Mission Accomplished

I know it sounds utter madness but, for the last 2 or 3 weeks I’ve been making Christmas cards – I was determined that, rather than panic when November arrives, I would have them all made and ready, next year.   So, I have been very busy recycling most of this year’s cards and I now have a bundle of 200 cards ready for next Christmas – all I have to do now is remember where I store them!

Having finished the cards and binding one of the strip patchwork hangings, I now feel justified in making a start on some new projects.   Actually, I’ve already started weaving the scarf I had set up on the loom – it’s not looking bad for a first effort although there’s a long way to go yet.

Because of the awful weather we’ve had, I couldn’t get to my felting group last week which was disappointing but Liz and I did manage to get to the photography group on Wednesday and I’ve spent some time on printing some competition entries this week also.

Yesterday, Liz and I have been to Lark Lane for the first Craft Fair of the new season – we managed to get there, despite the snowfall last night, but I think the conditions put a lot of people off coming out so the footfall was not as good as we’d hoped.  However, there were a few new stallholders as well as the ‘old faces’ and it was as enjoyable as ever.  One of the new stallholders is an illustrator – Shelley Jayne who does some really lovely illustrations and cards – have a look at her website www.shelleyjayne.com

Today, I finally decided that I was brave enough to use the inkjet printer to print on fabric - I’ve been toying with the idea for ages but always got cold feet when it came to it.   Well, I’ve done it and apart from the fact that I’ve had to extricate a couple of threads from the printer (ouch!), it went quite well – the print is certainly well defined and the colour isn’t bad at all – a little more subdued than the original print but quite acceptable.   All I need now is to be able to use the printed fabric creatively – a bit more experimentation may be required – watch this space.

Inertia

As the title suggests I haven’t been very productive for the last 10 days – I don’t seem to be able to get going after the Christmas Holiday – all those New Year’s resolutions seem to have inhibited me. 

Eventually, after some more than a little trial and error, we set up the warp on the loom, only to find that the wool we’d used wasn’t really suitable.    Next attempt was far more successful but we didn’t try for a scarf this time, we settled for a much less ambition bookmark!    I started to weave it and one of my grandsons finished it – his weaving was miles better than mine, much tidier and even – how humbling.   We’ve now warped it again to make a scarf but I ‘m not sure my wool stock is sufficient to complete it so I won’t be able to start until I get some more.

The one thing I have done is to finish three strip patchwork pictures – I’m not sure how or if I’ll mount or frame them, so I can’t really say they’re complete, but I am quite happy with the results. They are, as you’d expect, made from pieced strips of fabric which are then free machine quilted with some additional hand embroidery.   Finally, some details and focal points are appliqued on – see the photos.

Happy New Year

A very Happy New Year to everyone.     Well, Christmas and New Year come and gone!    All that preparation and whoosh, it’s all over.    Despite the rising sense of panic I was eventually ready before Christmas Day and everyone who should have, had cards and presents (I think).   

We went away for a few days at New Year so I haven’t done much in the way of making things but I have had time to read some of the lovely books I was given.   If  I follow all the instructions and tips in them I should be on the way to getting some great results.   During our time away, I paid a brief visit to the Wool Clip, in Caldbeck, Cumbria, www.woolclip.com  where, as well as admiring the superb textile work, I had a lovely chat with Marion Woolcott who weaves beautiful scarves and who was very generous with her advice.    It was well worth the visit – I’ll certainly go again..

Once again, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to finish a project before I start the next one – I’ve not been very successful so far.    In fact, I’ve been  trying to decide where to start – shall I continue with the strip patchwork pictures I’ve started, or should I do some nuno felting, make some bags or do some machine embroidery.     Actually, I think the decision will be easy!   Today, my son-in-law lent Liz and I two looms – one large and one small.   We both remember weaving at school but neither of us have ever set up the warp before so, tomorrow we intend to see if we can set up the small one.   If we can, we intend to make a start on our first scarf – watch this space – it will be a steep learning curve!   I’m sure that we’ll get there eventually – and that, as usual, there will be lots of laughter mixed in with the curses.