Peacock Parade

This is the name of the fabric collection these fabrics are from.

I got mine from the lovely Doughty's. And this is what I have been doing with them.

I have always loved english paper pieced patchwork but this is the first time I have tried making my own pattern and only the second time I've combined different shaped pieces. I blogged about my inspiration when I came back from France and this is the project I mentioned it having inspired.

It's all coming together very quickly although I should put it aside to fill out some job applications. There seem to be jobs out there that I could do...but they all look a tad dull. There's definitely one possible though. Onward...

Baby Making

I've been combining making things I've always wanted to have a go at with making things for my sister for when the baby arrives. This is the latest.

I overdid the interfacing but apart from that it is SOOOOO fricking cutely perfect. I want to rock it in my arms like a baby. Ahem. I followed this tutorial exactly apart from adding covers to the ends of the zips, which I learnt from the zipped pouches blogged about here.

It gives a very nice extra detail. I have 4 more cut out and am just waiting for some extra zips to arrive. The future ones will be a little bit bigger and have a hand strap.

This marks a momentous change in my life - I have started a new Pinterest board. I know - this is serious. The "Bags and Pouches" board is now in place. If you are not using Pinterest you have my sympathy. I am a total addict.

A Busy Two Weeks

It started with SkipNorth two Thursdays ago, moved on to a delightful trip to France a week ago Friday and ended today with my return from a wedding at Blenheim Palace.

I have no photos - sorry - but take it from me it was beautiful. Set in the Orangery, which was *very* nicely heated, the bride looked beautiful and the groom, not known for his happy demeanor, was all smiles and exuded immense pride and satisfaction with his lot. I couldn't be happier for Mr Mead. He was Pooch's flatmate when we met, put me up in his spare room when we had our difficulties, had my sister live with him when she first moved to London and has generally always been a good man. But he'd never been lucky in love and yet there he was yesterday - positively glowing. Simply because of that it would have been an amazing occasion and that's without the finery of the location and food.

So deep breath, where do I stand craftwise? First admission - I have no FOs, only WIPs to show. First is my Tucked Cardigan from the last Interweave Knits.

I am using some of the Marble I bought at SkipNorth which I bought for the purpose. I really like the mismatch of the two fronts, shown here. You can see the tucks on the outer sides which are knitted in. I also have the back and one sleeve all knitted up to the armpit. I can see why you couldn't knit the whole thing in the round (because of the tucks) but Byrne Does Not Seam unnecessarily. I'll be joining all the individual pieces into the round and knitting the raglans in one piece.

Secondly, my miniature quilt progresses as well. I shared the design here and have been beavering away since.

Each of those hexies is about 1/2" across. I've made about 3/4 of them so will start assembling it soon. Then we'll see what we've got.

Lastly, during moments when I haven't felt like doing anything else I've been converting my proceeds from the last round of the Scrap Vomit Swap into 2.5" hexies.

I have a bag in the back of my mind but no definite plans. If you wish to join the Scrap Vomit Appreciation Society the Group is here on Flickr.

All of those are ongoing but I also have a few others projects in hand - one of which is goddamn hair elastics. Those of you with long hair will recognise this problem:

This is a classic problem - the elastic inside the brown woven outside bit has come away from the metal bit that joins the two ends and the hair tie is gradually getting bigger and losing its elasticity. Once this starts to happen I have to throw away the little buggers and I generally chuck 1-2 a week. A week! Even the expensive ones don't last. There must be alternatives. I am off to discover them. My final resort will be to shave my head again. Again? Yep...

Blowfish Byrne, circa 2003.