I have been having fun with a pattern from Cathie Shuttleworth recently. This owl pattern was intended to make bunting and as there do seem to be a lot of owls around at the moment it is rather on trend. Anyway, I haven't made that many yet and the owls have been making some jolly birthday cards.
I think putting the owls on at an angle makes them look as though they are flying off the card. The first one has a button beak and for the next one I cut a section from a paper flower. Usefully the wings fold in for posting so they fit in a standard envelope.
Standing this card on the mantlepiece for photographing made me think of the 'Owl and the Pussycat' by Edward Lear. When I inked the background of the card, intending to make it look like the sky, I actually thought it was rather like waves. Thinking of the rhyme now and the 'beautiful pea green boat' the wallpaper is rather appropriate! These two little cats are from Japan though, a gift from a special friend who is working out there.
Do take a look at Cathie's work, she has some fun ideas and her illustrations are wonderful. Anyone who has been to the Hobbycrafts show at the N.E.C. this week may well have seen some more of her clever ideas, and I know several people who will like the owl cupcake holder!
Well so much for all good resolutions to blog more frequently! Never mind, each new day brings a new canvas to fill, but the trouble is there always seems to be more than can be fitted in and so many things that I want to do. I always seem to have a lot of projects on the go, some large and some small, and rather a large number of 'works in progress', otherwise known as the UFOs (unfinished objects)!
However, some projects do get finished and this one gave me a huge sense of satisfaction when I stitched in the last loose thread. It took 18 months to complete but it was a project that wasn't worked on all the time. I love having some knitting for long journeys in the car, as I mentioned in another post. This blanket was knitted in strips, rather like a scarf, and some strips are all one stitch and in others I changed the pattern two or three times at random. There was no pattern, I just knitted whatever took my fancy.
Miss Mischief never misses an opportunity to snuggle on a blanket, even when you are trying to knit, so as soon as I spread this one out up she jumped, quickly followed by Master Trouble!
I think they knew to make the most of it as it would not be in the house for long. My daughter had been hoping to take it to University last Autumn and then once she went she kept telling me how much she needed a new cosy blanket, none of the other ones would do!
It looks smaller on a double bed but is actually plenty big enough to wrap around her.
One happy daughter and one happy Mum! And now there is another knitting project started. Well I do need something for the car, although actually I have been doing a fair bit of the new one whilst watching television. Hopefully I will remember to take some photos soon!
Slightly behind but thought you would like to see two special birthday cards I made in November. This one was for my mother.
A Coffee and Walnut cake with one candle for each whole decade...
And here is the birthday girl herself with her eldest grandson.
And this card was for my father.
I made the marbled paper a long time ago and it reminded me of the sea so I added real sand, tiny shells and seaweed. I really love tiny shells and can happily spend hours on the beach searching for them. The 'Happy Birthday' was a peel off sticker as I thought it could easily be removed if the card was going to stay out longer than usual and I had a feeling it might well do. Sure enough a month later it is still on the windowsill, minus the sticker.
The start of December in our house means the Christmas mugs come out along with Christmas music and carols. Then begins the start of the mince pie baking. I make so many each year that it gets to be a bit of a joke and we keep count. This was the first dozen out of the oven and as I transferred them to the cooling rack I realised that these two tins of mine have baked every mince pie I have made since I got married 31 years ago. Actually I still have quite a lot of my original tins which is quite amazing considering the amount of use they get.
Anyway this first tray was quickly joined by some more and the blackboard recorded that 30 were made. However as I went to photograph them...
there was no longer 30 there!
This week they were followed up by another batch taking the score to 60.
Then I made a batch of Frangipan mince pies yesterday, I really like the almond topping, it goes so well with the richness of the mincemeat, and with eggs and almonds in it sounds almost healthy! Well that's probably a good excuse to eat one or two (for me) and considerably more than that by my husband and eldest son! Good job I photographed them yesterday as there are none of these ones left now.
The mince pie tally is now 74! It will go up even quicker once the Universities break up and my two youngest return home for the holidays.
I am currently supposed to be knitting a blanket for my daughter, it is rather a long standing work in progress having been started well over a year ago. It is rather well travelled as I like to knit in the car especially on motorways, not when I am driving I would hasten to add! This blanket has done lots of travelling in England over the past year, especially with many University visits and also accompanied us on two trips to France so far. My daughter is constantly asking if it is finished yet as she really wants to take it to Uni and she has pointed out that the weather is getting colder hence an even greater need. However, I have to report that it is still a UFO, one of those many unfinished objects that I wish were completed.
I am pleased though that I managed to knit a dozen little hats for Innocent Smoothies.
They have an annual campaign requesting people to knit or crochet little hats which are put on botttles of Smoothie drinks and sold in shops. For each one sold the company give 25 pence to Help the Aged charity. Some people knit some amazing designs but they obviously have a lot more time than me. Do have a look at the website they are great fun. Although I hadn't intended to make any, I became aware that the deadline was extended, presumably because they needed more hats and these very simple ones were quick and easy.
Twelve little hats decorating my halloween display. I made Esmeralda the Witch ten years ago so my daughter, who drew her face, must have been 8. I should have taken a close up photo to show you.
Here she is with all my hats. They look a bit Christmassy in red and white so maybe someone buying one will use it as a Christmas decoration. I happened to have some red wool around and then they needed something to brighten them and the white wool jumped out the cupboard first.
You can see Esmeralda's face a little better in this photo, and the hat she is holding is very special so needed to be shown on it's own. This little hat was knitted by my eldest son's girlfriend, a very talented artistic young lady but she hadn't done any knitting since she was 7 years old! Having mastered this so speedily there will be no stopping her - perhaps she will help finish the blanket!
This is a most unusual squash, Miss Pusscat thinks they all smell interesting! I cannot decide which way up I like it best.
Guess where I went to last weekend?
Here's a big clue.
Well there is no mistaking this skyline, it has to be London, and of course there is one place where you get such a view and it is Alexandra Palace.
Why was I there? Well here's a little clue...
Don't know if you can read the sign behind the taxi, but it was the Knit and Stitch Show. This taxi was the first thing I saw and it was totally covered with knitting and crochet.
Love this 'field' on the bonnet, complete with picnic, toadstalls and all sorts of creatures, even snails!
This wing mirror had a bird perched amongst the flowers.
If you saw this driving around it would certainly brighten your day. Of course everything inside was great too, there is always more than you can really see in one day. It is great to watch all the demonstrations and speak to the artists. I think the furthest travelled has to be Dale from Australia, she certainly had some unusual things too - still not sure what I will do with sea urchin spines but couldn't resist buying some. I did manage to resist her porcupine quills even though they were painted brilliant colours.
It was very busy inside and I was too engrossed most of the time to take photos but this work did catch my eye.
All the work by this lady was equisite, such tiny stitches and attention to detail.
These leaves are done with a button hole stitch, hundreds of stitches in each one. They are based on stumpwork which I have never tried. A magnifying glass must surely be a necessity.
I didn't buy her book but if you are interested...
I did buy some things though and will show you some soon!
Look what I found on the ground today
Lots of them were scattered around. I love the glossy shine and the softness inside those prickly shells. Time to bring out my Autumn plate with the painted leaves to make a little display.
Little Miss Pusscat has managed to leave them alone so far but I bet she won't for long and I am sure they will soon be scattered all over the floor.
I have two very confused cats at the moment they cannot quite work out why two members of the household are hiding in the computer! They hear the voices and see moving images but just where are the bodies! I don't suppose they will ever understand Skype but it certainly works well for the rest of us to keep in touch with these two...
My two youngest have both
gone to University this Autumn, both to study History but one has gone
north and the other south. It would have been helpful if they could
have gone in the same direction! It really has been a big change in
this house but what an exciting time for them. I love this photo of them, it never fails to make me smile! They were 5 and 2 then and were so pleased with their Sticklebrick model although I cannot remember what it was supposed to be.
This photo was taken on holiday in France this summer so rather more up to date. As you can see my son still has that lovely smile and my daughter still has her beautiful blonde hair. Isn't she lucky to be naturally blonde.
