Rolled Tight In Boro

I was given a nice set of ergonomic crochet hooks for Christmas, but they needed a safe home so I set about making a custom roll to store them in.

 

I wove the Inkle band tie that holds the roll closed quite some time ago. It's nice that it finally has a use. 

The inner part of the roll has numerous slots that are custom sized to hold the varying handle widths on my crochet hook collection. Each slot in the roll has the size written on it so that it's easier to find what I want and also easier to put the hooks away when I'm finished. 

Unfortunately after the slots were all labelled and sewn I found an errant hook stuck in an abandoned project. That hook must now reside, out of order, in an unlabeled space that I had at the end of the roll. 

I've had  a roll of printed fabric labels that read: "Marlene Randall ORIGINAL" for decades now. I believe they were purchased nearly 40 years ago and this may be the very first time I've used one.

I'm very happy with this project and I hope that it will get decades of use and perhaps one day become an heirloom.

The outer cover of the roll was a very labor intense project!

It is boro style patchwork and the entire surface is completely covered in running stitches travelling in all different directions. 

 

That type of stitching is very characteristic of this style of patchwork.

A New Challenge

Seems my muse is taking me in yet another creative direction. I've joined the 52 Week Photography Challenge. All 52 challenges (one each week of the year) are listed on the Dogwood Photography web page so you know ahead of time what is coming up. This week is "Selfie, Explore the self timer setting on your camera".  

Not being one fond of self portraits or even being in front of a camera someone else has pointed in my direction, I found this week's challenge particularly difficult.

Once I had a photograph I was happy enough with I had great fun playing with the new edition of "Photoshop" that I got for my birthday. This sketch filtered version is actually my favourite of the bunch. It captures the mood I was after (not as crabby or apprehensive looking as the photo above). I like the way the washed out look made my glasses frame and focus attention on my eyes.

And speaking of crabby looking, LOL, how's this patchwork filter? Amazing how a little editing changes things the mood so much.

If you feel so inclined, do join me, either in the Facebook group (7,000 members and growing!) or on the Flickr group -- or both! It should be a fun year of personal growth.