Kirigami & other news: week 1

Well, here's the first of my kirigami updates, showing the patterns from 5-10 January. I'm enjoying those few minute each evening spent in quiet concentration and, even though there's an illustration of each pattern, it's still a thrill to unfurl the paper to see what appears.

In the case of the one above from 5 January, it's not quite the same as the illustration. If you look closely, you can see that the centre doesn't match - I think I hadn't been accurate enough folding along the lines. I really like my version though and it's one of the most interesting patterns so far. It was also the first to use the starburst folding technique.

6 January: Another to use the starburst fold. It reminds me of cogs or something mechanical.

7 January: a more intricate design and my favourite so far. It was more difficult to cut out because of the wibbly bits around each 'spike' and the layers of paper but worth it. Chickpea says it reminds her of a holly wreath.

8 January: Another new fold pattern to learn - the spider! Looks like the 4th July, said Chickpea.

9/10 January: A boring one to end the week :( The most exciting part was the Hints box on the instructions saying that I'd soon be needing scissors with a fancy cutting edge and a hole punch! I've peeked ahead and there are pop-ups and all kinds of fancy patterns - can't wait!

In other news:

It was the first meeting of 2016 of my quilt group. We had a demo of string quilts from Jean who brought along endless quilts, samples and patterns to share - so much inspiration.

There was also discussion around our exhibition and a reluctant decision to postpone it until May 2017. Quite a few members have decided to leave and there was concern we might not have enough large quilts to show. Disappointing but it's given me more breathing space to finish mine.

I had a walk around the lake in the brief interlude between rain yesterday. I've never seen the water level so close to the path. No cause for concern though as the lake is in a hollow and the level would have to rise considerably before it overflowed.

This weekend also saw the first pick for 2016's cookery challenge. Each week I'll be picking a book or magazine out of a hat (well, a jar) and have to make at least one recipe. Nigella's Kitchen was first out and I made poached chicken with lardons and lentils. You can see the recipe and the lady herself making it on Martha Stewart's site. I admit Nigella's looks more appetising than mine which, in all fairness, looks like brown sludge. My version uses chicken thighs rather than breast (which I prefer as they have more flavour) and I broke the pieces up rather than having them draped decoratively. Very tasty.

Tonight we're having pasta with gorgonzola, spinach and pine nuts. It should have been feta but I had gorgonzola in the fridge which needed eating up. We've had this combination before so I know it will taste good. You can see what I made from Kitchen in the 2014 challenge here.

I'd forgotten how hard it is photographing food under electric lights, then, lo and behold, I found out today that the camera has a 'food' setting! The mind boggles!

And that's been my week. Well, the bloggable bits anyway. Hope you had a good one and enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I'm off to make the pasta. x