Well we've limped along this last couple of months while my brother is off round the world with his mates but now, it seems, our remaining "good" pc has decided to go on strike and I'm now unable to upload my photos or to print for that matter, until such time as my brother can come and sort us out!
I've neglected my blog, a little, within all this pc-chaos - but have decided to continue anyway even if without relief of some pictures to glance at and I hope to get this situation resolved but in the meantime here is a summary of what I've done/bought/working on!!
BOOKS:
Again! couldn't resist! this lovely book came into store last week and three of us fell on the five copies and set aside for purchase! I paid for mine yesterday and though I've not had chance to really read it it I think it will be a useful book to add to my knitting library
Knitted Edgings & Trims by Lesley Stanfield
It looks fantastic resource! what we liked about it was the variety of decorative knitted effects - 150 in all - and clear photographs.
FABRICS:
Again! couldn't resist! new in store was a fabulous poly-cotton almost crinkly and with bits of sparkle and a super overall subtle "pattern" that depending on the angle to which you hold it shows up and then disappears! is white! and then silver/grey! I can't possibly describe it, its just YUMMY though and, again, we all HAD to have 2ms and at £6/m a real summer bargain! Not sure what I'm going to make with mine, possibly something top-wise for summer hols in Spain, a colleague is planning a tiered skirt and another a blouse and another a kaftan!
QUILTED PROJECT:
My bargain strips of pink fabric are now joined together and framed with a "turkey-red" border and yesterday I bought some lovely sugary-pink mottled quilters cotton for a deeper border and backing and this is being worked on as we speak!
(actually, in truth, am waiting for my longstanding quilty-pals to put me right on one or two matters regarding the backing and I imagine they are eating their cornflakes and wondering quite what I mean by "help!!"
I'm pleased with the project and hope to complete it soon and will take photo's which I'll endeavour to upload as soon as the pc issue is resolved!
BEADING:
Can't wait to try out a bit of a sample to test a new theory (to us!) of how to attach beads to knitting! My colleague learned of this method via a customer who in turn had bought a beading magazine with a simple "how to" within it! A quick demo yesterday has sort of made a bit of sense, but I'll do a sample to test the theory before I attempt to describe it here!
HANDMADE GIFTS:
One of our young student colleagues commented on a lovely fabric within my quilt/strips and said she'd love a needle case for her forthcoming course at Uni and, having two spare squares left over, I selected one that reflected this particular fabric and made up a little needle case, a pin cushion and a scissor keeper from a matching square. I used pale green silk dupion to line each, with hot pink felt for the needles/case and a lilac snap and green binding - the set looked lovely not least because of the lovely fabrics and she seemed really delighted at this unexpected gift!
Gift making is a hot topic at the moment! With some fellow crafters reporting lots of requests, appreciation and other favourable comments when gifting hand crafted goodies - I've given it all up this last couple of years (aside from the occasional gift!) I should say, rather, I've abandoned the "tradition" of the birthday/xmas sewn gift! Maybe its because my family is now entirely made up of men! and they just don't LIKE the crafted frillies!! lol! Anyway, I'm rather happier being a selfish sewist/knitter and beyond the occasional, and the cards for special occasions I'm finding it much easier all round to just BUY "them" something!! (AND a lot cheaper too!!).
Mind! reading the Simply Knitting blog this am, I did rather feel tempted to rush out and start knitting these GORGEOUS Dr Who treasures!! .. SEW far I've resisted!!
MAGAZINES:
Latest Sewing World mag dropped through the letterbox last night and I see there are a couple of interesting articles on couching and folding/pleating-effects too.
I'm letting my sub to CME go, this year, received a reminder in post to continue but I've decided not to renew.
INSTEAD! I think I'm going to buy either a quilting mag or perhaps Stitch (take a look at their site, its useful!!) instead from time to time for variety! and I'm also considering dropping the sub to SK too (particularly since I can pick up any of the knitting mags easily enough at Tesco!!).
WEEKEND AHEAD:
Boring domestic chores planned for Sat and work on Sun - I must get my sketch book up to date as its being marked on Mon (gulp!) and I've not completed any of the tasks for week and am desperate to get quilting!!
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