Dreaming Spirals

I was cutting up a red cabbage for Saturday lunch and I noticed that its inside was a very interesting design, especially when I put two halves together, like so:

I have just had a bit of a play with this photo in Paint Shop Pro. I only got this just after Christmas so it’s fairly new. So far it is just a matter of pressing a few buttons and seeing what happens.

I did this by clicking on ‘Effects’ and ‘Enhance edges’. I think.

This was ‘Effects’, ‘Reflections’ and ‘Pattern’.

Sorry, but I totally forgot how I did this. Some effect followed by flood fill…

Any suggestions of other effects which might be fun with this pattern gratefully received.

[Read more →]

Something else I did this week was to knit a Curly Whirlie scarf. This involves casting on about 100 stitches and then doubling them each other row about four times - or maybe just three. Here it is in its final increase row - the stitches just about fit on the needles but I had to push them down really hard. I should have used circular ones, I expect, but I don’t have 2 cm wide circular needles. (Do any exist?!!).

I was going to run out of that blue wool so I changed to a furry, fuzzy type. I like the effect this had on the ends. You end up knitting along the length of it and because of the stitch increases it spirals down when it is cast off. Here I am modelling it!

By the way, if my face looks a bit lopsided sometimes, it wasn’t always that way. I had Bell’s Palsy when I was pregnant with Anselm (my eldest), which is a virus causing inflammation of the facial nerve and paralysis of one side of the face. Luckily, movement came back after a couple of weeks but it was a bit scary while it lasted. I think the muscles on that side of the face didn’t quite develop symmetrically to the other side so sometimes it looks a bit strange. I looked like Long John Silver for quite a time because my eye wouldn’t close properly so I had to wear an eyepatch for about 4 months afterwards if I went outside! Ick.

[Read more →]

I worked hard this week and finished the velvet jacket made from a sweatshirt. Hurray! This was despite Barnabas being off school most of the week with a tummy bug and Edmund decorating the landing. Still, Barnabas came in handy to take photos of me modelling it. I’m glad I finally finished something - last week I hardly did anything textile related.

Here is the front of it with half my button collection scattered over it. I couldn’t find buttons all one colour so I decided to go for the mad, merry look. I have also considered sewing some at random over the jacket itself but having done 7 so far, that is definitely enough for now!

The inside was a boring off-white colour so I decided to use my Chromacoal pastels to colour it and make it potentially reversible. I like seams showing. The rough look, me. These pastels can be heat set to make them permanent. Time will tell if I ironed them enough….

And …. fanfare!!… here is the finished article.

It goes quite well with this scarf I made a few years ago out of some of the same silk velvet I used for the jacket. It feels gorgeous. I can’t stop stroking it.

[Read more →]

Barnabas and Zachary planted some hyacinth bulbs at the youth group at church. Zachary’s is still a bud, but Barnabas’ is doing well.

Here is a Georgia O’Keefe style close up:

And here is a rose which is in the bouquet which my friend Ruth brought me:

[Read more →]

A lot of people seem to have done a sketch of their fridge as part of the Everyday Matters Yahoo group. I can’t keep up with the posts so I’ve gone nomail, but I’m trying to do some of their suggestions for sketches. I don’t have much patience to spend too much time on it though. So here is a bit of a hasty, crazy sketch!

[Read more →]

A few more sketches from Sunday’s candyfloss session! I am trying to write down relevant descriptive words by the sketches, to help inspiration if I want to translate it into fabric or paint. I think I read this in Creative Embroidery by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn. I’ve never tried this before but it is a challenge. I think I need to swallow a thesaurus!

I’ve been eyeing up this string of garlic which I bought in a Continental Market which came to Newport a few weeks before Christmas, with an eye to sketching it.

I love the fat, bulging look of these. Truly kings among garlic.

I did this one with the green pen again.

I made a quick sketch focussing on the negative spaces between the garlic. I think this could potentially be a good design if I did a few tricks with mirrors or played with it in Paint Shop Pro.

I did this one by shading a ground with a graphite stick, adding pencil marks and erasing the parts where light caught it.

[Read more →]

Zachary had fun yesterday afternoon. He got this candyfloss maker for his birthday a couple of years ago.

He is getting quite adept at it.

As it involves a hot, rotating element, I supervised him in the kitchen. So I used the time to make a few sketches.

My friend Ruth brought me a couple of bunches of flowers when she came to visit. One of them had some really unusual things. This looks like a miniature ornamental cabbage or brussels sprout! It is really interesting. So I decided to sketch it.

I prefer drawing with pen. I like the way it flows, better than pencil.

[Read more →]

We had a lovely time in Mumbles yesterday. Verdi’s, the restaurant we went to, did indeed make yummy ice cream. It was busier yesterday on a sunny but cold January afternoon than in the middle of July. After lunch we went for a stroll round the headland.

This is the pier.

The lighthouse and rocky outcrops at the end of the headland.

It was a lovely walk. We then went back and visited the shops. I bought some curious knitted glittery sort of mesh fabric and some sheer polyester fabric which I could use transfer paints on; we browsed the art gallery, card shops and pottery shop. It was nice to relax and just look at arty-crafty sort of stuff rather than just the chain shops you get in Newport. So much more inspiring. And look at the sea and the rocks. I feel refreshed.

[Read more →]