Tag Archives: Handmade

It’s been a while!

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I’m sorry its been a while since I last posted anything, let me explain why. I believe in previous posts I mentioned I had signed up to do a craft market in the autumn and so there I was thinking I had plenty of time to enjoy crocheting some lovely items to sell. So what happened?  As I said, one minute I was calm and relaxed about what I needed to prepare then the next I had signed up to do my first craft market with just a matter of weeks to get organised!

So what does getting organised look like? Well firstly, lots of manic crocheting followed by mild panicking, getting business cards designed and printed, a big shout out to the amazing Gabrielle Cole, who designed my cards and suggested the printing company BananaPrint. Please check out her amazing artwork at http://www.gabriellecole.art . I then sorted out Insurance and a card reader and still I continued to manically crochet  thinking I didn’t have  enough to make a stall look interesting and enticing. The next concern was whether what I had to display/sell would be what people would want to buy, ooooo the stress. Oh then there was what to do about signage, with 4 days to go! Pricing, how to display everything? Oh the headache of it all.

Signage was solved by another amazing friend who kindly made cards for me which I then crocheted together to look like bunting (to that friend –  lunch is on me next time we go out). Pricing was discussed at length at a show and tell session with friends. That wonderful friend who solved the signage dilema also helped by picking up a couple of bamboo mug trees when she went shopping. Why did I need mug trees? The answer will become clear when you look at the photos! Amazon, also played its role, promptly delivering a white bed sheet (to cover the table) and bread ties! What were the bread ties for? Now this was a cunning little trick, of which I am taking full credit, after a light bulb moment. Whilst pondering on how I could display a range of items to ensure they were presented well, without damaging the items and giving easy access. Bread ties of course! By using the bread ties I was able to attach items that would look their best if hung but were easy to undo if items were purchased.

So to the day of reckoning arrived, only to be the hottest day of the year so far. The van was packed and off we went (we being myself and my very wonderful long-suffering husband). We arrived at Reuthes, the lost gardens of Sevenoaks, unpacked the van and found the pitch. The set up began. First the gazebo then the table, mandalas were hung along the back of the gazebo and bunting down both sides. On the table, the mug trees proudly displayed a range of key rings a couple of blankets and an album of my work – I was ready!

It was so difficult to get good photos on the day, but I’m sure you can get a feel for the stall and remember this was my very first craft market and the display was all in my head, so for a first run I think it looked pretty good even if I do say so myself!

The venue was lovely, Reuthes the Lost Gardens of Sevenoaks (Kent in the UK if you happen to be reading this from somewhere else in the world). This was their second ever hosting of a craft market and I for one certainly think they did a good job. They were well organised knowing exactly where everyone selling was going to be pitched. There was a good range of stalls, nothing doubled up. It was very friendly and the alpacas were so very cute.

Reuthes is a fabulous site with lots to do and see, including a fairy trail, Alpaca trekking, a nursery with a wide variety of plants and of course the essential cafe to name but a few.

Unfortunately, I think the heat kept people away, on saying that I made some sales and had lots of positive comments and met some lovely people, so for a first experience it was great. I have signed up for the August and September markets, so it couldnt have been too bad! So the crocheting continues as does the planning…

The weather continues to be hot, I continue to find more things I want to make. I have a mandala commission to keep me occupied and several other mandalas that I want to make as well as some new items for the next craft market and thinking ahead I have plans for the October market which include halloween makes and christmas makes for the November one, these are more local and in a hall so no worries about the weather being too hot or wet which seems to be the case now.

Continue to stay safe

Best wishes

Christine

Take a peek at http://www.gabriellecole.art her artwork is amazing.

Colours!

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“I prefer living in colour” David Hockney.

It’s been a pretty dull week weather wise and after making the pretty spring flowers last week I have been looking at colours in a little more detail. This has helped brighten the grey days and has shown me that colour is truly important in our lives.

Colour can be seen everywhere but nowhere more than what is around us….Nature! There is such variety of colour, for instance, the sky – as I said previously this week, the sky has mostly been shades of grey (yes, I know there is a trilogy of the shades of grey – not the same thing I can assure you!) but think ahead, now that we have offically entered spring – Spring Equinox was today 20th March at 9.37am, of the longer days, glorious clear blue skies and fluffy white clouds rather than the dark ominous skies and clouds of the autumn and winter months. It reflects the wonder of the rising sun and the beautiful hues when it sets. In the term nature I also consider animals, birds and insects, thinking of the beautiful colours amongst these species and how it works. A lot of animals can change colour depending on where they are or what they are doing – It can be used as camouflage, for protection or to attract a mate or to embolden them to scare of a predator. It is ususally the male in the bird world that is usually the most colourful, Charles Darwin developed much of the theory that helps to explain this. He concluded that the colour differences between birds resulted in the preference from female birds for bright colours in their males, I am happy that this isn’t the case in humans! It is also thought that because females are more exposed to predators when incubating they tend to be more dull and drab in colouring. Colour can also help individuals to recognise their own species. And in species that are not good to eat colouring provides a warning to possible predators.

I have digressed considerably for which I appologise but I’m sure that you can see that I have been closely looking at colour and as another after thought regarding colour and food, food is always more appetising when its colourful and I can’t think of any meal, when dining out particularly, that hasn’t been colourful!

We, the human being, can identify with the amazing world of colour and how nature fulfils it.

We use colour to identify with as in if ‘someone is feeling blue’ they might be suffering from depression or if a person is described as bright and cheerful they might be considered to be a ‘colourful personality’, red is often associated with anger, white calmness or peaceful and green jealousy. It has been said that some colours are more conducive with a positive attitude than others. So not only does colour give pleasure but it also has a purpose.

“Mere colour can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways” Oscar Wilde.

Following this, I have come to the conclusion that I actually like all colours whether they are bright and bold, pastel or the more muted naturals. I think my favourite colour is the one I’m using at the time which, bearing in mind, my current project is small and uses five different colours means my head has been quite busy deciding which I like best!

“Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment” Claude Matisse.

So my questions are – What are your favourite colours? Bright? Bold? Pastels? Muted? Why are they your favourite? Do you think colours affect your moods/emotions?

As I’ve said, I like all colours and I particularly like putting bright, bold colours together that might not necessarily go together but once applied do! (in my opinion)

Although, my projects may have been small they have given me such pleasure and I’m really happy with the end results so far.

What do you think? Cute eh!

This little project will continue for a while, because I love them so much, but there will be other projects that I’ll continue to work on and there is a possible project which will compliment the pretty egg decorations for Easter.

I asked last week how do you like to decorate for Easter, if you decorate at all. Well these little beauties will definitely be part of my Easter decs this year.

As you can see I have included a few quotes this week from some fairly influential people that I think work well with my chosen topic for this blog, what do you think? Can you add to these? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment, if you wish, but remember to be kind.

Bye for now.

Patterns used this week:

Easter Eggs Granny Square Style – Paula Matos – http://www.elealinda-design.com

Flower Basket Decor for Easter Eggs – Smolina Yana – lunapatterns@gmail.com

Yarns used: Hobbii Rainbow 8/4 100% cotton and Scheepjes Catona 100% mercerized cotton

Flowers!

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Firstly I’d like to thank all of you for reading my first ever blog post and for those that have signed up to it I’m hoping you will enjoy reading this the second one.

In the UK, this Sunday is mothering Sunday. Well I don’t know about you guys but it gets harder every year to come up with something different, special or unique to give to my mother. This year it’s been even harder as she lives in a care home and has dementia and with the awful year we’ve had of lockdowns etc it has taken its toll, the lack of visits has resulted in her becoming more detached and her memory failing has meant she doesn’t always know who I am, her deafness also doesn’t help.

So I decided on flowers – never having crocheted flowers before I spent a few days looking at patterns and checking what yarn I had in my stash. I finally decided on roses, daisies, forget me nots (the flower for Dementia) and cherry blossom. Oh, I also made a couple of pansies, using the wonderful pattern by Anna Nikipirowicz, for my mother in laws mother’s day gift. All the flowers and leaves have been made using 100% cotton yarn – Hobbii Rainbow 8/4 and Cotton Kings 8/4. I have to say I have enjoyed making the flowers and a mix of leaves but do not think this is going to be my thing!

Having embarked on making all these pretty flowers I’m sure you are asking what I had planned to do with them – well I’m afraid I went a bit obvious and cliche and made heart wreaths. Actually, I purchased willow and vine heart shaped wreaths from Hobbycraft and then attached the flowers to them using my trusty hot glue gun. I’m really happy with the results. Hopefully I can work out how to insert some photos.

  • Heart Vine Wreath
  • Heart Willow Wreath
First close contact visit in 12months

I was allowed to visit my mother today and touch her! I had to have a lateral flow test done and once the results were in (30mins) I was dressed up in a wrap around plastic apron, gloves and the inevitable face mask – this makes it all very difficult to communicate and I’m not sure she really knew it was me but she did like the heart wreath, stating it was pretty and even smiling.

So my job is done, another mother’s day, albeit a couple of days early, celebrated. My husband will gift the willow version, which has the pansies on, to his mother on mothering Sunday.

Now to move on to Easter decorations!

Do you put up Easter decorations? If you do, what type of thing? Is it all about the egg, the chicken or the bunny? Do you go completely over the top or just a subtle nod to Easter? If you want to share any thoughts please leave a comment. I’ve got lots of ideas whether I will achieve what I have planned is another matter. You will have noticed I’m not giving too much away this is so I have something to write about next time!

There I’ve said it – Next time – yes I am going to keep on blogging, I just hope you will continue reading.

 For all the mums out there I wish you a wonderful Mothers Day on Sunday, a very different one this year, sadly.

Bye for now.

Patterns: Cherry Blossom – https://intheyarngarden.com,  Forget me not – https://sumoftheirstories (I adapted this pattern), Daisy and Rose are a mish mash of patterns to get a look I liked.