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Archive for the ‘sewing’ 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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It is Spring Break and I used the more relaxed days to prepare some craft projects for children’s birthday parties that I will offer through Trezhers, the store that also sells some of my and my daughter’s work (and that of lots of other local artisans!). If you live in the area you can book a 90-minute class, bring your party over , make something cool –  and then maybe have ice-cream at Vic’s Ice Cream across the street…

Here are some projects to choose from:

Fabric-covered and embellished bangles (from sturdy cardboard tube cut-offs)

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Felted hair accessoriesP1130795

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Personalized name plates (mod podge on scraps of wood or thrift store plates)P1130801

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Felted sweater doll or tiny owlP1130805

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Pet rock in Altoid tin bedP1130789

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P1130790Well, I hope there is something for everybody. I am all excited to teach these party crafts. I love the exuberance of kids, and I am looking forward to sharing my love of making things!

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We (8 women) finished half of the dolls (16 out of 32) in two hours, not bad! I am glad I did the preparation work, that helped a lot. One more fun meeting and they’ll be done. Here is the first lot, one prettier scarier than the next…or as Ms. M., the teacher and initiator of this project, summarized it, mumbling to herself while picking out eye buttons: “Oh, these clash really well!”.P1130732 P1130733 P1130734 P1130735 P1130736 P1130737

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32 dolls ready to be assembled. Phew, that was more work than I had anticipated, but I had support from my daughter and my niece and I am glad I prepped everything well, since it will make the final stuffing and sewing much faster.P1130691 P1130692 P1130693

Waiting for the helpers to show up and finish some dolls…P1130694

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No Tuesday Craft today, since the kids are out of school early all week for parent-teacher conferences. I have been working on this and that, but not much altogether, feeling kind of lethargic. I know that if I was more creative, I would feel better and less lethargic…but well, it’s a bit of a Catch-22 situation.

I have gotten further with my online sewing class at Craftsy to a point where I have to make changes to the muslin for the second fitting. P1130648

Made a trial doll for a friend whom I am helping with a bigger project involving 32 of these dolls…P1130647

And I am working on the English translation of the pdf-instructions for a German online embroidery class, which I mentioned here. If you are an English speaker and would like to take the class (I believe it starts April 1) I can highly recommend it. It is Anne Lange’s beginner’s class in Free Embroidery and I took it nearly two years ago. The follow-up intermediate class  will start soon, too, and I am taking that one, too. I stitched the following pieces following the instructions for the beginner’s class. Every month you work on a different subject (different theme, different stitches) and interpret it your way. You can share pictures and discuss things with your classmates and teacher in an online forum. I loved it!P1130651

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To an online sewing class, that is. I signed up for the first time to one of Craftsy’s many classes. A Couture Sewing Class no less. I love the concept of online classes, as it allows me to choose the time when to follow the instructional videos, I can watch them more than once, pause, repeat. I can do my homework whichever way it fits in and I still meet classmates, at least virtually. Of course I like the physical presence of people and materials and the directness of asking questions and having problems attended to straight away. But, for all the classes that are NOT available in my neighbourhood this is definitely the next best thing.

I have completed ongoing felting classes several times with Corinna Nitschmann in Hungary. I have done a six months embroidery class with the fabulous Anne Lange in Germany, I have even followed a long-distance meditation class at Spirit Rock Center. All from the comfort of my home at the time slots available to me. I love it!

This past Thursday morning I finally started “The Couture Dress” with Susan Khalje and enjoyed it immensly. Can’t wait to go back to the classroom and continue.

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P1130629I chose dress style “F” to start with. I will keep you posted as I progress through the class.

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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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We spent Thanksgiving with our friends, enjoying a lovely (joint effort) dinner and their company. At the end of the evening, their daughter complained about a headache, which was the cue for one of the little grey ducks to get warmed up and drape around her shoulders to relax any tension and relief her headache. She liked the warmth and soon felt much better.

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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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