leather tooling

learning a new craft ... leather tooling ... this is the beginnings of my first attempt

Meet my new friends. They're so wonderful, I wish they would laugh at my jokes though. I purchased these a few months ago to help me feel more at home in the flat I was placed in ... I have truly loved having them here ... so amazing to watch them growing from little seedlings to fruiting plants.

needles still clicking

A friend asked me about how my knitting was going ... with work so very busy at the moment one would think there was nothing to tell ... au contraire. I have a couple of things to report.

One is that I have finished a project ... not the project I started but it is finished nonetheless. The starting block held the vision of a viennese shrug from interweave knits ... but the journey was fraught ... not only were insufficient quantities of the wool purchased ... it was the last hank of that colour run. Consequently the finishing line was a baby's blanket! Oops.
The second knitting report is that I am making a cute wee jersey (big digger sweater) for my nephew, Blake. I unraveled a cardigan I've been making for myself for the last 200 years or so, as I discovered that I was doing my Yarn Over wrong and the whole thing was way too short! So now its reforming itself into a child's sweater ... I think the yarn is happy about this ... as the inside of my knitting stash can be an incredibly boring place to be ... being worn by Blake would be a far more exciting prospect.

So both projects are very wibbly wobbly stories of knitting disasters and recoveries ... bit like working in film really.

wellytown

One of my assistant's at the moment is a very clever textile designer ... actually they both are ... but the afore mentioned has a range of products that are inspired by the fair city I currently find myself in, Wellington ... check out wellytown

as I mean to progress

Its going to be a fabulous year ... I can just feel it. The creative juices are flowing and the usual stress lock up seems a foreign and distant concept.

I love the beginning of a new year and the resolutions and anticipation of what lies ahead. I resolve to make it my most creative yet and anticipate many exciting opportunities ... and if this month is anything to go by ... my expectations will be realities ... cool.

Happy New Year!

Christmas on the beach

Despite wishing i was home in London ... Christmas in New Zealand turned out to be an unexpected treat. On boxing day the shepherd clan went to Oakura beach. It was a little stormy ... but the kids loved it nonetheless ... and their oh so grown up aunty thought it was pretty cool too!

shepherd's delight

And now for the sunset ... New Zealand is treating me well. Lovely to be spending time with family and soaking up endless days of sunshine.

Good morning

This morning's view out my Wellington window ... I think it was a sign ... it was a good day.

Forgive the leaf obsession but it really was so beautiful in autumnal London before I departed ... yes, I'm somewhere else now ... Wellington, NZ ... here for 4 months. Missing the falling leaves (+ the man), but enjoying the endless daylight. Oh, and there's a sneak peek at the remedy top ... all finished ... but no decent photos to upload.

Moore

With a blue skied, crisp autumnal day upon us ... a lazy sunday afternoon was spent at kew gardens admiring the Henry Moore sculptures there.

This is 'Internal/External form'. As we approached ... i decided it was a lover's embrace ... a friend decided it was mother and child ... and boyfriend thought perhaps it was father and family ... the responses seemed more reflections of the viewers themselves, than the artists intentions ... but when i read this I decided perhaps all three were also able to fit into the later category.

Plate 3.0: Tiny bug crawls across very large sculpture

front à compli

a front is done ... yipee ... inspired by the feather and fan in brooklyn tweed's hemlock ring blanket ... now for the back ... it has a whole lot more feather and fan from the bottom up ... you'll see ... update following soon ... i hope

at the covent garden harvest festival yesterday ... the covent garden big draw was on also ... hence the gorgeous illustration on the easel

progress shot II

i went to borough markets today ... we were running out of parmigiano reggiano! i love it there ... i found these borlotti beans ... i swear i didn't paint them like that ... honest
... also ... a progress shot on the remedy top

miss you

finally getting on to creating the "miss you" quilts for my nieces/nephew ... i printed the fabric on my course with Joanna Kinnersly-Taylor in July.

lift off

"we have a pattern, captain" ... i traced around a favourite tshirt of mine ... did a few tension squares ... some serious computing ... and i now have a pattern written up ... now lets see if its any good!! ... to be continued ...

sage remedy

i bought some wool at purl soho while i was in New York recently ... its a delicious lorna's lace fisherman yarn in a hand-dyed sage colour. i absolutely love it and have been obsessing over what i am going to make out of the two skeins i bought ... this is what i have come up with ... a wee winter top with inserts of feather and fan stitch at the front and back ... now to make a pattern ... hmmm

Autumn

back in London and the leaves are turning

market finds

A couple of things I collected at a flea market in Prague earlier this year

glasgow

I adored Glasgow ... I missed seeing the Macintosh buildings, so I have an incredibly valid reason to make a return journey there!

edinburgh grafitti

a couple of scribbles from the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland