Artistic Endeavors of a Restless Soul

My blanket of many colours .....[learning left hand crochet]

Part One

While, yarn of various textures,pretty colours and good quality is expensive I don't won't to give up my new found passion; learning to crochet for that reason. Since, I utilise [most of the time] recycled, thrift-ed or given by friends, or friends of friends items in my other creative work, I choose to do the same for crocheting.

These yarn, I got are from the thrift stores for $1-2 each. I would have liked to work with cotton but not much luck so far. What I found was acrylic/worsted, [some had labels]something new to try. And also,a couple more of a softer variety. The ones which had labels are from Sears and Hudson Bay Company, I never knew those companies sold/sell yarn. I am making solid squares of five rounds;

...... and it is a long way to the end ..............

reminds me of the song 'My Coat of many colours' .............. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zJzr-kWsI

My coat of many colors
That my momma made for me
Made only from rags
But I wore it so proudly
Although we had no money
I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me

~ Dolly Parton ~

I will keep you posted of my progress.

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Yard sale finds!

a few hand embroidered things that I found at a yard sale recently. They are so pretty, and delicate. Each piece was $0.25 cents.

so much patience and skill

Thank you for taking time to stop by,

Until next time,
xxx,
Gaia

Kantha Work - a small reversible quilt -Part 2

Half Way

I have reached the halfway point. ....a small sigh as I continue on.

I am running out of the colours I started with, so I am using other colours I have, hoping that it will not effect the final result I have in mind.

I have also experimented with arranging even stitches, but it is not easy keep up with that. Mostly, my stitches are random.

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Yard sale finds!
This flowered teacup n' saucer, is another summer yard sale find. Cost is $1. The ladies who were having the yard sale said that it belonged to their 'grandma'. The two are from different sets, but both made in England. The teacup has a small chip on the bottom, other than that it in perfect condition. I was wondering whether the gold lines painted are real 'gold' ? It really does not matter, I m just too happy to have it :) :)

lets all have tea !

Thank you for taking time to stop by,

Until next time,
xxx,
Gaia

Darned !

Watermelon ... !!

This ripped piece of watermelon provided inspiration to start this darning project.

I used cotton thread from the $1[one dollar] store.

I wish, I used a lesser contrasting pink for the very top layer.

If you like to read more about daring technique please see Stitch Magazine online free tutorials. http://www.embroiderersguild.com/stitch/projects/darning/index.html This link is an old one from one of my previous posts about darning.

Thank you for taking time to stop by,

Until next time,
xxx,
Gaia

Balance continued...

contemporary kantha work..

Another small piece to add to my theme "balance"

This piece includes natural dyes from blueberry,raspberry, henna, pomegranate skins, turmeric and tea. The colours turns out subtle because I keep the fabric in for a very short period of time.

It took about 3-4 months to complete the piece.

(you can click on the images to make them larger)

“Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”

― Rumi, Essential Rumi

I also added a tea dyed piece of crocheted lace which I found at the church yard sale.

If more ideas pop into my head there will be another one to the collection.

Though at the beginning, I always feel the process is too tedious and wish I never started; I do feel happy when I see the final result. It is worth the effort.

Thank you for taking time to stop by,

Until next time,

xxx,

Gaia

Hearts ! [my left hand crochet]

Pink Hearts !

Another string of hearts ....
The yarn I used is acrylic worsted from the thrift store, the label says Hudson Bay Company. But, I don't think they sell yarn these days [ i could be wrong], so this must be old.

Some hearts are little smaller than the others due a miscounting of the the stitches. I feel that I am getting better in understanding the stitches and adjusting tension when crocheting.

I tried, but cannot get a picture of the whole string in one shot, there is twenty of them and when everything was put together it became quite long.

I hope the lady who is going to receive this will like it as much as I enjoyed making it.

my achy breaky heart :)

Thank you for taking time to stop by,

Until next time,
xxx,
Gaia

Mixed media ....

...Wall hanging

This is the completed project.

On a piece of canvas I pasted the back ground fabric, then added the crocheted flowers, and leaves cut out from felt sheets.

I added running stitches to the leaves for variety.. ..then some fabric flowers, and decorated with buttons..

blues skies .... and real sunshine through the window :)

it measures approximately 12x58 inches. I am not able to show the whole piece in one shot; my camera is old and it does not have many features.

.... and I have just the wall to put this up.

Thank you for taking time to always stop by,

Until next time,
xxx
Gaia

Tiny hearts - [learning left hand crocheting]

I stumbled upon this lovely blog recently, which has every thing crochet. http://annemarieshaakblog.blogspot.ca/ When I saw this cute hearts tutorial, I wanted to make some for me too.

This is my left handed effort;

My hearts are different in sizes because I did not use exact same type of yarn for all of them. I just wanted to give it try; I used what I had with me. I did manged to follow the instructions, but most of all the pictures helped me a lot to understand. I think I made them alright.