Candy quilt

I made this quilt for another recent arrival. Astrid arrived a week late a month ago but I only finished the quilt last week. I'm really happy with the bright, fresh pinks and greens, although this photo doesn't show them very well.


This detail provides a better view of the fabrics, which are from Moda's Me and My Sister Designs.

The Saga of the Cat Cushion

I became interested in blackwork many years ago but had difficulty tracking down patterns that I liked, so I turned to the Internet and found this delightful pattern. The site didn't have provision for buying online (this was a long time ago), so I sent an email and the lovely person I dealt with suggested that she could send me the pattern in exchange for some Minnamurra threads, which I did - my first experience of online shopping turned into old-fashioned bartering.

The pattern then languished in my 'things I'm going to do one day' pile for many years but finally bubbled to the surface and is now a cushion adorning my couch.


Sadly, I can't find the site where I got it from. I remember that there was a similar sized owl design, which would make a suitable companion cushion. Oh well, it might turn up sometime.

Collage

I like collage and have long been interested in knowing where to start but I recently saw a video about it over on Pintangle. So last Sunday morning, when I had assignments to mark and the house needed tidying up before the family arrived for lunch, I started work on a collage. It hasn't photographed well - and, of course, there's a lot of room for improvement - but I enjoyed the process of tearing and gluing. I didn't do these things when I was young - I had a deprived childhood. One of the things I learned from the video on Pintangle was to turn off my inner critic and just enjoy the process, which I did. And because I did it in my journal, I didn't have to worry about it being a display piece. I enjoyed the process so much, I'm eager to have another go at it - but I have another busy week at work ahead - but I will be finishing up at one of my jobs, so there's hope things might quieten down soon.

Maeve's quilt

Last weekend I met my youngest great-niece, Maeve, just 6-weeks-old today. She's a very cute and cuddly baby. This is the quilt I made for her and, although she's a bit young to appreciate it, her parents liked it.

Words, words, words

The Save the Words website aims to preserve words that are in danger of falling into disuse. While some words should perhaps be allowed to sink without trace, others are well worth preserving. In any event, the website was the inspiration for these cushions.

My friend, Chris, who alerted me to the existence of the Save the Words site, recently did some major renovations to her house and I decided to combine her love of words, my new 5D software and my Husqvarna Diamond Designer machine to make a house-warming gift with a difference. I was still toying with the idea when she rang and invited us to dinner tonight, so the project catapulted up my priority list. I'm still learning how to use both the software and the machine - and to get them to talk to each other - but, despite a few teething problems, I managed to produce these cushions.

The first cushion includes such delights of the English language as dodrantal, redamancy, flosculation, affictitious, trajectitious and vacivity.


The second features keleusmatically, tantuple, rhodologist, drollic, frutescent and secability, as well as other equally arcane words. I recommend a visit to Save the Word for meanings and further endangered words.

Poppy journal

Last year, I decided to make a handbag featuring a poppy motif. After doing a sample piece and a couple of attempts at the bag, I abandoned the project. (Along the way, I learned that some tear-away stabilisers can leave lots of small fibres behind.)

However, when I made my journal cover for the ACT Textile Arts group holiday challenge, I decided to revise my earlier idea and made a journal cover for my friend Margaret instead. I like journal covers that fully enclose the journal so that loose things don't fall out but I didn't want the closure to have any impact on the poppy, so I opted for a zipper closure - which was as difficult as I thought it would be. Fortunately, Margaret loved it and didn't notice the bits that were a bit wonky.

Knitted scarf

I've been very busy with work for the past few months but I made this scarf for my daughter-in-law. I use a yarn called Entice from Lincraft - it was nylon but very soft and I liked the soft colours. I knitted it up in a K1P1 rib.