Mothers Day.

Here in England it has been Mother's Day today. It has been so nice to see both my daughters together this weekend - a rather rare event these days.





My elder daughter gave me this delightful little cat by Jenny Winstanley. Its eyes seem to follow me in such a friendly way. I am keeping it in my workroom. I'm not sure what Felix and Coco will make of it when they finally see it. My younger daughter gave me a lovely box of chocolates. I shall enjoy indulging myself with those later.






This book was a lucky find in a Charity shop yesterday. The illustrations are gorgeous, full of inspiration. Such a variety of pattern. The following photographs show two pages chosen completely at random.







I do so love richly illustrated books like this. Tiles give such a wealth of repeated patterns. I can see myself using these as the basis for an applique design.






Last time, I showed the start of this little box. It is basically Japanese Folded patchwork, but the "centre" has been added on top instead of inside the main fabric. I've added stitching and buttons to each side and to the top. The top itself is attached to the main body of the box by a hinge made of tubular beads stitched through to create the join.






It was fun to make with very little stitching needed to hold the whole thing together. Not sure what I shall use it for, but it looks pretty on a shelf for now.



I have been continuing with the knitting. Both the sweaters are now close to completion. The aran sweater is just needing the neck to be started. Shown here are the sleeves. I have not followed the pattern with these, preferring to make them match the front and back. (The original design had sleeves with the narrow cable running up the centre of the sleeve surrounded by double moss stitch.)






Liz's jumper is coming along well too. It now has around half of the second sleeve yet to be completed. Then I will only have the cowl neck to complete. The design is the Placed Cable Aran by Cathy Payson from the Fall 2007 edition of Interweave Knits.