May is Here

Spring is in the air in Kansas and tomorrow is May Day.  As a child I made May Baskets, (usually out of construction paper or old wrapping paper) filled them with flowering blooms and gave them to my grandmother who lived near us.  Of course she was thrilled.  When my children came home with May Baskets from school, they put little posies in them and gave them to our elderly next door neighbors.  (Their grandmas lived 500 miles away.)  The neighbors loved them.  What a neat tradition to let the elderly know they are still appreciated.

May basket are very easy to make.  My favorite designer, Elizabeth Ann White, has a free tutorial and pattern for making a very quick and easy may basket.

http://bellacrochet.blogspot.com/2009/04/grannys-may-day-basket.html

This is a very simple pattern and would work up rather quickly.  Her tutorial will guide you right through the process.  Who wouldn't love such a surprising and sweet gift.  It can be filled with flowers, soaps, dried flower arrangements or little treats to be hung on the door knob.  (My kids always rang the doorbell so that the neighbor knew there was a gift just for them)

Ann has so many wonderful patterns on her website.  Having bought from her I can say they are well written with lots of helpful hints and well worth the money.  Check out her wonderful doilies, baby designs, crochet accessories and even some free patterns at: http://bellacrochet.com/

Happy May Day to all and especially to the elderly in our communities.  What would life be like without their patience, wisdom and kindness.  Do you have any plans for surprising  someone tomorrow? 

A Fabulous Fiber Artist on Etsy

Etsy has so many wonderful fiber artist on it is hard to pick one to showcase.  I just came across Karine Aber's http://www.karart2010.etsy.com/.  It is a fantastic gallery of artwork.  In her Crochet Lace section she has these wall hangings.

She says, "A Crochet Lace Tapestry for a wall decoration, that I am making out of sewing threads #50 with 13/14-0.7mm steel hook. This kind of crocheted lace is very delicate, and is more akin to laces like bobbin lace, since the thread used is so tiny. I hope you like the tapestry with this type of fragile crochet work."

She also has a needle lace section with needle lace tapestries.  I have only seen this type of work in Antique stores and this is the first time I have come across a modern artist continueing this fine work on.

She says, "Needle lace also known as needlelace or needle-made lace is a type of lace.

In its purest form the only equipment and materials used are a needle, thread and scissors, to stitch up hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself.This form of lace making originated in Armenia where there is evidence of a lace making tradition dating back to the pre-Christian era."

She has a section of wall tapesties called Drawn Thread work (or Hardanger Embroidery).

She says, "Drawn Thread Work is a form of counted-thread embroidery based on removing threads from the warp and the weft of a piece of weaved fabric. The remaining threads are grouped and bundled together into a variety of patterns."

Her shop has tapestries also in hand embroidery, macrame, tapestry and mixed media. Karine's work and attention to detail is truely amazing and each item is a one of a kind work of art.

Karine has a shop for gift items all made by her, if you are interested in buying a one of a kind gift.  That shop's name is http://www.createandenjoy.etsy.com/  It is full of her amazing fiber art work.

She says she was, "Born and grown up in Armenia. Moved to the United States in 2006.


Obtained a Bachelors Degree of the Miniature Painter in Art Education from Arts College of Erevan, Armenia, and a Master’s Degree of the Teacher of Arts and Crafts from The Department of Arts of State Pedagogical University of Erevan, Armenia. Has 25 years teaching experience in Arts and Crafts at the Secondary School and at the Department of Arts and Crafts in the State University of Armenia.

The arts works has been exhibited in Galleries.

Has created works of art for restaurants, hotels, professional offices and residences. The works are also in private collections throughout: Armenia, Ukraine, Russia, Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Canada and in many states of United States of America.

In 2009, has opened own Arts and Crafts Studio "KARART" in Holiday, Florida, USA."

Check out her wonderful gallery of fiber art work http://www.etsy.com/shop/KarArt2010 or buy a gift from her gift shop at http://www.createandenjoy.etsy.com/.  Fiber Art will never die as long as we have artist's like Karine producing such amazing work.

A Favorite Fabric Artist Designer

I love Mary Robinson's work.  She is a wonderful thread artist.  She makes many gorgeous tatted bookmarks and doilies.



She has a fabulous website, http://www.peachtreecottage.com/.  The items I absolutely adore for sale that she has made are wonderful jointed, miniature bears and friends.

This little guy is only about 2.25 inches and has tatted flowers

This little guys can be ordered and she will make them in your choice of color combination.

Mary says "Handcrafting has been handed down through my family over the years, from my mother's mother, to my mother, to me, and now on to my daughter. I have been crafting for over 50 years mainly in needle arts (I now create my own designs and patterns). Even with years of hand crafting experience, I continue to research new ideas and concepts as I create each of my bears, other creations, or patterns.

Thread Crochet Bears (and other animals)

I've been making my bears and their friends since 2002. My collectible miniature thread crochet bears and other animal friends are individually handmade using only the best quality yarns, threads and fibers. Most are 4 inches or less in height. My animals are typically 5-way jointed for easy posing and most can stand or sit without support. Special attention is given to every detail as they are being created. A little bit of love is stitched into each one!"

For anyone who would like to try to make these darling miniatures she has patterns for sale.  The one that would be especially great for Easter is this darling lambikin.

I know that if you check out her website http://www.peachtreecottage.com/ you will find your own favorites.

March and Leprechauns

It has been a while because I was sick but I am much better now.  Anyway, I love the month of March.  It usually brings the promise of spring with bulbs pocking their head up.  The other thing March brings to mind is birthday parties.  My younger sister's birthday was in March and so we always planned a party.  Her birthday is the day after St. Patrick's Day and so many of them had leprechauns, 4 leaf clovers and that pretty spring green for decorations.  So this year, I decided to design a bookmark for all those great parties.

Thus, the Lucky Irish Leprechaun bookmark was created.

Well of course he has his pot of gold with him.  His hat includes a lucky 4-leaf clover to sew or glue on.

Of course he had to have pointed ears and the red beard.

Here is my favorite Irish saying just for the occasion.

" May those who love us love us.

And those that don't love us,

May God turn their hearts.

And if He doesn't turn their hearts,

...May he turn their ankles,

So we'll know them by their limping."

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone and of course, Happy Birthday to my sister.







Pine Trees and Cones Lace Scarf

I have finished my Pine Trees and Lace Scarf.  I am really happy with the result.

Pine Trees always represent safety to me.  Growing up in Colorado where pine trees are plentiful they have always represented safety from the elements to me.  Sitting under a pine tree in a summer storm will keep you perfectly dry.  You will notice all sorts of birds and small animals use them during this time also.  Living on the plains, as I do now I miss all those pines so I decided to commemorate them with this design.

In designing this pattern, I found that the normal center decrease did not stand out like I wanted the center truck to stand out so I made it a bit thicker using some different center decreases.  I also modified a pine cone pattern quite a bit to come up with the pine cone I am using.

What do you think of this design?





Cold weather knitting

With winter weather here, I love to get out the knitting needles and make warm things for gifts or our own use.  This year I have some wonderful Misti Alpaca yarn that is Suri Alpaca and Silk.  It is so soft and warm.

My sister-in-law, who is also a dear friend who lives too far from us, gave me a wonderful batch of soft Corriedale fiber to spin.  All I have to do is add angora bunny fur and spin them together and I will have some wonderful yarn to make into something really soft and warm.

All these deep greens put my in mind of the Pine Tree's in the Rocky Mountains of my youth.  Now I am going to be busy designing a new lace design of Pine Trees.  I think I will make a scarf, new fingerless gloves and maybe some leg warmers to help keep me warm.  I can hardly wait.  What winter projects are you working on? 

Christmas Season

With all the activity in the past month is has been a while since I have posted.  The Thanksgiving holiday was wonderful and my husband had a week off of work.  I love having him home.  I have so much to be thankful for as God has been so good to us.

My favorite holiday is Christmas.  I love the lights and carols and colors.  (Red is my favorite color and I will go into stores and just be mesmerized by all the shades of red.)  I love the reason for the holiday which is the birth of a little Jewish baby boy in Bethlehem.  What an amazing God that would allow His son to be born in such a broken world.

This year I decided to make Victorian Carolers for ornaments on the tree.  My first was the female caroler which took some research on how their clothing looked. I love the muff and the little cape.  She even works as a bookmark

With all the research I naturally came across men's outfits and of course, I had to try my hand at this outfit also.  I love the top hat of the era so I knew I wanted to include this in my ornaments (or bookmark).

Now I was on a role.  I had to try designing a scene with snow and a period lamp post to read the music by.  The lamp post itself made a fun ornament (or bookmark).  This was a much bigger project but I really love how it came out.

Now my house is ready for the Christmas season.