One More Makes Three...

Here's the brief for the Final Swap Scrumble:

"I also like rich, jewel tones. I really like color combos that are primarily cool with pops of contrasting colors. For example, a blue and purple based scrumble with pops of gold and orange.
I do not have a project in mind for the pieces I receive. I will likely just display them individually as pieces of art in my craft room."
 


Once again the purpley tones have not photographed in true colour... One day I will figure out why that is - but in the meantime it will continue to drive me MAD!

Another Scrumble

This Scrumble is VERY different from the one I shared with you yesterday... isn't it???



The brief this time?

“I have no colors palette and just wait for some fresh and happy scrumbles with no particular theme. I love abstract and flowers."



So I selected some really bright and cheery colours...



And went about creating an abstract style of flower.

A Scrumble to Swap

Do you sometimes hesitate to join in a fun activity because of nerves???

I do it all the time, and this is a classic example...

A few months back, I saw that there was going to be a Scrumble Swap held in the Prudence Mapstone Group over on Ravelry. The idea was simple. Participants would be placed in groups of about seven, and then send a freeform scrumble to each of the others in their group.

You could nominate your chosen colours, so that when you received your six scrumbles they could be worked into one larger Freeform Project. Or not. Really... you could do ANYTHING you wanted with them... ANYTHING at all.

It sounded like it would be an INSPIRING swap... on a few different levels. Firstly, you would be making scrumbles in a variety of colour combinations which you might not usually use. And Secondly, you would be receiving 'puzzle pieces' from other crafters, to work into a project of your own.

I was Intrigued...

But a Little Bit Terrified, too...

So I didn't sign up, but have instead been watching from the sidelines (wishing that I had).

Long story short - One of the participants was having trouble meeting her commitments, so I flew in to act as a Swap Angel. Basically, I offered to make some of the scrumbles on her behalf.

So now that this one has been received, I can share the photos with you...

Here is the brief which I was given to work with: “My favorite colors are jewel tones-rich deep colors. I am working on this jacket, which will have oranges - brick-yellows, so those would be nice, but any rich deep colors are fine. I prefer all (or mostly from natural fiber yarn) , whenever possible.”

My piece is about 5 x 6". The purpley tones haven't photographed as beautifully as they appear in real life, which is a shame, but never mind...

Christmas Wreath - Scrappy Style

Can you believe that it has been THREE WHOLE YEARS since I shared my Rag Wreath Tutorial???

Definitely time to make another one!

(a wreath, that is... not another tutorial)

This was made for a Christmas Decoration Swap... where we had to make something for under $5... All I needed was some thick cardboard, fabric scraps, a little embroidery thread and a few buttons.

Oh, and a small brass ring for the wreath to hang from.

It started out like this:



... but it seemed a little bland, so I added a padded heart to the centre:



Much nicer now...

And here it is hanging on my front door:



Not for long, though... It had to be parcelled up and mailed away to my partner Deb.

And would you like to see what Deb sent me in return???

Well, first there were these two lovely crochet hearts for my Christmas Tree. I especially love the beads which weight them down perfectly, as well as adding some extra pizzazz!



Next is this door hanger... complete with a button Christmas Tree - how cute



And also this pot holder... you can see that it has been made from recycled denim... that dark area is where the pocket has been removed from. What a fabulous idea. I think I might be making a few denim pot holders for everyday use here - I love the idea. And they'll match that denim apron I'm working on too.

Not that things around here really have to MATCH! It's much more fun if they don't.

soapy idea for a swap

First of all, thanks to everyone for your lovely comments in response to my last post. Of course, I already think that my little one is an absolute cherub, but it was a joy to hear you guys echoing my thoughts! We love having her in our world, and feel truly blessed.

But let's move on to my craft for today:

Now, I don't know about you... but I always get a bit stuck with swap gift ideas.

The easy part of a swap for me is choosing what to make, and actually making it - the hard part is what kind of surprise gift to include.

Mostly because I don't BELIEVE in including an additional gift at all. I just think that the whole idea of a swap is that I send a hand crafted item to someone else, and then receive one in return... and that the idea of adding EXTRA goodies is just not necessary. The swap item IS your gift. Enough time and effort and thought and skill has already gone into creating it, and no additional gifts are needed.

Now I know that there are two schools of thought on this one, and that all sorts of of arguments have erupted within various groups regarding what is expected. So more and more these days, there are rules for the swaps which specify EXACTLY what is expected in terms of additional gifts, and amounts to be spent on them... which takes all of the fun out of it (in my opinion)

Anyway, this post wasn't really supposed to be about swap ethics and expectations...

(but feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section - 'cause it's always interesting to hear what other people think about these things)

I just wanted to show you what I made for a recent 'bath goodies' swap.

I needed to include a small bath gift, in addition to the washer and scrubbie which I had already made... oh, and the recipient doesn't have a bath... so it needed to be something she could use in the shower.

to further complicate things, I do like to make things unique - and personal to the recipient, if I can...

so here's what I did:

I decoupaged the ravatar (ravelry avatar) of the giftee onto some soap...

personal AND unique (and practical, since we all use soap)

It was super-duper easy. First I applied 2 coats of mod podge to one side of the soap. Then I copied the ravatar into a word document, and printed it out... cut it out and attached it to the soap, again using mod podge. Then there were another 5 or so coats of podge to seal it fully, and voila! All done.

Just reading over those instructions now, it SEEMS like I put a lot of effort in with all those coats being painted on - but really, each coat took about 15 seconds! You just need to allow drying time in between.

And it's easy for kids to do, too! My daughter (7 years old) made some Justin Bieber soaps for one of her school friends!

Anyway, the giftee loved the soaps (hello Pauline) and the only problem now is that she doesn't want to use them! Because they're just too noice...

ziggy lace scarf

Something which I worked on a few months back, was a scarf for a swap within my local crochet group (Crochet Lovers Victoria)

I wanted to try something a little bit lacy, but not complicated. I also wanted to use one yarn throughout, rather than have multiple colour changes like I usually do!



The scarf worked up quite quickly. It's based on a fairly simple 2 row pattern repeat, which is easy to commit to memory.



This photograph, with the scarf held up to the light, probably gives the best view of what the pattern comes out like. The pattern is Ziggy Lace Scarf by Paula Fisher and it is available for free here.

peacock swap...

It feels like such a long time since I was last involved in a swap... so this was lots of fun!

The theme was PEACOCK colours...

The idea was to crochet an item, and team it with a few surprises for your swap partner.

This time I was really stumped for ideas.

Sometimes I just get inspired and know EXACTLY what I want to make for my partner - it might be weird... or impractical... or just damn crazy.... but I KNOW what I want to create.

Not this time.

Zilch

Nada

Nothing

No inspiration whatsoever...

So, what I've come up with feels a bit boring, and pedestrian... although I believe it will be appreciated, and it's definitely a practical gift which will get a lot of use.

It's just missing the FUN FACTOR...

So here it is...

My partner enjoys quilting, so I've made her a pin cushion... and teamed it with some fat quarters in peacock colours, and some glass headed quilting pins.



The pin cushion is crocheted using embroidery scraps. In fact, I used these scraps which Bec sent to me a month or two back.

Only thing though... because I was looking for a neat finish (rather than my usual scrappy style) there were loads and loads of ends to weave in. Ahhhh... one of the joys of working with scrap lengths, I suppose.

But it's all done now... and posted... and received.

Forgot to mention that I used two squares of denim (old jeans) for the cushion part. Just cut them out using a pair of pinking shears, and zig zagged around three sides (about 50mm in from the edge) Then I popped some stuffing in, and zig zagged the cushion closed. After that, it was just a matter of sewing the crochet granny square in place on the top. The granny square itself was crocheted using a 1.25mm hook.

Oh, and two wooden buttons... stitched through centre top and bottom... just to give it some shape.

Think that's it...

But if I've forgotten anything, just ask!

personalized christmas stockings

I volunteered to be a Swap Angel for the Christmas Swap over at Crochet Lovers Victoria. A Swap Angel takes over when one of the participants isn't able to follow through on the committment of sending their gift. Otherwise, someone who had sent an item, would miss out on receiving one. And that's not nice!

Anyway, it meant making a few decorations on fairly short notice. So I decided to stick with a 'tried and trusted' pattern... something that I had made successfully before, and knew wouldn't take too long. It kind of defeats the purpose if I don't get it made until after Christmas!!!

These Christmas Stockings are a Jean Greenhowe pattern. They're from her Christmas pattern booklet. Jean also has this free online pattern for a slightly smaller version (you'll just need to scroll down the page a bit to get to it) I've raved enough about Jean in the past... so I'll keep this one short, and just go on the record as saying... SHE IS A LEGEND.

Instead of just making a generic stocking, I wanted to make them personal. Cristina is the founder of the Crochet Lovers Victoria group, so I wanted it to be special. If it were not for her efforts in setting up the group, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful crochet friends in real life.

So, I know that Cristina loves hand-dyed yarns. In fact, she has just set up her own online shop, selling yarn indulgence packs... click here to take a little peek. Anyway, I decided to hand-dye some reclaimed yarn to make her stockings.



The pink coloured one I dyed using some concentrated raspberry cordial, and the green one was made using leftovers from a food dye experiment I did a while back. I used most of it to make this dragon for my nephew, but there was a small ball left in my stash.

So I had the hand-dyed thing going on, but I wanted to add something else. Something special that would jump out and say I MADE THIS JUST FOR YOU.

At one of our recent crochet meets, Cristina brought along some beads and wire so that she could show us some of the basics of jewellery making. I made the most fabulous pair of earrings - I wear them ALL the time - they are divine with a capital D - recycled beads of course - but that's a post for another day!

But it gave me the idea of incorporating wire and beads into the stockings...



I wired the beads, shaping them into letters... with the initial of each family member, and then sewed them onto the front of the stocking with a small piece of fabric in between. Four stockings in total, green for the boys and pink for the girls. I had been aiming for red when I dyed them, but the yarn turned out suck a pretty shade of pink instead - that I had to use it anway.

Now I know that Cristina isn't planning on putting up her Christmas Tree this year, but I'm hoping that she can find somewhere else to hang these stockings - to help with the festive spirit.



Now before you all bombard me with comments about the fact that I KNITTED the gifts for a CROCHET swap... it's a crochet group, but we could use any craft for our decorations. And Cristina is such an avid NON-KNITTER (we don't even say the K word around her)... that I couldn't resist sending her something knitted!

christmas bat

Okay... before you start thinking that we must have some weird Christmas traditions here in Australia... let me just say, that the Christmas Bat is not something you would commonly see here. In fact, I'm pretty sure he is a one-of-a-kind!

I made him for my swap partner. She received him yesterday, and got a wonderful surprise.

Usually when I am participating in a swap, I like to make the gift as personal as possible. Do you remember the crochet hook holder which I made for Daphne? Well... she adores (and I mean ADORES) all things peacock... so, it was very easy to choose a theme for that one. Click here if you haven't seen it before - I'm really proud of the way he turned out.

Unfortunately, I haven't ever met Wendy, so I was starting with nothing. I decided to do a bit of a rav-stalk (you know... where you check out someone's profile on Ravelry, in the hopes of finding some useful personal information). I discovered that she is MAD ABOUT BATS... which I already suspected, since her avatar is a bat, and her rav-name is batwing57.

So now all I had to do was combine the bat theme with the Christmas theme... easy enough to do, right???

Into the planning stages... I had visions of Holly Bats hanging on a Christmas Tree - that's HOLLY bats, not HOLY bats!

Can you imagine little bats, with their green holly leaf wings and red berry bodies?

Nah.. I was having trouble with that one, too! I couldn't see them coming together, without looking like mutant holly, assembled by a three-year-old child.

So I decided to make a regular bat, and give him a Santa hat for the Holiday Season. The hat is only pinned in place, so that he doesn't have to wear it all year 'round.

I remembered that bats can be a bit hairy, so I crocheted the body using a strand of dark grey yarn, and a strand of black eyelash yarn worked together. As you can see, he looks pretty boring at this stage...


Then I assembled some embellishments... I cut some wings and ear pieces from a couple of felted jumpers, and added a few buttons for the nose and eyes.


Everything was hand-stitched in place.


By this stage he was looking very much like a bat... but not very festive... so along came the Santa hat.


And here he is, ready for Wendy...

christmas swap

Once again, we have had a Christmas Swap over at Crochet Lovers Victoria on Ravelry. The idea being to make a few small decorations to send to one of the other members in the group.

I’ve really enjoyed my time at Crochet Lovers Victoria (CLV). The group was started on Ravelry by Stramenda, so that local crocheters could meet both online AND in real life. It’s always fascinating to see what other crocheters are working on… admire their finished projects… and share books and magazines with one another. The other bonus of meeting regularly with others, is that when you get stuck with a particular pattern… someone can always help to nut it out! Crochet Lovers Victoria is open to everyone, so come on over to Ravelry and check us out.

But for the moment, let’s get back to the Christmas Swap.

I haven’t been able to share everything I’ve been working on lately, because some of them are swap items – and I don’t want to ruin the surprise before they are received in the mail.

But I can show you what came in the mail for me today…

I loved the card… can you read it? Daphne has used all recycled and second-hand materials for this gift AND packaging… everything except the STAMP! How fabulous is that?

And inside, there were five of these beautiful crocheted decorations…

Now I just need to find somewhere splendid to hang them…

There’s a plastic ring from the neck of a milk bottle inside each of these, isn’t Daphne clever???

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/crochet-lovers-victoria-australia

a tree decoration swap...

I made this stocking as part of a Christmas tree decoration swap. Unfortunately the white trim is a bit glarey in the photograph, but it is a fuzzy yarn with silver flecks through it. Because I worked it in a chunky yarn, it has come out a little on the large side for a tree decoration... but looks great hanging on a door handle.



The pattern is from this Christmas designs booklet by Jean Greenhowe. I know I have said this before, but I love Jean's knitting patterns. So much attention to detail... and the instructions are so clear. You can't go wrong! The holly was an afterthought... using felt from an old green jumper and some random red buttons.

I'm also working on the topsy turvy Cinderella doll from the same booklet. I have made her several times before... but always exactly as the pattern said to... right down to the colours used. This time I am making her in my own style... I've even included some crazy yarn! Should have some progress photos to share later this week.

peacock complete

The finishing off was easy!

I added some recycled buttons and beads for the eyes, then threaded some beads onto garden wire to make up the head feathers. Next was a little bit of embroidered detail to the beak...

And time to add the hooks

more progress

Not feeling especially 'wordy' today,
so I'll let the photographs tell the story...