pockets....

Pockets are so handy in any form. I finished up one of the pockets I started last week....

click on the images...

pink dupioni silk embellished with parts of an old hanky, my own printed cloth, lace and stitching

the other side....cording to mimic strings of a mandolin and hard to see all the stitching done here.

Karen Ruane is selling a PDF download of one of her doodles here. I have so many ideas on how to use this. So far, I've printed it on dupioni silk and made myself a little pocket for a small knitting project. There are so many different ways to use this and she talks about that here. Go on over and check it out. Here's the pocket I made this morning.

a silk pocket using Karen Ruane's PDF download

Once a year, my quilting bee has a gift exchange. We had such a wonderful time and exchanged so many beautiful items. Here's a pic of all of us. We sure do look happy in this picture....don't we....that's me in the white blouse up front.

Simply Quilters bee

Some of us stopped at a local quilt shop on the way home and there were some things I couldn't resist.

The garden is doing well and I actually picked Swiss Chard for my salad this week. It will be awhile before anything else is ready for picking. The temperature reaches 80 almost every day. It does feel wonderful spending some time outdoors this time of year.

Wishing you all a great weekend and lots of creativity.

presents and a new pillow....

We did a gift exchange at Quilt Bee on Thursday so now it's safe to show you a pouch I worked on for quite awhile and previously just gave you little peeks of it.

click on the images for close-ups.

front of pouch

back of pouch

the inside label made with bits of the fabric used and lace

It just so happened that the person whose name I picked had picked my name so we were exchanging with each other....and what a beautiful gift I received.

a box with a beautiful punch needle embroidery and some beautiful lace squares. it was beautifully wrapped in toile paper with silk ribbons.

you can see all the gifts here on the table.

all the gifts exchanged. that box with the black and white duct tape is how I presented my gift. the pictures on the box are of the pouch in various stages of construction.

and here we all are....i'm plugged in the corner since I took the picture.

Simply Quilters Bee

I did also complete one of the pillows in Karen's class Pillows and Pages. It is a preparation pillow for my bobbin lace. I stitched 2 pillows together to make a soft pocket to hold all the things needed for the next project and there are soft tufted spots on the top for pins.

top of pillow...I stitched in a strip of some bobbin lace I made a while ago

the pillow pocket holding some bobbins

I've been learning how to do crocheted entrelac. I have done entrelac in knitting before but I think it's much easier doing it in crochet. Just using some left over sock yarn and it might turn into a shawl. If you want to try it, there's a good video here.

crocheted entrelac

It's been a busy week with some nice weather. Most of the trees have leafed out and it's looking like Spring. Lots of work to do in the garden. Have a good week.