patchwork butterfly

So my HH and I took a flying visit to Ikea after work, he wanted a proper ironing board and I found some cushions and fabric to make lizzie's birthday present. It turns out that Ikea is one of the best local suppliers of fabric - Bath desperately needs a good haberdashery. I also got this!



I love trays. My desk, where I do most of my sewing, is pretty small and also holds a computer. So until I get a large traditional wooden kitchen table (and the kitchen to put it in) I use trays as portable work-stations, on the floor in front of the TV, on my bed, wherever. They're especially great for keeping pins from escaping.



And I drew a design for the cushion, because a letter is really a bit boring. I have three fabrics: yellow flowery, yellow striped and a sort of red check fabric. I have to make it this weekend as her birthday is on the 14th June.



(The dotted line means I'm going to make the lower wings larger.)

I got two smaller cushions instead of one larger, so the other will probably be three broad stripes of the same fabric. I also got her this poster, cos she loves the Art Nouveau, just like me;

portuguese custard tarts-of-war

Feeling more like myself again, happier... These home-baked Portuguese custard 'tarts-of-war' have helped; oh comfort food! My HH dreamt up the name by the way, I like the way it reminds me of Patrick O'Brian books.

I'm also going to make some new bathroom curtains that let the sunlight in, and I have a metre of cotton left over to make my little sister a patchwork cushion for her birthday. Not quite sure about the knitting yet, though have unravelled the pink Dashings as I thought they were a mess and the wool is too good to waste, but I think that's positive. My poor Nouveau Sack Hat is still half done, and I don't even know where Jemima has got to. Anyway, I sense the itch isn't far away.

Roses

I got a spiro art set

You might be thinking, where is the knitting? I just don't know.

Ruffle Bag

Gap have a new line of ruffled bags, I stood there looking at the £10 price tag and thinking of my dusty sewing machine, and that blue gingham fabric I bought months ago, and thought that would be super fun to make...


and it was!

100% finished!

I actually finally finished something! The 'branching out'(knitty) headband (invented by Another Shopgirl) in Rowan Kid Classic Nightly;



It took me a while to get the hang of keeping track of the pattern, there are lots of weird patches. I shaped the ends my moving up and down needle size. The main part was worked on 6mm needles, the cast-on and cast-off was worked in 4mm needles, so the leaves near the ends are a lot smaller. I seamed the short edges, and voila! a stretchy, wide headband!

Ceres

All of my knitting is progressing at the same steady rate, and yet none of it is done yet.

But I have been away on Guide Camp, for the first time since I was fourteen, hugely fun and tiring, and I'm just going to have to make a camp blanket now. I'll start with these...



The first I got in the tuck shop (yes! they still exist!), and the second the other leaders very kindly let me have, for organising the crafts on the weekend. We did fabric painting, glass painting, jewellery-making, friendship bracelets, and crochet. Four guides achieved their craft badges by doing at least four of these activities.

And I came home and had a go too...

This bag is a trial-run for some 'goddess' t-shirts I want to paint, with images of ancient Roman and maybe Greek goddesses, this one is based on a statue of Ceres. Its unfinished, like so much else.