Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day I hope you have all been pampered by your loved ones. I'm afraid after nearly 40 years mine has lost the art, I did him a small card with a paper pulp heart and I don't really think he appreciated it.
Here is my gift from Tina in the Needlework Haven Sweet Sock exchange.

And here is the gifts I sent to Christine - yes my hand knitted socks and a Neuron which she has named Neville

Moebius Ruffle

Well it started off as a cowl but it just wasn't wide enough so I've added extra ruffles. I just love the colour (even though it doesn't really go with the purple jumper I'm wearing today!)

I used Zauberball Lace weight yarn.

Home

Well we took the long way home yesterday via Skegness (this was a disappointment, wet and miserable). Stopped to look at the Humber Bridge before going over. Then up the coast via Scarborough and Whitby. We stopped for a meal in Guisborough. It was a very long drive and dark before we got home.

One of the first things I did after unpacking the car was to unwrap my two mugs, disappointment again, the one Pete chose was fine but mine should have been black with a red dragon, so rang the shop up this morning and they are going to send mine up and I'll have to post the wrong one - yes it was red with a black dragon and the top was black with a red dragon. Here's Pete's.

While away I did a few pages to a new journal inspired by our few days away. I had painted the pages in preparation before we went away!There's still a bit of room on the first page.

The second page is a painted and printed fabric I did last year. I might add more to that later.

Page three was inspired by the shadows of some twigs I saw on the way back home one night. The poem says

       Winter

           twig

       Shadows

Sun and light

     waving

            in

             the  

               wind

         moving.

Before we went away I forgot to show you my small bag, remember the fabric I showed you? One bought, the other I did some batik work on. Well here is the finished bag and you can see the batik fabric on the inside.

          

Lincoln Day 2

We went to the Castle and the Cathedral

 Yes we went on the roof tour and went right inside the roof space. There were some beautiful views from up there. 


We walked round some of the beautiful shops and I bought two dragon mugs. They are all wrapped up so will take photos when we get home.


With lots of walking and stops for drinks and food the two days have gone by very quickly and today we go home via Skegness and the Humber bridge.

Lincoln day 1

We're down in Lincoln for a few days. 

There are lots of lovely old houses.

And of course the Cathedral.

Lincoln

Any one know of good places to visit in or around Lincoln? We are off there for a few days - my birthday treat. We are self catering in what looks like a great place near the centre. 

TUSAL

Too busy to post this yesterday sorry.

I also knitted two more Neurons

Moebius finish

Well I've finished my Moebius scarf. here are two ways to wear it. the first is twisted twice round the neck and the second shows the actual twist in the scarf.

Knitted Neuron

I've been busy this morning,
1. I made the outside of my bag, still have to stitch the top and make a cord as a handle. 


2. I made a knitted neuron for the Guerrilla knitting at Maker Faire (12/13th March 2011)










3. Did a bit more knitting on a Moebius scarf that I started yesterday 

What I've been up to

Most of what I've been doing I can't show you as it's for a Valentine's Swap. I'm knitting and I'm painting and trying something, just a bit new. Will let you see after the 14th February.
I've also tried a bit of Batik work. Last time I tried it I knew I wasn't very good I drip all over the place. Here is the fabric I created and some of the mop up cloths I painted with the left over dye. It was a synthetic cotton and has bubbled a bit, wish I'd used pure cotton.

It's going to be made into a small bag. I already have the fabric for the lining (Or it may turn into the outside and my blotchy fabric the lining, can't make my mind up! What do you think?)

I got a metre of this fabric ages ago in John Lewis sale box - I thought it was a bargain at £4.95

Gloves revamped

Told you that my fingerless gloves were a bit short so I've now taken the top rib out and made them longer. Their much better now.

Doodles

Thankyou to Marlis Egger for her post on The sketchbook challenge it inspired me after watching Diana Trouts video to go back to my Zentagle (doodle) book that I started in 2009. I had only one page to complete. here are two completed Zentangles and my last Zentangle in progress.

Finished project amended

I decided that my ATCs needed a bit more bling so I've added a small piece of Friendly Plastic - must remember not to leave them on a warm windowsill!

Finished project

I cut the piece once more at 90 degrees and recombined the strips. I put a sheet of Bondaweb on the back and adhered a piece of heavyweight Vylene to the back.

I cut some 3 and 1/4 inch strips. Then cut 2 and 1/2 inch pieces. These I neatened off the edges with a satin stitch on the machine. I still have quite a lot of fabric left. I might make some postcard sized ones. Viola 4 ATCs - Artist Trading Cards.

Part 4

First I cut my stitched piece into strips at 90 degrees to the last cut. I lay the pieces on the floor to keep them in the same order.

I then butted the first two strips up together and offset the pieces slightly stitching them together with a wide fancy stitch.





I continued butting, offsetting and stitching each strip taking care to keep the order correct.  

The piece ended up as a full size complete fabric Notice the offsetting of the strips.

Here you can see the back of the fabric.

New project part 3

Now I ironed the 3rd piece of painted Bondaweb  onto another piece of white cotton.

 Note the difference in size, I used the full sheet this time.

I then cut up the stitched piece and ironed it onto the 3rd piece.

offsetting each strip. Note also that the cuts are always done at 90 degrees to the cut before.

The final part today was to stitch down each of the strips to hold them permanently in place. I discovered that some of the paint on the 3rd large sheet was quite thick and stopped the Bondaweb sticking properly. So I'm pleased I decided to stitch each strip from the beginning. However the stitching was still able to go through the layers quite easily.




Tomorrows work will be slightly differently put together as I have no more painted Bondaweb left. Also the piece I have is quite big now and if I continued in this way the piece would be ginormous!

New project part 2

OK here is the next part of my project

First I ironed a small piece of the painted Bondaweb onto plain white cotton using baking partchment to protect my iron and ironing board.

Then I ironed a slightly larger piece of painted Bondaweb onto another piece of white cotton.

The small piece was cut into 1" strips and keeping the strips in order ironed onto the larger rectangle of painted cotton.

 

Because the Bondaweb is only a temporary fix I then stitched the strips to ensure that they did not peel away from the backing later on.

You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what I'm going to do next!

More painted Bondaweb

I now have three sheets

New project

Well I've started a new project. I'll post pictures as I go along. Who can guess how they will turn out?
Picture one is some painted Bondaweb now sitting and drying.