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.