Foxy La

I bought this actually I had it made for my Fella for Christmas. He added the goggles and the flowers seemed right too. Less frightening for the little ones.

I'm Starting Teaching Again!

Kim at l'uccello's has persuaded me to do some classes. She, with her lovely winning ways, and her amazing shop, which will be a dream to teach in... the stuff she sells is so inspiring! The classroom is upstairs but I'm told it will be as beautiful... and of course, all of the goods are for the plucking.
I go there for a pick-me-up sometimes. One week recently I had an awful time at work (can't remember why) so I popped down to Kim's at lunch and bought a little bit of bling. It makes me so happy! I have tiny vases of millinary pearl stamens, and folded up ribbons in pretty floral bags to keep my sprirts up. ETC...!

SO, classes will be in April. Crazy Patchwork construction and embroidery.

Here are some more pictures of my quilt.

The classes (4 Saturday's with one session in the morning and another in the afternoon) will take participants through the basics of:

-Building the crazy patchwork, with instruction on colour and forward planning (for the motifs).
-Traditional border designing (fun).
-Many beautiful and uncommon stitches, which will be applied in specific ways. Nice ways.
-Colour blending, needle painting, needle-lace stitches (3D and textured work).

Whilst I give patterns for the motifs, we'll adapt them to each piece. For example I'll draw, or instruct in drawing the designs individually if the diagram doesn't fit nicely.

Any ideas people have can easily be incorporated, or at least addressed. I always describe other ways to use the stitches they learn, as well as bring examples to show the various ways I have explored the stitches they will be learning. I follow a specific curriculum that has been developed over some sixteen years to help the class to develop their own ideas as much as follow mine.

Each class has more than one outcome, for example: we work a fern design (it’s on one of the cards) and explore colour grading as well as learn an old, little used stitch (my all time fave) and so on for each class… However, a 2 1/2 hour session allows for a gentle pace.

Above all, I've never taken a class that wasn't fun and warm! I love that about us crafters, we're a lovely bunch!

The Poncho

I've started at last! The wool is Jaggerspun's Heather (3/8 doubled to be about 10 ply), in Agate. It's such gorgeous wool. I've long loved this pattern, and Eunny's cable tutorial helped me understand how to write out the pattern. And how to understand cabling altogether. Great tute! Yay for Eunny!
I figure that a poncho is perfect for cold New York. Over a cardigan, over a shirt, over a jacket and under two big, warm wraps. I hope. I saw a brilliant recipe (pattern) for tights too, but there's not really enough time... I've done the wrist warmers though.

OK, well, what I should have done is superimpose these gaphs over Eunny Yang's Ivy League Vest, or something similar. Check out my Ravelry page for more info... Or connect to the other post (it's too late to write and think, again)...

It Is Finished!

My very own old fashioned Fair Isle vest. Yay!! As soon as I've put the chart on a graph, I'll post it here and at Ravelry. Have a look there for the whole ordeal in minute detail.

Leif's Groovy Shirt

Made from vintage (but never used) fabrics and a 1960's pattern. Mr 2 years old. I made a pair of shorts in other vntage fabric but forgot to photograph them. I'd made some for my son (Leif's Dad) when he was a wee lad as well. If you keep the fabric long enough..... The label is one I used just for the children's clothes. Had a few left.

Happy Birthday Lamp

I made this over a long time, just for my darling heart. I could only glue a few shells at a time, then would rotate the whole thing to do more. In secret. The bark is from Silver Birch trees. You can peel it off, if you're gentle, during the spring. It's so beautiful (the barrk). I've glued it to rice paper, then crocheted the edges. It's very delicate and warm and pretty.

I was concerned about the thin pieces, but as it happens, they look the best when the light is on. In fact it's a gorgeous thing. We all love shells huh? So pretty and shiny!

I'll add more pics later when I recharge the camera.

Sorry People. I'm Lazy

And I'm at work so haven't any photo's of what I've done. It's all been hush hush you see... the fella's birthday and all that.

I covered an Op Shop lamp-base with shells, then made a shade using Birch Bark and crochet ala Hanky Boxes. It's swell even if I say so myself. It took ages. AGES.

We're also working on the garden a lot and the knitting is going swimmingly thanks for asking. So's the pretty dresses colouring book and I wrote some poems for the One True's birthday. Naturally.

 

Beautiful Boy

Gorgeous photo of my darling little grandson.

She's Done!

Just have to stitch a border now, then block it to straighten it up. Very excited! It says on the back of the pattern that I started in June 2010! Surely not! It has had long gaps of inaction, but a year seems ridiculous.

Go to my Etsy if you want the pattern!

I Want To Make A Bust Like These

Rachel Denny (above)

We have some beautiful horns at home. Various goats, I think. We also have a few skulls. A bear skull from the Op Shop. $5 because nobody wanted it. I may paint it pink, although I may not too. I had a book out of the library, on Dr Suess's busts, and since then I've had a hankering. Now that we're really getting into the renovations (although we're starting in the garden), I'm keen to get a wiggle on on the house stuff. I write countless lists...
Lounge Room: Bee Cushion (tick), Mme Riviere (almost... tick), 2 large square cushions, 2 small rectangular cushions and one oval cushion, Shell Covered Letters (tick), Shell Covered Lamp with Birch Bark Shade (almost tick and I'll show you as soon as it's done), Rag Rug for under or in front of the Chaise, Bust with Goats Horns...


Bedroom:
3 Rag Rugs, Heavy White Damask Monogrammed Sheet set, 2 Doona Covers (one from old table cloths), Bayeux Style Embroidery of Family Tea (or should that be for the kitchen/dining room?), Duck Doiley Set, Finish the freaking Red Quilt! etc...
Kiddie's Room:
Ship Rag or Tapestry Rug, Wagga...

Ad infinitum.

Happy Birthday (Or Valentine's Day Really) For 2 and a Half Years Ago

That's how long I've been gathering shells and when I started this lovely present for my One True Love. He was impressed by the lovliness of the shells and the length of time I've been planning it. He deserves it anyway. Oh, incase you don't get it... we have the same initials, and with the ideas and the sharing, I thought it's more like a multiplication than an addition, so I wrote rm2 in a love letter 12 1/2 years ago and it stuck.

What he doesn't know is that there's more coming. I'm on a roll. Don't tell, if you have an opportunity to, that is.

Frogged! Starting Again.

So, I've pulled it out because the thing is smaller than my pattern. And I've wondered if it will do, and thought it might... and wondered. But no! It will last for years and must be right! So, zip!

I have printed out some correct graph and will re-do the pattern tomorrow at work. Check here for updates and whereto's.

Note: The second 'lozenge' shaped row looks better with the stitch in the middle huh? And I discovered that the rib looks better on the other side! Hmmpft!

Got The Colours Now For Goodnesses Sake!

This colour choice has been a saga. I have smoky grey, pink, apricot and two yellows spare, all bought thinking they might fit in. Ha ha ha! Plus I have a number of excellent books on Fair Isle and the history of knitting. It's lovely but little bit sad history. From a good living to be made to nothing. Queen Elizabeth I refused a patent for a stocking knitting machine and delayed the demise of the hand-knitting industry for 200 years. Bloody Industrial Revolution! The Revolution has a lot to answer for. And no, I won't listen to how it helped.

I love this from 'The Old Hand-Knitters of the Dales' (Yorkshire Dales), about how these knitters would re-knit a jumper just for a change and how delightful it was to behold:

A dalesman's daughters, whom we know, think nothing of frequently unravelling complicated Fair Isle patterned jumpers and knitting the wool up again in differnet styles. But 'things were made to wear then' and we think of Mr. William Gill as he sat on the edge of the sofa saying, 'What a change! What a change!'

The Painting I carried For 10 kilometres Through Paris

He's a bit of a gay boy huh? Or is it just the times, the court etc. It's not old old old, so it's a copy of a style, but I really like him and he's going in the bedroom when it's renovated. Why not now? Well, it needs a little restoring and I might bling it up a little. And I'll have to convince the One True, who doesn't like it.

The Bayeux Tapestry

I have to talk a bit about the Bayeux Tapestry, now that I have a moment. If you happen to get over there ever, you must go up to Bayeux in Normandy and see it. It's amazing! Any historian, art lover or embroiderer will find it so. Just the graphics and the storytelling expertise... the cartoon, is succinct and has incredible movement. The ebb and flow of the battle, for example, takes you along at an amazing pace. Some small images describe a lot with incidental details. I want to see it again.

Even thought I know it quite well, to see it in one continuous length, rather than on pages, makes a huge difference. Huge. Have a look here too, and explore.

You'll love the town as well.

I've just been Googling the tapestry to find out more, and have found a heap of other similar works, modern, done to depict the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Prestonpans Tapestry)and there's the Quaker Tapestry. I thought I might have a go at our Family Dinner, which is always full of movement and activity!

La Drogerie, Paris, for Yarn, & Bayeux Too

We went to La Droguerie in Paris. They have their yarn samples hanging in hanks, and you choose by the number. Then the staff go out the back and wind off however much you've ordered. I bought these clear French blues, which shade subtly. The yarn is a bamboo/linen blend and looked lovely made up. I thought I'd do another Paperdolls, but without Fair Isle, just shading. Dunno yet. 4ply.

Main colour.

2nd shade.

Lightest shade.

Pretty other shade for something else. Too pretty not to buy.

I can't remember the price but it wasn't expensive. Unfortunately, there is no label to recount the colour or describe the yarn. It may have been on the reciept, in French (who knows?). I threw it out. Silly!

This was just interesting and I bought it for no good reason.

And these beauties are from Bayeux Broderie, a shop in Bayeux which sells kits of sections of the Bayeux Tapesrty. I wasnt to make my own design, ala Bayeux style. I started to plan one years ago and now am freshly inspired. The wools are grown in France, and dyed in the colours of the Tapestry. Very yummy!

I have posted all of my decent photo's over on Flickr in the Holiday set.

Home Again, Home Again, Lickety Spit

Versailles

Well, that flew by, as you know it will. But still my mind is filled with the experience! What fun, and what a lot of walking I did.

I didn't climb the Eiffel Tower/Notre Dame/The Arch of Triumph, however I did ride a bicycle around the whole of Versailles and picnic on the lakeside, walk the entirely of everywhere, go to the Louvre a couple of times, take the river boats a few times, walk, walk, haggle at markets (oh, excuse me, marche's), see the sunset (almost) at Sacre Coeur. Did find a million Place of Interest, dring coffee and eat crepes. And I went into Notre Dame and walked saround the other places I didn't climb. And OH! The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestry's! And all of the other tapestry's.

I saw the Bayeux Tapestry at Bayeux in Normandy (above). It happened to be June 6th too, D-Day, and soldiers from the 1st world war were walking (hobbling) around. The people there were lovely and so welcoming. It was the most beautiful town in the world as I know it. It was the first time I really had a sense of how horrendous the war must have been for France. Bayeux was not bombed but nearby Caen was, which I read about in a book I bought for Dad.

I went to see Mme Riviere and got so teary I had force myself to stop crying! Blubberer! She's so beautiful and the place is amazing. Of course. I couldn't believe where I was. But the wonder of it all and the 'coming down off cortosone' and the jet-lag and not having my One True Love there to share the joy overwhelmed me.
So much more to say but it's birthday time for Anna and I must away!
xxx