early

 

I'm often up early - that's the nature of parenting but it's not often that I get the chance to slip out with my camera before everyone is awake. So while everyone snoozed upstairs, rather than start some chores I wandered out to enjoy the new day. As I walked the sun rose higher. I noticed a new poppy that the previous day had been just a bud. The first flower from the rose I planted last autumn - a beautifully fragrant Gertrude Jekyll. I listened to the swallows and the swifts as they zoomed over head, the buzzing of the bees, the trickle of the water in the brook... I came home and was rested. Glad of a chance to stop and just be outside in peace.

What recharges your batteries?

...........................................................................

Today I'm blessed to be over at Magic Onions with a textiles tutorial - be sure to check it out!
If you're visiting from Magic Onions - hello! you're very welcome!

adventures in dyeing ~ part one

While at Wonderwool I treated myself to some plain skeins of merino/tencel sock yarn... I have great plans for these little beauties...

I love my Brown-eyed Susan shawl so much - just in time for this seasonally unseasonal May weather (brrrr - nearly lit the wood burner last night but settled for more jumpers and a hot water bottle last night.)

The challenge I set myself was to dye the sock yarn into the purpley shades I love.

I started with KoolAid in grape and tropical fruit but the grape wasn't dark enough for me. So after a while I decided to over dye with some violet food colouring I had in the cupboard... Et voila! the purpley shade I was looking for.

So, three skeins ready to be knitted into another gorgeous Brown-eyed Susan - just the project for long summer road trips. Almost can't wait! Meanwhile the circles throw is growing bit by bit. (75 square circles down - 244 to go...)  Hurrah!

more dolls & sewing heaven

There's a bit of a doll making frenzy going on here - inspired by mini Ellie Jess has the bug too.
We had a lovely day out to Wells with friends and found an inspirational shop Sew Vintage. 
I didn't know where to look first - it's an overwhelming store of fabulousness. (that is a real word.)
In amongst the beautiful fabrics (Kokka, Liberty, etc) we found this gorgeous cut out rag doll fabric from Riley Blake  - a perfect first project for Jess...

While I've been away....

Well I didn't mean to take such a long break but there just didn't seem to be enough hours in the day recently...  What there has been time for (apart from very poorly little people and stupidly behaved weather) is yarn.

For Mother's Day (along with the gorgeous homemade cards and the time spent with my mother) I received this beautiful and so inspirational book and a variety pack of Koolaid.

Now I know that you people over the pond can get Koolaid easily but it's something we can't get easily here in the UK (unless anyone tells me otherwise.) Also the concept of Koolaid dyeing is not new or special to you but bear with me I'm still having fun...

I'm loving the bright colours - not loving the smell so much but there is much worse out there I'm sure. I'm also excited about dyeing up some merino roving. Can't wait to spin it!
What are you guys up to craft wise these days?

show and tell

Remember that pile of grey dusty looking glazing in my studio? Well here it is...
hope you're having a great weekend wherever you are!

spinning the sky

Ever lie on your back staring at the blue, blue sky? (Not that people in the UK had much chance of that last summer.) Ever been amazed at the vivid colours that appear in nature?

 

Some of the of the bundle of tops I bought in Hay on Wye are the colour of the sky on a summers day. I gently blended them with white merino as if they were clouds chasing across the sky.

Jago says when I have my basket of carded batts that I'm a giant spinning the sky. He's making me look at colours in a new way - how the hedgerow shades would look blended into a yarn... I love the fact I'm seeing the world with a three year old engaging with his fascination and sense of wonder.

forgotten treasure

Wandering around a charity shop today (the best way to shop) I found these beauties, stuffed at the back of a shelf in a large plastic bag. There are about 200 of these hexagons made (hand sewn), one hand sewn together and all of them in beautiful vintage prints. On the back of one of them is the date, December 1968.  It made me start to think about who had started this all those years ago. Would she be pleased that someone was taking this project on 40 years or so later? It also made me think that most of these gems I find are the results of house clearances... I'm hoping I can do this quilt justice...

trying something new

 

I've never been a big fan of cross stitch. It's not a craft that made my soul sing. I think I thought it was too mathematical - I come from a family where you're either an artist or a mathematician. My fabulous sister is both a mathematician and a cross stitch addict. I knit, I sew, I work with clay, I photograph. I was biased. I found Emily Peacock. I changed my mind.