Sketchbook Work

Like all good students I have been working on my sketch book.

I wondered if maybe my problem with drawing had anything to do with being faced with a blank page. So I crumpled up some tissue paper and glued it onto these two pages then painted over it with gesso and I must admit that once I'd made that mess I didn't feel quite so intimidated.

So I went for it. I used oil pastels (as suggested by Gina ) to draw the cow parsley and I have since gone over it with green ink.


This time I had a go at drawing on a normal page. I have also gone over this one with ink and I think this one looks much better so I won't bother with the tissue paper again.

Here it is, I used the ink at full strength and I think it's too strong.

So I had another go. This time I used a metallic wax crayon and watered down the ink, it gives a much better result.

Here I was just messing about.

Then I decided to use the pages I had painted with the Koh-I-Noor paints.

I thought it looked like a corn field. So I drew some, please say you agree!

Just to show you that I have done some sewing this week. I'm making a bag with flying geese and yes I know they haven't got points. They aren't meant to have points it says so in the pattern. It has come up bigger than I imagined.

Enjoy your weekend.

A Finished Quilt Top

Last week I ordered some fabric from Sal Snippets the fabric is lovely and bright. I have no idea what I am going to do with it but I love it.

I recieved excellent service the fabric arrived within a couple of days and the lady very kindly sent me an extra piece. If your stash is running low (a problem we all suffer with!) have a look at her site, there is a lot of choice.



A very kind friend made me this lovely, gorgeous, colourful ever-so-posh shopping bag. Isn't it great? I went to M&S the evening before last and of course I used it.

It's hanging on my kitchen door at the moment because I like looking at it. She has lined it in red which is my favourite colour. Thank you so much Sam.


My half square triangle quilt top is finished. I used a fat quarter of each fabric and they have also done the border and there is more than enough left to make the binding.

The border is pieced from rectangles I had left over from cutting the squares to start with. The squares were 7" so I got four from each quarter which gives you some idea of how much fabric is left.

All I have to do now is layer it up and baste it, the part I hate. But I'm looking forward to quilting this one.

Bag Phase

I must be going through a bag phase. The one on the left is great fun, I love the birds. And just in case you're wondering the one on the right is made from William Morris fabric.
I have made another William Morris one but forgot to take a photo.

On Sunday we went to the Hub to see the Undercover exhibition. It was very good and well worth a visit if you're out and about in Sleaford. There was also an exhibition on by the Textile Study Group. If you do go this exhibition make sure you have a look at the Book Jacket by Jenny Blackburn. It is a real work of art, stunning.

Unfortunately I took photos on my other camera which I haven't got with me sorry. I'll post them another day.

I hope you all enjoyed the weekend, I did some gardening.

Home Baking

It's been a long time since my last post and there hasn't been as much creativity going on as I would have liked. The reason for this is I've had another chest infection, a very bad one this time and I am on my second course of steroids and antibiotics at the moment. But I'm getting better now.

In fact so much better that yesterday I actually baked a cake! It's an apple cake and it is lovely, it won't be around for long. If you fancy making it the recipe can be found here. You won't regret it.

As promised here's a picture of my shawl.

I did manage to make a bag.

And some tea dyeing has been going on ready for my next project. I counted up and I'd used 23 tea bags and got a very good effect.

It looks a bit orange in this picture but it isn't really.


I had to show you this photo just because I'm a wicked mother and Anthony has a sense of humour. Great hat.

I have finally finished the Attic Windows quilt and I'm very pleased with it. The quilting took me a long time but that was me being a perfectionist. I could have quilted each block in one continous line but I didn't like the idea of the stitching lines crossing over each other, so I quilted each piece within the block seperately. This meant that I had 16 thread ends to sew in for each block uuugh. But worth it.


I think it looks great and will make a lovely christmas present. How organised is that?

You get a better view of the quilting on the back.

Close up you can see all the lines of stitching.