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Archive for the ‘crochet’ Category

This was my  test set-up in the living room, which I always do to have a better idea how the real thing might look. Also, just in case I’m running late I could set up really quickly on the day of the event.P1120805

And here is -with slight changes – the actual table at Panama Pottery’s Spring Bazaar. I was lucky, because I was able use this colorful gate to hang the bunting up, which looked great. Behind me, behind the fence in the parking lot two food trucks (all the rage here in town right now) were catering to people’s needs, you could purchase Kombucha on tap (another very popular thing here) and there were a few other vendors. The ceramic artists had openend their studios, music was good, weather and people stopping by to chat were very pleasant…

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P1120812I earned a few dollars for my daughter’s class selling the soap we made with the students.

This was my view from behind my table:

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The first picture was taken before the whole thing opened, but you can see in the second picture that there were not exactly streams of people passing through. I had plenty of time to sit and needle-felt when I was not talking to passers-by.

P1120820 P1120825Amy, a fellow vendor and textile artist who makes and sells quirky stuffed animals liked the little landscape so much that she and I swapped some things at the end of the day. All in all I can’t say it was a financial success, but I had a really good day and enjoyed myself.

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I am very busy preparing crafts for a Spring Market at Panama Pottery this week-end. I will be offering my own goods, as well as the hand-made soap we made with my daughter’s class to raise funds for their big 8th grade backpacking trip. It has been very windy here the last few days, but the weather forecast says sunny and very warm for the week-end – best conditions for a great day!P1130812Some of the things I am working on…P1130846 P1130847 P1130848
P1130850 P1130851 P1130852 P1130853 P1130854When I look at the pictures it occurs to me that whatever I start I always end up with very colorful things, just can’t help it, it seems.

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Today was the day to draw the winners of my blog anniversary give-away. All the lovely commenters’ names on little pieces of paper…

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got added to a very neutral empty jam jar…

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and a very neutral and official-looking young man helped with pulling three names out of that jam jar.P1130392

The winners are:

Elke (without blog) for the bottle holder and pin-cushion. Your prize will be on the way to you by the beginning of next week!P1130389

Eclectic Lamb (eclecticlamb.wordpress.com) for the Dream Pillow and flower brooch. Congratulations! Would you please email me at eva.klaraluna@yahoo.com, so I have a street address to send your prize to.

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Sunny (without blog, but with wonderful preschool!)for the meditation weights. I will bring them over when we meet for our next crafty get-together.

P1130390Congratulations everybody! That was fun!

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One year ago I started this blog, to accompany my equally young craft business, to keep far-away friends and family updated, to keep myself inspired and motivated (and tell you about it) and to be able to look back on my hand-made journey – to name just a few reasons. In a recent article I found the following:

Crafting is, above all else, a source of pleasure – and pleasure in a number of forms. First, turning the mundane (a piece of wood, a hunk of clay) into something beautiful or delicious provides the maker with a sense of accomplishment, which activates a pleasure center in the brain known as the nucleus accumbens, says Maurer. (…) If you then give your creation to someone else, you experience a second form of pleasure. “Doing something for others can light up the posterior superior temporal sulcus,” says Maurer. Like the nucleus accumbens, that region is also a pleasure center: When stimulated, it signals the release of the happiness-producing neurotransmitter dopamine.

With this in mind I would like to thank all of you for my happiness, faithful readers and occasional drop-ins, first-time readers and people who have followed Klara Luna from day one. I selected three prizes you can win by doing the following: please leave a comment with this post within the next 10 days (until January, 19). All names will be thrown in a hat and I will have an unbiased little person draw three winners. Please indicate your preference for prize #1, #2 or #3. Good luck!

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#1: A Water BottleHholder with crocheted bug embellishment and a Small Yellow Pincushion

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#2: A Dream Pillow, filled with soothing herbs and a Pink Flower Brooch made of plant-dyed wool felt

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#3: A set of two sand-filled Meditation Weights (or Pincushions, or Paperweights, or..)

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I am looking forward to your comments…

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Deep down in a container of wool and roving I found a bag of hand-spun yarn that I produced during a Pluckyfluff Art Yarn Workshop a few years back. Lexi Boeger is kind of a local girl (near Placerville) and a lot of very direct, outspoken, hands-on fun. She is also the one who “invented” this extreme style of art yarn, at least in this part of the world. It seems to me that the craze for art yarn has altogether died down a bit, but it is a lot of fun spinning such yarn, looking at it – and now finally making something with it. Legwarmers? A hat? A cowl? Fingerless gloves? The chicks (middle of the three skeins) might be a bit too scratchy, though…

You might not be able to see it, but this one has shredded dollar bills spun into it!

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Everything here has slowed down as the weeks off school are progressing, leaving us all in an increasingly relaxed state. It feels good! To interrupt the lazy summer mood, though, I started trying out a few things with the aim of coming up with attractive and wearable jewelry pieces – bracelets, wrist wraps, pendants, necklaces – made out of yarn, felt and added beads, wire, metal pieces. I have a lot of ideas going around in my head.

NB: Click on the picture below to get to Habu Textiles’ website and be prepared to be amazed at their highly innovative products of outstanding quality – and the beautiful photography. Truly mouthwatering, if you ask me. Did I mention that I love Japanese design?

Apart from that, my Alabama Chanin skirt has stalled. I got as far as sewing the basic skirt and dyeing* (shibori, tie-dye, whatever you want to call it) a piece of the leftover fabric. I am going to cut out circles and appliqué them to the lower part of the skirt, using my favorite red craft thread. This will have to wait until after traveling (see below).

(*In small print: I didn’t exactly dye the fabric, I tied it with rubber bands and put it in Chlorox household bleach – although I hate the smell and toxicity of the product. But it does produce a very lovely washed-out hue, I must say.)

My secret project is finished and ready to be packed. It will all be revealed once it has reached its final destination, adorning my sister’s staircase bannister. I promise to take pictures!

In a few days we are off on our travels to the far-away shores of home to visit families and friends in both our countries of origin – Ireland and Germany. Many a thing has to be considered and put into place before six people can set off with everything they need with them, and everything in order behind them.

It will be (even) quieter here for a while, although I will try to get access to computer and internet while traveling to keep you posted. In the meantime I want to thank you all out there for following me so far along my crafty way, and look forward to reconnecting after my return!

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Today is the first day of the summer vacation! Nearly three months of finding and playing to our own rhythm, open-ended days, fluctuating bed-times, spending time with each other…oh, yes!

A few of the things that I postponed and now can’t wait to dive into…

play around with some beautiful craft supplies…

work on felting projects…

finally sew some garments…

finish some unfinished objects…

read some books…

do a daily visual journal entry…

cook fresh and nutritious food with an attitude of space and time (and not the rushed work-week last-minute dinner preparation)…

a daily dose of yoga…

…oh, happy days!

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I have been intrigued and very inspired for quite a while by an eccentric and fabulous blogger, a “Brit misplaced abroad” called Tif who blogs under the name of Dottie Angel. I finally ordered her book and last week it arrived in my mailbox. I can tell you, it is worth every cent. Warm-hearted, creative, personal, funny, lots of pictures – and it has a few crafty ideas, too.

As it happened I was in the process of coming up with a special gift idea for a very special person in my son’s life, Ms. Pattie, his aid (or more technically speaking his “full inclusion specialist”). Apart from his teacher she is the other main adult during his school day and the little boy loves her. Anyway,  as I was looking through the Dottie Angel Book I found the perfect thing:

I knew instantly that Pattie would love this! I rushed into my garage to look for empty glass jars as I set out to make a desk set for her place in next year’s classroom. Here is my version of the project:

(*In here she will find a gift card to her favorite coffee pit-stop and a set of polymer clay earrings (croissants)/necklace (coffee cup) I commissioned my daughter to make)

And guess what? She did love it!

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Please stroll on over to my Etsy store and have a look at the freshly listed items. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!

There are felted and embroidered Wish Stones in all colors of the rainbow…

There are stones dressed in delicate crochet lace, to simply enjoy or to use as name tags for weddings or other family celebrations…

*A special thanks to Sarah’s support in the process! Wish you were here..*

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The Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, never fails to supply me with endless inspiration of colors, patterns and shapes. It is just amazing and mind-boggling how many, many, many different creatures exist under the sea. And even this huge aquarium can only display a fraction of what’s out there. I look at it all and my mind is going into overdrive: all these things could be turned into something crocheted, felted, knitted, embroidered. Take this, for example (I don’t even know whether these things are plants or animals or what):

Doesn’t this translate beautifully into crochet art? Check out this crochet blog for information on a traveling exhibition of a crochet coral reef. Hard to tell the difference between living thing and crochet interpretation, isn’t it?

And how about some color inspiration? Not just some color, but crazy, fluorescent, eye-popping color?

My all-time favorites, though, are the jelly fish. They, too, come in an array of shapes and colors with an added psychedelic quality as they rhythmically “breathe” and float through the water. I find them so fascinating.

The aquarium hosts a very 60s-looking exhibition of “jellies”. As part of the display their artwork people came up with jelly fish lamps that were just adorable. Isn’t it such an obvious step to design lamps after jelly fish?

The sea world inspires a lot of crocheting people, it seems. There are plenty of examples of crochet artists displaying their work.

This crochet blog shows some particularly beautifully made underwater creatures.

Also, check out these pictures of an exhibition of colorful jelly fish and sea anemone.

You can even buy crochet patterns, if you wish to make your own. Do you feel inspired already?

Now I will let it all rest and see where this inspiration will take me

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