I've been tagged.

It has been interesting these last few days since Jenny tagged me, trying to think of seven things about myself. Seven things isn't too hard, its the thought of trying to make it interesting.

Also the thought of sending the challenge on to others. Who to send the tag to? So many of the people I initially thought of have already been tagged............... and recently too!
I shall send emails to those I would like to tag and then come back to mention their names here, when they have agreed.

Seven things about me:

1. Well, I love cats, dogs too. I have two gorgeous felines - now aged eleven, they are loving and dear friends and companions. All my life I have been lucky enough to have been surrounded by really affectionate cats and dogs. My mother has a delightful photo of me in my pram, being chaparoned by Whiskey the cat and Kimmy, the dog. Both were black and white, great friends and took it in turns to guard me in my pram.

2. Music is another passion. I love playing music as well as listening. My tastes are decidedly eclectic - varying from Early Music (pre 1750) to Folk Music. I'm guided by my mood at the time of listening.

3. Textiles - I always have some projects on the go at the same time. or example at the moment I have the following projects: a knitted tunic, a shopping bag - the rebuild which has previously been mentioned, the black, red and white quilt and a japanese quilt which I have taken out of storage (it has been in a cupboard for over a year, waiting for something to be done to it.)

4. Family - need I say more? The support of my family (and friends) means such a lot to me.

5. Home - I love the area in which I live. We are lucky to have some wonderful areas to just go and have a walk or a cycle ride.

6. Podcasts - I love listening to these whenever I am working. I have learnt so much as a result of listening. Thanks to all podcasters out there.

7. Radio - I suppose this follows on from the podcasts. Though really I have always been a big fan of the radio. The podcasts have come along far more recently. My big favourites are BBC7 with its wide range of broadcasts stories and comedy shows, and Oneword - a broadcaster with a very similar range of programming.

Still here

Its been a while since the last posting - its been a busy, but not terribly creative time!


Firstly, this is a photograph of the Band Robin which I completed for my friend Ktj:



Its just arrived, I'm relieved to say. Its always a heart-stopping moment when a piece of work is passed on to Bob at the Post Office. He is very kind, but it is nerve-wracking especially when it usually takes around two weeks to get to the USA from here.
The next photo shows a detail of the section I did - its the lowest one on the photo. Here is a close-up.



The section above mine is the most enchanting design I've ever seen. Its based on a knot garden. This was stitched by Margaret.
I was blown away by Margaret's design when I received this. It took me some time to catch my breath and explore ideas. Luckily, the cherry blossom was just coming into flower in the gardens around my house..,. Hence the design. I kept it simple. The sketch below is the one I used for the Band Robin.






The other photos are ones I took as references. First, the flowers:



Now the bark:



I really love the texture of the bark, so used french knots and bullion knots to try to imitate this.
At present everything else is continuing quite slowly. I still have not finished the shopping bag. It is sitting next to me, the side seams are all stitched, with the bindings pinned. These need to be handstitched in place.
Why is it that I always prevaricate with the last bits of anything I work on? It seems to happen with everything I make. Whatever it is, it sits there for at least a couple of days before I get around to finishing off the last touches. How silly..........
Oh yes, the new piece of knitting is carrying on. I have ripped it back three times so far. I kept on misreading the instructions! Its been far too many years since I last knitted lace.

Making repairs - creatively.

Well, my cardigan got finished this week - Aggie is acting as the model here. The Rowan Tapestry yarn that I used is just so soft and comfortable to wear. The design is "Heath" by Sarah Hatton from the "Tapestry Collection" book.




Sadly, the weather is getting a little warm for wearing this just now, but it will be just right for a cooler evening. I can see myself sitting out in the garden, knitting............ Ooh yes!



This is the start of my new knitting project. I have already ripped this back twice when I got the lace design all scrambled. I resorted to underlining all the instructions I should be reading to make sure I wasn't following the wrong details. The yarn is Jaegar Trinity, which is really soft to knit with. The design is also from the Jaegar book, JB 25 which gives 15 designs by Martin Storey. As you might recall this started out originally as a cardigan.

The rebuilding of my shopping bag has been continuing too. Not sure what Coco is thinking here - probably wondering what these are doing next to her bed. (Well, it was her brother's sleeping place, but now she has claimed it for her own! She does let him share......... sometimes.)

Each of the four sides started off looking a bit like this - a mix of oddments of furnishing fabric and remnants of the jute from the original bag.

Then I added some lettering, first writing it out on some stitch and tear. Then pinning this over the top of some satiny upholstery fabric I found in the stash. Yes, my stash is embarrassing large.

Some free machine embroidery and tearing off the paper later and it turned out like this.

I enjoyed myself messing around with slogans. The 3Rs refer to the recycling mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle. The +1 just refers to my addition of the term "repair". Sometimes needed if you are going to reuse something..... I added the cats and Snoopy, just as a bit of fun. They had been intended for a handbag - but I can always go and get some more.......
A dangerous thought, venturing into my local yarn shop. I seriously doubt if I will be able to come out again with just the replacement motifs...........

Having fun!

The weather is nice this afternoon, although it was raining hard this morning. I just couldn't stay indoors, so I took my feltmaking outside. Its been such fun!

Its the Half Term holiday, so I am able to indulge myself. Trying to fit in as many projects as I can before school starts again on Monday.






This is the feltmaking I took outside. Its the piece of felt I told you about in my last Blog entry. All the felt sections have now been cut up, rearranged, bits added and ready for felting. It was such a lovely change to get outside and work. It wasn't too windy and I was able to enjoy listening to the birds singing. It was so nice to hear children having fun in a nearby garden too. I am lucky to live in a village where there is no main through road, so its really peaceful.






Another project I have been working on today is to rebuild a shopping bag.

I had three of these gorgeous bags. (Coco is sitting beside my remaining two.) I use them for shopping, temporary storage of files and papers and so on. The handles are so well-made and exactly right for holding even when the bag is full and heavy.

One had been lined by me after the plastic casing on the inside failed and the bag started going into holes in rather awkward places. I had added a rather useful zipped pocket in the lining, the only thing I felt the bag design lacked. The fabric I used was a piece of furnishing fabric from my stash. Even the zip was one I found amongst my collection of "useful things".

Sadly, the bag deteriorated even further and I could no longer use it. The handles were really the only useable part - they were still as good as new - so comfy to hold too. I just could not throw it away, so decided to take the bag to pieces and rebuild it around the lining I had taken out.






I kept as much of the jute outer fabric as I could, and pieced it with more furnishing fabric from my stash. To reinforce the resulting pieces, I have sewn them onto some sturdy cotton fabric I had found on sale some months ago. This wonderful fabric was supposed to be a cover sheet for decorating! Why is it that people buy new fabric for this task? I find old almost-worn-out sheets perfectly good enough...................

Ah well, I shall post some more photos when I have got further advanced with this project.

The cardigan is now almost finished. I have started to sew it all up, so should be able to post some pictures of this soon.

Felt and knitting.

Well, I managed to get the felting done - I have now prepared two prefelts ready for tomorrow evening. The third (the darkest one) was prefelted during the course last week.

As you can see from the photos I have added stitching too. Theres a variegated woollen thread which I hope will felt into the background, a metallic thread which might just cockle and a synthetic thread which is very silky - I'm not sure how that will react to the next stage. The prefelts will now be cut up and rearranged, with other bits of wool and prefelts added. The resulting large piece will then be felted. A rather interesting evening to come......... Monday evenings are when I go to the Textiles course. I have been learning a lot about felting, the use of stiffening solution and soluble fabric. As well as playing around with different threads which I had never used before.

The cardigan is now halfway up the first sleeve. Its so useful to have the knitting or some stitching around when waiting for Blogger to upload photos........

This gorgeous Rhododendron is in full flower and is such a joy to see when I'm at the kitchen sink.

Feltmaking and carding.

Two posts so close together? Just feeling so excited, just had to share..........

I had loads of fun last night at the Textile Course. The little bowl got completed, it was first soaked to remove the water soluble fabric, then, whilst still wet, soaked in a solution (half water, half stiffening liquid) of Stiffy.

But then Ruth, our Tutor, surprised me with a give-away comment. "Now what about some beads." She was right, it does need something. Ruth, you have started me thinking. Beads......... now which colours............sparkly or plain.......... Its dangerous, thinking............

Now, not only did we finish those little bowls, we got to do some more feltmaking. This time we were introduced to the pleasures of carding. For me this was a first. I wasn't too keen on the carding itself, but loved the mixtures of colours which could be achieved. Magic...........

This was some of the range of wool colours I had started with. We were asked to find a collection of light, middle and darks.

The piece of prefelt (lightly felted wool) below is the result of felting my carded dark colours. The next stage with this is to introduce some handstitching.

I have some homework to do this week - to get my light and middle collections of carded wool to the prefelt stage. This will be great fun to do, however............... its such a messy process that I might have to set up a table out in the garden and get the work done there. The tiled floor of my kitchen is definitely not the safest place to get any felting done. I'm sure its probably me, but I get water splashed everywhere!

Knitting.

So sorry it has taken me such a time to add another post to my Blog. Since my last post, I have been busily knitting my cardigan. To start with, I ended up unravelling the back - I'd found a really silly mistake! Typical!! I had not started the back as instructed. It should have had four rows of garter stitch, but I had knitted four rows of stocking stitch. So now I have got the back completed once more, finished the left front and started the right front.
The photo shows where I have got to on the right front. The pattern beneath is the cardigan I am making. The design is called "Heath". A rather different style for me, but I am looking forward to being able to wear it.



Getting all this done, I made the decision to rip back all the part-knitted cardigan. It makes far more sense to do this since I cannot see myself actually wearing that cardigan should I ever get round to finishing it. There is a rather nice tunic-style summer top in the Jaegar book, so I shall

start that garment after finishing "Heath".

My knitting bag - a Vogue pattern - V7887, it has been made out of an odd piece of upholstery fabric from my stash. The lining is an offcut of curtain lining again from my fabric stash.The pattern is for a gardeners bag, but it makes for a wonderful knitters bag too! Eight pockets round the outside and oodles of space inside. You can just see the part-knitted cardigan which I still have to rip back. The still unfinished Black, White and Red quilt adorns the back of the chair my bag is sitting on.

Tomorrow evening I shall be able to get on with completing my little bowl. It currently sits on this desk with me. I can barely wait to try adding the stiffening liquid. It will be so interesting to see what happens next..........