Postal Artwork

 (By Annie)

I feel very honoured to be part of a hugely talented online postal art group, MixedMediaGroup_UK. Every month or so we have one or two swaps, nothing major, with no pressure to join in with all of them, just the ones you fancy. It is a challenge every time, thinking around the theme, sourcing objects, fabrics and papers to incorporate into a tiny ATC or postcard, and thinking of placement on the card, but it's so much fun! The anticipating of waiting for your returns through the post is so tantalising. The envelope (which you know is the one because it was self addressed and is now bulky and enticing) plopping onto the mat can cheer up any dull or frustrating day.

The theme this time around was Newspaper and Buttons, and we had to make three ATCs and two Postcards (although not enough people joined the ATC swap and I did get one of my own back). I am so impressed with the cards that I have been given, they are utterly beautiful, with so many textures squeezed into these little items. I almost feel I should have them framed.

(By Wendy)

The Mother is very jealous of Wendy's laces. Every member of the group has a style and you can often tell who has made what without looking at the name on the back. Wendy often incorporates lace into her work and The Mother pounces on them every time, exclaiming over the different varieties.

This card has some tiny little details that are difficult to catch on camera. It appears that the little sparkly bits trapped between the news print and organza are heat bonding beads- but I couldn't be sure. They look very pretty when the light catches on them though.

 (By Wendy)

I love how Wendy's ATC matches her postcard, it's almost like a miniature version.

(By Annie)

And Annie's card has a lovely piece of silk as the background, with tonal lace and buttons. It really makes the red heart pop out of the centre! Until next month!

WPLUP:: Colourful Shoots

This morning I awoke to a beautifully sunny day. I know other parts of the country are under snow but for a few hours this morning it has been properly springlike. It has clouded over and is coming in dark now though so I am glad I hopped straight into shoes and the great outdoors earlier.

Little shoots are peeping up all over the garden. I know I go on about this a lot but its just so miraculous and welcome after the grey winter months that I cant help documenting the little changes over and over again. We have Grape Hyacinths in our pots, as well as proper Hyacinths popping out. I am very impressed with the poor, half eaten Hyacinth bulbs that were tossed into a bigger pot at the end of last year, having been bought in a supermarket the Spring before. Often supermarket Hyacinths will go on to leaf again the following year but come out blind, with no flowers. This one however, seems to laugh in the face of adversity, and even though slugs appear to have eaten away half of the bulb, it is still determined to put out a little flower. So cute.

In a trough we have Dad's tulips. He has been monitoring these very carefully so it is exciting to see so many start to push through the soil.

Our own mini Bluebell patch is also starting to flourish. This section of the garden is right outside our living room French doors so I can watch and appreciate this process from my chair. Seeing the bright green turn to this gorgeous purple/blue.

And protecting the Bluebells is this bush, which I am not sure of the name but puts out these tiny little white flowers which have the most delicious scent when you brush past.

In another trough we have lots of Snowdrops appearing, welcoming guests to our garden with their solemn nodding heads.

In my creative world I have the colourful shoots of a new blanket being created. After finishing my log cabin blanket I didn't want to be left with lots of half finished balls of wool, so decided to make little mini granny squares with the remainder of the wool, working through the wool balls until they have all been crocheted.

The colours look so lovely all jumbled up together, and they play slightly differently together being in block squares rather than rows built into a bigger piece.

Honestly, the trials and tribulations of being a blogger with a curious cat. No sooner had I turned my back to fetch something from the kitchen, the cat had decided to pre-emptively test the blanket for snuggleability.

I think it passes, even it is just little separate squares at the moment.

So I am working through my balls of wool, and will probably have a rummage through my stash to see if there are any other colours of Stylecraft wool I can add to the mix. Currently there are 139 little three round squares, they are so sweet and diddy.
I haven't been bothering too much with colour combinations (as usual), when one ball of wool runs out mid way through a square, I join in the next colour and carry on.

We shall see where this little project takes me!!

.................................................................Edit To Add.................................................................

I have amended this post to be March's Winter Project Link Up Post- hosted by Jen at Thistle Bear. Mainly because I had completely forgotten it was imminently looming and don't feel I have enough to qualify as a WPLUP post by the end of this weekend. If you are joining me from the party and are expecting to see my Log Cabin Blanket (as shown in the February post), then it is here, in all it's Ta-Daahing glory!! I just can't stop crocheting and every time we come around to a new party post, I have moved on to another blanket. I am pretty sure since the WPLUP started, I have started four blankets and completed three- it's a wonder my hands aren't on fire!!! Please do click on the links and see who else has joined the party!! xx

Log Cabin Ta-Daah

Would you look at this cat!! It is always handy to have multi-purpose items in your house, and baskets are well known for their versatility. This particular basket can house wool on one side and a cat on the other, ingenious!!

He got himself snuggled on this perch by climbing through the basket, under the handle, from the other side, then kicking out as many balls of wool as needed to make a hole and wiggling to secure his bottom. Purrrr-fect.

And a little wool ball to rest his weary head on!! Really, we humans think of everything.

Luckily I managed to keep him off of my log cabin blanket, which is now finished!!!! Huzzah!! It looks so amazing in the sunshine, quite literally glowing with colour.

My edging was a simple three rows of double crochet and two rows of the spotted edging as designed by Attic24. Just enough to secure the squares and finish the look but not enough to shout, 'I'm a border!'

Ahh, I just can't stop staring at it, it's like gazing into the heart of a rainbow.

Even when the sun goes in and gloom threatens, the blanket doesn't give two hoots- it is warm and beautiful and doesn't need the sunshine to make happy thoughts. This is snuggle-tastic!!

Heart singy happiness.

Newspaper & Buttons

We are starting to get to the time of year when I wake up at the same time as the sun which leads to some very lovely morning skies. A few more days and the sun will be peeping over the tops of the trees. Be warned now, there will probably be lots of photos of this as I am mildly obsessed with colourful skies.

This week I have been working on this months ATC group projects, postcards and ATCs using newspaper and buttons as the main feature.
For the postcards I layered strips of newspaper over some batting to give a padded, slightly quilted effect. I have played with having the newspaper in different directions and slightly different colours. The red thread gives great contrast and I have added texture around the buttons with white long stitches, giving a spiky, washed  appearance.

For the ATCs I kept with the simple theme, layering batting and a patterned cotton then stitching on some newspaper petals and a button centre.

I would like to make more ATCs but things are quite quiet in the online group I am part of. Maybe I could make some of my own as spares, perhaps inspired by the lovely Daffodils blooming on the kitchen counter.

Log Cabin Squares

Spring is coming!! We have Snowdrops and Bluebells in the garden making things look pretty amongst the green. It is so nice to have green back again, I get very bored with all of the damp browns and greys. The first few buds of green, little fresh shoots coming out of the soil are always very exciting.

Inside we still have our Primroses left over from the Chinese New Year celebrations. They aren't quite as red now, the colour is fading, but they are still adding a pop of colour to our sitting room.

In the kitchen, my faithful and highly fruitful Christmas Cactus is doing it's thing, flowering like crazy. It is the best plant purchase I have ever made I think as it flowers about three times a year and needs barely any looking after. My other Cacti (Cactuses?) have never lasted so long or flowered so well. The colour is just beautiful and I love the shaping of the flowers as well, kind of like little dragon heads with a tongue sticking out at the end.

But anyway, enough flower chat. I have finished all of the squares for my log cabin blanket!!! It was so exciting laying them all out, and a little bit worrying in case I had done a huge boo-boo and got my number of alternate squares wrong. Thankfully there were just the right amount of both.

I just love the colours in this blanket, and when the hot/cold combos line up and you get the blocks of light and dark, it is just so exuberant and well, happy. Which is good as that's what the whole idea is about.

So, having laid all of the squares out and played with how they work together, I could stat stitching them together. I went with the invisible stitching where you just catch the top loops of the final round and use the same colour of thread so it blends in and creates an invisible seam.

Eventually, a couple of hours later all squares were stitched together and all ends were stitched in. Huzzah!!! It immediately makes you want to start a new one, with slightly different colours- perhaps a blue one with 16 shades of blue and bright orange popping centres, or a pastel one maybe for a nursery? How about a monotone one with shades of white, grey and black? Ahhhh too much to think about. For now I will concentrate on the edging and try to figure out which colours I should use.