Saturday 16 July 2016

Coming along nicely

Both the latest bargello cushion panel and the crochet cardigan are coming along nicely. But that didn't stop me buying some more cotton yarn to make a little purple bolero to go with a new sundress! I looked at loads of patterns but opted for my favourite method of working - make it up as you go along! I'm basically making a U shape,then fold in half and stitch up the sides to make armholes, then work a border.
No photos of it yet but I do have a couple of others to share.

 Firstly, the crochet cardigan. You can see where I added some vertical rows to the front edge, and I've done the first few rows of the lace "skirt".


And here's my Bargello Flame panel. I decided to do all the bright red curved lines first, then I can hop about the canvas working different colours here and there, as the mood takes me. Or when I run out of a colour at work, I can carry on with another area. The colours work very well together though.


Not sure how much I'll get done this week - I have a week off work and the weather is finally perking up just a bit so I hope to get out and about. And as I want to wear my new sundress I need to get on with the bolero! 
That's all for now - back again soon. 😊

PS Would you believe it, the sundress I bought only 2 weeks ago - and it was new in - is now half price in the sale!!
So I bought another one and will take the first one back! Well I haven't had chance to wear it yet and haven't even cut off the tags...

Sunday 10 July 2016

This and that ...




 Lyn has got me started on the next Bargello cushion panel and it's a very interesting design. I've played around with this photo to try and make sure the marked lines show up properly. The colours are deep red/plum, through to pale peach, with shades of saffron to contrast. I thought I was going to choose the colours myself but it was suggested red and gold would look good together. I said I'd seen a couple of nice shades of saffron whilst I was restocking, so chose them instead of gold. I also picked the 3 deepest red/plum and Lyn helped with the rest. There are ten colours in total and every row covers 5 threads. Each curved line will be the brightest shade of red and each row will stop when it meets a straight line. It'll make more sense when I've done a bit more.  I've been trying to do some more of my crochet cardigan as well, so I haven't done very much as yet.

The cardigan is progressing nicely now. I unpicked the ugly fronts and re-did them with a much better scooped neckline. Then I tacked the shoulders together and decided the armhole was too deep. Two rows front and back were quickly ripped back then I stitched the shoulders together neatly. It was definitely too small round the bust, so I worked an inch of the bodice mesh pattern vertically along each front edge. Much better. Now I'm onto the lace "skirt" - worked from just below the bust downwards. I've adjusted the pattern slightly as there's not much give in the cotton yarn compared with wool but hopefully it will look better than the original.

You know, I read a comment by another blogger this week (I forget who, sorry) that describes the way I work exactly. She said something along the lines of "I don't see patterns as being instructions on how to make something - merely suggestions of what I could do". That's me to a T!! Take an idea from here, an idea from there, add a bit of me and mix it up!! 

On Tuesday this week I had my first visit to Hampton Court Flower Show with a friend. OMG - it was HUGE! 
There was just so much to see that we actually missed a lot of the show gardens - but to be honest, they looked better on the telly and there was someone there to explain what you were looking at. I did think it funny the way they added a soundtrack of people chattering in the background when they were quite clearly filming "out of hours" when there was virtually no one there! Most of the gardens you weren't allowed into anyway and some were quite strange and we didn't want to keep thumbing through the (£5!) show guide to find the blurb about each one. 
And just how do you decide what to buy when faced with 500 traders??.... I bought just 4 plants - 2 heucheras, 1 lavender and this lovely South African Disa Orchid.
My friend also treated me to a selection of little cacti for my upcoming birthday. They are now sat in the window at work. And I managed to say hello with some of the traders I know from the Christmas Market which was really nice. 
Do you want to see one or two photos?? I took over 200...









It was a long day. I left the house at 9.15am and got home at 9.30pm! But I was rewarded with this amazing sunset. Will I go again?  I think so but I'll be better prepared for how to get the most out of the day.



Sunday 3 July 2016

Bargello Ta-Dahl!

The Bargello Wave is all done now and there was a reasonable amount of light this morning, so I took a photo or two. I also took a few more of the lavender bargello and got the colours more accurate. Bear in mind that all the photos are of a flat piece of bargello work. Any apparent ripples, hills and valleys etc are just optical illusions.
Are you ready? Here goes.

Tina's Allsorts, Bargello Wave

Tina's Allsorts, Bargello Wave

Tina's Allsorts, Bargello Wave

Tina's Allsorts, Bargello Wave

Tina's Allsorts, Bargello Wave

Tina's Allsorts, Bargello Wave

Tina's Allsorts, Bargello Wave 
Tina's Allsorts, Lavender Bargello

Tina's Allsorts, Lavender Bargello

Tina's Allsorts, Lavender Bargello

Tina's Allsorts, Lavender Bargello


Tina's Allsorts, Lavender Bargello

Tina's Allsorts, Lavender Bargello

Lyn said she's already decided what the next design will be but I get to choose the colours myself this time. I was tempted to pop in and see her on Friday but I knew I'd want to get started right away and I wanted to get some more of my crochet cardigan done over the weekend. It's coming along quite well. There was a bit of a hiccup with the scoop neck shaping but that's all re-done now and I'm ready to start the lace pattern for the lower half. Maybe I'll share some photos of it next time.
Or actually, I might have one of 2 pics from Hampton Court Flower Show - I'm going for the first time on Tuesday and I can't wait!!

Friday 1 July 2016

Nearly there

The Bargello Wave is nearly done- just one little area left to do. Should only take an hour to finish.

Tina's Allsorts, Bargello Wave


It does look very striking but I don't know I would have chosen those colours myself. The photos I take on my tablet don't really show the true colours. I'll take some with my camera later and see if that helps.

It looks good if you turn it sideways and look along the ripples.


That's all for now - I'll pop back with lots of photos when it's finished. Bye for now.  ðŸ˜Š