Crafty As L

According to Google, string art first started in England in the late 19 th century but became popular as hobby items in the 1960s and 70s.   I was too young for it then but my husband bought me a string art kit for Christmas and I’ve only just gotten around to doing it.   The kit came with a thick booklet with about a dozen or so designs in it.   I was torn between the bee and the lion.   I opted for the lion, despite it having the longest list of instructions – 3000 of them!   The first job, which wasn’t that thrilling, was to position 180 screws into the canvas.   This took me almost an hour to do. To make my life easier when reading the many lines of numbers, I made a windowed slider that slid around the edge of the page to hold it in place.   As each line was completed, I moved the slider down to reveal the next row on numbers. There was a plastic thread holder in the kit which made it much easier to get the thread between the screws.  ...

I borrowed the title of this post from Only Connect, a UK game show that in our house is addictive but largely impossible.   We get very excited if we get one question right in the entire show!   I bought the Heart of a Lion pattern for this quilt from Etsy and it was my first go at a Foundation Paper Piecing.   It was a baptism of fire and I had a few moments when I thought I’d just chuck it into the UFO (unfinished objects) box, never again to see the light of day.   However, I persisted, finding a way that worked for me, and I’m so glad I did. The pattern came with three size options so I chose the largest as I though that would be the easiest for a beginner.   After printing out all the pages on thin paper (I found this  paper on Amazon and the reviews said it was perfect for FPP), I then trimmed and assembled them.   I used the guide sheet and coloured pencils to indicate which colours were applicable to each section. Each section is num...