Apron

I joined an apron swap over on the 'Down to Earth' blog a few weeks back and sent my effort away and got this in return and very nice it is too. It is going strictly in the kitchen - no horrid dyes/inks/jels for this one :) Mind you, the subject wearing it is not photogenic and doesn't do it justice really.

And that was the better one too!

viv

Picture quilts

I finally remembered to take the photos of those three hangings above my mother this afternoon.

I made them about 5 years ago now. They are constructed using layers of coloured mesh that are then cut away to form the image. The mountain one has around 7 layers of dark blue mesh on a satin ground and a couple of layers of sky colours as well. It takes ages to cut all the various layers down to where you want them!

The beach scene has shells pushed in from the edge of the final layer after quilting and before the edge goes on. I did try to get them in before sewing on an earlier piece but they just interfered too much and several broke so now I plan the stitching so that I can wiggle them in later.

The third piece has a darkish blue satin and a more solid piece of sheer from an old dress as well as a piece of net from an old hat.

Mum picked these three pieces for her wall out of the dozen or so I made at the time. She also wanted the hooked rug I designed and hooked when I was rather a lot younger. I originally made this design for a cross stitch table cloth and adapted it for the rug later just because I thought it had potential and I liked it. (I still have the cloth. I think I was about 19 when I did it.)

They were a lot of fun to do and there are very few limits as to what you can push under the layers of netting. I like to put one overall layer on at the end to stop the edges from lifting before doing the final quilting. Some of these also play with different grades of net and with adding smaller, pre-cut pieces too. And its a great way to use all those shells etc that get brought home from the beach (incurable beach comber here :).

Oh, and my indoor photography sucks! Sorry for the blur and the poor colour.

viv

Capsicums

My capsicums are finally beginning to turn red. I was convinced we had some that simply grow green and stay that way so I am happy :)

This week has been busy with Matt finally getting the rest of the floor into James room so he no longer has a plastic lined conversation pit. Matt used some extra board to line the pit so it is now a secret storage pit with a lift up lid. That meant that I spent rather a lot of time clearing all James things out of the hallway and various other rooms so I can finally walk down there without gaining a few more bruises on all the stuff. Now all I need is for the 6 old computer monitors and the 11 old computers to go to their new homes and the house might feel more like it should. They are part of the school computer club stuff which Matt runs for the kids at lunchtime one day a week. They are going to refurbish them with Linux and use them for this and that. Eventually they will all be given away and the next lot will appear by magic I'm thinking!

I went to the knitting squad on Wednesday as usual and M came in with a certificate he had designed and printed out for my Mum who has donated all her left over (but new) baby knits (she loved to knit this stuff) to the valley project to be given as gifts to new arrivals as a welcome present. Sheila came to give the certificate yesterday and Matt took some photos.

Apart from that, I've made a batch of apple ketchup and thats about it for this week.

viv in nz