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Chefs in the kitchen?

Nope, not I. Not in my kitchen. I'm not much of a cook, much prefering to bake (which, I might add is an exact science!). These aprons (17 of 50) were stencilled (my very first attempt!) using the freezer paper method. They're made for a brilliant cook...and the accompanying apron in a tongue-in-cheek way of making sure she has company while she cooks. Perhaps her other half might choose to don the "chef de cuisine" apron and she'll get to play second fiddle...some day.









Baa!

I love this fluffy sheep pattern! For this cutie (16 of 50), I spun some white roving into a bulky single yarn and knitted with it. The loop stitch was a new one for me, and once you get the hang of it, it's rather fun!



More Maine Morning Mitts...

This is quickly becoming my favourite go to pattern for a simple pair of knitted fingerless mitts. I love the stretchiness of the pattern (ribbed to fit!) and it's a really great pattern for showing off handspuns, hand painted yarns and varigated yarns. For this pair (15 of 50), I used Caron Simply Soft Paints in the Sticks & Stones colorway. I love ths subtle color changes!



Blue

My new fave colour. I adore my colourist AZ!

Hey ewe!

Silly sheepy note cards (14 of 50). The image was carved on a 4.5" by 2.75" Speedball Speedy-Cut block. This was my first encounter with this substrate, and I do not care for it. While extremely easy to carve, the block is also very friable...making it nearly impossible to carve fine details. As I was cleaning my block, bits of my design fell apart. Disappointing. I stamped multiple images on old book pages, cut out the images, and mounted them on the kraft cardstock.



Susie's Reading Mitts

See? I knew I'd be knitting these again. Thankfully, I scribbled notes on the modifications I made when I knitted the first pair!!





I used Premier Dream yarn in an eggplant colorway for this pair (13 of 50). The second (up close) picture is a truer representation of the actual color. Hope the recipient will be thrilled with it!

Fulled Vessels

Although the pattern for these bowls is titled "Felted Nesting Bowls", it would be more accurate to descibe them as fulled nesting bowls (12 of 50). Fulling refers to the process by which a woven or knitted item is shrunk by subjecting the item to moisture, heat, pressure and friction, while felting refers to the process of meshing unwoven fibers to create a dense material by subjecting the mass of fibers to moisture, heat, pressure and friction.









I used two different brands of 100% wool yarn - Paton's Classic in a burnt orange colorway and Lion Wool in a cadet blue colorway. The large and small vessels were knitted with Paton's Classic while the medium and extra small vessels were made with Lion wool. After fulling, the large and medium bowls were the same size...and the small and extra small were also similar in dimensions. Obviously, different wools full differently. I prefer the end products that were knitted with Paton's Classic and will probably stick with this brand for future fulling experiments. This was my first attempt at fulling, but I'm pretty pleased with the results!

4 x 6 art

No specific themes. No limits on media or techniques. No idea who you're sending it off to. Totally random. The only requirement is that the finished art piece (11 of 50) should measure in at 4 inches x 6 inches. I used acrylics, inks, acetate and dyes on my piece. I hope whoever receives it will love the abstract nature of the piece.

Subversive Embroidery

I'm a knitter. And I love it. This freehand embroidered piece (10 of 50) is for a mod partner that loves to crochet, knows how to knit...but has issues with knitting. I hope she finds it funny!

Project bag

Simple but effective. It's a drawstring bag (9 of 50) for storing yarnie wips.

Flat...



Filled with a knitting project...

One cable mitts

Free pattern provided by the lovely folks over at Blue Sky Alpacas. I love the clean look of the single cable pattern. This pair of mitts (8 of 50) was made with Washable Ewe, a 100% superwash wool yarn in the dragonfly colorway. Gorgeous color! I will be buying more of this for my stash...erm, I mean I will be looking for more patterns that can utilize this yarn so that I can buy gobs of it!



First Hoopla

I've been admiring the galleries for numerous rounds of hoopla and finally found the courage to join. Embroidery isn't something that I excel at...but it was worth a stab (bad pun intended...) because the theme of silhouette/negative image appealed to me. While I'm not quite sure if my hoop (7 of 50) examplifies the theme, I did try my darnest. Based on my swap partner's interests, I chose to do something with Dia de Los Muertos/Day of the Dead. Day of the Dead sugar skulls are typically colourful and vibrant. I chose to do black on black embroidery on a colourful patchwork background. From a distance, it looks like a silhouette of a skull on patchwork:



Up close, you see the typical designs of a sugar skull!



And a requisite shot of the back of the hoop...

Altered Altoid Tin

My first one (6 of 50)...made to celebrate my swap partner's vices. I included a mirror in the tin to express the observation that what and/or how we feel is not necessarily reflected in the way we behave!



I've never really had much use for mod podge but having used it quite a bit for this project, mod podge will now be a staple in my box of craft supplies!

There's a wooden frame hanger hook attached to the back of the tin so that the altered tin may be hung on the wall.

Handbound Black Book

Made with hand torn paper and reclaimed leather, and bound with pearl cotton thread.







And yeah, the book (5 of 50) is small. It measures a mere 1.375" x 1.125" x 0.25".



The pages will be filled with a collection of unusual and favourite cuss words.

B*tch ring

And it might just not be your cuppa tea. This ring (4 of 50) was made for a swap partner. I don't really consider the word offensive, but it's not for everyone I suppose.





And yep, I'm not embarrassed to admit that I own a pair of pink bling scissors!

Stacks Of Mini Note Cards

My stash of mini note cards was dwindling, so I spent an evening playing with cardstock and rubber stamps. These bifold note cards (3 of 50) measure in at 2.5" square or so. They're the perfect size for gift tags, swap notes, or even as care tags for handknitted items and other handmade goods!











Mod Love

I have an enormous box of fabric scraps...odds and ends leftover from various sewing projects. It was getting rather unwieldy, and I decided to spend an afternoon sorting everything by colour. With my fresh stash of pink scraps, I decided on scrappy quilted hearts (2 of 50) for the mod swap.

A little rough around the edges...



Test model whereby all others will be based on...



Whew! All done!





Oh, and it just wouldn't be right if there was no candy in the packages, so voila!

Valentine Cards...

for my crafty mod chicas on Craftster (1 of 50). They're simple and heartfelt...and hopefully, they convey my love for being part of a community that nurtures my need to create.





Pacific NW...

I cherish the time I get to spend with my family during the annual trek to the Pacfic NW. This year, we spent a couple of days in Lincoln City, and I got to see the beach in what was an unseaonably warm winter.



Alas, this is what I returned to. Snow. In my backyard.



As I unpacked, I realized that I didn't buy as much of a variety of craft supplies as I thought I did during my vacation. Ho hum. The only thing I bought was, erm, fabric...gobs of fabric.





































And this little gem.



My mama took me to a new craft mall that I've not been to and I fell in love with this ceramic tile. As I was making my decision, it just so happened that the artist (Sheri Medford) who painted the tile was working that day so I got to meet her and chat for a bit. Nice!

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