Preston Guild - guerilla knitting

When I saw a plea for knitters to take part in Preston Guild in a secret project I just had to ask for details - well, you would, wouldn't you?  We all like the idea of secrets, after all.

So I enquired, and was told that knitters were needed to knit diamonds, many, many diamonds, which would be used for an installation in Preston's Avenham Park.

I received the pattern and began to knit.  We were encouraged to make our diamonds as original as we liked, providing we stuck to the size specified.  I decided to create a small bobble in the centre of all mine so that they would be tactile, and different if a visually impaired visitor touched them.

You can just about make them out in the emerald green ones in the centre.

A few of us got together on Wednesday for a few hours to sew them together.

The dark blue ones with the pale blue bobbles on this piece are also mine!

Watch this space to see what was done with them in the park:)

Valentine's day card

There's still time to make a Valentine's Day card if you've forgotten, or not had chance to make or buy one yet!


I made this one with a sheet of A4 white card, trimmed to a 5" square and an A5 piece of red paper.  I used an embossing board to create the red hearts, and a small heart punch to give me some hearts for decoration, but it would look equally good without them.

Rub your red paper with a tumble drier sheet, or a candle to make the embossing easier, then place it over your chosen embossing design and carefully emboss with a round ended tool.

remove it from the board and turn it over, this is the side that will show on your card.

carefully trim around the design - I use small scissors, but I have a friend who always uses large ones, and another who uses a craft knife - use whichever tool you feel most comfortable with!

Stick the embossed hearts to the front of your card.  I added a couple of phrases printed out from the computer "My Love" and "My Heart", and then wrote "4 U" with a broad felt tip in red.

I trimmed a quarter of an inch from the front of the card, then stuck five red punched hearts down the right hand side of the back of the card.

The finished card.  When it's closed you see only the scalloped edges of the punched hearts, which match the scallops around the embossed hearts, but you could skip this step entirely to save time.

Birthday card

I was flicking through a magazine the other day, I think it was one of those advertising efforts that appear from time to time through the letter box, when I came across a full page advertisement.  I can't remember what the advert was for, so it clearly wasn't an effective one in my case, but ... the page was largely filled with words describing various types of drink, in shades of yellows and oranges.


Very striking, I thought, and cut it out.


Don't you find that men can be very difficult to make birthday cards for?  I do, so this week I took it to the local craft and chat with a view to making a birthday card for my partner from it.  I also took plain white card, some brown ribbon, and some toning yellow card.


This is what I  made:

I made a simple tri-fold card from the white card.  A strip of brown ribbon down the left hand side neatens that edge.  I cut a strip of yellow card to run alongside it, and wrote "Have a Drink on Me!" vertically in black ink (the printer is kaput, or I would have printed it!)  I chose the yellow card to highlight the name of one of his favourite drinks:)


I mounted the trimmed advertisement onto brown, then onto a dull, autumnal orange card to complement the shades in the advertisement, and matted the completed topper on to the main section of the card.


Here's a better shot of the ad and the colour scheme:

I stuck a simple velum greeting inside, and it's surprisingly effective.


And there's enough of the ad left for three more cards:)