Ruby's Button Tin

Saturday stuff

Yesterday was a real April day of sunshine and a few showers.  I did some charity-shop wanderings in the morning, and bought a couple of odd things (a talking book of a Ruth Rendell novel & an old fashioned box of dominoes.  No, I don't play dominoes, but the box is vintagey looking and nostalgic and - oh, you know what it's like when you see something and think you'll only regret it if you don't buy it.  Once home I did a tiny bit of cleaning up and general chores, then got down to some crafting. 

I was quite pleased with the mix of blues used in this small piece of needlepoint.  Even though there are lots of other colours - pinks and greens for instance - the overall impression is still one of moody intense blues. 

Later my very unsuccessful diet took another downward turn when I made scones.  Sometimes a girl just has to give in to the urge to bake.  The sultana scones turned out beautifully, but they weren't a low calories option, especially when scoffed with buttery spread and marmalade.  :-(

Hello kitty

I'm still on a needlepoint kick at the moment, the patchwork and softies being put to one side for a while. I thought I'd show a couple of pieces that I made a while ago, but which I've never got round to finishing.                                                                           

The idea was to make spectacle cases for reading glasses.  The needlepoint would be folded so there's a cat on either side, and lined so the glasses wouldn't get scratched once put inside.

At some point I may actually do this! 

Easter sunny Easter

It's been a lovely Easter weekend so far, and looks set to continue today.  Being a Bank Holiday there's no work so it's gardening and sewing, and maybe a bit of reluctant cleaning thrown in. 

I've put my 'Klimt' needlepoint aside for a short while and am completing my fishy patterns.  Originally these small pieces were going to be backed with felt and used as tablemats.  But now I'm thinking of making them into dinky little cushions.  Of course they'd be more decorative than practical, but I reckon they'd look good grouped together on a sofa. 

Needlepoint and tulips

Tulips are one of my fave flowers.  Such gorgeous colours and graceful shapes.  These are some I've picked from my allotment.  I can't claim to have 'grown' them as the bulbs were there when I took over the plot so they grew themselves!  I feel a bit guilty picking flowers to put in vases, but I always leave a few on the plot for the bees to buzz around.  I've been given masses of seeds by my Mum, so the next few evenings are going to be spent putting seeds in pots and trying to conjure up space on sunny windowsills. 

Apart from that I'll be carrying on with my needlepoint project.  I'm making a cushion based on a Klimt design.  I made one before (see little picture here, more on Flickr) and that was pretty successful in my eyes.   

This new cushion is very (very!) loosely based on shapes and colours in Klimt's 'The Kiss'.  I'm trying to remember to take a series of photos of work in progress, so I can see how it develops.  At first with this kind of thing the design looks like nothing special, and you have to keep on going, believing you'll come up with something good.  I unpicked an area of yellowy-orange as it wasn't right and was niggling me everytime I looked at it, but apart from that it's okay.  Needlepoint's slow going though, you have to allot a fair amount of time to make real progress.   

The design is lightly marked out with a pink felt tip pen, then I've started stitching in the bottom right hand corner. 

 

Finally, on a related matter, I found a lovely stash of tapestry wool in a charity shop yesterday.  About 40 skeins of wool in various colours for the bargain price of - wait for it - £1.75.  Considering you pay about 60 or 70p in a 'proper' shop for a single skein it really was a great find. 

So thank you to the anonymous person who cleared their clutter and donated all that wool.  

 

It's getting nearer the weekend

I keep meaning to blog more often, but this week's been so busy at work I just flake out in the evening and don't get much done at all.  I've been slowly doing the odd bits of needlepoint, like this mainly blue tablemat, and piecing together hexagons for patchwork.  I'm amazed that some people blog every day.  How do they find the time!!?!!  Though I suppose they're just organized and don't fritter away valuable minutes doing Sudoku puzzles and looking at goofy cats on icanhazcheezburger. 

Last weekend was so lovely and sunny I spent Sunday morning up on the allotment.  I'm preparing a patch of ground to grow sweetcorn in.  How well it will do I've no idea.  So far I'm planning sweetcorn, courgettes, beans, some spuds and on the flower front - larkspur, lupins, marigolds and nasturtians.  (I don't think I've spelt that last one properly, but the dictionary's gone awol ...)  This is the view from my allotment patch:

 

On a good day it's a wonderful spot.  You hear lots of birdsong, and it's such a relaxing place to while away an hour or two. 

The only other things I've been doing (apart from scoffing way too many chocolate HobNobs) are reading 'The End of Mr Y' by Scarlet Thomas (weird, good, not sure where the story's going ...), posting more photos on Flickr (I heart Flickr!) and watching Sunset Boulevard again on my ancient video recorder.  Gloria Swanson - fabulous!!  What a gal. 

Just one more image to post, then I'm done for now ...

Another piece of fishy needlepoint in every colour of the rainbow.

Is it Easter yet?

  No, it isn't Easter yet, which is just as well 'cause this cushion isn't yet finished.  But can you believe Easter eggs in the shops already?  Actually I saw them on Boxing Day.  No, really!  Nuts, isn't it?  This cushion cover was purposely made with a limited palette of colours, and I think it'll look okay when I get around to embroidering on the bunny faces and assembling the whole thing.  I haven't been getting an awful lot of sewing done lately.  I've acquired a hacking cough, plus I've been seeing lots of films ('Slumdog Millionaire', 'The Wrestler', 'Che' among them) and reading, incluing 'The 19th Wife' - apologies for not having the author's name to hand, but it's a real eye opener about plural marriages even in modern day America.  So it's been a busy start to the year. 

(By the way, the annoying cough has only just been acquired, so most of the time I've not been the most irritating person in the cinema!) 

Blue and white needlepoint cushions

A couple of cushions mainly sewn with blue and white yarn. The stripey cushion has added sparkle from a silver thread with the alluring name of Goldfingering. This one reminds me of old quilt patterns.