Silhouette Challenge

I stumbled upon Country View Challenges blog and thought I would have a go at the March silhouettes challenge. http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.com/

Knitting

Knitting is a skill which I was lucky enough to be introduced to at an early age, probably about five, by my maternal grandmother.  She was always Nannie to me and I remember standing watching her in complete awe as she created garments and household items from fabric, thread and yarn.  I soon knew I wanted to be able to do those things too.  And so my creative life began; I owe her a lot.  I've been knitting ever since and have created so many things for family and friends, my own two sons and now my grand-daughter too and I can't wait to teach her to enjoy the buzz of creating too.

Recently I stumbled upon a warehouse store in northern England whilst browsing online - Black Sheep Wools - such an array of stock.  I soon found their Facebook page, BSW Make-along; here like minded people share discussions about their latest knitting and crochet projects.  At the beginning of the year, most members took a pledge to finish all the work in progress pieces before starting another.  Knitters will be so aware of this - a new pattern is released using a particular type of yarn and it has to be added to the stash before it goes out of production. The parcel arrives and then the complete yumminess of it all just cannot be resisted and so it goes - oh let's just knit a little to see how it looks - and another work in progress is born.

My main reason to chat about knitting today is the fact that Black Sheep Wools have just announced another knit along.  A beautiful blanket in aran yarn - https://www.blacksheepwools.com/collections/a-day-out-knit-along   I'm definitely going to take part and will update here as I go, we start 9 March.

In the meantime, my photos are two versions of the now infamous Zick Zack scarf by Christy Kamm - and the pattern can be found on Ravelry.

 “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt.

Animals

 Today my son has very kindly taken my cat, Sparkey and my border collie, Indie to the vet for their annual vaccinations because I have to shield and cannot go myself.

I therefore thought I would share some work with an animal theme.  I belong to a very informal quilting group and we meet fortnightly during normal times.  We usually have a group challenge set by the Chair which goes into our bi-annual exhibition.  Well of course, everything has been delayed.  However, the most recent theme was The Poem of Nonsense by Edward Lear.  We were each given a slip of paper with our task on and mine was P for Pig. So here he is:

And as it is springtime and we are seeing snowdrops, crocus and daffodils along with the lambs, I thought I would end today with a stumpwork piece of a very curly sheep.

New Start and New Beginnings

 I'm starting a new blog today as my interests have changed this past year. I'm still a fan of embroidery and textile art but I'm now finding that after a year of working with Hilary Beattie on the Make It Personal Course, my interest in art quilting and mixed media has expanded immensely.  Recently, with Hilary's guidance, I found a fantastic workshop on YouTube by an australian artist, Tracey Verdugo - mini abstract art pieces. Here are the best of my efforts.

 YOU ARE AMAZING, WONDERFUL AND STRONG, REMEMBER THAT!