Lace Happy Dance!

Last night I completed Margaret. I still need to do the finishing - sewing in all the loose ends (I usually don't bother and just cut them close to the reef knot, but as this is a gift...), and find a suitable bit of fabric for the centre. Hopefully I'll find lots of time to do this before Ed's mum's birthday in July. I've added a close-up photo to show the stitches used - rose ground, spiders and cloth stitch trails and fans. It was fun working the trails in a different colour.



I did take Assisi knot garden to our S&B last night, but I didn't touch it - instead I had a go at crocheting. Chrissie was busy sewing the ends into a fantastic blanket of squares, and she inspired me to pick up a crochet hook for the first time in about 15 years - I haven't crocheted since my grandma died. She (Chrissie, not my Grandma :lol) offered to give me some pointers, but I wanted to see what I could remember. I think we were both impressed (I did make a few mistakes initially - it took me a couple of minutes to work out how I should hold the yarn). After 2 false starts (nothing fundamentally wrong, just not quite 'right') I finished a small square. The best thing of all is that it is so easy to pull out something you aren't happy with! Hmm, maybe I need to invest in my own crochet hook and some yarn... Chrissie's stitch & bitch happy hooker book had some great patterns in!



Tonight it's my lace class. I've decided it's time to try a different kind of lace, Milanese. I'll let you know how I get on!

Stitching update

I've been busy working on Fantasy Triptych for the last 2 nights. I've just finished the central tower (well, one 'floor' of it anyway), and have started the castle wall. I'm really enjoying the blending and the confetti stitches - clearly I've been away from TW stitching for far too long!



I've also taken a progress photo of Assisi knot garden, which I've been working on (on and off) for the last fortnight. As you can see, I've almost made my May goal of getting the third quarter finished.



Tonight we are having a stitch and bitch at Chrissie's. I'll take my lace, as I have almost finished Margaret (hopefully there will be a happy dance and photo to share), and also Assisi knot garden, just in case I do finish Margaret!!!

Stitching and lace progress

Well I had another crafty weekend this weekend. On the Saturday Sonia and I went to a Sheffield Lacemakers working day, and I made a little progress with mt Torchon mat 'Margaret':



Sadly I don't have any more lace weekends planned until the Sheffield Lacemaker AGM in May, so progress will be a little slower over the next couple of months, but I am hoping to finish this in time for Ed's mum's birthday.

Sunday morning Ed and I spent an hour or so digging over our garden - the soil is more clayey than we'd first realised, si it was quite hard going. We persevered through a couple of rain showers, and got the area for our herb garden dug over. The veg patch is about 4x this area, and then we have all the borders to tackle - this is going to be a long job (especially with the wonderful English weather!).

On Sunday afternoon and evening I spent some quality time with Pooh Calendar:



This is coming along nicely now, but it will be a struggle to get it done by April 5th. Thankfully the Easter break will send me a little more stitching time. I've decided to put off starting TW's Fantasy Tryptich (my new Monday SAL piece) until I've got a few more months of Pooh finished - but my fingers are itshing to get started, so I may well cave next Monday!

A crafty weekend

This weekend Ed had a conference in Sheffield, so we stayed with our good friends, Phyllis and Richard. Phyllis taught me bobbin lace making, so I packed prepared for a crafty weekend!

On Saturday moning I had a long overdue visit to my hairdresser - it's a little mad to still go to a hairdresser 1 hours drive away from where I live, but I've never found anyone as good locally.. 3 hours later I left the hardressers with a new haircut and highlights.

That afternoon, Phyllis, Richard and I went to Bakewell, so I could go to Wye needlecraft. I was very good, and only bought what I needed - fabbie for TW's Fantasy Tryptich - I decided on 28ct antique white Quaker cloth - it felt so wonderful it was worth the extra £2 or so. I also got a 27" scroll frame, as I didn't have one big enough for this piece, and some Weeks Dye Works floss, as I've never tried it before. We had tea and scones with my friend Helene - her mum lives in Bakewell, and it was a happy coincidence that we were both there on the same day.

In the evening I started a new travel piece, a V&A pin cushion with a pink tulip on it, but it was on Sunday that Phyllis and I managed to get out our lace pillows. I was working on Margaret, and finally turned the last corner.



Phyllis started on her new piece for the Sheffield Lace Makers 35th Anniversary competion, with the theme 'coral'. She's making a collage coral reef, hopefully with the help of everyone who comes to her Tuesday night lace making group (I won't call it a class, as Phyllis doesn't consider herself a teacher).



Eventually I conviced her to pick up her amazing Bedfordshire piece, which she started on a weekend course with Christine Springett:



She'd not touched it for ages, and it took a while for her to get into it. I took a few photos of Phyllis' lace projects, which can be found in the same Webshots album as the other photos.

On Sunday afternoon Ed finally escaped the conference and the 4 of us had a lovely walk in Ecclesall Woods - and I saw my first ever treecreeper.

It was a lovely weekend, and the best part is that I will see R&P again next weekend, as it is a Sheffield Lace Makers working day.