Filling in time with Granny Squares

I was in between crochet projects, having finished my Woodland Blanket and waiting to visit the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show in London, so I made a small hit on my stash by making some Sunburst Granny Squares to use as a cushion cover.

I used shades of blue and grey together with white to make the nine squares and once they were together and blocked I stitched them on to a plain grey cushion cover.

Footnote:   Never did make it to the Knitting and Stitching Show as it fell the same weekend we had snow which brought the rail network to a standstill.   Have to be contented with a weekend of online shopping to get some of the things on my shopping list but there's nothing like having a good look before you buy!  Will have to think hard now about Ally Pally in October.

What else is snow for?

At the beginning of the month, we were 'blessed' with snow and although it wasn't much and only really kept us in for one day, I had to make good use of it by Snow Dyeing.

This is something I've done many times before, sometimes through lack of snow using ice, and each time the results have been different but that's one of the wonderful things about using this method of dyeing fabric.

I started by soaking some cotton fabric in soda to help the dye get into the fabric and then folded some and scrunched up other pieces.  This fabric was placed on a rack over a litter tray.......

Next I piled on the snow so that all the fabric was covered.....

Finally for this first stage, I sprinkled dye powder over the snow (taking care that I didn't breathe any in!).  I used a variety of fibre reactive dyes, some of which I'd had for some time and thought it time to use them up.  This may well have affected the results but as I wasn't planning to use the fabric for a particular project, I didn't worry about it.

So that the snow took time to melt and therefore spent as much time as possible on the fabric I put the tray in the shed and left it for 24 hours.   Even then there was still some unmelted snow but we were having sub zero temperatures overnight at that time.

Having rinsed and washed the fabrics, I was really pleased with the results.  some of the fabrics had some lovely areas which you only seem to get with snow dyeing, so the whole operation was a success.

 

 

 

Now I have to decide what to do with the fabric!  I have a couple of ideas mulling so more to come.....

Autumn Embroidery

I've had an Autumn box from Craftpod for some time and what with one thing and another, I've only just had the time to open it and do a bit of embroidery.

These little boxes are sent quarterly, one for each season, and have a selection of embroidery and other crafts all inspired by nature and the seasons.   Have a look at their website, particularly if you like embroidery as there's not much out there like this.

This box had a lovely toadstool design set in an embroidery ring to which I had to add some embroidery stitches to give it a hand-finished look.   Just love the finish and now feel inspired to do some more.

The two little owls were also part of the box and the two together make a great display on the fireplace.

Woodland Blanket

My journey through the woodland has finished and I'm now wondering if I should have taken longer so I could enjoy it more.

Having missed two weeks while I was on holiday, I worked hard to catch up, setting myself a goal each day and once again working to goals worked for me and I was ready for the final instalment, the edging.   This I completed and the blanket finished.

   

It really was difficult finding the right way to photograph it and if the weather had been better I think it would have been easier to take it outside somewhere but hopefully you can get an idea of the way the colours merge from the wood floor to the sky.

Don't forget to look at Attic 24 for the full story of the blanket - you may be tempted like I was.

March JQ

Moving on to Orange for my March Journal Quilt, this log cabin is more or less formal but with each colour only used on three sides.   Once again I used my own dyed fabric in various shades of orange, some printed with a Gelli plate using a map stencil. The results of this month's gelli-printing were better and using less of the fabric paint seemed to make a difference.  

The finished quilt was   machine quilted in a spiral pattern, working diagonally across each strip, and then bound with some of the map-printed fabric.

Mixed Media Dabble

I have long been a fan of Maggie Grey having been to a couple of workshops with her while I was a member of Context some years ago as well as subscribing to her Workshop on the Web (WOW).  Things have changed with WOW and now instead of the workshops being published online, there is now a WOWbook that was first published in December with the plan to print two each year.  I personally like this more than the online format as I always printed them off so to have a book is much better for me.

As well as the book, there are also some extra online workshops, including a mixed media course that Maggie has written.  I spent some time last week having a go at the first ideas and plan to continue my way through the ideas soon.

After starting with an exercise with the colour wheel, it progressed on to making colour charts with torn magazines.  Also had to look at pictures etc that appealed, collecting ideas together on Pinterest to  help to show coloured preferences.

We then moved on to explore tint and shade, first using a stencil with gesso and paint on paper and Vilene and then ink and bleach using mountboard.

  

I think I was a bit heavy handed in places with the Gesso so I only added stitch to the right hand side where the squares are more defined.

   

Love the shell designs I used and have some ideas going round my head for using again.

I've come to a halt on the course as the next stage is using Decovil which I know I have but can't find it anywhere! 

I've loved having a play and doing things that I would not have done on my own and although I may not use all the ideas again, it has sparked ideas that I want to have a go at and maybe take further.

Extra project

I've had time off from my Woodland Blanket as I'd caught up well so should be finished by the end of this week when the edging info comes out.

Before my holiday, on a visit to Sherborne, I bought a skein of yarn from The Slipped Stitch a lovely yarn shop that I always have to visit when I'm in Sherborne.   Not only do they have a wonderful range of yarn, they also have some yarns hand dyed by themselves as well as independent dyers.

This is Oh-So-Fine DK by Cat and Sparrow and is a mix of Bluefaced Leicester and Silk - 45% silk so it is lovely and soft.  The colour is called Gold Digger and as you can see is a mix of maroon and gold.

I decided to make a cowl with it using a pattern by Jennifer Dickerson called Caterina Cowl which I found on Ravelry.   As I had DK and the pattern was for aran yarn, I used a 5.00 hook which worked out fine.  In the end I decided to use up all the yarn to have more of an infinity scarf.  It was very quick and easy so I finished it in a few hours.

Definitely one I will try again - maybe everyone will get one for Christmas this year!