Sewing

 

I need a new nightie. Surely there's enough of the pale yellow fabric to make a nightie?  I tried this pattern and that pattern, this way and that. Nope. I used the same solution I used here and cut the sleeves out of a different fabric, in this case a lace fabric. Hopefully it gives the nightie the right sort of lingerie look! 

I also got around to making the second blue skirt at last. No, I'm not going to put tatting on this one, which is going to the lady who gave me the fabric. She also gave me some lining fabric last week, so I used some of it to line the skirt. The colour in the photo is way off - the lining is actually a paler version of the outside blue. I hope this skirt will fit.

Spearmint

 

It has taken me a while to spin up the green wool that I dyed last week, because I've just been spinning in the evenings. I have a number of projects on the go at the moment, so I've been allocating them different time slots - tat in the morning, sew in the afternoon, spin in the evening! The green is much paler than in looked in the dye bath and probably looks paler too when combined with a thread of natural wool, but I do like the look of it. 

More Lavender

 

I have an order for another 15 'bunches' of lavender. I had a quick look at my pattern and began. I've used all the butterflies I had, so I'll need to tat some more of Jane Eborall's very small butterfly before I continue with the flowers. 

Cleaning X Rays

 

The butterfly project went well yesterday. These are some of them.

There were quite a few comments on the previous post, thanks, so I thought I'd write more about the cleaning of x-rays. I was advised to soak them in a bath of water with dishwashing liquid and bleach added. Apparently, on some of them the ink will just float off, some need rubbing and some won't come clean at all. Mine required rubbing with a sponge. 

Butterfly Sample

 

I was given some used x-rays recently to use for the craft group. I knew that some of the other groups had used x-rays to make butterflies, so I picked some brains and learnt how to remove the image from the x-ray. I was pondering how to display the butterflies when I saw this post - scroll down to see the stained glass butterfly. Jack bent some wire into shape for me and I think it'll work. I'll cut some butterflies out of x-ray for the less dexterous and make templates for the more capable to cut out their own. Everyone can decorate as much or as little as they fancy. 

Better

 The market on Saturday went much better for me than last month's market, so that's good. I took along my spinning wheel and some of the multicoloured carded batts, because they're so eye catching, and indeed they did start conversations. Since then I've spun the batts, so that I can finish knitting the scarf.

I've sold all the fingerless gloves, so I need to make some more. A yarn customer said she's keen to see solid colours plyed together, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone, spin some 'barber pole' yarn to show her and knit gloves with it too. First step is to dye the solid colour, jade in this case:

Puppet Parade

 

It's been a while since I made a new puppet design. I hereby introduce Miss Mouse. 

After a few days at the sewing machine, I think I've filled the puppet basket enough for Saturday's market table