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Archive for April, 2012

Preparations for the upcoming craft show are in full swing. Since this is my first show all by myself (not things I made and donated to various fundraising events, like so many times in the past) I must admit that I am a little nervous, and excited. And there are so many things I have to figure out, from merchandise to display to payment options to packaging…I am sure it will be a fun event and if I am not perfectly prepared and equipped, I won’t mind. It is only stage fright, I suppose.

And these are just some of the basics that are waiting for embellishment and finishing…

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On Friday I taught four willing and enthusiastic women how to wet-felt a simple little flower with a leafy stem. Diana’s class description promised a whole flower wreath with 5 or 6 flowers, but we only had three hours and three of the four ladies had never wet-felted before. They were very patient, I must say, and worked/battled their way through my instructions and the wool. In the end everyone had a lovely flower and a leafy rope and knew how to produce more of the flowers at home, if they wished to. I had a good time, I love sharing with people what makes me so happy myself. Thank you, dear students, and Diana for having me!

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Here I am again, back to a somewhat regular routine, I hope. I haven’t had the chance during the past weeks to work on much. I am still crocheting the colorful flowers and bugs, and as of today I will be very busy preparing for a craft show on May 5th. Not much time, so many ideas…but at least I am full of enthusiasm and ready to go!

 

While I was looking through my garage to find props and costumes for my daughter’s class play (Shakespeare’s “Macbeth“, no less) I found a box of costumes I made three years ago, when my son was on stage with his class performing Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream“. I wet-felted/knitted/crocheted/stitched all the hats and crowns and other head gear. Take a look!

Hat for Nick Bottom, whose head gets turned into a donkey’s head (knitted and felted beanie hat with wet-felted ears, stuffed).

Crown for Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons (wet-felted crown, stiffened with liquid polyurethane and wire, embellished with gold ribbons).

Crown for Oberon, King of the Fairies (wet-felted crown, stiffened with liquid polyurethane and wire, unfortunately over time the polyurethane changed the color of the grey wool felt).

Puck’s hat (wet-felted and embellished with all sorts of natural and fake leaves and pods).

Crown for Titania, Queen of the Fairies (wet-felted over hessian fabric, embellished with fabric butterflies).

Lion’s mane for Snug, one of the carpenters, for their side-show (remember Thisbe and the Wall?). Crocheted hat with slightly felted roving.

And then there were flower wreaths, and maiden’s silk wreaths and tunics and all kinds of other things… Midsummer Night’s Dream is a great play!

 

On a different note: all the pictures for the promised ring tutorial are taken. All I need now is the verbal instructions, so in the meantime I thank you for your patience!

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I am trying to use spare minutes here and there to crochet the circles which are the basis for all the shapes in my instructions – bugs, bird, flowers, even the peacock. The first four rows are the same for all of them. After I weave in all ends I will continue to work them into their various final shapes.

I am also working on a tutorial how to crochet a cute flower ring – I just need a second person to take the pictures, since it is hard to crochet and handle the camera with just one pair of hands. I will have it up and running shortly!

Talking about crocheting, I was pointed to Ingrid’s  crocheting blog ”ingthings” (apparently very well known, but unknown to me) in a fabulous British  magazine called ”Mollie Makes”.

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Check both of these out, you won’t regret it – lots of tutorials, inspiration and fresh ideas. I will definitely keep reading them in the future.

Here is one of the instructions from Ing-Things:

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(I apologize for the images not showing – the links work, though, so please try those)

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The Promising Crafter (my daughter) has finished a whole production line of polymer jewelry. Necklaces, matching earrings, keychains and cell phone charms. They are baking in the oven as we speak. She wants to be my table buddy at an upcoming little craft show “Trezhers” is going to host in May.

Doesn’t this look delicious?

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Spring crocheting – update

Remember these great instructions I meant to try for incorporation into further projects? I finally had time to sit down and do just that.

The smaller one of the two bugs:

The eight-petal flower, which I think turned out really great (must be the fantastic instructions…). I will for sure make more of these. My plan is to use both bugs and flowers to embellish other projects, such as small bags or water bottle holders.

After writing this I will go and sit in the sun and try the bird. It looks really promising, too. I will keep you posted.

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A good week

Spring Break is coming to an end. We had a lovely time with a bit of this and that, sitting in the sun, playing games, resting and reading, visiting the ice-cream shop…

And Easter, of course, hunting for Easter eggs and goodies…

…and finding some!

A delicious Easter brunch (courtesy of Opa), followed by a walk in next-to-perfect temperatures in the spring sun.

Sharing your discoveries (big ants in a hole in this case) with people you love.

And in my case, feeling all peaceful  and content.

I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

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Time is just flying by! We are on Spring Break right now (which makes things different, with all four children hanging out at home), I waved good-bye to visitors from home last week, went yesterday to pick up my father and niece from the airport to welcome them (which makes things more different…). It is wonderful, though, to have them here, despite the fact that there will be less crafting time for a while. But I am very certain in this case where the priorities lie!

I did make something over the past two weeks, however, and took 36 embroidered greeting cards over to Trezhers yesterday…take a look!

You will find the cards in my Etsy store soon (time restrictions, see above), but feel free to email me here or post a comment in the meantime, if you are interested in purchasing any.

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