Illyria

My line manager forbade me to take any work home this weekend so I have been trying to revitalise - I have done no cooking and went to visit the Loch Lomond Quilt show yesterday. I managed two venues in an hour and a half, but Mira was getting to the noisy stage and couldn’t be bribed with gingerbread men anymore so we had to leave. It was very inspiring and so I started recycling another pair of shoes…

I had thought about this crazy lace patchwork idea before but after tramping through the heels of another pair, and failing to find anything I liked on Argyle Street yesterday, eco-friendlyness, creativity, economy and therapy once again come together in beautiful harmony! Lace from Charlotte and my stash, dyed with silk paint, applied with fabric glue, to be anchored firmly with beading. Watch this space! The ones I collaged with stamps last summer keep cracking, so I may have to find another use for them… ivy planters maybe?

We have had some gorgeous weather lately…

I am now in my last trimester, and really it doesn’t seem so bad compared to the sickness! Constantly trying to do less and not really succeeding. Mira is absorbing new and surprising vocabulary like a sponge  - we have chatter about antennae and Gary-the-builder and the A-Team. Today’s word was ‘alien’. We made our first necklace together and love garlicky chilli food.

Ben is tired out by all this female freneticity. But he gets lots of kisses, cuddles and tickles to cheer him up.

• The guy in the wheelchair whose son killed himself a fortnight ago, singing ‘Blessed Be Your Name’ with all his might at church last week. Those lyrics came out of a similar choice…

• Mark Hadfield from Inverness who came out with me to interpret dreams at the weekend.  Check out http://www.underthecanopy.net/

• This quilting blog http://www.filminthefridge.com/, and this one http://oneshabbychick.typepad.com/one_shabby_chick/, and this one http://aquiltisnice.blogspot.com/

As you will know, I am a lover of symbolism and metaphor and narrative, and this weekend I am organising a free dream interpretation event on Saturday May 2nd at the Whiteinch Centre Cafe - please feel free to bring any dreams, no matter how short or simple! Drinks and yummy treats available to purchase from the cafe.

We have had some gorgeous weather and spent loads of time outdoors, on the slide, our pink car, pushing teddy in a pram, digging a flower bed for nasturtiums and lupins, and generally running like mad and shrieking!

More birthday presents…

My friend had a little girl recently and so I experimented with some layers and gifts I was given. The page is from a broken Bible with the genealogy of Jesus - a load of births!

I liked the layers so much I did one for Mira:

And here is her cake!

I had been secretly dreaming about a summer coat, in a bright and brezzy shade…lime green or a strong lilac or candy pink….sky blue even. And last Thursday at work, a lovely lovely friend put an M&S giftcard in my pigeonhole saying ‘God told me to give you this, buy something for yourself’!!

So I dashed out and tried on every summer coat they had, and funnily enough the one I liked best was…

ORANGE!!!!

It looks quite red here but here is the link for the M&S page: http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/product/B001RJDUKK/sr=1-32/qid=1236887730/ref=sr_1_32/279-5217025-4381853?ie=UTF8&node=&m=A2BO0OYVBKIQJM&keywords=&mnSBrand=core&size=60&rh=n%3A43109030&page=1

It makes me think a crochet flower scarf might be good with it, slightly like this one from last summer:

Anyway, I am very excited and happy and even a bit giddy!

I have been trying out various methods of joining my Babette squares, and the simple overcast stitch is my favourite for smooth, non-ridgy secure joins.

This is the centre panel with a new 12-round square.

I agree with the user comments on the web that suggest crocheting the 2-round squares witha smaller hook, otherwise they don’t fit! You can see where mine are supposed to go in the botton right corner…

But other than that I am so happy with the colourful sunshineyness!