low and behold, look what's popped up. The seeds must've been lying dormant until conditions suited them.

A patch of this also appeared. I know it's a plant classed as a 'green manure' as it's good for the soil, but can't recall it's actual name. However, it's a bee magnet. They absolutely love it, and we've all got to do our bit to help the pollinators, haven't we?

Back at home, I've been happily crafting. I used a piece of acrylic painted material from Wednesday's StitchArt class, embroidering and slow-stitching this fabric tag. I've added seed beads, tiny gold sequins and a few scraps of sari silk and ribbon too.

Today I put my needle and threads aside, and instead took up the scissors and glue stick. Look at this mess! I was having fun with making and decorating junk journals, using lots of the food packaging and plastic clothing labels I'd squirrelled away.

I made a whole stack of tags and journal cards, covering many in gell prints.

It's amazing how engrossed you can become in cutting and pasting and finding ingenious ways to add interest to a page.

One final photo before I go. I nipped into my local charity shop on Saturday, and for the princely sum of 50 pence picked up this handsome hardback. A book that's been on my 'must read' list for ages.

Not that I'll read it anytime soon. It can wait until the dark nights and frosts make their reappearance much later in the year. Blazing sunny days just aren't suitable for ghost stories, are they?

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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...

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....

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...

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