February: The Conflict Month

It's ages since my last post! I seem to be attracting untethered people lately and so things have been a little unsteady. I signed in last night to write this, photos ready, and all my good intentions went to Hell and so, here I am again, intent on getting this blog POSTED before I go postal.

Fionn and I made felted hearts for Valentine's Day. Much better than an 'ol box of chocolates! We decided to applique them onto fabric and make pillows out of them. I have worsted wool fabric that I will dye with acid dyes and then baste the hearts onto the center. I just need to measure to buy zippers. I know I could put buttons on, but I have to think about it. The sitting room pillows need to be replaced anyway because children show them no respect and they are the first thing hurled to the floor. The blue heart is Fionn's and mine is the pink and red, with lots of nice Wensleydale and silk fibres. I would like to add beading as embellishment, but not sure if they can withstand the abuse of being thrown around.

I am FINALLY almost done with my ivory and black coat. I keep having to get more wool to add a finishing stitch here and a finishing stitch there. It will probably been far too warm to wear by the time I am done! But it is looking good. I will post the pics over the weekend when I have it completed.

Class is going well. We worked on reverse applique last week and I loved it as a technique. I took two layers of fabric and drew onto the right side of the fabric, making a running stitch around the design. I then cut out the center bit and revealed the second layer of fabric. Neat idea and easily adaptable. The red one below is the one I did for class. I've beenexperimenting a lot with vertical lines. Aplogies on picture quality as I still have not received my new digital camera. I have to get very sharp scissors for this project to cut into the corners of the insets.

I am still waiting to hear about my *possible* studio. Send out very good karma thoughts into the atmosphere. I desperately need the space. The idea of room to layout and cut things, arrange fibres, sew without banging into the wall, store finished work; well, I get feverish just thinking about it.

I am ordering more hat linings and getting on the ball making more hats. Things will pick up in Dingle in March, or they used to anyway, so I want to have a few things out and about. I am doing lighter, springier colours: duck egg, pink, red, and classic black. The flowers of spring! And a lovely new Merino and cashmere blend that is a joy to crochet with, so buttery soft it's a shame to put a lining in it.

Okay, must get back to work so I have something interesting to post on the weekend! I think I feel a butterfly coming on.....:)