Woven Cards

I bought some fabric which is impregnated with glue on one side. It is similiar to the one we used in our pin weaving. I used it to make little sea pictures using yarn and merino tops. I cut a sheet of baking parchment and laid the merino and yarns on top. Remember you are working face down. Lay the fabric on top and then another piece of parchment. Iron the piece using a hot iron and leave to cool. The yarns will have been bonded to the backing. You can then cut small pieces to use in aperture cards. I paid £1.20 for five cards with envelopes. Thanks Maureen for the inspiration.

   

Lunch at Trag

My pin weaving project is finished and I am very happy with it. Kevin made a great job of his first box frame. Thanks! The colours remind me of the sea at Tragumna. 

WIP

At the knitting group one of the women asked me if I ever knitted anything on needles larger than 2.5cm. Here is something being knitted on 10cm needles. It will be a twisted cowl for Katie. The yarn is Malabrigo Rasta and I love the shot of citrus green amongst the blues and purples. The stitch is a new one to me called brioche stitch. It is basically garter stitch but you knit into the bottom of every second stitch and it forms a very dense fabric. I hope it will keep her warn on her trip to Budapest.     

Christmas Tree

Before our lovely old alder  tree was taken down I rescued some of its branches and dried them. They make a wonderful Christmas tree. I will keep it up until the spring and the glass will twinkle on sunny days. 

Blue Moon

The shape of these lovely agate beads when they are face on remind me of the full moon. I used a striped agate in between and made it longer than usual so it is a statement chunky piece. Wonder who will choose this for their Christmas present?    

Bye bye lovely tree

The alder tree in our front garden has died. We have had to cut it down and the garden looks very different without it. In the spring we will plant three new shrubs and hopefully they will grow quickly. Thanks lovely tree. 

Berry Fruits

These tourmaline beads are such lovely deep colours. I was going to use just the large ones with one bead in between but decided they needed more space round them to shine. This also means I have enough of the large ones left to make another necklace.  

Tragumna Days

I have been spending my lunch times by the sea at Tragumna again, I love it there. I also love these Aquamarine beads, the colours are just so translucent. I bought enough beads to make three necklaces. One is for me and I know who the other two are going to. 

  

Winter Skies

It hasn't been like winter at all, so far the days have been lovely and sunny and bright. I like the winter colours though and these agate beads remind of winter skies. The round beads are Botswana agate and the faceted beads are Persian agate. I like the way the same stone can be different colours depending on what region of the world it comes from. I have combined the agate with grey freshwater pearls. 

Persian agate

Botswana agate

Inch in Winter

I have had this photo of Inch Strand for a while now as the colours inspired me. We had a half day art class and the subject was a SMALL winter painting. I found a small subject to paint but just in case I took this photo along and a huge canvas. There was plenty of room to spread out and no time to wait as we only had three hours. Here is the end result. I was so busy painting that I had no time to stop for a break but my very kind friends kept me supplied with mince pies and mulled wine. I

need to paint in one sitting like this more often.

    

Inspiration

We stayed in a gorgeous barn in Yorkshire, decorated in all my favourite colours. It would make a great studio for me. Perhaps I should stay there and paint some of the wonderful  skies we saw on our trip out round East Yorkshire?