Shoppin’ at the Marketplace

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Heather

I may have been at the Needleworker’s Marketplace to work in the Enchanting Lair room, but I still found time to shop.

I think my favourite purchase was the kit for a lovely beaded strawberry emery bag from Black Tulip Designs. (It was a class at last year’s marketplace/retreat, but I wasn’t able to take it due to conflicts.) The designer is Naomi Smith, a First Nations artisan who practices traditional beadwork. These strawberries are delightful, and the other samples she had in her room were stunning.

Strawberry Emery Pincushion from Black Tulip Designs

I also popped into Jeanette Douglas’ room to look at all her new designs. Being able to see models in person is such a treat! I ordered My Storybook since she had sold out.

Brenda Franklin had lots of beads and needlefelting kits (how I wish I could make her dragon!). We had a lovely chat about our kids, and I bought the pattern for her pocket dragon, which can be either beaded or cross stitched.

Pocket Dragon from Brenda Franklin Designs

In the Northern Pine room I finally bought the kit for Linda Lachance’s Chocolate Humbug Bag. I’ve wanted it since the moment I first saw it, and now I finally feel confident enough in my canvaswork skills to attempt it. I just need to wait for Linda to mail me the canvas. lol!

Chocolate Humbug Bag from Northern Pine Designs

From the Gitta’s Charted Petit-Point room, I picked up a little kit for a petit-point tea cup. I figure it is about darn time I actually try some petit-point, and I think this design might make a nice cover for a tea wallet.

Tea Time from Gitta's Charted Petit-Point

Last but not least is my haul from Enchanting Lair. I mean, I was looking at all this wonderful stuff for three days, how could I not get something? I ended up with 10 skeins of Dinky Dyes silks (including a few of the newest colours), two pieces of fabric, one grab bag of ornament cuts, and four charts.

Charts, fabric and silks from Enchanting Lair

Can you believe I’m actually really sad I won’t be able to go to the spring Creativ Festival in a couple of weeks. All this new stash should keep me very happy, but there is yarn and fabric at the Creativ Festival. lol!

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Workin’ at the Marketplace

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Heather

What a busy weekend! I spent the last couple of days helping out at the Enchanting Lair room at the Needleworker’s Marketplace up here in Mississauga. I had a nice time working with all of Laura’s lovely hand-dyed fabrics. I got to talk to stitchers about their projects and offer the occasional suggestion about the perfect fabric. Retail is hard work, but thankfully all of the customers were just lovely.

Fabulous hand-dyed fabric from Enchanting Lair

The Needleworker’s Marketplace is a retail show that is put on in conjunction with the retreat run by my LNS. This year there were nine vendors who showed their products in their hotel rooms. It might sound a bit weird to those of you used to the convention centre-type of set up of most shows, but it actually works out really well.

Dinky Dyes Silks and Enchanting Lair models

Among this years vendors were Brenda Franklin, X’s and O’s and Jeanette Douglas. And really, they are all just as nice as you expect them to be. Being able to see their models in person is just fabulous. Nothing ever looks right in a photo. (I ended up ordering Jeanette’s My Storybook. When I saw the picture the other week I wasn’t interested, but the actual model was just stunning in person.)

As a bit of an aside, it is sure nice to be able to come in and help someone out. I was there to work the cash, offer the occasional suggestion, and be a body in the room if Laura needed to run out somewhere. I appreciate the fact that she trusted me with being part of the public face of her business at this event, and also trusted me enough to know what my limits were. I did what I knew, and passed off any major decisions regarding order pricing, etc. to her. Everything went smoothly, and I think we both had an enjoyable weekend. I hope she invites me to help out again next year.

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Freddie

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Heather

Monday afternoon I finished what has become my most favourite project ever: Freddie the teddy bear.

Freddie the Bear

I really enjoyed working on him. And, surprisingly, he isn’t as difficult as he looks. The kit I purchased had the fur pieces cut out already, and the instructions were quite good. I did learn, though, that you need a lot of pins when working with faux fur, and that getting a 1/4″ seam can be difficult. (Occasionally my seams were too scant, and since the fur is trimmed from them, Freddie has a few spots were he is a touch bald.)

The little man and Freddie

I will most definitely be making another teddy bear. I have my fingers crossed that Bears and Bedtime will be running another class at the fall Creativ Festival (I wish I had taken last year’s!), or at the very least that they have a booth. I do have one more kit (which I have to put out the pieces for myself), but I know that I want lots more bears, and cats, and bunnies. 😀 There is nothing like creating an heirloom toy to make you want to make many, many more.

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A Menagerie of Crochet

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Heather

There is nothing like avoiding a project to make you productive. I’ve spent the last week avoid the gaze of the half-finished teddy bear sitting in the dining room, and have chosen instead to pick up my crochet hook.

Sad Little Bunny

This first guy is Amigurumi Dusty Bunny by Kate E. Hancock and it is available as a free download from Ravelry. I made mine from some leftover white acrylic (did I ever share my Grand Palais Shawl?). The eyes are 18mm hand-painted safety eyes from SunCatcher Eyes. You might be able to tell from the picture that they are two different colours. I could say I did it on purpose so the poor thing looked even sadder, but what actually happened is that I split one of their sample packs with three other ladies, and somehow I was sent two eyes that didn’t match. Of course, I didn’t notice until the eyes were already locked into place. 🙁 Still, I think he is pretty cute.

Daffodil (PlanetJune)

Next up is PlanetJune’s Daffodil, one of her donationware patterns. I finished it a day late for her March Easter CAL. That’s me, always late. Still, I like it. It is crocheted from Bernat Satin in colour Sunrise.

Tiny Whale (PlanetJune)

Last up is PlanetJune’s Tiny Whale, another donationware pattern. He is knit from Berroco Weekend in colour Starry Night. His eyes are yellow 6mm hand-painted eyes from that same sampler pack. I think he is just adorable.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, it is time to finish some socks!

No, seriously, I think it is finally time to finish up Freddie the bear. His stares are starting to unnerve me. lol!

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Happy Easter!

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Heather

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Paper Dragon

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Heather

One of the fabulous things about having a small child (besides the endless entertainment from the funny things he says) is that I now get to play with toys and do other fun things that I haven’t done in about thirty years (wha!?!). Yesterday afternoon, the little man and I spent about an hour putting together a Lego set, and it was wonderful. (Don’t worry, I didn’t pay anywhere near that price. Would you believe I found it for CAN$20 at our local dollar/junk shop.)

This morning we worked on a little papercraft project. Due to the need to use sharp things, I did most of the work. But, the little man did try to help stick everything together with the world’s least sticky glue stick.  He told me he thought it was broken. I told him it was crap. (I’m already imagining the letters the teacher will send home when he starts school…)

Spring Dragon Calendar from Scout Creative

This cute guy is one of Scout Creative’s free monthly papercraft calendars. All you need is a colour printer, some scissors, a glue stick (that actually works) and some patience. They are really easy to put together, even though they look terribly complicated. And each one features a little calendar, so they are useful too.

The calendar part of the Spring Dragon calendar

These projects work better on heavier paper, but all we’ve got in the house right now is copy paper and really heavy card stock. So, our dragon is a bit whimpy. She (he?) is still really cute, though.

Three simple pieces!

I think this cute monitor monster just might be our next papercraft project.

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A Pair of Socks?

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Heather

When I posted yesterday, I had a hard time remembering what I had worked on in March. It’s funny how going on vacation can actually cause you to be more scatterbrained when you return then you where when you left. (I actually forgot how to use my washing machine for a few minutes…)

I was very concerned about which projects I was going to take away. I wanted to make sure I had things I would enjoy working on, that wouldn’t be too easy or too complicated, and that I had enough so that if I got mad at one or made a major mistake, I’d still have something to do. I ultimately decided on a pair of socks knit from Cascade Fixation, the Skywalker Shawl from the Craftsy class I signed up for, and Chatelaine’s Friendly Full Moon Witch.

I got a surprising amount done on the shawl, given that delicate lace is a bit difficult to work on when the ship is pitching and rolling. But once I got to the plasma stitch section, I just had to put it away. It was too hard to keep track of all the yarn overs that I had to drop, and I didn’t want to risk making a mistake.

Skywalker Shawl - WIP

Unfortunately, Friendly Full Moon Witch only saw the light of day once. And, I quickly learned that cross stitch on dark fabric in a moving vehicle just doesn’t work well. My stitching finger itched from lack of activity all week, but it wasn’t worth the struggle to try.

I found quite a bit of time on the plane, on the ship and at Half Moon Cay, to work on my purple socks. In fact, I actually managed to finish one, right down to closing up the toe with the Kitchener stitch. (I remembered to bring the instructions for that with me, since I can never remember how to do the darn thing.) The pattern is Herringbone Eyelet Fixation Socks by Anna of Finally Waking Up.

Herringbone Eyelet Fixation Sock

So, if you’ve been keeping track, you’ll have noticed I finished two socks in March. Given that I’ve worn through two pairs of socks recently, I’m very happy to have new socks. Unfortunately, they doesn’t exactly make a handsome pair, do they?

A Pair of Socks...

I’d like to apologize for the quality of the pictures today. I am using a very nice new camera, but I was editing them on the laptop, on which it is hard to judge the true appearance of the image.

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