Coffee and knitting

Met up with some friends for coffee, knitting and a chat - it's a bit of a luxury taking time out of the working week but there's always something to learn as we all bring some knitting. I'm knitting myself a cardigan and it's looking like I might actually finish this one and wear it!

Hostess was Ellie and she's still buzzing after a very successful East Neuk festival. Her new venue The Wash House is up and running with lots to see and fab things to buy. Check out her blog too - she's much better at it than me!  http://washhousestudio.blogspot.com/

Christmas quilling

It may be scorchio outside but I'm in and creating quilled snowflakes for Quick Cards magazine for their first Christmas issue. I found that the quilling tool didn't make tight enough centres so I've trimmed the top off a sewing needle, stuck it into a cork and now getting much better results.

Beader's Bible on Kindle

The Beader's Bible is now available on Amazon Kindle - how cool is that?

It is so full of information about all sorts of beading techniques - not just jewellery. So if you've stacks of beads and don't know quite what to do with them this could be the book for you.

Perfect for proms

I was busy on my way back from London using some of the fab stones and settings from www.e-beads.co.uk. I used fine wire (0.315mm) to sew some navette stones and settings together with bicones to create a flower shape. this got tied to the pretty silver comb by wrapping wire around and over between the stones and then other stones and settings fastened in the same way. makes a really zingy hair setting for a party or prom but if you did it all clear or clear AB crystal it would look stunning for a bride.

meeting the E-beads team

This is me with Annabel the owner of E-beads.

Just back from London Jewellery Week. It was a great day demonstrating for E-beads and using the fabulous Swarovski Crystals and settings available on their website: www.e-beads.co.uk.

London Jewellery Week

I'm just getting ready to go down to London Jewellery Week. I'm demonstrating for E-Beads at Hatton Garden on Sunday. It's on from 11-5 and hope to see you there. I'm booksigning Crystal Jewellery Creations and showcasing my next book out in July.

http://www.londonjewelleryweek.co.uk/events/show/hatton_garden_festival

Instant knitted cushions

doing my accounts today but thought you might like to see my weekend project:
I couldn't find cushions that were the right colour and fabric for my newly decorated bedroom but found a knitted throw - absolute bargain at under £8 from Dunelm Mill - then cut it up and sewed to make two cushion covers. I used the ribbed border as a feature flap so no need for buttons, zips or any tricky closures.

Penny Black cards

I'm busy today making some designs for Penny Black Inc. Shaida had asked me to become a designer for them and it's taken a while to clear my slate but now have a few designs made up ready for my introduction. I'm trying out a bit of gold leaf to highlight cards today. I got so inspired I even made a card for my sister-in-law for her birthday.

It's a quick technique - just draw lines and details with a quickie glue pen where you want the gold leaf to go then allow to dry till tacky (it'll change from blue to clear) Lay on the gold leaf and after a few minutes. dab with a stiff brush and sweep away the excess.

Innocent smoothie campaign

Knit Today magazine are supporting the Innocent Smoothie campaign and asked designers to come up with a new design to be featured in the magazine soon. Today I knitted a cute beret and hubby decided to call it Berry Beret for obvious reasons. the pattern will be in Knit Today magazine soon so look out for it!

I'll need to get an bottle of Innocent Smoothie for a better picture.