rubykittyruby

I haven't posted for a while, and can't give you any good reason for that.  Day to day life gets in the way sometimes. Odd jobs and irritating tasks need doing, and sometimes have to take precedent over taking pictures and wittering away on Blogger.   Well, we managed to miss the worst of Storm Babet in this part of Yorkshire.  The rain fell continuously for an entire day, and I discovered there was a tiny gap at the top of the sliding glass doors leading to the conservatory, and through that tiny gap rain dripped down for hours!  I can't complain though, can I?  I mean, all I needed to do was deal with several sheets of soggy newspaper and a few damp cloths.  Nothing compared to the poor people whose houses have flooded.  I can't imagine how awful that'd be.   Today's foggy.  It's nearly lunchtime and it's not fully lifted.  I've been indoors this morning, happily splashing acrylic paint around and producing yet more prints us...

  Can you believe it's halfway through the month already?  The days have certainly got colder, and my woolly jumpers are emerging from the wardrobe, along with gloves and a pink cashmere and silk pashmina picked up for about three quid in a charity shop.  One of my better finds.  I've got a few things to blog about today, so I'll crack on.  As it's Wednesday I'll review a craft book.  This time it's Maria Shell's 'Improv Patchwork.'  As you can see from the cover, it's subtitled 'Dynamic Quilts made with Line & Shape', and that's pretty much what the book showcases.   It's full of colour photographs, and if you're a fan of modern improv quilts, and stripes in particular, it's the book for you.  It's a comprehensive book, going into a good amount of detail, as can be seen from the contents pages above.  There are some craft books that're ideal for browsing.  Flicking through, looking longingly at glossy photogra...

It's going to be a lengthy post today as yesterday I couldn't load photos for some reason, so this is Friday's and Saturday's blog post in one fell swoop.  I woke this morning to the grumbling of the central heating firing up for the first time this autumn.  That's not a pleasing sound. I mean, I like to be toasty warm as much as the next person, but - oh! - the heating bills.  I'm not looking forward to those this winter.   Anyway, on to cheerier matters.  I've got a couple of 'makes' for you today, the second being especially speedy to do.  First off, here's a Christmas decoration to make well ahead of the festive season.  It was fun to sew, but next time I'll probably use felt instead of velvet.  Much easier to handle, and less prone to shedding bobbles of fibre that scatter over the carpet and have to be hoovered up.   What you'll need in terms of materials:    Two small pieces of black velvet (or a similar fabric if y...