Its impossible to get a good overview, and this pic is dominated by the 'yet to be decided' centre panel.

I'm aware that Erica is not keen on the mermaid and galleon. More about the reason for their inclusion later...

The flowers growing in the roots of the trees are from a bolero/waistcoat worn by Erica when she was 5 or 6

I seem to have lost sight of the purpose of this blog.
Self-consciousness causes me to hide. If I post my work, there's no escaping the faults. If I stay silent I can delude myself that tomorrow I'll do better.

I shall be glad when the moon phase side of the quilt is complete. I'm looking forward to the more abstract, less obvious metaphors that I can work into the solar festivals side of the quilt. But I don't want to hurry and make a pig's ear of pulling together the moon phase panels. I think I may pause soon, start the other side and return to this when inspiration strikes.

Some pics:

ooops... its been too long and camera battery's flat. Pics later when battery and me are re-charged.

Knitting

Here's what I'm knitting:

Its a strange yarn - 70% wool, 30% soybean protein fibre. It knits easily, if a tad too easily [if that makes any sense], its beautifully soft and drapey and I love the colourways.

I particularly like this colourway, but I'd need to adapt the pattern to make it waist length or just below.

I really like this simple sweater, but as I can't wear wool next to my skin I prefer to knit jackets.

Really struggling with these horrible new specs, my first pair of varifocals. I think I prefer generalised haze, rather than the strangely misshapen, if wonderfully clear in places, view of the world. I chose what I felt to be the least-ageing frames, but caught a glimpse of myself in the supermarket looking extremely stern. I do think stern can be useful, but its hopelessly removed from my wish to look like a serenely ageing Pre-Raphaelite beauty [not that I ever remotely resembled one in my youth].

I'm at the mid - its all shit - stage.

I'm to collect my first ever pair of varifocal specs today. I suspect that, able to see the world clearly in quite a while, it'll look even worse. But I've come too far now to make anything other than superficial changes, so I'd just better get on with it... a metaphor for my life, as much as my sewing, I reckon.


I'm satisfied with the almost completed mermaid and galleon, and owl and moose [mooses? meese?]. But as you can see, I made a major fuck up requiring the base fabric to be cut away so that the galleon and owl scenes are awkward, bulky appliques. I can hopefully loose the edges in the ditch when I quilt, or maybe I'll come up with a better way of dealing with the mess when I have some distance from it.




And speaking of distance, I'm off on Sunday for a week in Cromer, Norfolk, with my mother [holds breath, crosses anything crossable]. Actually, she's remarkably fit for 82. Its all in the posture, I observe - standing straight takes years off.

I've decided not to take any sewing - my confidence wouldn't survive the withering appraisal of my paltry skills. I've had my eye on the Rowan Tapestry knitting yarn for quite a while, so what better excuse [and excuse is needed, because the yarn is uncomfortably expensive] to knit something new - pics to follow.