Oh By Gosh, Oh By Golly...

... it's time for mistletoe and holly!

In this part of the world we celebrate 'Little Christmas' (lillajul in Swedish and pikkujoulu in Finnish) on the Saturday before Advent Sunday. I celebrated Little Christmas by making this little bunch of mistletoe according to Susan Brubaker Knapp's directions in Quilting Arts Gifts 2010-2011, and by having a healthy helping of chocolate, nuts, my favourite cheese and mulled wine. The mistletoe is now hanging from the door frame, ready for some smooching, if a candidate happens to pass by.

My computer has been threatening to give up on me for some time, and today I finally got round to backing up my files. By gosh and by golly, there's stuff in there.... While the DVDs were burning away, I was bending wire. It was a bit fiddly at the beginning, as I haven't done much metal work before, but I got the hang of it eventually. I strung the snowflakes that I stiffened with sugar last week together with the wire, and added some beads for further embellishment. Now it remains to be seen whether the sugar will be able to hold the weight of the snowflakes, wire and beads. I might have to disassemble the mobile later and stiffen the snowflakes with another medium. It's an experiment. This is what the snowflakes look like strung together:

And here they are hanging in my kitchen window. Look at the weather: not were Christmasy yet, huh? There hasn't been any daylight to speak of  today. I wish we'd get some snow soon. It brightens things up considerably.

Happy Advent!

Snowflakes and Wooly Socks

I enjoyed a whole day of adventures on my own yesterday. I got up early, boarded a train and went to Tampere, where Finland’s biggest handicraft fair was held this weekend. I’ve never been to this fair before, so I was quite excited. I even brought my camera, but there were signs that asked visitors not to take photos. So I’m afraid I don’t have any images to show you. But it was huge. At least in Finnish terms. I spent five hours wandering around in the throng. I was quite dazed by the end.

And the loot? To be honest, there isn’t as much as I had expected. It may be that the thought of the dentist’s bill lying on my desk put a damper on my eagerness to shop. (Almost two weeks ago I had a wisdom tooth removed surgically. Yikes.) But the main reason for the meagre shopping result, I believe, is that they didn’t really have the things I wanted. There were very few things related to quilting there, and as for dyes and PFD (prepared for dyeing) fabrics, these were practically non-existent. Art supplies such as paints and pens were also pretty absent. So I was rather disappointed in that respect. But I had a good time anyway, got some new ideas and some advice, and made a few bargains, so I’m glad I went.

I bought a few fat quarters of fabric at the fair. I love the batiks, the blue fabric is for a future sashiko project and I’m planning to overdye the white fabrics.

On the train to and from Tampere I worked on a crocheted snowflake mobile that I started a couple of years ago. I finished the snowflakes and today I dipped them into a solution of water and sugar to stiffen them. I’ll string them together with metal wire when they’re dry.

After frosting the snowflakes I finished a sock I started a few weeks ago. The pattern is from a book titled Around the World in Knitted Socks by Stephanie van der Linden. It should be titled The Rolls-Royce of Knitted Socks. I never knew knitted socks could look like these. The socks in the book are so gorgeous, I didn’t know where to start. So I started with the first pair in the book.

The sock is on the wrong foot, as the clock pattern should be on the other side of the ankle, but it was easier to photograph it like this. I don’t want to twist my ankle again.

The cable pattern travels over the foot. Ingenious.

I have a lot of smaller projects going on right now, and will save some of them for my next blog entry, so please stay tuned. Have a great week!

By Hook By Crook I'll Get My House in Order

It’s been quiet on my blog for a while, and the reason is that my life is going through a turbulent phase at the moment, and I’m trying to find my bearings. I bought myself a bunch of flowers, and after having spent ages trying to choose the right colour, I picked these white carnations. They have such a fresh and crisp whiteness to them that I decided I will let them symbolise a new page, a fresh canvas. For the fun of it, I also looked up the meaning of carnations in the Language of Flowers and, lo and behold!, they symbolise: health and energy, alas for my poor heart, woman's good luck gift. Excellent choice.

And then I finished my Passiflora cushion, which I’m very pleased with.

Alabama Studio Style footstool and cushion

Closeup

Halloween Is Coming...

... the goose is getting fat

Please put a penny in an old man's hat.

If you haven't got a penny,

a ha' penny will do.

If you haven't got a ha' penny,

God bless you.

I learned this rhyme from a young girl while I was living in Scotland. She had a turnip lantern and was dressed up as a witch. She remined me of a similar custom we have in Finland, but at Easter. Halloween isn't a traditional festival in Finland, although we do celebrate All Hallows' Day. However, Halloween has slowly been creeping in among our festivals over the years, and why not? We need a little fun this dreary and dark season. Therefore I decided to embrace Halloween and make myself a pumpkin to cheer things up a little. I found the pattern in Anne-Pia Godske Rasmussen's book Sy liv i lapparna (From 2002, so probably out of print).

Happy Halloween!

Flora & Fauna

It's time for another quick Franka update. By now I've added the flowers and the fish and started working on the thought bubble.

All those tiny spaces inside the letters... They were a total surprise to me. I hadn't noticed them before I drew the outside of the letters. It's probably just as well I didn't. :D

Behind the thought bubble you can catch a glimpse of another project, which turned out to be a little more ambitious than I expected. That's perfectly normal in my world. I still haven't learned that whenever I think "That shouldn't be too hard" or "That shouldn't take too long", an alarm bell should go off. But it's probably just as well it doesn't. :D

You Can Tell It's Autumn...

... by the clicking of my knitting needles. In an earlier blog entry, I wrote that knitting is something I regress into when my energy levels are low. I also tend to knit more in the autumn, as the cold weather inspires warm accessories. I found a fun yarn in my stash and figured that a pair of socks would be a useful project for my recent train journeys to and from Ostrobothnia.

Socks in progress. Yarn: Nalle Marjaretki by Novita. 

This particular yarn is probably no longer available, 

so the closest equivalent would be Nalle Kukkaketo.

Creatively speaking, I haven't been up to much lately, as I've been both tired and away from home. But I have kept myself busy with a few small projects. Two weeks ago, I came up with an idea for a little jewellery pouch, and made 9 in one sitting. (They're really quick to make.) I'm planning to write instructions for them for this blog. They're made from organza, which gives them a luxurious feel, and since the fabric is transparent, you can easily see which piece of jewellery is in which pouch. They're great for necklaces, which easily get tangled up in the jewellery box.

Another project that I've been working on during train journeys and in front of the TV is the pillow cover that I blogged about here. By now I've finished all the embroidery and appliqué...

... and started beading it. I really like the way it is turning out.

And dreaming about my next visit to a warmer climate and the Home of the Boxfish, I've bought a book about snorkelling and free-diving. Inspired by Mrs Eider's and Mrs Merganser's Diving Schools for Ducklings, I've decided to teach myself some simple diving techniques. I'm definitely not planning to learn any advanced free-diving skills, as I'm happy just to be able to pop down under the surface for a few seconds to say hello to my finned friends. So far, however, I've just been practising holding my breath out of the water: on the bus (between bus stops) and walking (between lamp posts). It's quite exciting, and a little bit scary.

My drawing and paiting has been to a near standstill, but I did this doodle recently, inspired by my day-dreaming about diving and snorkelling. I've picked up a few tips along the way about Zen doodling and Zentangle, so I thought I'd give it a try. I've always done pretty boring and unimaginative doodles, so I decided that it's time I shook them up a bit and tried to doodle a bit more creatively. That way it's not just a doodle, but something that I actually might be able to use somewhere. And it's a lot more fun!

Needle-felted Heart Ornaments

I'm sorry that it took me so long, but here, finally, are the directions for the needle-felted heart ornaments that I wrote about just over a month ago in this blog entry.

Needle-felted heart ornament

Materials:

• 2 pieces of craft felt, approximately 12 x 12 cm (4.5” x 4.5”) 
• scraps of yarn, embroidery thread, embroidery floss, etc. 
• sewing or machine embroidery thread 
• 1 piece of batting, approximately 10 x 10 cm (4” x 4”) 
• 22 cm (9”) of narrow ribbon 
• beads 
• embroidery floss

Print the template in 150 dpi to ensure that the size is correct

Directions 

1. Arrange the fibres that you wish to needle-punch onto the felt on top of one of the felt pieces. If you use snippets of machine embroidery thread, it is best to place them under the wool, as that makes it easier to secure them.

2. Punch the fibres into the felt with a hand felting tool or a needle-felting machine. You just need to punch them until they stick reasonably well to the surface.

3. Secure the fibres with free-motion stitching or some other form of machine stitching.

4. Trace the heart template on the back of the needle-felted piece, but do not cut it out yet.

5. Place the felt pieces right sides together and stitch along the heart-shaped line, making sure you leave an opening that is approximately 5.5 cm (2 ¼”).

6. Cut around the heart and clip the corners and curves. You can also use pinking shears, in which case you don’t need to clip the curves. Turn the heart right sides out.

7. Trace the heart template onto the piece of batting and cut out the heart shape.

8. Poke the heart shaped piece of batting into the sewn heart through the opening. A tool such as haemostats or tweezers is helpful to get the batting in the right position.

9. Fold the ribbon in half and make a knot close to the raw edges to form a loop. Thread the looped end of the ribbon through a big needle and bring the needle inside the heart through the opening. Poke the needle through the fabric in the indentation on top of the heart and pull the ribbon through. The knot is now hidden inside the heart.

10. Whip stitch the opening closed.

11. Finish the heart with beaded blanket stitch, which is worked like this: take a stitch, thread a bead onto the embroidery floss and push it as far as it goes, take a new stitch, making sure that the bead sits on the loop that forms along the top edge of the stitch.

The finished needle-felted heart ornament

Good luck with your heart ornament!   

PS. Please let me know if you find errors in the directions so I can correct them!