Zentangling ceramics

I promised to show you my finished teaspoon stand from when we went mug painting. It was awhile ago but it had to be refired and then I started a mug with a similar design so thought I'd show you them together.

Here's before firing: 

And after. The colours become really vivid.

I'm not as pleased with the mug, the shading wasn't dark enough so it doesn't have that 3D effect. If I do it again it will definitely have 3 coats of the grey.

The mug is a Christmas present for a friend and the handle says "Hot and Dark", which is what he calls bad coffee.

Cathedral Windows Yet again

I seem to have a thing for Cathedral Windows. I've made lots of different projects with them. 

My favourite is this wall hanging (the photography is dire and you can't see the detail, the entire hanging is quilted and the windows are metallic fabrics and look amazing). 

Then there is this cushion

 and my little needle case. 

There's been lots more too that I haven't blogged about like one year when everyone got a cathedral window pincushion and the next when it was Christmas decorations.

I had a weekend recently when the sewing machine came out and there was lots of industry.

Secret Garden block during sewing. The block starts in a similar way to Cathedral Window but the "windows" are put in a different place.

Finished needle case

I've had a project sat for awhile, and I finally had some down time so I got cracking with it. It'll be a cushion when I'm finished similar to the one above. Here's my progress so far:

Cathedral blocks sewn together before ironing.

All the blocks ironed flat.

I've used what I had leftover from the wall hanging for the windows. With better photography you can see the fabric is really stunning. 

It took awhile to figure out the arrangement for the fabric as I didn't have enough to do many squares in just one colour. I just have to sew them all in now, which is the time consuming part. 

Woolfest Haul 2013

Another year at Woolfest and it was just as fantastic. Here are links to previous years 2011 and 2012. It seemed busier this year.

 I went with the intention of buying no spinning fibre at all, as I had a lot bought me at Christmas, but.... Well, hilltopcloud fibre is so gorgeous, it just "had" to be bought. There was a beautiful blue and orange batt and some Southdown dyed in a gradient. Southdown is meant to be a fantastic fibre for socks and I've been wanting to try it for awhile. I love how the fibre was presented it looked like a fluffy octopus!

Eden Cottage Yarns and a mini skein set from Natural Dye Studio

Cute little sheep from Hestascene. Need to think of an appropriate name for her.

Gorgeous buttons from Textile Garden

Embroidery silks from Natalie Fergie aka Yarn Yard. The orange 4ply in the top picture is from her too.

This is what I got most excited about. It's a Lilly Brush which before the show I thought was only available from the US at super high postage rates, so I didn't think I'd be able to get one easily. Tall Yarns have them in stock at the moment. Basically it's a de-piller and lint remover and it's fab.

Bedecked Basket

My mum bought me a basket from the local farmer's market as a present. The idea being I can keep all my current knitting bits in so they don't end up everywhere.

It's a lovely basket but I thought it needed a bit of decoration. I've not done any crochet for quite some time.

I used Attic 24's May Roses pattern and did a htr circle for the liner.

Not sure whether to add any more, so I'm leaving it for the moment.

Bo likes it.

Dyeing Workshop

At the weekend, I went to a workshop at A Good Yarn, Cleethorpes. It was a "Dye your own yarn" workshop with Jonathan from Chroma Yarns. It was great fun and everyone made gorgeous coloured yarn.

The dyes

The aftermath

Everyone's gorgeous yarns

My finished yarn

Yarn wound into a cake

Hopefully, it'll find itself made into a pair of gloves (for a friend) at some point.

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Bo in Blue

Conception to....

acquisition to...

creation.

He keeps taking his hat off. I've had a word with him about it.

I especially love his tail

The pattern is Bo Rabbit by Susan Hickson. My ravelry project page for Bo and more details.

Lindisfarne

Here are a couple of vistas from near Berwick-Upon-Tweed.

Berwick-Upon-Tweed

View of Berwick-Upon-Tweed & Bamburgh Castle in the distance

On our way home, we got to Lindisfarne (Holy Island) when the the tide was out - so we had time to cross, have a walk around and get back before high tide.

There was plenty of wallflowers out...

...even some in the church walls.

There was a lot of old ship hulls that have been made into huts

Lots and lots of lobster pots

Sea thrift

We were sat on the coastline and I'm sure I could hear seals. I took a photo of another island nearby. It looked like it had a rocky coast line but it was seals. About a minute later, there was one bobbing it's head up on the coast where we were sat.

Stained Glass in the church

Lindisfarne Castle

The weather was pretty decent too, and I have a load more photos. For such a small island, there was plenty of interesting scenery. The ice creams weren't half bad, either.

Edinburgh

I was a bit quiet last week because we had a few days in Scotland, including a day trip to Edinburgh.

We really lucked out with the weather - clear blue skies most of the day. I had my camera with me and was snapping photos. Mr thought it was hilarious the looks I was getting for taking pictures of manholes and cobbles; especially with all the beautiful scenery around and I was taking pictures of the floor!

Edinburgh Castle

Found a wool shop

Look at those blue skies

Everything was in bloom

How many fires did this house have?

We had a fab day - lots of walking, lovely food and beautiful weather. Plus a little bit of wool too! I even heard a bagpiper play the Star Wars Theme.