Laughing Doves and Earflap Hats

You really never know what you're going to get here at Bag of Chocolates! As I was engaged in the meditative and ancient art of ironing shirts this afternoon, I heard a rustling sound outside the window. Grabbing the camera, I cautiously slid open the screen and snapped this photo. Once the ironing was done (I'm so disciplined) Meital and I tried to identify our winged friend by looking through her trusty bird guide book. In the end, she did an Internet search to confirm our suspicions. Turns out, this little fellow is known in English as the Laughing Dove. And if that isn't delightful, I don't know what is!


Since I had the iron out, I gave that quilt block I told you about a good pressing. The dark red color comes from the fabric you see on the right. It has wide stripes that gradually change from that wine color to a lovely peach. My thought was to surround the Four Seasons Bunnies with these pinwheel squares, maintaining the blue fabric throughout, but using the various shades in the other fabric so as to complement all of the various bunnies and their color schemes. But one pinwheel square is fairly wide, and I'm afraid a whole border would overwhelm the poor bunnies. My Plan B was to make only four pinwheels, and use them at the corners, going across the top and bottom, and down the sides, with something narrower. Now I'm contemplating Plan C, which is to use the pinwheels, but to make them smaller than the size shown here. I still haven't decided, so I thought I would share my angst and uncertainty with you. Don't say I never gave you anything!


When I started working again on Mother's Arms, I quickly decided I didn't like the way the designer left whole sections of the dress unstitched. The linen fabric just didn't look attractive to me. I decided to fill in the blank areas with a color that comes close to the color of the fabric. I think it will look a lot richer, prettier, this way. I got a lot more of this cream thread stitched in after the photo was taken, then worked in some more beads. Joansie asked if I string all the beads before adding them. No, that wouldn't work (as far as I know!). What I do is bring up the thread where I need a bead, thread that color bead onto the needle, then basically do a regular X, just with the bead in place. It is a slow and painstaking process, but fun.


Speaking of fun (and earflap hats), here is the finished Thorpe earflap hat! I think it's awfully cute. But ever since I discovered Kristin Nicholas by listening to a podcast over at Craft Sanity, I have become obsessed by the thought of trying out adding embroidery to knitting.


And here are the results of my first effort! I'm looking forward to trying this again.