Works in progress

I don't have anything finished to show you this week so thought I'd better show you some of the pieces I'm currently working on. Yes, that's right, ... some! I know!

I don't know about you but I sometimes have periods when I'm feeling a bit down and unable to settle to anything and that's when I dip into my sketchbooks and pattern books and delve into the corners of my mind to see what might inspire me to pick up a needle and thread. It's not that I'm not already working on things of course - just that none of them are quite what I want to do at that time. And so I start on something new.

I'm not admitting to how many of these started and unfinished projects I currently have in my workbasket but here are a few of them.

First of all, this is going to be a new bag. The idea behind this project was to use up all the odds and ends of tapestry wool that I have left over from previous projects - hence the jumble of colours. The front is all finished

and the back will be mainly diagonal stripes. But the stripes are more boring to stitch than the hearts were - so slow progress is being made on this at the moment.

 Now, I want you to meet Magda. Magda is a new project which has grown quickly. I spotted the pattern, which was intended for bobbin lace, at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate in November and fell instantly in love with her. I just knew that she'd be perfect in needlelace so here she is. Her hat, which has been worked separately, has a red silk ribbon around the crown. She'll soon be finished as I work on her a little each day.

This crocheted afghan has been in progress for a long time but I finally got around to stitching together some of the many hexagons I've crocheted - a twist on the traditional granny square blanket and it will be very cosy in the cold winter evenings ... if I can just get it finished.

In and amongst all this I'm working on some hem-stitched napkins for my daughter. I'd hoped to have them finished as a Christmas present but I obviously didn't start work on them soon enough and they're taking far longer to stitch than I'd anticipated, but at least she'll have a 'down payment' on the set of six that I've promised her.

And last but by no means least, here's a photo of Willow taking his afternoon nap on the silk comforter on my bed.

Lace butterflies

A very quick little note today with a promise of more very soon, but I really wanted to show you these pieces.

I know that here in the UK this is not a very seasonal post but I recently finished the third of these butterflies, which will be mounted, framed and then will probably find their way into my Etsy shop after Christmas.

This will be a new direction for my shop as these are not dolls house miniatures, as you might guess. They will, however, I hope, bring a little colour in these cold winter days.