Finished work now mounted

A couple of projects that I have already mentioned, although at the time I was undecided how to mount them, are the cross stitch Mandala Owl and the crochet Mandala.

The owl was finally mounted in a plain embroidery hoop so it could sit on the window ledge amongst the owl collection.

For the Mandala, I mounted it on a stretched canvas frame which I had covered with a piece of my own dyed fabric.

Keeping busy over Christmas and New Year

The few weeks before Christmas found me with nothing to do so I found some wool I had bought a few months ago and made myself another virus shawl.  It was once again a quick and easy make and filled in an empty slot!

As I have mentioned many times, I am not one to sit and do nothing!   This is even at times like Christmas and the New Year when there are other things going on - if I am sitting, I have to be doing something!

Thankfully Little Box of Crochet and Craftpod both came to my rescue with projects to fill my time.

The December Little Box of Crochet was a Toft pattern for a delightful little dog.   Not that I am particularly a dog lover or a fan of amigurami, but it kept me occupied!

Even I have to admit he's cute!

The Craftpod box had two 'makes',  The first was an embroidered mistletoe sprig in a hoop which was joined by a felt fox. 

I really enjoyed both of these makes and although I have resisted a subscription to Craftpod, I am usually tempted once I see what's on offer!

Finishing up 2018!

Before I begin to talk about 2019 I must finish updating you about 2018!

I had a quick check through to see where I was on the blog and the first thing I realised was I had not mentioned November and December Journal Quilts.

For November the colour palette was violet/purple so I started my log cabin with a square of fabric hand printed with a purple swirl pattern and added strips of various shades of purple from my fabric stash, all dyed by myself.   I made the block on point to make it a bit different.

The completed block was then free machine quilted with a swirl pattern to reflect the centre print and finally bound with more of the swirl fabric.

    

December saw a return to the beginning of the colour wheel so had to be purple and red so starting with a larger central square gelli printed with red, I added strips in slightly different width of purple and included so red piping as I went.  Once the quilt was free machine quilted in a 'greek key' type pattern, I bound it with red gelli printed fabric.

This is the first year I planned each month in advance and stuck to the plan!   I'm really pleased with the end result, particularly the way they look when stacked up .....

..... and as a group they look good too!

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!