Since we last spoke......

Since we last spoke lots has been going on .............

these small shoots are lovage and are now as tall as me. Incredible.

 This fella was just having a rest. I don't know how he balanced so well.

 Another cheeky fella trying to get the last scraps out of the feeders.

More incredible balancing.

 A beautiful sunset.

Cheeky slug. I was unaware that slugs like daffodils.

I do now.

 Parrot tulips  - they flower a little later that the red and yellow ones

in the garden but it's worth the wait.

 Dandelions attract the prettiest visitors, a peacock butterfly.

I'd already seen a large yellow butterfly about 3 weeks before this one.

This is the second blue butterfly I've seen this year.

It is blue, the sunshine is too strong.

Not a bad start to spring I think.

What's new?

I saw this the other day - a field of dandelions, half the
clocks had blown away. So many dandelions this year!
I want butterfly spotting yesterday without leaving my chair
in the garden. I saw this orange and white butterfly shortly after
I'd seen a small blue one. I went to get my camera but it had
gone by the time I got back, that's when I spotted this one.
I then saw this one, looking rather battered. It actually looks
as if something has taken a chunk out of its wing.
Don't know why the photo is small....
This is a new doll, much more delicate looking than I've
done before. The face is Angelina fibres pressed onto a
face mould and heat fixed. I find 'shiny' doesn't photograph
very well.
The body is made from fleece - I find it easy to work with
and forgiving! It's used as a base then wrapped with other
textiles - strips of fabric, lace, ribbon, threads, then
stitched to hold everything in place. Other embellishments
are added before limbs and wings. I always have to
remind people these are not toys.

I've been working on a series of small pieces based on

a lino print of a tulip. This was a green print onto green

hand dyed cotton sateen. Strips of different green polyester

organza were layered over the top with a pink piece for the

flower head. I wanted to try some rayon thread which can break

easily, and did, but then can stitch for ages without breaking,

and did. I have yet to finish off the ends but here's a look.

I used my favourite (only because I do it without thinking) free

motion quilting pattern. I usually use an ordinary polyester sewing

thread but I'd just read this.

In June a sewing group my mum goes to is having a tea party

for Marie Curie and they are madly making tea cosies to

raffle, I think. Anyway it set me thinking, I've never made a

tea cosy so I thought I'd have a go. This is it so far, my first attempt.

With this I really just wanted to test out some practical ideas

before gatting decorative. The wadding is polyester fleece (again)

and the usual quilting pattern. The fabric is a tea towel I've had for

ages, I bought it because I liked the fabric. It wil be more

decorative and it will be washed to see what happens to it -

fabric, wadding, decoration.

I've also agreed to do this http://www.prayerflagquilts.blogspot.com/

which was initiated by Helen Conway. Done some thinking and

research but nothing on paper or fabric yet.

Fastenings, tulips, more snow

I made these for a fastening or closure for a notebook cover,
more about that at a later date.
My lovely purple tulips are now consigned to the compost bin.
I still like them like this!

And guess what - it snowed again. The weather men got it

right today. No buses or mobile library, wouldn't go out in the

car, so I called for my 4 legged mate and went for a walk

this morning. We went to a nearby rec. and he had a really

good run round. We saw these brilliant snowmen whilst we

were out. It was really good to see families having fun in

the snow.

Happy snow day!

Quilting, rubbish, tulips

Thought I'd better show some texties. This is part of a piece layered and tacked ready for quilting.
I use fabrics from lots of sources. The backing for this piece is part of a calico duvet cover from that well known Swedish store. It's not the best quality calico but its light weight and when washed it's really soft and good to stitch on. It works well for what I want it to do.

I used a sticky backed plastic stencil to quilt around. Unfortunately, when I removed the stencil some sticky was left on the fabric. When I quilted over the area it wouldn't stitch properly. It kept missing stitches. However it doesn't matter as the area will be covered.
This is the rubbish I picked up from the front of my house after the rubbish had been collected. Mostly plastic bags that had been put out full of paper for the 'Paper back' recycling scheme. the men hadn't secured the bags to be left for the residents to re-use.
A picture to make me smile, the tulips from last Sunday. Tulips seem to last a lot longer these days. They've opened up more, the insides are interesting.

Bye!