Serendipity blanket

The serendipity blanket is halfway there, and Mum has done lots of new pieces for another in wool, which will be in darker tones.

Mum's WIP and two finished pieces

After Mum recovered from all the spinning, she went back to her work in progress. More crochet, but using all the odds and ends of wool she could find.



And here are two pieces that she finished in the meantime. We just have to cut off the superfluous threads for her. I tell her to slow down, but she just smiles and says that I'll need it all for her book.

Spinning with Arabella

Arabella came round this morning to watch Mum spin, so Mum got out some Alpaca fleece she'd brought from the farm on a visit to Tasmania last year. The first spinning wheel didn't want to play, so Mum had to get out her trusty Swiss spinning wheel. Arabella was very patient and then had a go herself. All went well even if the feet were forgotten between attempts at getting the bobbin working. But Arabella said she'd like to come back for another lesson.

Serendipity patchwork

You may have been wondering what happened to the box of crochet squares. Well, we tried to do something like a Babette blanket and the talented people in the Babette blanket group at Flickr gave us some wonderful tips. But Mum just had to do her own thing and so her blanket turned out not Babette, but serendipity patchwork. We've been assembling it, but it's not quite finished yet. It still needs a couple of crochet rows to contain it and slip stitch embroidery on all the seams. I get to do the fiddly bits, so wish me luck.

And best wishes for 2008!

Frieda's shop at Made It with Love

Mum has taken the plunge and is now selling some of her items at MadeIt. Here's her wool and silk scarf at Frieda's Craft. And here's a Flickr pic of the scarf with the tools she used. Gradually she'll be making a few more items available. One of them will be the crochet throw she finished on New Year's Day. Here it is.

Mum's dream

About 20 years ago, Mum published her first craft book which is now out of print. Her dream was to do another book, but she lost her sight six months ago. I set up this blog for her and she is amazed at the reception of it and thanks you all for having come by and for your good words in response to the blog and her pix at Flickr. But she still regrets not being able to do a book, something she can hold in her hands and give to her Pink Ladies.

So I contacted a couple of publishers in Australia, and although they said that her work was unique and that the concept was interesting, they were unable to follow up. One problem, I think, is the pic intensivity of her book, and the other is probably that she is unknown.

So I've been thinking about collating these blog entries and adding more material, including material from her first book, and exploring the self-publishing area to showcase a wonderful life of craft, and to make Mum's dream come true.

So this is the long term project we have in mind. If anyone has any tips and advice, or any comments at all on this, we'd appreciate it. It will show us how to go forward.
Onwards!

Pouf in progress

Here's something else Mum is working on. She's using strips of plastic bags and yarn. It will be a pouf, open at one end and then tied with a cord so I can store the duvet in summer. I'll just have to turn it over and sit on the flat bit which is starting to grow.