The Sky Blanket - April

 

The blanket is growing.  So big now that I had to put it on our bed to get a photo, the worktop is no longer wide enough!  And it no longer fits in the bag I have.

Above you can see how the squares compare with my speadsheet.  When I have completed a square I coloure it blue.  Once I have sewn it to the blanket I bold that line so I can keep track of where I am.

Simple Flapping Butterfly

I keep a list of projects and ideas in trello for when I might have an opportunity to make them.  So while I was looking through the spring issue of Butterfly, the Butterfly Conservation magazine, it suddenly occurred to me that the photos of butterflies would be perfect for a Rob Ives project.

It didn't take very long to cut the photos out and then decide on which one to use.  I doubt very much that this type of butterfly would be this big for real, but wouldn't it be cool if they were.

The image is stuck to a clothes peg, so when you squeeze the peg the wings flap.  Delightful and so easy to make.

Picea Glauca Bonsai

As part of the plan for my big year I wanted to learn more about bonsai.

I love trees and have been facinated by bonsai ever since I was little and my dad had a horse chestnut tree that he kept in a tiny pot.  It can't have been more than 20cm tall and every year it would produce one large leaf.

I'd hoped to attend a course in person, but with lockdown and all the restrictions we're living with right now I decided to see if there was anything online.  Here I came across Bonsai Empire who not only had lots of information and advice but also a set of videos.

I worked through their Beginners course and some of their Getting Started course and decided to have a go for myself.

My first attempt was with a small Picea glauca 'Alberta Globe' which I bought from our local garden centre.  When I started it was just a ball of green, but I pruned it using the techniques I'd seen in the videos, then wired some of the branches, and potted it up.

It smelt a bit like Christmas as I cut bits off in the sun.  

It still needs some work, but that is part of the fun of bonsai, they are never finished, as a living thing they will continue to grow and evolve.  I look forward to seeing how this little chap gets on.