My fist blog mention

I was very happy to find out one of my emphera collages had been featured on a blog called Pattern Pulp. I was quite excited as this because it just proves the power of the internet, that people all round the world can see your work. This was a little paper collage experiment which just developed and almost told me what to do as I worked on it. I’ve been meaning to try a few more of these as my collection of interesting paper had grown and needs to be explored. This might be the encouragement I need.

Grandma's Tablecloth

Here are a couple of close up pictures of the table cloth I used on Mothers day. It has been beautiful embroidered with a weaving floral patter all around the edge. The flowers have been stitched in a rainbow effect floss. I love the design, it's not too busy or dated.
I did have a slight accident on mothers day when some tea got spilt onto the table cloth. I was quite nervous about washing it as I wasn't sure how the floss would react. I put it into the washing machine on a cool hand wash cycle but that didn't get the stain out. I then tried a 40 degree was with some stain remover and luckily that worked. I don't know exactly how old the table cloth is but as it is a newly acquired family heirloom I didn't want to ruin it.
It's hard to know whether to store away all these precious embroidered pieces or take a risk and use them. Personally I think it's ashamed to hide away all that hard work. Every thing that has been handmade has been made to use or be displayed so I'm willing to take a risk. Even if accidents do happen.

Proper kntting

Last year I got into knitting again. I wouldn't say I was a accomplished knitter but I try, scarfs and simple fingerless gloves have been about my limit. Knitting patterns are still quite a mystery to me so I decided it was about time I should learn. 

After my mothers day cream tea, I was having a joke with my housemate about how I was missing a tea cozy so a tea cozy became my next project.  I thought this would be the perfect pattern to start with as it hopefully wouldn't take me too long and I wont get too frustrated if it all goes wrong. If you look at the top picture I have made quite a good start and I haven't even dropped one stitch, Yeh!

This is also the first time I have knitted in this ribbed design. I keep getting myself a little tangled using two different balls of wool but I really like the was it looks
Even on the reverse side. It looks so neat!