DAY 11 Project 365

It was Carole's birthday today, so our usual Thursday girl's day in town turned into a lunchtime celebration at the Meze Taverna. Happy Birthday Carole!

DAY 8 Project 365

It was the Epiphany bank holiday over the weekend so absolutely no shops open. Spent all morning doing a mega food shop to catch up.

No time for painting today, but did manage a couple of greeting cards for friends. Put gold peel-off stickers onto white card, and coloured with pearlised acrylic inks and Twinkling H2O paints. Then stamped and gold embossed a Happy Birthday greeting onto strips of yellow card and put it all together. I've run out of envelopes so made some colour co-ordinated ones, by drawing around a homemade template then cutting/sticking together with double-sided tape.

CHRISTMAS TEDDY

Finished stitching a Christmas Teddy in time to fly to England with us tomorrow! Hope Ben likes him!

Goodness knows how, but managed to get all art/craft projects finished, so can start the New Year with a brand new set of ideas. At the moment the plan is to start painting BIG!

Jolly pre-Christmas get-togethers with friends all accomplished, house cleaned within an inch of it's life and everything packed for the trip. H still trying to work out how my stuff fills the whole of a huge suitcase and part of his little one...bless him. Instruction lists compiled for our dog/housesitters who arrive at noon tomorrow, then off we go.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all my Blog friends. See you in 2007.

THRIFTY SHAWL

Gritted my teeth and finished putting tassles on the shawl. Like most things I don't like doing... once I started it wasn't so bad.

I shall miss knitting the cosy comfort of it on my lap as I watch tv in the chilly evenings. So may need to start another large something or other pdq. I've started another fluffy scarf, but that hardly covers a knee cap.

TALKING OF YARN....

Knitting yarn suppliers are a bit thin on the ground in the Limassol area, so out with my girl friends last week I pounced on this Wendy Chic eyelash yarn that we found in Zaco. I chose the Renoir colourway and Barbara went for the Bellini.

It was so quick! 6.5 mm needles and 21 stitches all purl turned 2 x 50gm balls into a luscious scarf in just two evenings... seen here draped over my baby lemon tree. Barbara is trying massive 12 mm needles and 19 stitches, to make a short cravat length scarf with just one ball.

Finished knitting the shawl during the week, just need to make myself do the fringing. Should really have given it more thought, as a simple crochet finish would be better I think .... but there's no way I'm driving myself crazy sewing in all those ends, so they are going to have to be hidden as part of a fringe.

BAUBLES

I've been playing with beads and twinkley bits. It's very relaxing just threading and fixing handbag charms, necklaces and earrings.

My stock of charms and beads has taken a bashing recently. So when in England over Christmas, with any luck Wibbo and I will get to the Bead Shop in Covent Garden for a drool and some retail therapy. Not that we don't have jewellery suppliers here. There are a couple in Limassol, one of which is terrific. But the range at Covent Garden takes some beating, and in any case for Wibbo and I, it's sort of a fun pilgramage ... we used to haunt the place!

Wibbo, if you are reading this .... is there a yummy yarn shop near Covent Garden too? If so, might need to bring an extra suitcase!

PAPER GEMS

This method of making jewellery is one I've been using for some time. It involves drawing/painting/printing a design several times. Each element/layer is then cut to gradually diminishing sizes, with a full size design positioned front and back. Then I construct a skeleton, as required, made from gold plated or sterling silver jewellery wire, which is then sandwiched in the middle, and the design built up one layer at a time. The different sized layers create a curved slightly domed effect.

It's not a technique to use if you are in a hurry. From 3 to 6 layers of lacquer are then applied to both the front and back of the pieces, allowing several hours drying time between each application. This has to be done one side at a time, and repeated, as the lacquer would run if the piece was hung vertically.

I drew and painted the earthy coloured geometric earring design, before scanning and making up as above with freshwater pearls and irridescent star beads. The red and green earrings/pendant feature a design inspired by the Glasgow School of Art/Rennie MacIntosh. Completed with glass and metallic gold beads and genuine peridot semi precious gemstones.

IT MUST BE WINTER ...

The knitting needles are out, so it must be winter. Quite chilly in the evenings now, and a warm shawl across my knees whilst I click away will be good. Only two evenings of knitting so far, so not enough of it to reach my knee yet.

The idea for this one came from the Thrift Store Stash Queen article about Ashley Martineau's method of recycling yarn. I have a stash of yarn from way back, which I'm mixing with a load more from a friend who had a clear out .... thanks Barb! The rest in true Thrift Store Stash Queen tradition has come from knitted garments picked up for very little money at Violets secondhand clothes shop in Limassol. I must be such a sad creature, I actually enjoy the unravelling almost as much as the knitting! Possibly because, unlike most unpicking, there is no mistake to be rectified, so no stress.

TOO HOT TO KNIT COOL CAMISOLE!

I've just remembered why I don't knit all year round. It's hit 37 degrees over the past few days and knitting weather it is not. It's a great pity, because this delicious yarn and Watercolor Camisole pattern has arrived from Just One More Row.

The pattern looks interesting. The Ironstone Warehouse Flake Cotton yarn is knitted double in various colour combinations to create a diamond chevron effect.

In all honesty at the moment I think I would rather wear it than knit it. And as I can't do one without the other, guess I'm going to be clicking in the fridge with this one.

MOHAIR STASH & COTTON TRASH

Finished the Mohair Stash Jacket. Managed to escape much in the way of sewing in ends, as I took the sluts way out (purists avert your eyes NOW) and buried them under the first row of crochet along the row ends (works for me). Used the rest of the smooth black cotton to dc a deepish welt and job done.

Managed to rescue two bags of yarn a friend was leaving out for the bin men in the nick of time. They contained a few balls of cotton that go reasonably well together. Just the thing to keep me clicking in the evening until my delivery of US yarn arrives. I'm in summer strappy top mode now, so I'm making knitted rectangles which I plan to combine with crochet.

JUST HAD TO KNIT ......

Just recently I've had the urge to knit again ... like as if I hadn't enough to keep my fingers
busy! I ordered some yummy yarn and a pattern from the US but couldn't possibly wait till that arrived so in desperation I dug out 4 colours of mohair from my stash and got clicking.

It's still a bit cool in the evening so I decided on a little bolero/ shrug/ cropped jacket and adapted this freebie pattern that I found at http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/punk-jacket.html
It is made in one piece, knitted side to side in garter stitch and is a really easy project to do while watching TV.
I had enough black mohair to knit the main piece, but unfortunately not enough to finish the edgings and neck etc. Have now got some smooth black yarn from the shop which should work OK.

MEDALLION STAMPING

Here are a couple of samples from yesterday's workshop. The same medallion rubber stamp was used for both.

At the top just the centre of the stamp was featured four times by stamping with clear pigment ink onto different coloured card then heat embossing with virdigris powder. Some details were highlighted with Pee Wee glitters then mounted onto yellow, green and cream card.

At the bottom, the whole stamp was used 3 times on alternate layers of white and blue parchment, again with clear pigment ink, but this time heat embossed in silver. Each stamped image was cut to reveal a different layer beneath, then 3D mounted with foam pads or silicone glue which is actually better for transparent papers like parchment/vellum. Finally details were painted with blue Twinkling H2Os, then layered onto 2 tones of blue and embellished with silver peel-off corners and narrow borders.

BACK TO WORK .....ALMOST

Taking poster to shop this morning to promote a series of Mini Memory Album Workshops I'll be teaching next month. Then lunch with a friend later. Hoping the drive and chat will kick start me ready for work tomorrow.