Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

A place for Artistry, Crafts and Needlework; Decorating and Holidays.
User avatar
Harriet
Moderator
Posts: 16505
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:48 am
Location: The Carolinas

Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Harriet » Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:48 am

Heeeeeeere's December! Lots of gift-giving is being prepared, the halls are getting decked, and creativity has our enjoyment level up nicely!

Ivy is crocheting slouchy berets,
plus a stuffed cat and a stuffed dog for family members.
ellyphant made an ornament wreath and even got started on
Valentine's Day with a framed collage of vintage-looking cards.
Nancy knitted a child-size striped prayer shawl in pretty colors,
and is crocheting a random-striped prayer shawl.
Harmony has bound and labeled the quilt
and is now making the blocks for her final quilt of this year!
BookSaver described ideas from a sewing group meeting.
She's getting ready to teach a folded star class. (Best wishes!)
Harriet described ideas from a Christmas Show.
She's assembling her materials to make homemade gift tags.

Join in and share your art, your crafts, your needlework and your brainstorming with us here! We're anxious to "see" and excited for you.

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23444
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Nancy » Sat Dec 01, 2012 1:45 pm

The project I have been working on is nearly done doll blanket size but fun and I've put flower edging on one end of it for a pattern so I can keep it fresh in my mind. Just a couple more sides of edging on the final round and it will be done.

I'm nearly out of yarn now so will be keeping my eye out for some. Went to the fabric store yesterday but nothing seemed to jump out at me.

User avatar
Harriet
Moderator
Posts: 16505
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:48 am
Location: The Carolinas

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Harriet » Mon Dec 03, 2012 12:30 pm

A T-Tapp friend recommended this site for anyone hoping to get some skill and ideas for hand stitching their own name/initials or other lettering. This is Hand Embroidery Lettering and Text. If anyone just wants to learn to quickly initial their fabric work, this would be plenty of help. I can see it helping with labels on handmade gifts, or "signing" ornaments, putting a person's handsewn initial on a handkerchief, baby blanket, tea towel or scarf gift, etc. I'll put it in the Links section, too.

Having fun with making gift tags. I'm surprised how many of my large stickers look great simply centered on the white background of the folded blank index cards. For oddly-shaped stickers like figures of snowmen, I've cut 3/8th-inch around the sticker and left the fold line alone for shaped tags. Some seem to call for a different color, so I've gone looking for color paper with some substance and found a few helpful pieces. One large envelope mailed here had a barn-red paper with a sprinkled star design - that was fun to work with. So, a little recycling happening, too.

I like to wait until something "speaks" to me, too, Nancy. I want to work on things that really spark my imagination.


As I linked to the above site in our "About Creative Home Links" thread, I checked on all our links and noted there are a few happy changes.

"Crochet Cabana", which Lynlee recommended in 2010, has been updated as of 2 weeks ago. There's no longer a direct link I could find to Lynlee's favorite tutorial on joining squares, but there are lots of video crochet tutorials and you should be able to find what you need.

"Quilter's News Network" has been updated to include more free videos - about half are free on-demand viewing now, so scroll through to find those if you like. (For some things there's still a $2 per month fee.)

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23444
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Nancy » Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:00 pm

This month I'm trying to put together a tote from granny squares! Ack! This is not going well had to take apart one seam and add some and then make more squares, rinse lather and repeat! This is a bday gift is already late, I'm learning a lot of how NOT to do it! :roll: My first time doing something like this. Added a strap handle I salvaged from an old purse is cute. The bright colors make it fun and pretty from odds and ends of yarn so I'll keep working on it and not giving up.
Yea! this one is finished now!
Last edited by Nancy on Sat Dec 08, 2012 12:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Harriet
Moderator
Posts: 16505
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:48 am
Location: The Carolinas

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Harriet » Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:56 pm

That sounds like such a cool idea, Nancy - sorry it isn't working out quickly! Maybe you'll figure it out. "rinse, lather and repeat" LOL! sure know that feeling! Smart to see where you can reuse purse handles :idea: hadn't thought of that.

Want a quick look at what quiltmakers are doing right now?
Here is the link to the Fall 2012 Blogger's Quilt Festival, just judged and finished. 628 absolutely current entries, a literal snapshot page of what people of all skill levels are making out there at this particular time, from small beginner attempts to big masterpieces. They are in thumbnail, clickable links that will link to not only larger photos but often several photos with explanation of how it was made. (After all, these folks blog anyway, so plenty of space for their thoughts and photos.) I'd say, conservatively, this is equal to a dozen magazines. :shock:

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23444
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Nancy » Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:00 pm

The mom's cave is calling. I have fabric in holiday prints on my mind in the sewing/crafting room downstairs! Looking forward to some sewing!
Last edited by Nancy on Sat Dec 08, 2012 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Harmony
Member
Posts: 11417
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 3:56 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Harmony » Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:20 pm

I really want to look at that quilt festival site but need more time. It may have to wait till after Christmas.

Progress on the last quilt: whole top is together and today I finished the 3" border. Seams are pressed. I'll get the vacuum out next and go over the FR floor because that's where I lay it out to "sandwich". I'm pleased with this one, it's more interesting because it has more little pieces.

I got REALLY brave and got extra wide material in bright RED for the backing. I hand washed it in laundry tub of water about 3 times, rinsed about 6, then I put it in the wash. First wash still left dye on the white pieces I included, the 2nd wash did not, so I consider it safe. Now I must be extra careful with my quilt stitches..think about white thread all over a plain red piece!

My local JA fabric has been reorganized. Don't know what happened but that store was an awful jumble all the time, so much that I made the trip 30 minutes north or 40 south to other JA shops. New people there now and all the bolts were shelved and I noticed many new things they didn't carry. Terry cloth I'd been looking for for ages, wide materials in lots of colors and prints - finally! That's how I ended up with the red.

The wisdom of doing 5 quilts in a year...I could write a book. Not a smart goal. I'll probably sew straight through till weekend before Christmas to accomplish this..(and it didn't help that I was sick this summer) and lots of business stuff and house cleaning didn't get done. So lesson learned the hard way!

User avatar
Harriet
Moderator
Posts: 16505
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:48 am
Location: The Carolinas

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Harriet » Fri Dec 07, 2012 11:59 pm

Well, maybe if we approach everything we do sensibly, Harmony, we never get to have a surprising success and be amazed we achieved it! There's some wisdom in diving in and doing the thing that we'd like to do!

Hey, I say the things we do that insure our non-boringness... ..those may be good things. ;)

An email from the quilt shop a couple towns over got me to net-surfing to see if their prices were in line with others. One link led me to Ami Simms, who is a quiltmaker and author I've long admired and once heard speak. I've used her "invisible applique" using a ladder stitch so often - it really helped me to learn that. Anyway, I very much enjoyed her recent funny blogs/newsletters.

She has a kit now to make 20 of her stiffened Double Diamond Bookmarks out of your scraps, which really peaked my interest. I won't give a link, because I suspect some of the pages I'm easily finding might actually be copyrighted and not supposed to be on the net for free..... hmmm..... Here are another person's that were made with pointed ends. Ami's pattern makes squared-end rectangular bookmarks, very beautiful, and I can see they would be lovely gifts, very helpful to have a kit to marathon those 20 at a time. She includes the plastic for the inside and sleeves of plastic to put them in to protect them before you give them as gifts. This brings me back, of course, to the fact that I already have unfinished bookmarks I dreamed up myself that are really cool and if I'm going to spend time on such things I should finish those. :roll:

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23444
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Nancy » Sat Dec 08, 2012 12:30 pm

With the weather taking a turn for the colder temps. and a bit of the sniffles sewing seems like a plan!

I'm in the process of doing up some gift bags in Red and Green cotton prints. They are fun and I enjoy the way a sewing project takes so much less time than a knit or crochet project does. Perfect for this season.

I've found a use for a couple of them already, to cover the end of child's size hoe and rake for under the tree and next I'm going to see if the planting bucket will fit in one if not I"ll be making the next one bigger.

:idea: I'm getting some ideas to re-use; basket liners, apron, tree skirt could be in my future! The feed sack totes made with blue jean handles were nice I saw at the feed store so might be trying some of those. Wish I could find feed in smaller bags for this!!!

User avatar
Ivy
Member
Posts: 3306
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:46 pm
Location: United States

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2012

Postby Ivy » Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:28 am

I finished crocheting a pink and white v-stitch preemie dress today. I added a pink/white ribbon pinwheel at the front waist and it has an adorable tiny button in the middle of it.
Then I made a pink diaper cover, trimmed in white and put 3 rows of white ruffles on the bum, sewed on 2 white buttons for closures.
Then I crocheted a lavender hospital shirt, added a white stripe to it for "zip", edged it in white, and added a white button at the neck.
To match it, I made a cap and pair of tube socks in lavender. Tomorrow I'll make a different style diaper cover which has a center button to hold the 2 side tabs as a closure.

A BFF sent me tons of baby yarn, when she couldn't make her hands work to crochet the thinner yarns. :D I'm so glad now!

Tomorrow I'm planning on crocheting a white bonnet w/white tube socks. The socks can be worn up high, like knee socks to keep the baby's legs warm, or folded down, like anklets, too. :)
I want to make use of yarns in mint green w/yellow items in a set and make use of some solid yellow and variegated yellow.
Planning to make a cone cap or two, 1 dress, hospital shirts, a cardigan, booties, and more tube socks.

This baby is their first girl, after 6 boys, so they'll really be in need of some baby girl items, too. :idea: :D
Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her seas. Rest your soul in her solitary places. ~Henry Beston


Return to “The Creative Home”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests

cron