Buttons and lace…

Has it really been two months since I last posted? I may not have posted but thread has been running through my fingers, whether it's because I'm hand quilting the blue and white quilt, or working on new things.

Simple but effective: a whole stitch ground.

I've been teaching myself bobbin lace. Perhaps if I get decent at it, I'll invest in some actual bobbins, but for now clothes pegs will do. Although I'd love to have the skill to create intricate flowers, etc, the lace I most like the look of is simple and geometric in design, which is a good thing as that's where you start!

The plan with the lace making is to combine it with a pojagi panel. I want to sandwich lace between layers of organza, so some pieces of the patchwork are less transparent than others. When the pojagi is complete*  the combination of plain and embellished patches should cast interesting shadows, as the window where it will hang catches beautifully the late afternoon light.

I would also like to add the odd bit of stitching, something akin to the image below, but at the moment it's a mess of snippets in my head that haven't yet come together as a proper design.

Like this, but simpler, and in a single colour.

I've also been making Dorset buttons again. I get a little obsessed with these, and once I start, don't usually stop until I've got a jam jar's worth. I don't do anything with them, just fill up jam jars. Making for making's sake: no deadlines, or purpose in mind, just the therapeutic joy of making!


Elizabeth,
x.

* If the length of time the blue and white quilt is taking to sew is anything to go by, completion will probably be the next millenia!