Plans starting to come together.

I've had another busy week. This time managing to get some sewing in - well, the sewing took place yesterday and today. No housework took place. During the week I got on with some knitting.

Sorry, the green here looks rather washed out. This is the Sirdar pattern.

Next comes the Vogue design by Vladimir Teriokhin. This has been such fun to knit so far. It looks a little odd at the top at present because this is where the second v cable starts. Again the colour is not quite right, it has more of a green cast.

Then I was playing with my camera and took these one evening.

Today was such a gorgeous day, that I took these.

Spring is definitely on the way!

With my trusty helper watching from the mending pile (when he wasn't asleep), I sarted getting on with the new quilt.

Its still just a collection of blocks at present, but its getting there. I shall soon have to choose which of my fleece blankets I should choose for the backing.

Plans

At long last I have started knitting again and I have plans for a quilt!


Its been a funny time just lately, far too busy to really get my head together to do any sewing or stitching of any kind Now the sun has come out and today looks really nice outside. I should really be outside enjoying the weather rather than contemplating starting any sewing! I think I should compromise, and take myself off for a walk and then come back to sew a little later on.


Ah!!!





The plant above, a Spathyphyllum, is the latest addition to my workroom. It was given to me last weekend as a birthday present by my younger daughter, Rosie. Its such an elegant plant.


Now, the sewing.
I rather fancy having a couple of quilts I can bundle into the car, ready for sitting on the grass for a picnic. The pattern below, I have had for quite a time now. I really should try it out.




Last weekend, I went to Hobbycraft and found these stripes and checked fabrics. The plan started to come together at long last.






The colours are such fun. Reduced price too! Just couldn't resist.



Then on Thursday, at the Knots and Needles meeting, we had a speaker, Barbara Crompton, who also runs the shop "Material Pleasures". She got all of us doing some English Patchwork using papers. I hadn't done any of this style of patchwork for a very long time. It got me back into sewing again. Thanks Barbara!


She had brought some items from her shop along with her. I found these. Just the right range of colours to go with the bright stripes and checks!




So now, the fabric has been washed and ironed and I am ready to go.........................

Oh yes, yesterday, I went into Aldi and found the perfect yarn for my next cardigan.




The design is by Sirdar for their Click DK range of yarns. The leaflet number is 8956.


The colour I chose? Well, its a rather nice green acrylic. Acrylic? Yes, well this cardi will be used for school and I do like to be able to wash things easily.




As usual, I rather overdid it and bought enough for three garments (3 x 500g!) The other two colours will come in for some other tops and cardigans I really need.


Then, because I was in the mood, I resurrected this pattern by Vladimir Teriokhin. (Vogue Knitting International, Spring / Summer 2008). This is a design I really love, but last time attempted to knit it using the wrong yarn. This time I am using bamboo, just like the original! It feels lovely..........................

A walk

Such a lovely early evening. Took myself off for a walk and took these photos.

Just a short walk, but it was so nice to get outside and into the fresh air.

The lambs gambolling in the field at the back of the village were a real delight to see.

The colours are so bright with the sun just about to go down.

A genteel adventure and other exploits.

Well its been an interesting week. The school has been on Half Term Holiday, usually a good time to try and catch up with all kinds of things. This last week has been no exception.

Apart from sleeping through Saturday (I was so tired, that was literally all I was fit for!) I went to Quiltfest on Sunday. This is an annual exhibition held in the wonderful town of Llangollen in North Wales. The exhibition was wonderful with some really good pieces of work. Nikki Tinkler was the featured quilter this year. Sadly, I have no photos I can share of the wonderful exhibits.

I went to Quiltfest with my friend Hilary. We visited the Traders Bazaar too. I bought this delightful cat print.

The photo above is the rather wonderful globe that hangs outside the entrance to the exhibition hall.

I had a second, rather genteel adventure on Thursday. This was part of the celebrations for my mother's 80th birthday. Mum is an adventurous and delightfully busy person. So it was rather a privilege to be chosen as mum's companion for this treat.

She had been given a couple of vouchers for afternoon tea at the Midland Hotel. This is a rather wonderful building in the centre of Manchester, down near the Manchester Art Gallery.

We decided to stop and explore the Art Gallery whilst we were in Manchester.

We were so lucky! Ten drawings by Leonardo da Vinci were being shown as a special exhibition. Such a wonderful opportunity, it is so rare to be able to actually see these drawings. They are so beautifully detailed and so small. I hadn't realised that they had been drawn on paper made from rags which has helped preserve them so well to this day.

But, on to the main event. This was such an adventure for both of us. Needless to say we had dressed up for our afternoon tea.

First of all, we were escorted to a table for two in the Octagon. We were the asked if we wanted champagne first or with the cakes. This was a complete surprise to both of us. Tea we had been expecting, but not champagne! Well, we started with sandwiches - rather special sandwiches beautifully presented on a plate. We were given a glass of Madeira each too. Delicious.

When we had settled in to enjoy the sandwiches and the madeira, we were brought a pot of tea and cups. We both felt very spoilt by the gently attentive staff.

When the sandwiches had been finished a cake stand was brought to us. There were two levels. The first held a couple of fruit scones, freshly made. These were presented on a plate with butter or clotted cream (a very thick fresh cream, which is solid rather than soft). There was also a small dish of fruit jam (jelly) and a second dish of a mixed fruit compote. So refreshing adding compote to fresh scones. I think I shall try doing this myself.

The second layer held a collection of small cakes - individual portions of carrot cake, and a number of others.

When we had finished with the scones, our attentive waitress returned with two champagne flutes served with half a strawberry.

A magnificent and extremely special treat. I cannot imagine that this was at all inexpensive. The Hotel and it's staff were genuinely kind and helpful and well worth a visit if you can. Just dress appropriately. A visit there is quite an occasion.

I managed to finish Liz's Christmas jumper this week, adding some clips instead of buttons on the front. This is the same design I made some time ago, it is based on the Open-collared Pullover by Elizabeth Zimmermann from her book "Knitter's Almanac".

A quiet week.

The past week has been rather a quiet one on the creative side of things. There has been little opportunity or inclination to knit or sew.
I have managed to complete some repairs to one of Ian's jackets. I had to rebuild a couple of pockets and make minor repairs to the lining. Then restitching some buttons which had fallen off or loosened. This had languished in my mending pile for some time before I got around to working on it.
Another item is also being worked on - a simple woollen skirt I made for myself some years ago. I have started adding a lining, since this had never hung properly - being rather too prone to clinging due to static.
Speaking of linings, I have also cut out and prepared the lining of a bag belonging to one of my friends. Hopefully, I shall have sufficient time this week to complete both these projects.
I had a piece of luck yesterday, finding a piece of tartan fabric in a local Charity shop. The piece is almost three metres long, a really useful length. I am hoping that I can use this to make a dress like that in the recent Sew Hip magazine.

Annual Fabric Sale! ....and a nice surprise.

Last Sunday afternoon, I went to the annual Nantwich Fabric Sale. This happens every January and is a good opportunity to stock up with fabric, books and general bits and pieces. There is usually a small exhibition of quilts too, with some stalls giving information about local courses.

I went along with my friend Hilary, a fellow quilter.

I bought quite a nice collection of fabrics - some to fill in the browns and yellows of my fabric stash.

Also, some reds and a couple of patterned fat quarters. The first of these is a Japanese print, which will go nicely with the Japanese themed quilt I have languishing in my WISP collection. The second, I really could not resist. It is a black and white Art Nouveau Alphabet. I have no idea when I shall use this, but it really pleads to be put into something.

Then there was the book stall. This was wonderful. I bought four books.

All of these were amongst the many second-hand books there. The Samplers book has such a wonderful cover with some really inspirational Blackwork designs. The second book will go into my small collection of old DMC books. It also has some wonderful designs there which I can see myself adapting.

Then I found these two books. I love the idea of making boxes, but have not made many so far. The first book, by Jackie Woolsey is one of those wonderful books which records the techniques ready to be used in whichever way you choose. Perfect. The second may seem a strange choice, but look at the following page from inside.

I just love the swirling design of paisley, having played about with this in the past. These drawings - it is a book of drawings of different paisley designs, just tempting me to start exploring possibilities again. The book is by Gregory Mirow and is one of the Dover Design Library publications.

This week I have been busily knitting Liz's jumper. I gave her the yarn for Christmas with the promise of completing it sometime. Luckily, I didn't make any promises about exactly when it would be complete and she understands my workload..............

This is the design on the front. Plain up until the chest area, it has this design up to the armholes. Then I intend to continue in the darker shade of blue, joining in the sleeves. So far I have got to the halfway stage with the first of the sleeves. Its definitely coming on now. I had been getting so very bored with the plain blue.

This weekend has been very pleasant. We had a visitor staying with us - a friend of my younger daughter. She and I had a lovely chat about various crafts - she is a knitter, sewer and felter! Imagine my surprise when she and Rosie came into my workroom as I started writing this to give me this delightful little present.

As the fabric label states "A very handy little tape measure". I just love the tab with the fish on it! It sits proudly on my shelves, just within reach whenever I need it. How very thoughtful.

Bits and pieces.

I had a lot of fun during the Christmas break trying out different techniques of printing. You may have seen the Cat bag in my last post. This used some of the results of my printing experiments.

The first of these was lino printing. Can you see the daft mistake I made first? Yes, the resulting print will be back to front!



I tried again. This time getting the design right.



I tried printing these with fabric paints, but these were not thick enough. The lino print paint is fine, but since I really would like to print on fabric it really will not do. Back to the drawing board on this one. I shall find a thickener for my fabric paints, or a thicker type. I did not throw out the first lino board that I cut. I decided that, in a pale colour, it would actually be a good foil to the real design.



The other form of printing I played with was potato printing. Such a lot of fun this was. I printed cats paw prints, stars and just a flat potato edge using four colours.
I printed on the unprinted side of a fabric bag I have had for some time. It was one with an advertisement for some kind of alcohol on the other side. Now that the printing of this side is complete, I intend to add a false front to the other side. This will cover the original design and make the bag more useful to me.





Joy of joys, I now have a new tenor recorder! This is the bag it came in. It is a beauty and sounds wonderful. At present I am just playing this in. The recorder is wooden and needs to be played for just ten minutes a day for the first week. The next week it can be fifteen minutes, gradually lengthening playing duration each week until I can play it for forty minutes.



My gorgeous new friend. A Mollenhauer Denner.



This is Salts Mill, Saltaire. The Early Music Shop, where I bought my new recorder is to be found on the ground floor. Its a wonderful place to visit, if you ever have the chance. There is a gallery holding a marvellous David Hockney exhibition.