TUSAL and Theme-a-licious

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Heather

Monday was TUSAL day, but I was still too disorganized and tired from the Creativ Festival to get my act together. However, my wee ort collector is full of my bits from the Creativ Festival.

TUSAL mini ort container

And my big jar is getting fuller all the time!

Jar o’ Orts

 

It is also Theme-a-licious time. I did miss the post at the beginning of the month (truthfully, I’m swamped with all the work I have to do for my Coursera classes and it totally slipped my mind), but I’m trying to get back on track. So, October is for obligation stitching. Well, I don’t have any of the right now. Although, I bet in a couple of weeks my mom will ask me to stitch a Christmas ornament for someone. lol! And I really should figure out what I’m going to make for C’s teacher. (Any teachers out there care to share what they like to get for Christmas?)

1 Comment | Posted in Cross Stitch, Memes & Collabs | Tagged ,

A Santa and Some Dragons – The 2012 Creativ Festival

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Heather

This time last week I was sitting down for my first Creativ Festival class–Creative Persuasion with Carolyn Mitchell. It was the start of a really great weekend, full of excellent classes, the best teachers, and lots of time with friends. There was one low point, the Saturday evening Gala, but the festival organizer has already explained and apologized for it, and I think I might be willing to give it another chance next year… maybe.

Anyway, on to the class projects! Wednesday I’ve already talked about (that was Creative Persuasion). Thursday was just two classes, the Anniversary Santa with Maria E. Gollek of Marnac Designs and Seren’s Rest with Luara Dickson of Enchanting Lair. (Check out this page for small pictures of the finished pieces.) The Santa is fabulous! His beard is done in coiled couching stitches using beads and various fibres. I just love him. And, if you like him too, just be aware that it is very limited edition. There were only 25 kits and 25 charts at the start of the weekend. Goodness knows what, if any, is left now. (As a note, all of the pictures except Seren’s Rest show what I finished in class.)

Anniversary Santa by Maria E. Gollek of Marnac Designs

Seren’s Rest is a lovely little dragon design using very bright Dinky Dyes silks. It looks like it will stitch up really quickly, and I’m already working away on it.

Seren’s Rest by Laura Dickson of Enchanting Lair

On Friday I had a class with Kate Atherly of Knitty and A Needle Pulling Thread. She talked about how to customize knitted socks for any foot size. I learned several cool tips, and had a really good time. Next up was the Sparkle Needle Case by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams. I finished it up last night and will be sharing the picture in a day or two. After that was Dragon Boats with Carolyn Mitchell; pictures of those in a couple of days too. And at the end of a very long day wasYear of the Dragon Sampler, again by Jennifer Aikman-Smith. This is a lovely sampler in shades of gray and silver, and stitched on white opalescent fabric. It is stunning!

Year of the Dragon Sampler by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams

After a night of very little sleep, I was back at it again on Saturday. I started off with a cute little design from Jennifer again, You Add Magic to my Life. (You can see some partial pictures of her class designs on this page.) It is very cute, and I think it will look great in the little man’s room.

You Add Magic to My Life by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams

Afterwards was the Christmas Needlecase and Scissor Fob by Kim Beamish. They match the biscornu I made last year. It was a very small class, and Kim was just great.

Christmas Scissor Fob by Kim Beamish

Then it was Sunday, and the end of a long, long weekend. The morning started out with Canvaswork Dragon by Jennifer Aikman-Smith.

Canvaswork Dragon by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams

This, I’m sure many of you will be happy to hear, is most likely going to end up as an online class. All of her other designs from the festival will eventually end up on PatternsOnline as soon as the Creativ Festival exclusivity clause runs out.

I rounded out the festival with a class on tassel making with Carolyn Mitchell and then a beginner class on Zentangle. All in all, it was fabulous! I’m still recovering several days later, but I’m also already looking forward to next year.

1 Comment | Posted in Canvaswork, Cross Stitch | Tagged , , , , ,

Talking ’bout Minecraft – The Pickaxe

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Heather

This year the little man gets to wear a costume to school on Halloween. His choice–Steve, from Minecraft.

Steve – design © Mojang AB; image used under Creative Commons license

So, blue pants and a green shirt and I’m done, right? Well, no. The little man has to have a pickaxe! Since weapons aren’t allowed at school, I decided to break out the Pyssla beads from Ikea (their version of the more famous Perler Beads).

A diamond pickaxe.

Not too bad, eh? I’ll be adding a pin to it and putting it on his shirt.

But wait, there’s more! Later this week I’m going to try my hand at sewing a little creeper for him to carry. I can’t wait!

Tomorrow, I will update you on all my Creativ Festival classes!

2 Comments | Posted in Crafts |

A Pool of Rainbows

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Heather

Saturday, and day four of the Creativ Festival. I’ve got another class with Jennifer Aikman-Smith this morning, and a needlecase class with the lady who designed this beautiful biscornu (it is a companion piece to it too). Today is also the day that I finally get to do some shopping. I did spend some time last weekend looking through my stash as a reminder that I don’t need anything (except a piece of Christmas tree green fabric to stitch up a small design before December), so I’m hoping my will power has been built up high enough.

I will also be meeting up with a knitting friend from Ravelry today, the lady who I knit socks for once in a while. And, wouldn’t you know it, I’ve got another pair of socks done for her.

Everyone Outta the Pool Socks

The pattern is Everyone Outta the Pool by Artsygal, and it available from Ravelry for US$3.99. The yarn is Panda Cotton in colourway Circus, which is a lot like a pastel rainbow that is heavy on the yellows and oranges. And it pools something awful. Before switching to this pattern, I tried knitting a plain pair of socks, and it looked awful. Check out the cuffs to see what I mean. I wasn’t able to tame the pooling up there.

So, off to classes again. Goodness, I’m getting tired, but it sure is fun!

2 Comments | Posted in Knitting | Tagged , ,

A Boxy-ish Bag

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Heather

I’m heading off to day three of the Creativ Festival today. I’ll be learning how to design my own custom fit sock, how to make “dragon boat” ornaments with thread, and I also have two stitching classes with Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams. As you saw the other day, I’m lugging a big pile of stuff with me every day, and I thought I would share something I made to help me organize things. I will note, though, that I seem to have more sewing failures than anything else.

Witness the boxy-ish bag.

An almost box bag. Pictures can hide a lot of flaws!

The pattern is from the Craftsy class Beginner Serging. The mistakes, though, are all mine and my machine’s. Really, at first glance it looks okay, but the zipper is a bit off kilter, and that made the rest of the box not quite rectangular.

Still,  it is good enough to store some bits and pieces. And, I’ve also learned a little more about what my serger is capable of. It is a good machine, but it doesn’t quite have the power needed to get through lots of layers of fabric along with something tough like a zipper. But, I think I now know how I can use my serger and my sewing machine together to make a nicely finished box bag. That, though, will have to wait for another day.

Comments Off on A Boxy-ish Bag | Posted in Sewing | Tagged ,

Creative Persuasion

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Heather

Yesterday was the first day of classes at the Creativ Festival. I had a six hour class with Carolyn Mitchell on her design Creative Persuasion. (You can see the finished design here.) With only six hours in the class, I wasn’t able to accomplish too much. But, what I do have done is just lovely:

Creative Persuasion by Carolyn Mitchell (WIP)

The fibres include lots of Kreinik braids, Threadworx overdyeds, Pebbly Perle and Neon Rays. And the colours are just fabulous! I want to say that this is the first Creativ Festival project that I will try to finish up, but I know myself. I fall in love with every class project, and I want to finish them all up as quickly as possible!

I’m back at the classes this afternoon. (no shopping yet! The show floor doesn’t open until Friday, and I don’t have any free time until Saturday afternoon.) Today it is a lovely Santa with Maria E. Gollek (you can see a small picture of it here) and a small dragon design with Laura Dickson of Enchanting Lair (also on the page I linked to). I can’t wait!

6 Comments | Posted in Canvaswork | Tagged , , ,

Tote That Load

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Heather

The Creativ Festival starts today!! I’m very excited to have five very full days of classes ahead of me. I start off today with a six hour class with Carolyn Mitchell. Here’s a picture of the finished product from her website.

Carolyn will be providing all the supplies in the class, but I still need to bring all of this:

Three bags full. The bottom Hello Kitty one is very heavy!

Thankfully, today is the day with the biggest load of supplies. None the less, it is a heck of a load to carry. Tomorrow I have a class on a very pretty Santa design, and a dragon design with Laura Dickson of Enchanting Lair. Shopping will begin on Friday. 😉

Comments Off on Tote That Load | Posted in Cross Stitch |