Art, Craft and Needlework, February, 2014

[Nancy]

I love the way my ombre yarn is turning out with a W pattern. On the current scarf I am knitting on it is almost half way done but the yard work is calling me so progress is slowing down on it! dgd loved the idea of decorating a white bag for val. day but we did not get to it.

We did get cooking done she loves to cook she said! Made 2 kinds of muffins and a heart shaped pizza that she took home. H. Loved the lagnasagna had 3 servings of it! Deviled eggs will come in handy today. The house looked good at 11 a.m. but by the end of the day it was plowed & I was too tired to stay on top of it. But fun was had! LOL!

What I did was microwave bread dough enough to cut in the size needed for an individual size pizza.

[Harriet]

Well, I can't even look down at the ground outdoors in the same way anymore!

Since working a bit with the pressed flowers, I've noticed that green/leaves/stems are needed to set the flowers off best and I didn't have as much of that, because I had zeroed in on colorful blossoms. While going out to let the chickens out this morning, I noticed green poking up - little funny spring weeds.

But when you get close to them, the leaves are so sweetly shaped! One man's weed is another man's flower. They will be charming pressed and arranged with pressed flower blossoms.

So nothing would do except I take my small scissors and a bowl and go clip some of the prettiest leaves. I felt blessed because figuring this out so early in the year, I could find tiny new leaves - say 1/3- inch, along with larger ones of 3/4 to 1.4 and that will seem natural and interesting together. They're pressed between typing paper sheets in a book now.

After looking up "spring weeds", I see that two are Henbit and Stellaria. Can't find the name of others. In doing this, I glanced at another photo and recognized one of the autumn plant leaves I'd found by the side of the road then. It is Chamberbitter. Learn something new every day.

One more flower-craft thought - maybe for children
How to color flowers at home with food coloring

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Sewing for girls - Dd stitched up a skirted tank top from an oversize tee shirt she found at the thrift store, going by a you-tube tutorial. Tank-top shape down to the waist, then a flouncy circle-skirt-part, about 5 inches long/wide. A teen or girl garment, fun look and trendy for a youthful figure. She definitely loved making it and wants to make another. I gave the link, but of course there is an ad sorry about that.

[Ivy]

I only needed to add 3 rows to finish my "Olympics" hat. I procrastinated, closing ceremonies are tomorrow, so I buckled down and got it done. The pattern is from:

http://www.headhuggers.org/patterns/cpatt11.htm

It's called: "Head Huggers: Crochet Pattern: 11" in Loving Georgia Lee Tyler's memory. The photo on the pattern page is in bright green and red stripes. Thumbnails show it in solid colors in yellow and lavender. On page 2, it has a lovely photo of Georgia Lee Tyler and it says, "To the best Mother & Mother-In-Law that two people could every want. We LOVE you Mom." Also, the hat was designed by Christine Marie Way Tyler and John Wesley Tyler. I thought this extra info about her and the designers was a nice tribute to her and the sweet person she must have been. ♥

I used an "I" crochet hook and 4 ply WW yarn. I followed the directions for an adult. When I got to the adult size choices, I had 2 ways of making it to fit my head. I could either repeat one round, which I did not do, or I could add just a few "2DC" in another round of DC. I ended up adding too many extra "2DC", so it fit loose. However, later in the pattern, I saw where I could skip 2 stitches, to make it smaller, so it ended up with the perfect-for-me fit. I was so pleased, I got out a royal blue turtleneck and red sweatshirt, and put my "Olympics"-colors hat and some red earrings on. Now I'm all festive for the closing ceremonies tomorrow night.

I have a Dfriend who turns 62 on March 29. She loves hats. A few years ago I made myself a reversible hat in black on one side and purple variegated on the other. I gave it to DD, but she returned it to me, as it was too loose for her head, too warm, etc... I washed it up, so it's looking like new again and it just so happens how my Dfriend loves hats AND purple/lavender! She lives in SC, they're getting terrible ice/snow, so this hat will match her black coat perfectly. I'll mail it earlier in March, so she gets good use out of it for a longer amount of time, too. I'm so glad I made the hat for myself, then it went full circle back to me, to eventually Bless my Dfriend. ♥ It's nice when things like this happen, isn't it?

[Nancy]

I have been working on a player shawl triangle shape that has eluded me until now. I am working it from the top (longest part) down. I could it get it working it the other way. This is another rainbow striped one.

[Harriet]

Here is a photo of 2 bookmarks I made that are clear (meaning you can see flowers on the back, too - no paper between). I liked the look of a border, so I used the free downloadable pattern at the bottom of this tutorial for a tissue paper craft to make them. I just used regular printer paper, not craft paper, and colored in with colored Sharpies. So I didn't need to use anything but scissors to cut them out. The laminating paper is thick enough - I don't think it needs any more stiffness. She cut her lamination off directly at the edges of the borders. I left some area for the two pieces of laminating paper to stick to each other around the edges. Don't know which way I like best yet.

SmallClearBookmarks.jpg

The one on the left is the blue orchid petals, white bacopa full blossoms, orange daisy petals, and chamberbitter leaves.
The one on the right is the blue orchid petals, magenta periwinkle petals, tiny magenta crepe myrtle petals, and tiny parts of the orchid used as pretend "leaves".

For both I used stems from the grasses in the yard that were very beige-brown after winter, and colored them with green sharpie marker! Worked great!

Next I want to make some onto paper. I realize you wouldn't be able to see both sides, but I think the flowers may be prettier with a consistent background color. Also I could write something on the back of the paper that would be protected by the laminating. And I also want to try clear Contact paper and see if I like that better. These are actual laminating paper from Hobby Lobby.

The photo is a little larger than 300x300 - I am having to guess with this new operating system, whereas before I could see the size while I edited.

[Nancy]

OH Harriet those are lovely .
I have been picking up the living room putting away yarn time to think about gardening.