January

Lest anyone be worrying about me, it's not all disaster central around here. 

I started making this with my friend Jill 2 years ago. We began sewing it on a holiday in Northumberland in 2018, and have been gradually working on it together ever since. Progress ground to a bit of a halt this year, because for most of the spring we weren't allowed to meet up, but as she lives by herself, once restrictions eased slightly, she's been able to come over when permitted and we've carried on working on it. (We both work from home, haven't been going shopping in person, and have only been meeting each other, so the slight risk of having a support bubble like this is very minimal, and an absolute godsend for our mental health). Just before Christmas we managed to get the entire top sewn together, so over the holidays I got the quilting completed. 

As with many large, long time-scale projects I went through phases of really not liking it... 
but I stuck with it, and now it's done I'm really pleased with it. 

The back uses a piece of cotton lawn I had in stash, and a piece of hand dyed cotton, together with a piece from a Ruby Star Society panel. 
It's got wool batting in middle, so is now on my bed as an extra layer in these colder months. 

I've not really felt like starting any big knitting projects at the moment, but have been busily reducing the pile of yarns in my scrap box. The gnome obsession seems to show no signs of letting up, these 2 were the Advent Knit-Along, and were a charming distraction throughout December. I'm already plotting about which elements from these will pop up in my next freestyle versions. 

Before we went in to Lockdown again we managed to get in a trip to the coast, a perfect combination of low tide and good weather made a much anticipated trip to see the Petrified Forest at Borth was a magical experience. 
Whilst we over at the coast we also went to Aberystwyth in the hope of seeing some Starling murmurations, but although it was a beautiful sunset the Starlings weren't there in huge numbers. They roost under the pier, and previously we've watched them swooping over the sea as the sun was setting. However the sunset was still incredible.  Normally I'd pick out a few photos to share, but looking back on these made me so happy that I've put all of them up as a gallery to scroll through. 

We've escaped the snowy weather that many have had in the north, but we did get a slight dusting on New Years Eve. Mr Pheasant was up early looking for breakfast, and was most cross about being disturbed. 

Weaving exploration continues, I'm finding the push of Jane Stafford online guild is giving me the incentive to try out new ideas, and keep on weaving. These are the samples from the Large Threadings gamp, and are the first I've done in wool. 

these are from the twill meets colour & weave sampler. The rest of this warp is still on the loom, but I can now make some decisions about which patterns, and which colours to use to weave some tea towels from it (everybody got hand-woven tea towels this year!). I particularly enjoyed the colour sample, there are some really unexpected surprises in here, that I would never have thought to use if I hadn't just grabbed a pirn from every cone I have in the cupboard and woven a 2 inch section. 

Lacking motivation seems a common theme right now, but the St Distaff's Day challenge is doing exactly what I intended, and giving people something fun to work on. I've loved reading the ideas that people are starting to think about it, so if you're feeling uninspired, please come and take a look. 

I'm teaching a workshop for the first time in nearly a year tomorrow, and am really hoping I've not forgotten how to do it, and that the amount of stuff piled up in my living room still leaves room for my spinning wheel! Thankfully we've been having online guild meetings since April, so I've got the technology side of things pretty well sorted!