A little more than nothing

Well, as I metnioned yesterday, today was spent at school sorting the library, so there's not a lot of work to show, though I did remember to take a photo of my scarf - I have knitted one and bit balls of yarn and intend to do a bit more before stopping so that I have enough yarn left for some fringe on the ends. Should be a fun scarf, when it's done. I haven't done a lot of work on it lately, as I've got a number of other hand work things going at the moment - stitching down handles on the basket blocks for the June lotto, stitching the stems for the summer mini quilt, binding on the Hawaiian quilt, the African flying geese blocks - probably more as well!


I also did get some nice post today - a card on the left for the silver and gold swap from Priscilla - it doesn't show quite as well as it might because of the shiny-ness, but it's a fun card. And on the right, my June arch from Alis - isn't it great? Yep, it is!

Tomorrow I hope to do some work myself - a bit of quilting on the Hawaiian quilt perhaps, or working on the June arch I need to make. We'll see what the work will be, but it will be something!

Journal Quilt, Knitting

Ta da - the last day in Ireland, and I have done another journal quilt - this one with a bit of an Irish theme. I have used some of Cathi's fabrics, along with some lace and trim from my scrap bag, as well as a picture of the Rock of Cashel and a feather collected by my DS (who is obsessed with feathers) - and some wild cotton grass from our walk up to the Portroe Millennium Cross. The seashells are actually from a previous visit - collected on a beach somewhere, can't remember precisely, but they seemed apt. And also, a photo of my next knitting projecct, which unfortunately, I can't take in my carryon bag on the plane - too likely to hijack the plane with my wooden knitting needles, I guess. It's just another scarf, but this time I have enough yarn to make it a bit longer and also, put some tassles at the end. Sarah is angling for the other scarf, so I might give in and give it to her - it's not as long as I like, ideally, though I am very fond of the yarn.



And here's my little tree piece with the binding finished, in its new home on Cathi's design wall - along with a piece I made last year (with really bad quilting) and a little heart quilt made by Anne - everyone seems to have one of those but me these days - I shall have to see what Anne would like to swap for one, LOL.

Given that I'm still away from home and all that, I'll do a goals list tomorrow instead of today - i know I accomplished my goals for this week - only one, and that was the journal quilt - but without all my lists and so on, I can't be sure exactly what has a deadline coming up...

Scarf goes travelling...

In the spirit of all the sock with scenic view photos I see on knitting blogs, I offer this gem - my scarf, at the Swiss Cottage outside Cahir. I meant to take a photo of the scarf at the Rock of Cashel, which is even more scenic, but although I had the scarf in my bag, I forgot to take the photo. But if you want to see lots of photos of both Cahir and Cashel, you can check out my flickr album.

We spent the whole day out and about, so there's no real sewing today to speak of - I have put the binding on the little tree piece, helped Cathi work out some paper-piecing, and finished the scarf (Hoorah - a bit short, but very nice, nonetheless, if I do say so myself). Also, yesterday, I made some blocks for the June block lotto on about.com, but I can't show them until Sunday...

Only one more day (or most of it) here and then we shall head home - it's been fun, but I'm sure it will also be nice to be home - it's always good to get back to your own turf - and just think of all the fun post that might be waiting!

Knit-o-rama

Well, the knitting is come along apace - at left, the teddy bear scarf, which is now finished. It looks ok, a little odd in places, particularly where I was practicing increasing and decreasing, but Olivia loves it, and I'm sure it will suit the teddy bear.

I have started a new knitting project - this is a scarf for me, using the yarn from the oddball bin, using large needles (7mm, I think) to create a more lacy effect - for one thing, I like that sort of look, but also, I only have one skein of yarn in that colour, so that will help stretch it. It's a straight knit, nothing fancy, and goes VERY quickly - must be the big needles...

Another addict born? Probably.

Knitting - if you can call it that

OK, now don't laugh. Here it is - I can't really call it my first attempt at knitting as I was taught to knit as a child and did do a little (bad) knitting back in the day. Honestly, I can't say I'm that much improved, LOL, but it's not too bad. It's only a small piece - I cast on 20 stitches (though I think there might be 21 on there now) - and decided I would either pull it all out or give it to one of the kids as a scarf for a teddy (Olivia has now claimed it for one of hers, as it happens).

I've done some garter stitch, some stockinette and a bit of moss stitch as well - my main problem seems to be with tension at the edges, but hopefully, that will improve with practice. One thing we did which I'd never seen before was to cast on a different way - longtail casting on - if I can remember how to do it, I will probably cast on that way all the time in future (presuming I have a future in knitting, that is) as I really like the finished edge it gives.

The best part about doing this here with an experienced knitter is that she can fix all my mistakes as I go along - yeah, Cathi!

Little wings, beaded seas

So, today - didn't do a lot today that can be shown (mostly I tidied the little drawers of bits in my sewing room and put stuff away), except this little set of inchies - there's a new(ish) site I've discovered called Inching Artists, where each week a theme challenge is issued and you can make an inchie (or two, or nine) to that theme to show. Anyway, this week's theme (issued last Tuesday, so I have just snuck in under the wire) was Little Wings. I decided to use some of these butterfly sequins I had knocking about, as a single black inchie I had already made previously, to create a series. These inchies will go to Karen in South Africa shortly as part of a pay-it-forward swap I offered a long time ago (July). I hope she likes butterflies!



On the right, is something I finished a few evenings ago - another scarf, this one with the silk ribbon I bought in Ireland. I love the colour of this scarf, but it does have a tendency to roll up - probably would have worked better to knit it on straight needles (well, wouldn't have worked well for me, but in principle...)






And here's the fibre landscape, finished now (last night) except the finishing, so to speak - I am not quite sure how I am going to edge it, but I think the first order of business is another layer of pelmet vilene for stability, and then perhaps a nice fabric back (fused on) to be pretty. I think I might just trim the edges with a rotary cutter and paint them or something - I think a binding would detract. But then again, perhaps a binding would frame it, like a view from a window. All suggestions will be considered :) The closeup is a bit out of focus, but I thought everyone might like to see the beads in a bit more detail - it's come out just as I wanted, so I'm really pleased with that - don't you love it when something comes out like it looked in your head?



And here's my lonely postal offering today - not much in the post over the last few days... Anyway, this card is from the mask swap, Debbie (in New Zealand) has used a leaf to make a mask. And feathers. Forgot to photo it before I had put it up on the boiler, hence the magnetic clip at the top - not part of the card...

Hats off - or on, rather

Today - the last day before the girls go back to school (Alex won't go back until next week, but it's still an official school night). Ran some errands - post office (including sending my blue & white quilt off to Hever), library, hair trim for Sarah, and then some friends around this afternoon, but despite that, I did actually work on the stripes postcards this morning - got up to the edging, but no photos. I'll photo them tomorrow, as I'm sure I'll finish - I only have a few more edges to do.

Instead of today's work, here's the post - a postcard from Anne for 1900's (SOS accepted as universal distress signal in 1908), an African block from Karol Ann for our private block swap (great block, but now it's my turn, unfortunately) and Cloth, Paper, Scissors, which I took with me to the park to read when I took the kids out for half an hour, but of course, there were two friends I hadn't seen for most of the summer in the park, so I just chatted instead. Life is so hard!

And finally, here are the girls' hats - we finished Sarah's this morning, and started Olivia's almost straight away. She did some rows, I did some more while chatting to my friend Caroline, Caroline's daughter (Sarah's age) did a few rows, then Olivia did some more and I finished it off tonight. They love them - in fact, Sarah has worn hers all day. It suits her, actually. And they were so easy to make. I foresee presents!

Little bits and pieces

So, believe it or not, I actually got some creative stuff done yesterday on the journey home from Ireland. Cathi had a set of these knitting rings, a bit like big knitting dollies and gave us the larger two (there are two small ones as well) - Sarah started a hat for herself and Cathi started a scarf for me, which I have subsequently finished - did all the length of it in the car yesterday while Geoff was driving (I usually do most of the driving as he doesn't really like it, and I am a bad passenger, but I was so tired and my ankle and knee ached, that I had to swap) and tonight put some tassley bits on the ends. It's quite a loose weave, so it will be a good intermediate scarf. And great yarn - it was called Monet, and you can tell why. Sarah's hat is nearly done, just needs to be cast off, which I will help her with tomorrow.

Here are some more bits and pieces which arrived while I was gone - the moulds I actually had to go and collect, as they had to be signed for, but if I'd been home, they would have come Saturday - really quick service from Argentice. And hoorah, new faces to make! The bits on the right are experiments with sheer fabrics - a technique swap for my surface embellishment group. Lots of fun pieces. Which I might use for something someday... or not.

Then today's post brought me these little chaps, which look very decorative in their bundles, but don't really show, so I have taken them apart and spread them out to photograph. When I have a few more, I will have to work out how to display them. They are all great, but of course being me I particularly like the brown row...

And finally, amidst the laundry, errands (post office, school (to put away uniform in the uniform shop in prep for wednesday), haircut (olivia), playdate (sarah), dentist (all three)), and general getting-the-house-back-in-order-after-holidays I actually did manage a little work. I made up three more cards with faces on, and did a prototype of a stripes card - it will also have some stitching on it, not sure just what yet. And will be edged with variegated thread, which produces a striped effect. I also worked a little on the sunset cards, the prototype of which I made before going to Ireland. Perhaps more tomorrow on those, though we have another busy day, of course.