Thursday evening craft

As promised here is what we made at craft night last Thursday; iris folding.

(I couldn't show you earlier as it was a Valentine's card and I wanted to keep it a surprise for Matthew)

Iris folding is very simple. It involved arranging folded strips of paper or ribbon along a pattern to create an effect which looks like the iris of your eye. You can do lots of different shapes - this one is a heart - have a look on etsy or google images. Although you are meant to by special paper for iris folding I think it would be a great way to use of those little bits of fabric, ribbon and paper and you could really get creative.

Gladys also made a Valentine's card which she gave to her Daddy. I love crafting with Gladys, she gets so exciting stamping her hand in the paint pad and then on the paper. I hope she has a passion for homemade things too.

I didn't manage to get any pictures of my jumpsuit at the weekend. It was raining and the light went before I finished (the camera is rubbish in the gloom)... I will post when I can get some decent pictures.

Flower embroidery

One of the things I love to collect are vintage embroidered tablecloths. Often, when I am in charity shops, I see them for sale.

I imagine someone spending hours, bent double, working on the flowers, then only using it for Sunday teas as it would have taken so much work to complete they wouldn't want it getting ruined. It makes me sad to then think that it has just been discarded by relatives and dumped in the charity shop, where they sell for £1.50. I have an airing cupboard full of hand worked linen now, so much that my husband has banned me from buying them!

I find embroidery relaxing: watching the thread, hearing it pull through the weave of the taut fabric, and seeing the image gradually develop before your eyes...

But the old style of embroidery isn't for everyone so I have tried to do a modern take on flowers. I drew the flower illustrations in Adobe Illustrator, and printed them onto the cotton before hand embroidering. There is only a little stitching as I really wanted to catch the detail and bring some texture and avoid it looking over fussy.

Which one is your favourite?