Christmas Cards

Suddenly realised I'd not posted about my Christmas Card makes for this year and didn't want to do it after Christmas!

It's a bit of a cheat this year as I discovered I had a large stock of cards made in previous years that had been left over plus some I'd made to sell and never did.  I decided that I would used these up and just make some new ones this year for the special people in my life who I know really appreciate a handmade card.

I returned to my love of inchies and created some red and green needlefelt that would become my inchies.  So long since my needlefelting machine had been out so I must reacquaint myself with it properly in the new year.

I'm always amazed when I look at the base felt when I make inches and wonder at how they change into little gems of loveliness!

To each little square - just over an inch square - I added combinations of sequins, beads and stitches and then buttonhole stitched around the edges.

 

Each set of four were mounted onto backing paper together with a hand printed "Happy Christmas" and then mounted on to a card.

Really pleased and already had compliments from some lucky recipients.

One more completed project - my November Little Box of Crochet which was a lovely mandala in Christmasy colours that was a delight to make.  Lots of overlay crochet which I love.

It was designed by Amanda Williams (@yarn_house on Insta) and worked in Yarn and Colors Must Have Cotton.

A bonus was a little wooded reindeer who desperately needed a coat so some of the left over yarn was put to use.  As you can see from the photo he is already hanging on the tree!

That really is all for this year so have a great Christmas,

End of another year

This is probably my last chance to post this year as I can already see how busy it is going to be between now and 2019, so it's time to update my creations of the last few weeks.

More Ecoprinting

I had another go at ecoprinting making a slight change to my first try by soaking the fabric and paper in the iron solution instead of painting it.  I wanted to try 'cooking' it in the oven but was unable to find a brick to weigh it down so that will have to wait until next time.

I used a variety of leaves, flowers and onion skins with differing results.  I must admit some of the leaves were very dry and crumbly and the flowers weren't exactly fresh so I feel there is still room for improvement.

I want to make some books with the printing I have done so far and hopefully my next exploration in eco printing will be with fresh leaves and plants and maybe using alum as the mordant.

Winter Display

For the Winter display I made a wreath, all be it a small one.  I've always wanted to make a crochet wreath but just didn't have the time to do a full size one so thought this was the best option.  Yet again I turned to Attich24 for my inspiration and guide, choosing two of her hellebore flowers for the decoration.

A little snowman also joined the display, along with some snowflakes hanging from a twig.  I also stitched a snowflake in cross stitch to display in a hoop. 

  

And put together .....

No sooner was the display up when Christmas preparations began and took over the mantelpiece.

The snowflakes stayed in place and the hoop was replaced with a crib scene worked in redwork plus all the lights and bits collected over the years.

Mandala Owl

The final stitch has been crossed on the Mandala Owl and although washed and pressed it hasn't been mounted yet.   I can't decided whether to put it in a hoop or frame and it will probably end up being the one I can get most easily!

Really pleased with the end result so hope the little people like it too!

Beginnings of an eco home

I've long been aware of how much single use paper and plastic is used in our home and feel the time has come to do something about it.

My first change was to buy cotton fabric serviettes to save us buying paper ones this Christmas.  Available at a most reasonable cost on Amazon, it seemed something much easier to do than I thought.  With more planning I could have made them myself, and my intention is to make another set in a different colour at some stage.

I wanted to personalise them with some embroidery so used some small mandala designs I have in a book Mandalas to Embroider  by Carina Envoldsen-Harris.  I used a blue/grey palette of embroidery threads to match our décor which I feel have given a great result.

These are some of my favourites......

     

There are still creations in hand as well as those planned to get me through Christmas and into the New Year, so I will be back!

Crochet and Cross Stitch

The Entralac Crochet pouch is all finished and turned out really well.

I really enjoyed this type of crochet which was new to me and I would certainly do more in the future.

An extra in this Little Box of Crochet was a metal book mark to which I had to add some beads and a tassel. 

Not sure I will use it, not that I don't read (I am an avid reader!) more that I use a special bookmark given to me by one of my daughters some years ago.

I have also been making steady progress with my Mandala Owl.  I didn't mention in my last post that this was purchased as a PDF from the Awesome Pattern Studio on Etsy.   They have some wonderful patterns for many other birds and beasts so have a look at them.  I love buying PDFs as there's no waiting for it to arrive!

 Thought I'd let you see a few of the collection of owls that the mandala owl will be joining.

A few other creations are in the pipeline for the next few weeks including a Christmas Tree Skirt which is almost finished; twelve linen serviettes that need some embroidery to personalise them; a crochet wreath (just a little one) for my winter display; some more eco dyeing with leaves; and of course the Christmas Cards.

Busy, busy, busy!

Project Completed and Started

This week has seen projects completed and new ones begun and I seem to have fallen into a routine where I've worked on stitching in the afternoons and crochet in the evening.

I've been working for some weeks on a shawl for someone special but I won't say anymore about that as they still have to receive it.

Once again I have used Scheepjes Swirl which seems to be my 'go to' yarn when it comes to shawls as I just love the way the colours change. 
 

This shawl was designed by Lisa Cook and is called Custard Cream and the yarn name is Melting Macaron.

I loved the look of the pattern as it has more texture than those I've made previously and I wasn't disappointed with the result.  It's got popcorn stitches,  clusters and front post treble stripes all finished off with tassels.

I got worried as I got towards the end as I was convinced that I would not have enough yarn but everything worked out in the end and as you can seen from the photos, there was more than enough for three tassels.

My evenings were quickly filled with a new Little Box of Crochet that was for a zipped pouch in Entralac Crochet.  At first I was very wary as this is a form of Tunisian Crochet which I have never done and quite frankly never wanted to.  I always thought it was more like knitting as there seems to be loads of stiches on the very long hook and this put me off.

However, thanks to some great videos made by Little Box of Crochet, I loved it as it was a pattern of coloured squares and diamonds so there were never more than 7 stitches on the hook.  I was hooked after the first row.

After a few more evening of hooking I have finished the main piece of the pouch.

Colourful isn't it?  Another evening or two and it should be finished.

My other new creation this week is a piece of cross stitch that will one day be a Mandala Owl to go in the grandchildren's bedroom.

They inherited my collection of owls when we moved and have them displayed on the windowsill.  Each time they visit the owls are rearranged and we add to them when we see any new owls.

It is also a perfect place for me to taken photos as the light is really good so I often move the owls out of the way to make way for my work.

I'm not sure how long this is going to take as I find the light is not good this time of the year and even with a daylight lamp, I find I can only work for about two hours each afternoon.  After a week's worth of stitching it now looks like this.

Still a long way to go!

#makearteveryday

In September a chance conversation with a friend brought up the subject of sketchbooks.  Now, I love sketchbooks - I have bought many in the past but there was no guarantee that I would every use them!

When I have been taking various courses, I have always worked hard on my sketchbooks and even now I love looking back at them, igniting memories of past creations.    But left to my own devices, I am a lightweight and after a few pages, the sketchbook is put to one side and possibly never opened again.

I began to think about the reasons for this and concluded that it was definitely being faced with this large expanse of white paper waiting to be filled.  Now I know there are loads of ways of quickly covering a page to get rid of the bareness but you still have what looks like a very large space to be filled.   The solution I quickly realised was a smaller sketchbook so I went out and bought one A6 in size thinking that I can always go up to A5 if I found this too restricting.

So on 25 September I began and achieved an entry for everyday until yesterday, 31 October.  I have decided to have a break as it does take up time everyday and I have found other projects have suffered and as Christmas approaches I have other creations to get started on.

Here are the pages so far with a bit more detail of their composition.

L to R: Gelli printed with stamps; gelli printed with added pen; pen sketch with watercolour; collage of gelli printed deli paper; pen sketch with watercolour; map with collaged letters; gelli print with pen zentangles; dictionary page with hand writing; gelli print with printed page and machine stitching; gelli print with leaves and collaged letters; paint drips with added drawn lines; paint sponged background with poem.

L to R: Gelli printed paper with added gel pen lines; gelli printed background with collaged letters; collage of gelli printed paper; pen sketch with pencil; pen drawings with added paint; collage of magazine paper and collage letters; zentangles in pen; printed background with wax rubbing and pen lines; collage of gelli printed paper; gelli printed paper; washi tape collage; colour pen zentangles;

L to R:  Gelli printed paper with collage letters on tag; gelli printed paper; collage of letters and paper on printed background; pen drawing with watercolour; waterstained paper and fabric with stitching; pen drawing on enhanced photo; collage of found items; collage of found items; beach found paper and ribbon with stitching.

L to R:  Pen lines and shapes with wax rubbing and soluble crayons; collage of inked paper with white gel lines; map with paper cut arrows; wax rubbing with pen lines; ink zentangle with water colour; painted  and printed background with coloured pencil detail.

I have learnt so much while doing this and feel I have become more confident and more importantly, far more relaxed while working in a sketchbook.   During this process I bought Shelley Rhodes's Sketchbook Explorations and having read the book cover to cover, I was so inspired that I feel this book is the main reason for freeing me up.   There are several of the later pages that were directly inspired by this book.

Although I will be taking a break for a while, if I find myself with nothing to do I will  definitely return to my little book.  And looking to the future, I am already feeling inspired enough from some of the pages to start a bigger sketchbook which will no doubt be seaside themed as that is where I find most of my inspiration.

Eco Printing

For a long time now I have been wanting to have a go at eco printing and dyeing and have read loads of posts online as well as purchasing the odd book or two but there's always been something putting me off as it is something completely new to me.

Then in the very first WOW book there was a workshop from Caroline Bell which was so easy to follow I knew I must have a go.

The first thing it required was some iron (or ferrous sulphate) water and as I still have several rusty bits of iron left from the time I was creating rusty textiles, I knew it had to be done.   I put rusty nails and other smaller bits of rusty iron into a jam jar with half and half water and white vinegar and then left them for several weeks.  I gave the jar an odd shake when I thought about it but don't think it is really necessary.

The leaves I used came from around and about, including some wonderful acer leaves from my sister's garden and it was finding these that really pushed me on with the experiment.

Following Caroline's instructions, I layered up abaca tissue and khadi paper with iron water and leaves, clamped them between two tiles and boiled them for 30 minutes.   Because my tiles were only half covered by the water, I did flip them over after the 30 minutes and did the second side for another 30 minutes. (Must look out for a bigger saucepan!)

The Acer leaves on khadi paper

Other leaves on abaca tissue

Other leaves on abaca tissue

Other leaves on abaca tissue

My initial feelings about the results were a bit mixed.  The acer leaves which I used on the khadi paper were really good but the other leaves - mainly oak, birch and sycamore - on the tissue were very black and on first sight, not very appealing.

I wondered whether the iron water was too strong and needed to be diluted a bit; also whether I'd used too much; or it could have been that I boiled them for too long.  These are all options I will explore the next time round.

I haven't finished working through Caroline's workshop as I wanted time to think before going on.  I posted these photos on the WOW Book Facebook group and received lots of positive and encouraging comments, including many suggestions that they looked as though they should be made into books.

When I have made more progress with them I will let you see what I've done.

October Update

By the skin of my teeth, I have finally got round to a few updates of crafty makes in October.

First, I made a few additions to my Autumn display - conkers and a pumpkin!  The conkers were from a pattern by Coastal Crochet, one of my favourite designers.  You will have seen more of her designs on here in the past.  The pumpkin was a pattern on Pinterest which sadly did not credit anyone.

So the finished display now looks like this.

With only one more month to go I have been thinking about my winter display which will of course give way to Christmas later in December.

So far I have made a cross stitch snowflake for the winter display and have a few more ideas which also involve snowflakes and snowmen.  I'm finding it hard to come up with ideas for winter that don't end up looking more like Christmas.

And for the Christmas display I've made this redwork embroidery using a colouring design found on Pinterest.