......a needle pulling thread"...

Day 361 - Monday 27th December 2021

Some more work on my corner to corner throw this morning before I left Kent and set off back for home.

I've added four new colours in now, on the edging band, and as part of separate granny squares which will be used to build up the size of the throw.

Day 359 - Saturday 25th December 2021

Still down in Kent, and still without Joe, so another boring picture I'm afraid.

This time it's the band to go right around the front and neck of the cardigan, and believe me it's just as boring to knit! The pattern said to pick up the stitches, but again I'd rather knit it separately and then stitch it on afterwards.

......and I have to say, that I totally agree with him!

You're welcome!

Next we moved on to Christmas cards! Well, that is deciding on what sort of image we would like to put on a Christmas card.

Julia has said that whatever we paint, she will be happy to take away, scan & print, and turn them into five Christmas cards each for us to send to our loved ones. This is such a lovely idea - thank you Julia.

Julia gave me a head start by drawing out the basic shape of the fairy for me to copy, and then adding wings which are more angel-like than fairy-like.

Again at first I was happy with the painting. I wanted a subtle, delicate pastel image in pinks, greys and purples, and so laid down my first layer of paint, and added a star for her to hold in her palm.

Day 331 - Saturday 27th November 2021

In art class today, we continued working on faces we are painting onto Papier-mâché boards.

Today's art class for me was a definite positive arising out of a not-so-positive start to the day. I was meant to be in Bristol with some friends today for shopping at the Christmas market, and some food & drink in an 'igloo'. However, the windy weather decided to plop a tree over the rail line between Cardiff and Swansea, so all trains up to Cardiff were cancelled.

This meant that I couldn't get up to Cardiff in time to catch the Bristol train with my lovely friends. So off to art class I went, for some lovely calming therapy!

Whilst Julia teaches us, she works on her own piece as a sample of what we're doing.

So as well as using the book image of a flapper girl, which Julia gave us last week, we also had her lovely example to inspire us!

This is my work as it currently stands.

There is more to do before she's finished....shading, adding details, and some more colour and texture to the hat and accessories.

I'm really pleased with how this is progressing, and looking forward to getting her finished next week.

Day 325 - Sunday 21st November 2021

Today I've been sorting out more of the craft room.

As well as getting shelving done for my "Rainbow Cwtch" reading corner, I've been working on the art and writing corner. I have a bureau there, which I'll use for both activities, and I put some shelves up there quite a while back, which I'd painted in a lovely sage green chalk paint.

So today I've been moving the bureau so that it is facing a different direction, which makes better use of the space. There will be pictures of this at some point. I've also been rearranging stuff on the shelves. This area will house all my green, grey and brown craft bits & pieces, as well as anything animal/creature themed.

I still have a quite a bit to do in that area, but I made a good start today.

We began by practising some drawings of facial features - eyes, lips and noses.

For me, this was an extremely valuable exercise, as I've always found drawing faces difficult, and to break them down in this way is so helpful.

I had drawn almost a page of eyes and coloured/shaded them in, before realised I was putting the 'shine' of the pupil on in the wrong place on one eye, so they looked kind of cross-eyed! Haha, we all had a good giggle about this.

We then used construction lines for the centre of the face and the positions of the eyes, nose and mouth. We needed to make them slightly different to last time, as this lady is looking off to the side, so the features are slightly off-centre and very slightly going down towards the right hand side.

Using these lines we then drew in our facial features. I had a bit of difficulty with the nose and mouth - getting the angles of both and the size of the mouth right - so I had some help from Julia for this.

The next stage was to tranfer our images onto our boards, ready for painting......

Day 317 - Saturday 13th November 2021

Today I began adding to my corner-to-corner throw, using some of the complimentary colours I've been collecting together. I've started crocheting a border around two of the sides, and have also kicked off some granny squares which will build the throw up to make it bigger (and more interesting!).

We began by drawing a face.

To do this we drew an oval/basic face shape, using a freehand method, then put in construction lines for the position of the eyes, nose and mouth.

Next we drew in ovals for the eyes and mouth, and a small circle for the nose. We followed this up by drawing in actual eyes, nose and mouth lines, going over our pencil lines with a drawing pen and then rubbing out all the pencil.

Finally we drew a curved line across half of the face, to give the impression of the brim of a hat, which would be covering part of our "Mysterious Mistress"'s face.

We then painted in our 'hats', using a blend of black and red acrylics, and gave her some hair off to the left.

Following this, we gradually filled in the features of our faces - eyes, nose & lips, before adding some shading, highlighting, and giving our ladies an earring!

Day 310 - Saturday 6th November 2021

Today in art class we worked on two projects.

The first was painting a landscape, using initially two colours, and then joining in a third later.

The second project was to prepare a board by covering it with torn newspaper snippets, using the Papier-mâché method. This will be transformed into something else over the coming weeks.

Whilst this was drying, we worked on our Papier-mâché, using wallpaper paste and strips of newspaper, and randomly sticking them on & overlapping, to completely cover the board.

These will dry by next week so we can do the next stage of that project.

We finished off our pictures with a cute little fence!

On the whole I'm happy with my landscape, however I'm not keen on my tree. I've always had trouble getting trees to look right when I draw or paint them, so this is something I can work on to get better results.

Day 308 - Thursday 4th November 2021

Today I've been painting primer on another shelf unit.

This one is again for the craft room, this time for what will be my "Rainbow Cwtch" - a corner of the room where I'll be able to sit and read, crochet, cross-stitch, knit, embroider, and work on patchwork and other hand-stitched crafts, all in the comfort of a lovely wing-backed chair. My spinning wheel and chair will also be in the same area.

This area will house all my books on the relevant craft subjects, as well as jars of yellows and oranges, and pretty boxes in the same colour theme, so it will be quite a colourful corner, hence the rainbow idea. I also have some rainbow cushions and throws which I made a little while back with this area in mind.

Once I've primed the shelves and given them a couple of coats of white undercoat, I have a pot of Annie Sloane chalk paint, in "Barcelona Orange" to paint them.

Day 306 - Tuesday 2nd November 2021

I picked up this man's shirt from a charity shop in Neath today.

It's for an upcycling sewing project I have in mind. Watch this space!

Day 304 - Sunday 31st October 2021

The final picture for the music corner in my craft room arrived in the post last week. It's a print of an old advertisement for "Le Chat Noir" (The Black Cat), which was a nineteenth-century entertainment establishment, in the Bohemian Montmartre district of Paris.

It's a picture which I've loved for years, and I thought it would be very appropriate for this area of my craft room, so today I put it up, and I'm happy now that everything balances.

First of all, Julia asked us to focus on one particular flower to draw, and think about the overall shape which it made, if it had a line drawn around the whole thing. I chose a large rose, and decided that the shape would be a square.

We then had to draw the shape onto paper, and then look at the shapes within the flower and draw them within the shape we had made.

I was quite surprised that this wasn't as difficult as I had thought it would be.

Whilst this was drying, Julia suggested I isolate another flower and repeat the drawing process with that.

I felt that this flower made a circle shape, and so drew it inside that.

Following that, I then painted the first layer of that above the rose.

This is how my flower picture currently looks.

There wasn't time to do any more layering today, and I'm hoping to work on this at home this week. I'm currently setting up an area in my craft room where I'll be able to paint without having to put everything away in between, so I can dip in and out of it.

I'm fairly happy with today's results. I know that my rose doesn't look like a rose just yet, but I am happy that on the whole, the picture does look like a group of flowers! That's a good positive! Haha.

Hopefully I will get time to work on this during the week.

Day 297 - Sunday 24th October 2021

I've put most of my music corner together now, and I'm so pleased with it.

I've managed to get all my red, black, white, and some pinks crafty bits and pieces put there, organised in pretty jars and boxes and still accessible to use.

Over the last few years I've collected together quite a few strawberry themed items.

Most of them have been gifts from a lovely friend, who sends them to me each year to celebrate my "Strawberry Moon June", which is something I set up for myself a few years ago, in order to turn June (which had previously been a very sad and difficult month for me) into something more positive.

My craft room has lots of books! As much as I love books, they can look clumsy and unattractive on shelves.

I think with the use of pretty jars, boxes, plants and fabric items, I've successfully displayed my music books so that they do look more attractive - and again, they are easily accessible.

A few years ago, my niece's partner had a CD and picture disc made of my late brother David singing. He had it transferred from an old audio cassette that I had, and it is one of the loveliest gifts I've ever had.

I still have a few things to do in this corner to complete it.

For example, these two boxes are not going to stay like this, since they don't fit in with the colour scheme! The striped one at the top of the picture contains all my heart/love themed craft bits and pieces, and will be covered with some lovely shimmery heart wrapping paper which I have. The spotty one at the bottom of the picture will be découpaged in old sheet music, as it will actually contain all my loose sheet music!

Day 296 - Saturday 23rd October 2021

In today's art lesson with Julia, we were drawing and painting another hare.

As with last week, Julia started by giving each of us a pre-drawn hare which she had done, with the option to add grid lines for ease of copying. However, this time I decided to be brave and copy Julia's hare free hand, and I was quite pleased with the result.

Then I laid down the first layer of paint, again using the 'dragging' technique which Julia has taught us.

Here he is, looking very cute and shy!

I enjoyed this so much again, and am really looking forward to next week's lesson, when apparently we'll be painting flowers.

Day 291 - Monday 18th October 2021

This is a collage of inspirational pictures I've gathered together from Pinterest.

They were all saved with the music corner in my craft room in mind.

In the top three pictures I like the cosiness, and the arrangements of the shelves, piano, and pictures on the walls.

In the next picture down on the left, again I like the shelf/picture arrangements, and also the throw on the piano stool. This is something I intend to make. In the picture to the right of that one (middle row) I love the plants, especially the trailing ivy down one side of the shelf.

The bottom two pictures sum up the kind of look I want for my entire craft room. I have lots of stuff - lots of crafty bits and pieces, which I've sorted into pretty jars & boxes, according to their colours and themes. I need to create a working space which is pretty yet functional and organised, if I am to love spending time and being creative in my craft room. These two pictures are very typical of how I want to arrange things.

The white shelves are ready and will be going up this week, and so I'll be putting the music corner together properly. The colours will be black, white & red, with some pinks thrown in for femininity and to blend in with the next area along in the room. Watch this space!

Day 289 - Saturday 16th October 2021

Another art lesson this afternoon, when Julia was teaching us to draw and paint a hare!

Julia started by giving each of us a pre-drawn hare which she had done, with grid lines added, so that we could put grid lines onto our blank page and then copy the hare.

After doing that, and rubbing out our construction lines, we then laid down the first layer of paint.

We used the same technique which Julia taught us last week when painting poppies - that is to put just a line of paint, and then use lots of water to drag the pigment into the areas where we wanted it.

After that we added an inky blue sky, and laid down another layer of paint on the hare, since the first layer was dry.

Then we used a fine artist's pen to fill in his whiskers and eye details......

Day 288 - Friday 15th October 2021

This lovely green yarn arrived in the post today, and it's the green I need to compliment the other yarns for my corner-to-corner crochet throw. I have just one more row to do with the original ball of yarn, and then I can begin putting new colours in.

Day 286 - Wednesday 13th October 2021

I've almost reached the end of my ball of yarn for the corner-to-corner crochet throw I'm making, so I've been looking for some complimentary pinks and greens to go with it to make it bigger.

Last Saturday I popped to "A Good Yarn" in Pontarddulais, in search of some. I found two lovely pinks, and another variegated yarn, which I think will be nice for another band somewhere along the throw of a different kind of stitch. Since there is some cream in this new yarn, I also bought a ball of plain cream.

Unfortunately, the shop didn't have any greens which toned in, so I shall have a little look online to see what's available.

I'm really looking forward to getting to the end of the original ball now, so I can make a start with the others, and in the meantime, I shall exercise my creative thoughts in deciding where to go next with it, in terms of which colour to start with, and what sort of stitch/pattern to do.

Day 284 - Monday 11th October 2021

In lieu of a new arrival in my home in a few days' time, I'm putting together a music corner in my craft room.

The corner needs storage for lots of things, and the answer is some shelving. So I'm painting this shelf unit, ready to go on the wall.

Today I started with a coat of primer, since the unit at the moment is just bare wood. The unit will eventually be a pretty shade of pink.

The other bits balanced across the unit are the components for some additional shelves which will be going on the adjoining wall. Again, here they are primed, and their final colour will be white.

Day 282 - Saturday 9th October 2021

This morning I went for an art lesson and painted some poppies!

Bob's friend (and my friend too) Julia Harris is an artist and is putting on some classes local to us, so I thought I would take the plunge and see if there is an artist inside of me.

I'm mindful of, and thankful for the creative talents I have, but I really would love to be able to draw and paint. My ultimate aim really is to be able to paint fairies and flowers, so that I can illustrate my writing. The artist gene seems to be right through my family, so I'm hoping it hasn't missed me out.

The medium was water colours, which I'm told are quite difficult to work with. Poppies are one of my favourite flowers, so this was a lovely place to start

Day 281 - Friday 8th October 2021

More on the sleeves of my chunky cardigan today. I've finished the first one and have made a good start on the second one.

Day 279 - Wednesday 6th October 2021

Today I've been stitching up the shoulders of my chunky cardigan.

I used a single length of the same yarn to oversew the shoulders together, which made a lovely neat, flat seam.

Next I'll follow the directions in the pattern to evenly pick up the stitches for the sleeves along each armhole edge. The sleeves will then be knitted downwards.

Day 277 - Monday 4th October 2021

Today at work I was working on a wedding gown, adding some diamanté beads along the neckline and straps. It's very pretty.

Day 275 - Saturday 2nd October 2021

I went to the West Wales Wool Show in Narberth today with my lovely knorty-knitwit friend Angela.

There weren't many stalls this time, but there were some nice things to see and buy. With spinning in mind this year, I bought some fleece from The Vegetarian Wool Company, and also a lovely batt of fleece in the most beautiful green colours, which I am intending to spin into yarn and then make something lovely for my bedroom.

However, I won't be spinning it until I am satisfied that I am proficient enough at spinning to warrant such a lovely fiber...which may be some time away!

In the meantime, after a sniff or two, my lovely fiber was given the Joe Cat seal of approval!

Day 269 - Sunday 26th September 2021

Today I got creative in the kitchen, with a new toy to help!

A couple of days ago I bought a hand blender, which has a few different attachments, and decided to try it out on my first ever vegan cake.

Somebody in the Facebook vegan group I'm in shared a recipe for a vegan Victoria sponge, and I wanted to have a go at that, so I got to work measuring, sifting, beating, whisking, mixing and baking.

I whisked up some Elmlea Plant double and combined that with some fresh strawberries to use as a filling.

Day 267 - Friday 24th September 2021

Today at work I finished off the dress with the sparkly underskirt.

Firstly I needed to finish off stitching back on the lace appliqué, and then finally I needed to replace all the joining bar tacks around the hems of the skirts, to make sure that the layers move nicely together when the gown is being worn.

So this lovely sparkly, lacy gown is now ready to go off to the bride. I hope she loves her newly acquired sparkle and will feel fabulous when wearing it on her wedding day!

Day 266 - Thursday 23rd September 2021

I really enjoy hand sewing. I like the intricacies of it, and enjoy getting it all neat and as perfect as I can.

When adding a sparkly layer to the skirt of a wedding gown, this means that the skirts have to be separated from the bodice, and any lace appliqué and beading which is put on over the joining seams, etc., needs to be removed.

This of course means that it all needs to be put back at the end, when the dress is complete with sparkly layer, and that is just what I was doing today!

Day 264 - Tuesday 21st September 2021

More work on the wedding dress with the sparkly layer today.

After cutting out the sparkle fabric layer yesterday, I stitched it all together today......

Day 263 - Monday 20th September 2021

Today I started working on a new wedding gown - putting a layer of sparkly fabric in.

There's not a lot to see at the moment. I've taken the skirt off at the waist, and used one layer as a pattern to cut out the new sparkly layer. Then I'll be making that up and putting it all back together.

For today though, I just wanted to share the sparkle love!

Day 261 - Saturday 18th September 2021

Today it was Worldwide Spin In Public Day.

To mark the occasion, Bob put on an informal event outside his studio at Craig-y-Nos Country Park. It was just a few of us spinners, getting together for a bit of a spin, a chat and some tea & Welsh Cakes!

I decided to get properly into the spirit, and spend the day spinning dressed in the traditional Welsh costume which I spent yesterday evening making.

Day 260 - Friday 17th September 2021

This evening I've been on my sewing machine, making myself something to wear - a very rare occasion, as although I do lots of sewing, and I make knitted and crocheted things for me to wear, I don't very often sew for myself any more, so it was nice to be doing so!

Tomorrow is World Wide Spin In Public Day, and to mark the occasion, Bob is hosting an informal event outside his studio at Craig-y-Nos Country Park. Weather permitting, Bob and I will be outside with our spinning wheels, and hopefully some other fellow spinners will come along for a bit of a spin, a chat and some tea & Welsh Cakes!

I decided to get properly into the spirit, that I would like to wear a traditional Welsh costume.

I bought a shawl and a couple of hats (so I have a choice, haha) from a local shop which sells Welsh-themed things, and I have a white blouse, but I needed a long red skirt and an apron.

Next I made the apron.

Again, this was very simple - just a plain, square apron, pleated across the front.

I had bought a ready-made apron from the Welsh shop, but it's a child's and although it ties ok around my waist, the apron part of it does look a little small.

For the sake of speed and economy I did cut the ties off the child's one to use on mine, but I didn't bother putting a lace frill around, since the traditional Welsh costume doesn't have lace on the apron.

So there you go - one Welsh costume to wear for spinning tomorrow, and I'm really quite looking forward to it!

Day 258 - Wednesday 15th September 2021

Today I popped into Lee Mills Fabrics in Swansea, to pick up some fabrics.

I need to make something over the next couple of days for me to wear. On Saturday, Bob is hosting a small, informal event for World Wide Spin In Public Day up at his studio, and I want something specific for that. Any ideas what it might be?

Day 256 - Monday 13th September 2021

I was working on another gown today, putting in a sparkly layer and I just wanted to share the prettiness of the sparkle, lace and colour of the underskirt combination. That is all!

Day 251 - Wednesday 8th September 2021

Our lovely spinning friend Rhona has gifted me a beautiful Pfaff vintage sewing machine in a cabinet.

Bob and I collected her today and we've put her in place in the sewing area of my craft room. Her name is Ethel and I am so looking forward to getting to know her, and making some lovely things on her.

In the meantime, Joe seems to think that the cabinet is his new place to sit and watch the world go by! Well, I suppose he can sit there for a little while.

Thank you Rhona for such a lovely gift.

Day 249 - Monday 6th September 2021

When I started this, I had the intention of it becoming a cushion cover. However, I've changed my mind now and want to turn it into a triangular throw. However, it's not going to be very big once I've finished this ball of yarn, and I don't have any more of it. I also can't remember what yarn it is, and don't have the ball band. All I know is that it is wool rich, and probably sock yarn.

So, I'm going to start looking for some similar yarns in complimentary colours, so that I can add rows of crochet in different stitches, and some granny squares, to make it larger and more interesting. I shall literally make it up as I go along!

Day 247 - Saturday 4th September 2021

I found myself in A&E today. Not for me, for Bob, and everything's ok thank God. He had chest pains and we went to get him checked out, but all is good and I'm told he has a good heart! I knew that anyway.

Since I was kicked out of the waiting area because it was so busy, I took myself down to the Costa coffee shop to wait, and carried on with my corner-to-corner crochet throw, which is still coming along quite nicely!

Day 244 - Wednesday 1st September 2021

Some spinning today!

Bob and I have a lovely friend called Rhona. We met her when Bob bought a spinning wheel from her a little while back.

Rhona is an experienced spinner and offered to spin with us for a few hours, to pass on some of her expertise to us, and of course we took her up on it!

I definitely left Rhona's house feeling able to spin better than I could before we went there. Thank you Rhona!

Day 242 - Monday 30th August 2021

Some crochet up at Craig-y-Nos Country Park today. Accompanied by the sunshine, and the obligatory cup of tea, I was working on my corner-to-corner crochet throw, which is coming along really nicely.

Days 237 to 240 - Wednesday 25th August 2021 to Saturday 28th August 2021

Today I did most of the stuff needed to archive my May blog posts.

I've now added relevant pictures to the heading and the footer, chosen a main picture for the page, and written any blurbs.

All that's left to do now is to put in all the links so that the page can be navigated to and from via the main blog page, and also via each of the other already archived pages. Hopefully I can get that done over the next couple of days.

Day 235 - Monday 23rd August 2021

More work on my May posts archive today, although only a bit as time was limited. I managed to change the page title!

Hopefully more soon.

Day 233 - Saturday 21st August 2021

Today I started archiving my blog posts for May this year into a separate page, to cut down on loading times for the main blog page.

The first job was to set up the page, and transfer the main body of the posts over. I'm hoping to continue with this over the next few days.

Day 230 - Wednesday 18th August 2021

Today I finished my crocheted cwtchy blanket! Yaaay!

It was Day Off and I was up at Craig-y-Nos Country Park with my Lovely Man, who was working up there today, and I had lots of opportunity to sit and crochet. So I did!

I had previously decided to do as many interlocking scallop rounds as I had yarn for. As it happened, although I had plenty of green left, I only had enough of the red to do two, and as it was the red I wanted to finish on and not the green, that means that there are three scallop rounds on the edge. That's fine, I'm happy with that.

I then had a few random yarn ends to weave and stitch in, just to finish it off completely.

I decided to fold it in quarters and photograph it that way, and that was when Ollie Dog got involved and decided that he really wanted to sit on it in the sun!

Well, how could I refuse, since he looked so handsome and so comfortable on it!

Day 229 - Tuesday 17th August 2021

More on the website today, when I made up a collage of craft projects completed and worked on during May, and turned them into the banner picture for the top of the May creativity page to be archived.

Now I need to do a write-up for the page, add some links so that it can be found from the main creativity page, and a couple of other tweaks and then it will be ready to publish.

Day 227 - Sunday 15th August 2021

Up at Craig-y-Nos Country Park today I worked on my lovely lacy blue shawl. This project is a bit of a challenge, as the yarn is really fine machine-knitting yarn, and I think it's only about one or two ply, and the hook is very small, so it plays havoc with my finger joints......

Day 226 - Saturday 14th August 2021

Whilst doing some work on the May creativity page of my website today, I noticed that I hadn't changed the background on my archived April creativity page.

I have now!

Day 224 - Thursday 12th August 2021

I'm way behind with organising and updating my website, and in particular, archiving the pages, especially the creative pages!

So today I made a start on setting up the page for archiving the May creativity page. I got as far as changing the heading. Well, it's a start! Hopefully more tomorrow.

......and then stitched the flowers onto the cushion in a little group.

I'm really pleased with it and have popped it on the landing with the other cushions in the same style and colourway.

I have a few little red flowers left over from the other similar cushions I've made, so I need to go through my buttons now and find some black vintage buttons to use as flower centres, before stitching them all on to the finished cushion.

That's a job for another day!

Day 220 - Sunday 8th August 2021

Some cross stitch in the sun up at Craig-y-Nos Country Park today, working on my pretty towel borders.

Day 218 - Friday 6th August 2021

I like really fancy wedding gowns - lots of lace, frills, ball-gown sized skirts, etc. However, I also like really simple gowns, with clean lines, plain but rich fabric, and just a splash of lace or sparkle.

Today I was working on the latter - a simple gown, in a beautiful stretch georgette, with just a few lace appliqués.

The bride wanted some lovely crystal buttons stitched all down the back, and that is what I have been doing today. Beautiful!

In my stash, I found a really pretty white butterfly motif, which is just perfect for one of the corners.

So I used some lovely pink glass beads to add a touch of colour to it......

I love how all three cushions look together.

I'm not sure if I'll keep them together when I eventually put them in place in the house, or if I'll split them up. I'll wait until I've finished all my rooms I think until I decide.

In the meantime, they can go in the big basket I have with some of the other cushions I've made and which don't yet have a permanent home in my home!

The focal point of the front of this one is also a cross-stitched panel, which my Gowjus Girl started stitching quite a few years ago and I've spent the last few months completing. Again I love the combination of pinks and greens.

For the front I've stitched the panel onto some pink poly cotton, and surrounded it with some pink & green braid which has a slight sparkle to it.

Day 214 - Monday 2nd August 2021

Yaaay! My lovely rose cushion is finished and I'm so happy with it!

For the back I used a lovely rose-print poly cotton, and used more of the lace to trim around the outside of the cushion.

The cushion pad is made up of fabric from a duvet cover which I bought at a boot sale for 50 pence, and filled with recycled filling from an old cushion pad, which I washed and tumble-dried to restore its fluffiness!

I absolutely love this cushion and am looking forward to looking at it every day when I decide which room to put it in!

Day 212 - Saturday 31st July 2021

I had a little play around with pencils and paper today.

I have a lovely book which shows how to draw fairies, in various steps, so I had a go at one of them. I'm quite pleased with it, although there is lots of room for improvement!

I really want to be able to draw fairies, so I'll dip in and out of this one when I have a few minutes here and there.

Day 210 - Thursday 29th July 2021

This is sort of a WIP......it's a shawl I started a few years ago and didn't get very far with. I then put it to one side, and when I got it out again, I wasn't happy with the tension. The yarn is incredibly fine and it needed a much finer hook than the one I had used.

I came across it recently and decided to give it another go, so I'm hoping to start it later today or tomorrow. The yarn has been hanging around a bit and has got a bit dusty and marked, but I'm pretty sure it's superficial and once I've made the shawl, I'll be able to wash it and it should come up ok. I'm happy to take the chance anyway.

I actually want the shawl to drape over a chair in my kitchen, in the same way I will use the yellow lacy knitted one I finished a few months ago. Yes, frivolous I know, but why not?

Day 208 - Tuesday 27th July 2021

I was awake early this morning, feeling anxious about the biopsy later, so I took my mind off things with a bit of cross-stitch, and stitched some of my pretty towel borders.

Day 206 - Sunday 25th July 2021

Today I was priming the rest of the naked bits of the shelves for the kitchen. Next step will be undercoating, but it will probably be a little while before that gets done. Off up to Birmingham tomorrow for my appointments at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital.

Day 204 - Friday 23rd July 2021

Whilst isolating today (prior to hospital appointments in Birmingham on Monday and Tuesday) I decided to do a bit of DIY/upcycling.

This is quite a tall shelf unit which Bob gave to me a while ago. I want to use it on one of my kitchen walls, for storing all my pastas, pulses, baking ingredients, and that sort of thing in glass jars with pretty labels.

However, as it is, it's too tall for the wall space. So, I want to use the top part as a separate shelf unit for a small space in another part of my kitchen (for tea and coffee containers, etc).

My Lovely Man sawed the top part off for me, and I spent late afternoon out in the garden in the sunshine, sanding down and priming the naked bits of the shelves. Both shelves will be painted yellow, distressed and varnished in the same style as the cupboard and shelves I finished for the kitchen a few weeks ago, so the next stage will be prime the rest of the naked bits.

Day 202 - Wednesday 21st July 2021

Today I started knitting the lovely chunky cardigan, using the yarn which my Gowjus Girl gave me.

Day 201 - Tuesday 20th July 2021

I got the zip into my lovely butterfly cushion cover today, and now it's finished (apart from embellishments which I'll add when it's on a cushion pad).

So now I have three pretty, feminine, frilly cushion covers waiting for cushion pads. Better get busy with those then!

Day 199 - Sunday 18th July 2021

I've been looking through my knitting patterns for a pattern to use with the lovely yarn which Lydia gave me. I have shelves in my craft room with loads of knitting patterns - in leaflets, books and magazines, but couldn't find one which would be suitable.

So I had a look online. The yarn is King Cole 'Stormy' in a 'super chunky' weight. I want to make an over-sized cardigan, to layer up with in the autumn/winter. I very rarely wear a coat, preferring to use lots of layers, including knitwear, and I want a super chunky cardigan to use as my top layer, and in a colour other than black! This yarn is perfect for that.

I couldn't find a pattern which I like for that particular yarn, so I had a look at similar weight yarns, and found a lovely one which uses 'Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick' yarn. It's pattern number L90157 and is available as a free download.

So, I hope to cast on later and get started on it. I'll be using needles in a size smaller than the recommended ones. This is because I know that my tension is loose, so I want it to be a bit tighter, so that the knitting is more 'together' and there should be no problem with shrinking when I wash it.

The larger needles in the picture are ones which my father made for me many years ago. He used doweling and turned the two little button-shaped knobs for the ends. They're not actually a perfectly true size to commercial knitting needles, but they're good enough, especially since they always remind me of my lovely Dad when I use them!

When I made up the barrow last year, I also planted an ivy at the base of the wheel and it has grown so much.

So today I put parts of it in place to try and train it to grow up and around the actual wheel. Hopefully it will also continue to spread across the ground, to fill in the gap where I've temporarily put some potted plants.

The other breeze block is behind where I've put this potted-up black currant bush. I was given two of these bushes last year, believing them to be gooseberry bushes....well, that is what the guy told me! I got very excited when I saw 'gooseberries' growing on them, and then very confused when they turned black! I then realised they must be black currants and excitedly sampled three of them (yummy), taking a couple into the house to offer Bob a sample. He then refused, saying they looked exactly like Deadly Nightshade!! I then spent a frantic ten minutes googling the visual differences between the Deadly Nightshade bush and a blackcurrant bush. I'm still alive and kicking, so I think we can safely assume that they are indeed black currants. Haha.

Anyway, this bush has been at the side of the house in a sunny spot and it's not looking very happy. The other one has been in a shady spot at the back of the house, and is thriving. So I thought I'd pop this one in the shade near the wheelbarrow and to hide the other breeze block, and see how it gets on. I can always move it again if it's not happy there.

To fill up a couple of small gaps I've put a lovely pink geranium and an Alchemilla Mollis (Irish Silk) - again, in pots so that they can be relocated if they're not happy.

All in all, I'm very happy with how this little area of my garden is looking. There is still so much to do out there, and I have bits and pieces done here and there, so up until now it has all looked a bit 'bitty'.

Now though, when I look out of the window of the lounge, and see how pretty this area looks, it seems like it's starting to look like a proper garden!

So today's job was to cut it to the right size and attach it to the front of the cushion, leaving enough gap for me to put a zip in.

Unfortunately, time did not allow for the zip too, so that's for another day!

Day 195 - Wednesday 14th July 2021

I had intended to get all of the butterfly cushion done today, but I only got as far as pinning the gathered lace in place around the outside edge.

Oh well, it's ready to stitch in place now, and there's always tomorrow!

Day 193 - Monday 12th July 2021

Yaaay! I finally got the zip into my cross-stitched roses cushion cover.

The cover is now finished, but I'm not going to do the big reveal until I've finished the final cushion cover in the trio - the one with the crocheted butterfly panel - and made the cushion pads to put them on.

Day 191 - Saturday 10th July 2021

Today's creativity is of an inspirational kind.

I always feel inspired by the work of others, especially when I visit craft fairs and similar places, and today at Porthcawl was no exception.

There were a few lovely craft stalls along the sea front, which caught my eye, such as this stall of lovely colourful hats......

......and this stall of really yummy, bright and colourful hanging ornaments.

I left the area feeling uplifted by the colours and designs, and the fact that there are some talented people out there who are doing their best to promote themselves.

Day 189 - Thursday 8th July 2021

Just when you think you've dealt with all the cushion WIPs, you find one you forgot about!

This is a filet crochet panel I made lots of years ago. It's intended for a cushion, but at this stage I'm not sure what sort of a cushion I will make with it. The star pattern puts me in mind of Christmas, so I will likely make a specifically Christmas-themed cushion with it, but I'll ponder on it for a while.

Day 187 - Tuesday 6th July 2021

More work on my cross-stitched roses cushion today. I cut out a back from some lovely rose-print fabric, and pinned and stitched it onto the front.

It's now ready to have a zip put in when I have a few minutes to get that done.

Day 185 - Sunday 4th July 2021

A bit on my cwtchy blanket today. I've started the scallops around the edge properly now, and today completed the first round of red scallops.

First of all I sectioned off the laces into four parts, making each part twice as long as the section it is going to go along, so that there will be a nice amount of gathering.

I was away from my sewing machine today, so I gathered each section up by hand. It was very therapeutic!

Day 183 - Friday 2nd July 2021

Today I've been putting a zip into the tulip cross-stitched cushion.

I love my vintage sewing machine, but unfortunately there is no zip foot in with the accessories. I've put a concealed zip in, and it is possible to do it without a zip foot - it's just a bit fiddly.

I started by pinning the zip into place along one side. Then I ran a row of machine stitching along the outer edge, just to stabilise the zip whilst I turned back the teeth part and got in close to stitch it into place.

I then repeated the process with the other side of the zip, taking care to match it up so that it will be in line with itself when done, and therefore will open and close smoothly.

I've put hundreds of zips in over the years, and one thing I've learned with a concealed zip, is to leave about an inch - at the closed end of it - free from any stitching. This is because it's practically impossible to get right into near where the tab joins the teeth and have a neat finish. If you leave an inch unstitched, the finished article is so much neater, and it's far less frustrating to do!

So my pretty cushion cover now has a neatly-inserted, smooth-running zip. I won't show the finished cover at this point, because it needs to have a cushion pad to show it off properly! That is for another day.

Day 181 - Wednesday 30th June 2021

When I was leaving 'L2' yesterday, my Gowjus Girl gave me this lovely basket of yarn. She bought it to make something but is just too busy and thought I may like it. I absolutely love it, it's beautiful yarn, and I shall find something yummy to make with it for the winter.

Day 179 - Monday 28th June 2021

Today I got some of my cross-stitched towel borders done. I did quite a bit on the green leaves, adding in a new colour.

Day 177 - Saturday 26th June 2021

No practical creativity today, but plenty of creative inspiration.

Lydia, Lewis and I went down to Folkestone Harbour Arm, via the Folkestone Creative Corner, where there is so much to see.

There are lots of independent businesses there selling all sorts of delights, including jewellery, artwork, sculpture, artisan foods, fabrics & yarns, and clothing.

I always feel inspired any time I visit vibrant, eclectic areas like this. My head is buzzing with all sorts of ideas.

Day 175 - Thursday 24th June 2021

Some creativity tools/materials loveliness today!

Bob spotted some lovely stitching bargains on Marketplace which he thought I would like, and they arrived recently in the post.

A lovely old tin, filled with lots of embroidery threads, an old needlework case filled with tools, and a couple of other bits and pieces.

......some of them I know what they're for and how to use them, but others I don't, so I'll have fun finding out.

There are some lovely old sewing needles - 'sharps' - still in their packets......

......and I love this needle threader in a smart case - far superior to the ones you can buy now!

There is also a reel of Sylko thread, on a wooden reel. I love these old reels and threads, they bring back such lovely childhood memories for me.

Day 174 - Wednesday 23rd June 2021

Back to my pretty tulip cushion today, and my mission was to cut and attach the back to the front, and leave room to insert a zip along the top.

I'll be putting a concealed zip in along the top, so the next thing was to prepare the top seam for the zip.

For this, I lined up the centre of the seam with the centre of the zip, then measured an equal amount in from each edge, along the top seam, putting a pin each end to mark. Then I stitched along to the pin on both ends. Next I turned the whole cover through to the right side, just to check that I hadn't caught any of the edges of the lace in the seams. However carefully you stitch, it's such an easy thing to do so it's always best to check before trimming the seams.

The other thing which I did was to open and close the zip a few times, just to check that it is running smoothly.

Day 173 - Tuesday 22nd June 2021

Back to the garden ladder project.

One lovely clematis planted next to the ladder.

Obviously I disturbed ground where I'd planted the wild flower seeds when I dug the hole, so I scattered a few more.

We haven't had proper rain for a few days, and the garden is very dry. No rain is actually forecast, but it does feel like rain is in the air, so I'll give it until this evening and if no rain, out I shall go with my watering can and quench the garden's thirst!

I don't have a gathering foot for my Pearl my sewing machine, so I needed to do it the 'old-fashioned' way!

I had two different types of lace - one wide, and one narrower - and so the first thing to do was to stitch them together so that they could both be gathered at the same time.

After stitching them together, I gave them a press and then sectioned them off using pins, into four equal sections. This is because the cushion cover is square, so each side is of equal length, and because it is easier to gather in sections than it is to do one long piece.

I then ran two rows of machined gathering stitches (a straight stitch, set on the longest stitch length the machine will do) along each section, and then pulled them up into a gather by hand, until each section was the required length to fit along the sides of the cover.

Please note that I used a slightly contrasting coloured thread to do the gathering, just to make it easier to see. This stitching will eventually be hidden in the seams of the cover so it's ok to do that.

It does need a press, but I'll wait until I've attached the back of the cover and trimmed back all the seams and corners before doing this - my next job!

Day 170 - Saturday 19th June 2021

A bit more on my pretty tulip cushion.

Today I've been hand stitching some pretty braid along the centre of the pink ribbon frame......

Day 169 - Friday 18th June 2021

Following on from yesterday's garden creativity, this evening after work I did as much as I'm able to on the area for the time being.

I gave the ground another quick rake, and then I sprinkled around the wild flower seeds.

Next I sifted a thin layer of soil on top to cover them, rather than rake them in. This is because since the area is at the base of a tree, there's not much scope for going too far in the ground because of the tree roots.

Then I gave the area a bit of a water....although judging from the atmosphere at the moment I think rain is on its way, so I didn't soak it.

Finally I popped the ladder back into place how I want it against the tree. Now it's down to Mother Nature to do her bit, and hopefully the flowers will grow around the ladder! It'll be fun waiting to see anyway, and I have plenty of other stuff to be getting on with in the garden, so that should keep me occupied and stop me obsessing over whether the seeds are sprouting or not! Haha.

This ladder, until yesterday, was leaning against next door's shed, with a view to taking it down the tip, because I didn't feel it was the right sort of size to do the ladder with plants thing with! Then Bob made a comment about an area of the garden under one of the trees, which was growing wild. He suggested I leave that area wild and put some sort of 'prop' there to make a feature.

It was then that I made the connection with the ladder and thought it would be perfect propped against that tree, with wildness growing all around it! So I moved it across and it's the perfect height, as the top of it meets where the tree divides, so it could tell the story of someone using it to go up into the tree and for some reason after that it was 'abandoned'. Perfect!

Anyway, this picture shows the area around the tree just as it was today before I set to work to make the inspiration a reality.

I've decided to strip the area back to basics, and then put down some wild flower seeds and see what they do.

Together with the flower seeds, I'll put some grass seed down, and I also want to try and train a plant or three up the sides of the ladder. I'll definitely try and use some ivy for this, and maybe a climbing rose or similar.

Whilst Mother Nature is doing that, I'll look for some suitable plants to train up and around the ladder. I've taken some cuttings of ivy from elsewhere in the garden - fairly long stems - and have put them into water outside to see if they'll grow some roots.

In the meantime, I've popped the ladder back into place, so that it can get used to its new home!

I want to edge the tulip panel with some ribbon and braid, so next I found a toning pink ribbon and matching thread.

Day 166 - Tuesday 15th June 2021

Today I've been finishing off adding a sparkly layer of glitter tulle to the skirt of a wedding gown.

I've done quite a few of these lately, and I always love how they look - the glitter particles remind me of champagne bubbles!

There are lots of anchoring stitches around the bottom of this gown, and when they were all put back in to place, the skirt was falling in beautiful, informal soft folds.

Again, I really enjoyed doing this customisation, and I hope the bride who wears it will get as much joy out of her beautiful dress, as I had working with it.

Day 164 - Sunday 13th June 2021

This is the story of two 'ats!

Since I seem to be spending a lot of time crafting in the sun up at the beautiful Craig-y-Nos Country Park lately, it has become apparent that I need a head covering so my brain doesn't get fried!

So I recently bought these two lovely hats. I'm not a hat person really, but I do like both of these and they do seem to suit me. However, since I must wear a hat, I decided to make a bit of a statement. So the boring bands and tiny flowers needed to come off and be replaced with something a little more bold and colourful.

I went through my boxes of craft bits and bobs and found a lovely bright scarf and some pretty flowers.

Next I moved on to my charity shop find - a brand new hat which I found in a charity shop in Devon, and which was a quarter of the cost of the high street one!

I added a lovely bright red chiffon scarf around it, and I had some more of the small purple flowers, so I added one to the back where the scarf ties and some along the front.

I also like this one though, so I'll wear it sometimes.

It's nice to have a choice!

I started by gathering up the lace and stitching it into place around the edge of the panel, with the frill facing outwards away from the roses and towards the outside edge of the cushion cover.

Day 162 - Friday 11th June 2021

My creativity post today is more of an inspirational one, rather than hands-on creativity.

These lovely reels of thread caught my eye in a charity shop in Devon when we were there. In fact, they more than caught my eye...I bought them!

Anyway, back to the reels of thread. I think I'll put these in a jar all of their own, because they are vintage. They can go in the 'rainbow' corner of my craft room, where I have lots of different coloured things.

As for the wooden ones, I have a bit of a DIY job in mind for them at some point in the future.

Day 160 - Wednesday 9th June 2021

Today I started the scalloped border of my cwtchy blanket. Yaaay!

That is all!

I think I've come up with a solution to this - by catch stitching (on the wrong side of the blanket) the two rows either side of the blue, in order to pull them together over the blue. So this is what I've been doing today.

The only slight problem is that it's caused a bit of a ridge along the cream row, but in the grand scheme of things, I'd rather have a bit of a ridge than a floppy border!

Now I can get on with crocheting the scallops for the final part of the border, and hopefully it won't be long before we're cwtching under our cwtchy blanket! Yaay.

Day 157 - Sunday 6th June 2021

Today I spun my first ever yarn!

I've been trying to do it on and off for a couple of weeks and getting nowhere. This has been very frustrating, because I've been doing stuff with fibers, yarns and fabrics since I was a child, so to not be able to do something of that ilk is very disappointing.

However, Bob thinks (well, he knows now actually) that the wheel I've been using isn't quite right and so it was never going to happen with that one. So Bob's going to sort it out, and in the meantime, he's given me another one to have a go on, and hey presto! Spinning in the sunshine up at Craig-y-Nos today, and I managed to get somewhere within about fifteen minutes.

......which is often, now that the cupboard is filled with lots of the lovely sauces, spices and other cooking essentials which I use on a daily basis. It's so nice to now have them neatly organised, and at a better height.

Before they were all stored in one of my other kitchen cupboards, down at floor level, which was no good for my knees and back every time I had to get down there to get any out, and definitely no good for my patience, since that cupboard was over-full and things fell out regularly!

I really love pretty tins, boxes and jars for using as storage around my home.

Some of these tins are recent purchases, but the Colmans and Oxo tins are vintage, and I am so happy now to have somewhere lovely to display them.

I absolutely love the way this corner of my kitchen is looking now. It's a completed cosy corner in a house which is still very much a work in progress, and reminds me that I can achieve the look I want in my home, even if it takes me longer than most!

I love the happy yellow colour and the vintage, distressed 'shabby chic' style, and I'm so looking forward to doing more of the same!

Day 154 - Thursday 3rd June 2021

Today at work I finished off the job of making up some keyhole straps and cap sleeves to be used as samples for our customisation kit boxes.

I started with the lace to be used along the edges of the sleeves. It's a really pretty floral lace, with an eyelash edging, so I needed to trim it off to expose the eyelash detail.

Then the lace was pinned and stitched along the edges, with the scallop and eyelash part just peeping over the edge.

After pressing and attaching one of our fabric labels, which includes a code to identify the sample when ordering, the cap sleeves were ready to be put into the sample boxes.

Day 153 - Wednesday 2nd June 2021

Today I started putting together the cross-stitched roses cushion cover.

Having decided on what fabric to use for the front, to mount the panel on, I cut the panel to even up the edges and then cut the fabric for the front to size. Then I stitched the panel on to the centre of the front.

My next job will be to edge around the cross-stitched panel with ribbon or braid. I haven't decided which yet, and I'm not entirely sure that either of the two I have put aside for this are quite the right colour. I'll have a little think on it.

After cutting out the tulle pieces, I stitched together the shoulder seams, then trimmed and pressed.

Next was to stitch the joined pieces together (fronts and backs) in order to give the finished shapes for each, trimming and clipping into the seams as necessary so that they would lie flat when pressed.