A Mixed Bag

I’m still coughing and sniffling and battling this wretched cold!  The most frustrating part is the rotten cough that starts up when I start talking.  Imagine!  The peace that my DH is enjoying because any extended conversation starts me off ;-)  I’ve had to cancel several visits to friends because I can’t stop coughing long enough to chat and the phone has been unusually quiet too.  Anybody want a cold? Going cheap?

Anyway, enough of moaning!  I have had two lovely treats through the post to cheer me up this week.

Recently Jacqueline was celebrating because she had passed 777 blogposts and then passed two exams so she had a giveaway and I was a lucky recipient.  This beautiful page above is layered and burnt through to echo the stitch marks and I love its golden colour. I am hoping to incorporate it into my flower book that I have yet to finish.  If you follow the link to Jacqueline’s blog take some time to have a look round.  She is a prolific artist and enjoys experimenting and exploring different surface textures.

 

My second gift in the post was from Lisa who blogs as Ivory Blush Roses.  This beautiful pincushion, which is far too delicate to use for pins, was a giveaway too and it is exquisite. 

If you follow the link to Lisa’s blog stay a while and have a look around.  Lisa does the most beautiful crazy patchwork which is delicate and very pretty and she has the most beautiful touch in the way she arranges her favourite things in her home.  She creates a very calm atmosphere both in her home and her blog. 

I’ve been making one or two more cuffs but they are quite different from the ones I made on holiday.

For all three cuffs I first wove silk ribbon which I then bondawebbed and machine stitched roughly onto black felt.  I think I should actually have just machined it onto a stabiliser as the felt combined with the ribbon made it quite thick to stitch.  For the cuff above I couched down sari wool (which was already wound into a yarn and which I bought in St Ives) and then added beads and finished with a felt lining and blanket stitch edging.

The cuff above has a fancy embellished ribbon stitched on with buttons and beads added.

I think this one is a bit ‘punk’ with heavier beads and shell beads added.  I also made another of the turquoise sea themed cuffs but I have sent it winging its way to a friend in Cornwall who wanted it for her Mum and I forgot to photograph it! Duh!

These cuffs will end up as little gifts for friends but I may just have one of those things………what are they called?  Oh yes! A Giveaway, but not till after Christmas.  Watch this space!

In between coughing fits I have been working on my project and have got on quite well, although the air has been very blue at times.  I told you I had said I was never going to do this ‘thing’ again didn’t I?  I’ve been doing an hour or two most days to spread the job out and it’s involved plenty of practice with free motion quilting.  I’m on another learning curve and thank god for quilting gloves, they are a great help.

Well, I hope you’re managing to stay cold free but if not keep warm and drink plenty, like me.  I should be going to the local Embroiderers’ Guild meeting on Saturday but I will wait and see how this cough goes.