12 12 12

I can't remember if I showed you the bunny that stayed with me as a paying guest but just incase I didnt (I really should look back but I'm being lazy.

A few other bits and bobs have absorbed my time..

Two of these, lovely and squishy book covers. They are artists note books with lovely cartridge paper and the ribbons hold them closed. The brown  bronze fabric was some I bought this year at Embsay and the pink last year. Sooner or latter every thing gets used.

I also made one of these. I made myself a big bag a few years ago, and when ever I go anywhere it gets crammed with my clothes, ipad and anything else I need. It turned out to be a really handy bag. Hopefully this new one will be just as useful to its eventual owner. Well it is nearly christmas  ..

Oh and just incase you think I gave up....

I think its lace weight since it is 18 WPI ok some bits are a little thicker than others but not massively, 4 1/2oz but I have yet to measure the yardage. Ryeland and I dyed it with Dylon hand dye...not sure if Id use that again.
 

baked beans on toast

So yesterday was bitterly cold, icy and snowy but there were blue skies, a day you could get on with. Today is wet grey and horribly numbingly cold the sort of day that puts me in a real bad mood. :(

As a single on the bobbin

wound round a loo roll centre trying to become a centre pull ball, pre-plying.

After much swearing a plyed bobbin's worth(ish)

 

 

 

 

That's one small skein for man.......

All I can think of is baked beans on toast now........cant think why...burnt toast at that!

Fluff n stuff

A little dying with food colouring the photos don't show really how rich the colour is in RL, I am sure I will eventually get into this dying lark. Since my new lovely Drum Carder by Classic Carders arrived, and while over all the process is probably no faster gram for gram than using hand carders, I am enjoying the ease with which I can card bats and make my own roving.

Meanwhile I have also done a little seasonal sewing, unfortunately the pictures are blurry :( but here's a little teaser of what's been under my needle

and to add to the Christmassy effect it snowed in the night!!

Christmas is coming

Cold and frosty days really remind you that the inescapable fact that Christmas is coming!

My lovely daughter, a very talented lady in her own right, called me yesterday to borrow a mix of threads, it is so handy being closer again few minutes driving and voilà, sure beats hours of driving!!!

The thread was to finish off Eloise's Santa sack...Santa will find them at my house on the night :D *yippeee*



Mean while I made my first crocheted  woolly hat, which Em also took a liking too, (I have since made a second one). I am still working out this knitting lark and have a pattern I would like to do one day, but need to spin the wool for yet, mean while I'm just doing a simple scarf....

The scarf I am knitting, is being done with this, with a little inspiration from something I saw on a shopping trip to York....its got more Alpaca in it so spun up finer and really lovely, if I do say so myself.

One skein of which I sent to some very good friends......;)

Celebrity

Goodness me it was may 2011 when we had our last trip to Embsay Mill, Nr Skipton  , the shop as always was wonderfully supplied with some very wantable fabrics. If you can't find what you want there you probably cant find it anywhere. They cover almost every crafty hobby you might want to try, with gorgeous yarns, quilting fabrics, even paper crafts (though that was one dept we didn't visit). And of course they also have a nice section for light lunches and a good cup of tea. A frequent supply good cup of tea is of course essential when out with Caroline, and poor girl was suffering terribly with a cold so even more in need!

That's what happens when you are a media star/celebrity, and Caroline is certainly fast becoming a celebrity! Since she had been filming with  ITV no less on the vexed question of the Synod Vote which failed to vote in women Bishops. On the way down to Ebsay, Kate and I were teasing her that there would be folk looking for her autograph. As it happened we were not far off!! Having finished a nice bowl of soup and fortified our selves for shopping Suddenly there was a great cry of

"OHHH you were on the telly last night!"

Seems the eagle eyed shop assistant not only remembered Caroline from the ITV News Item but having seen it the previous night remembered that she was a customer. Oh well Kate and I shall just have to be celebrity groupies ..~snickers~

playtime

Temporary hiatus while my daughter and family decanted from the south and came back oop North.

I did a spot of baby sitting while they did a lot of packing (its good to be grandma)now that everything is calmer I might get back into routine. The babies and I would slope off to Ickworth and play, they have such wonderful old toys in warm sunny corners,that are just perfect for passing the time of day.  Ickworth is a National Trust property and with Em's membership card in hand, visits were well worth it.

I'd get a card myself if I lived close enough to Nat Trust properties.

"MMM Grandma is it sweety time yet?"

"Just evict these plastic horses and make room for my car"

That said I have been wasting a lot of time diligently washing Alpaca fleece, ryeland fleece and fluffing and spinning, so not too much sewing has taken place :( Didn't you know I was a serial obsessive?

Extravagantly I have ordered a drum carder from Classic Carders and excitedly await its arrival. It will be here on Friday ..Yippeeee..


Meanwhile even the hand carding lark is going quite well, I combed alpaca locks and mixed with some of my Ryeland and its spinning beautifully.

Phew its all so exhausting:)

I do love seeing my quilts put to good use.

A little Wensleydale

Not a lot of sleeping went on in my house last night..a few hours and the sound of a police helicopter woke me... they were obviously hunting someone, in fact the whole business was noisy and disturbing as their great light shone all over the garden and neighbours for almost an hour. blue lights and red every where.

Seems some ner do well had been stealing quad bikes and this time the police got their men. As for me I couldn't get back to sleep, I lay for an hour before giving up even trying. what better way to relax again than spinning? It was thinking of spinning that had stopped me returning to sleep so I got up and set too on some Wensleydale long wool I'd bought off the bay of E (I'm stealing that term off a girl on the accidentalsmallholder forums).

The long staple made it tricky for me, a new bump on my learning curve I managed a bit, a mix of getting enough spin in it and not having it fall apart and not over spun which I think I have a tendency to do,mind you once I have put it through fulling it looks pretty relaxed to me.

This morning after a nap (finally) I crocheted it up, since it was just a little sample I wanted to use it before it got lost, easy to do round here, I didnt ply it, since Id read that Wensleydale was worth a try for those wanting to have a go with singles, it didnt go too wild and tbh I was pleasantly surprised and a little proud of myself.

 for the stat lovers..I never measured it in yards ..LOL oops sorry.
WPI = 26 which sounds pretty thin to me so it did well to hold up I guess?

mad pink

Sublime to the ridiculous I have gone from this................

To this................

Naturally there were quite a few steps in between but I just had to show you the mad pink!!! it makes me laugh like a loon..

My sister who can knit and is as daft creative as I am made this!!!!

He is Clifford the hill farming pigeon and she used my wool!!! plus extras ..I love him he is so darn cute.

Etsy

Well I finally did it, I opened a little Etsy shop, Quiltycats naturally, what else would I call it?

I remain to be convinced that it really is viable but on a "might as well try" basis....I might as well try.

Pricing is a nightmare, not something that I am comfortable with.

we shall see.

clowning around

You know how I like playing with ideas...sometimes I wake up and have this idea whirring round my head and until I have tried it out it just wont go away..

well it started with this........

 

and then a bit of this.......

and of course then I had to do a bit of this.......

eventually ending up with

 this and this

 

and then this

Of course it was all just clowning around

The Colours of my life

Simple but effective

That red stripe zings. I only wish I had more of that one fabric,but I think it was from America. Oh well Im sure one day I will spot something I like just as well.

which way up?

I think the quilting will be very plain and simple lines on this one.

I'm sure none of those colours are really brown..no no bronze maybe but not brown!

Half square quilt

The name for this lap quilt jumped into my head today while I was adding the last rows..

What do you think? Paint box? after all it reminds me of being a child with a yummy box of paints or crayons......no?

How about rainbow ...it has all the colours of the rainbow in it that's for sure..

Nope, neither of those. This quilt is going to be The colours of my life. Because for all there are some dark grey points there are also some truly joyful jewel like colours..