rubykittyruby

  I'm in a mood to tidy things up.  It's not often that mood strikes me, so I better make the most of it.  But more of that in a moment.  I'll start off with these embroidered birds.  I'd already made the blue tit, and followed that with a robin.  Now, there's a second robin.  I reckon the first was a more pleasing shape than the second robin.  Plumper and with more character.  But either way I'm fairly happy with how these turned out.  I'm thinking of the robins in terms of Christmas tree decorations, but are they Christmassy enough, do you think?   Sorry to drop the 'C' word in there, by the way.  It seems absurd to think about the festive season when we're not even into summer, but sometimes ideas pop into your head and you just have to go with them.  The other absurdly-timed idea involved a post on Ann Wood's website.  She wrote a blog post about making fabric triangles she called tetra charms.  The link...

  IN THE MORNING:  Greetings from my particular corner of Yorkshire.  The garden's beginning to come to life.  Daffodils are doing their gaudy thing, tulips are just about opening and there're masses of blue hyacinths and muscari (also known as grape hyacinths).  There're clumps of russet and gold coloured wallflowers and the bird feeders are in constant demand from various long tailed and blue tits, starlings and blackbirds, plus the occasional stunning goldfinch.  A jaunty little robin bobs underneath the feeders to catch the scraps that fall their way.  Because it's spring my thoughts turn to spring cleaning.  Then my thoughts turn away from dreary housework and back to sewing ... I made this recently, intended as a journal wrap but turned out a wee bit too small for that purpose.  So I've been turning it into something to keep sewing odds & ends in.   I've folded over one end and stitched in place, to form two pockets. ...

An embroidered fabric cuff is an easy project, and doesn't require any fancy stitches or expensive purchases.  If you're a seasoned crafter you're likely to have the materials already to hand, and possibly the only thing you might buy is a hair band.  But more of that later.   Let's start with the previouis fabric cuff I made.  (On the right in the photo above.)  I was pretty pleased with it, but decided it was too wide (though very good for keeping your wrist warm on a cold day!).  I learned a few things from making my cuff, mainly forget any notion of minimalism.  This cuff works best when you go heavily on the embellishments.  You've a small area to stitch on, so don't skimp on making the most of it.   I made a second version (above left), and here are the instructions if you want to make something similar.   You need to gather together:  2 pieces of felt, measurements discussed below, but mine were 8 inches x 1 ...

  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....