Amigurumis are addictive

I have many other projects I'd love to finish by year end, but I've ended up making amigurumi instead.

My kids got a new bunk bed, and requested some BIG soft toys to go with the bed. These two are then my head.  The white one is the little guy's.  It's the Snowy Owl pattern from Purl Bee.  The other is the little lady's.  It's modified from the Totoro pattern from Robins' Yarn.

This one is Jiggly Puff from a pattern by Wolf Dreamer.

Cute cat

Tatting on the mystery doily proceeds slowly but surely, but I got distracted by this cat.  The pattern is from Sue Pendleton.  She recently retired and generously made her patterns available for free download.  This is the Tabitha Toy Cat although in my version, I used sport weight yarn (with a 3.0mm crochet hook) for the can and pearl 8 cotton (with a 1.6mm hook) hook for the dress.  The result is not quite proportional and the dress is a bit too small.

This cat went to live with a friend of mine.  The little lady has already requested one for herself, in white, pink and purple.

Sewing

I've been making Halloween costumes.  I'm normally not keen on Halloween.  Malaysia has many, many festivals, and I don't see the need to import any more.  Still, my son's music school had a Halloween themed concert and I didn't want him to miss out on the fun.  So, I decided to make costumes that had some chance of being used afterwards.  For the little guy, I made overalls (from a Burda pattern) and a hat (from fleetingthing.com) so he could go as Mario.

The little lady wanted to be Princess Peach, so I made her a dress (from a McCall's pattern) and a crown (inspired by a tutorial from craftyc0rn3r).

This was my first time using downloadable patterns and I have to admit, I'm very pleased with the results.  Cutting, trimming and assembling the patters wasn't exactly a party, but it was not as fiddly or frustrating as I thought it would be.  The results are more precise than anything I'd attempt to draft by myself.

I started the mystery doily for the third time.  This time, I'm using Cebelia 20, a thread that I have in large quantities.  Here it is at round three.  Hopefully third time's the charm and I'll actually make it to the final round with this one.

Distracted

My bead tray is now all cleared and put away.  I made a tasbih for my mother, and a little beaded heart.  The heart pattern is from 3dbeading.

I hid the ends and pressed the two completed rounds of the mystery doily and decided it was done.  It's a decent size to put under a vase and I've run out of thread.  I contemplated getting more, but going through my thread stash convinced me that I have too much thread.  So I am starting again, with different thread.  I've actually made decent progress on my third try, but no pictures yet.

I've cleared most of my small piles of random craft supplies and was planning to tackle my sewing basket.  However, I got some new toys in the mail and got distracted.  These are little fabric flowers made with Clover Kanzashi flower makers.  So now, I have another little pile of unfinished items.  Sigh.

Simple tatting

A few months ago, I was asked for a tatting project suitable for a do-it-yourself project.  To be honest, I think tatting is skill.  It takes time to learn and isn't all that suitable for quick project.  Still it got me thinking about simpler forms of tatting.

Here's the simplest thing I could think of to tat.  It's a card with tatted flowers.  I think these are good for using up thread scraps and for playing with picot sizes.

I also wanted to make something with simple rings and chains; something that could be tatted with a paper shuttle using any kind of thread.  These book marks are the result. From the top, these are made with pearl cotton size 8, Cebelia size 20 and embroidery floss.

I must have been feeling industrious because I actually scratched out a diagram for these.  Here's the proof.

The mystery doily continues.  I actually finished round 2 with my variegated thread.  Unfortunately, round 3 didn't work out.  I'd planned to switch to a different colour of pearl cotton thread from my stash.  It seems that not all pearl cottons are created equal, so round 3 had smaller stitches than round 2.  The whole thing looked bad, so out came the scissors, snippety snip snip.  Ah well, time to come up with another plan.

Also ongoing is my quest to clean up my piles of random craft supplies.  Here's the next pile to tackle: my overflowing bead tray.

Crafty avalanche

I finally cleared one of my piles or random unfinished craft supplies.  I was smitten by these kanzashi butterflies (by NStellDesign on etsy), so I bought the pattern and made some of my own.  Making these requires flames and metal implements.  Needles and fabric are more my style, so mine came out a bit wonky.

Still, they're pretty enough to want to show off, so I made hair clips (yes, more hair clips).

For me, finishing things often leads to a crafty avalanche, with one project leading to another.  Since the ribbons are out, why not wrap some more clips?  Why not use up some other butterflies (macrame ones this time)?

Wait, there's one more kanzashi butterly left!  So why not make a bag?

Oh, and since the sewing machine is all set up, how about another bag?

So now, six finished items later, after many trips to the cupboards to pull out fabric, thread and all sorts of other knick knacks, I'm finally done.  The supplies have all been put away, and hopefully, the avalanche is over.

Feeling clever bracelet

I haven't had a chance to tackle my pile of random supplies from yesterday, so I thought I'd share a bracelet I made last month.

Here's the part that makes me feel clever.  The closure is actually a fabric covered button.

I bought a fabric covered button kit, punched a hole in the back piece with a nail, and stuffed the end of the bracelet through the hole.  Then, I put the button together as usual.  The result is a neat closure that hides the ends without using glue.  I even get to choose my own fabric for the buttons.

A flaw in my plan

The Mystery Doily is coming along and I'm happy with the thread colour.  However, there's a flaw in my plan.  This is only the second round and that's how much thread I have left.  I'll be lucky if there's enough to finish this round.  I'm still deciding whether to go hunting for more of the same thread or to make the other rounds in other colours.

I've been itchy fingered lately, starting lots of little projects and not finishing them.  The abandoned supplies all over the place are starting to bother me, so I'm trying to spend the next week or two finishing things up.

Today's project is these tiny butterfly hair clips.  The butterflies have been sitting in a box for months now.  Today, I wrapped the clips in black ribbon, added antenna and sewed on the butterflies.  The pattern is from the One & Two Company.

Here's the next thing on the list.  Hopefully tomorrow there will be finished objects instead of a pile randomness.

Behind

I'm getting behind on a lot of things.  I've been meaning to tat this mystery doily from Georgia Seitz's website along with Kak Jon.  I'd meant to start almost a month ago, but only now managed to get enough momentum to tat.

Here's my first try.  I don't want to use white thread because I already have a plain doily in progress, so I thought working with a strand of gold thread would be fun.  It doesn't look good and it's so stiff I doubt it'll block nicely.

Here's the next try and I think it's a keeper.  It's variegated Anchor pearl cotton.  So far, I like the slight colour changes.  I'll think again after the first round is finished.  If it looks too muddy, I'll give in and switch to white.

Will you be my friend?

I'm a big fan of Klutz books.  Every few months I get some for my kids.  Some books I get more for myself than for them.  I've had the friendship bracelet book for a while and I thought I'd crack it open and make a bracelet for some quick crafty fun.

Instead I couldn't stop and ended up using all the supplies in the kit.  I still can't stop making them, so I've been raiding my thread boxes for even more supplies.

This last one is my favourite (using this pattern).  I've been wearing it on and off for weeks and it always gets compliments.

Around the neck

I've been making things that go around the neck lately.  It's rather strange because they take sooooo long (necks being much bigger around than wrists).  Perhaps I am in a patient mood.

This one is a vintage pattern from an Anne Orr book. There are two little mistakes in there that are driving me nuts.  I may end up making another one in pure white, just to correct the mistakes.  I'm not sure I'll ever feel 'girlish' enough to wear this one.

Here's a little beaded and braided necklace.  This one is light enough I may actually wear it.

What is the plural of Tardis?

It's hard to make just one bookmark. I started making a bookmark for my son's favourite teacher. I tat in public, when I wait for my kids' classes, so I ended up getting requests. Bookmarks are a quick tat, and great for using up stash, so I had a hard time saying no. I've made 6 so far.

From left to right:
Flowering Quatrain, design by Joëlle Paulson
Anastasia bookmark, design by Kersti Anear
Russian bookmark, design by Vilushka
Tardis bookmark, design by Anne Bruvold

Long dress

There's been an awful lot of tatting on the blog.  Want to see something different?  How about the little lady's latest dress?  Here it is; a long dress with three quarter sleeves.

One of these days, I've got to learn how to take better fashion photos...

Buyer beware

I bought these silver seed beads, added some turquoise beads from my stash and made this bracelet.  This is actually one of two.  The second was a gift to a friend.

I didn't realize until later that these are galvanized beads and that they're known to lose their finish.  I tried spraying them with acrylic coating to keep the finish.  My friend (the recipient of the second bracelet) told me that the finish peeled off a bit on hers.  I felt really bad and apologized, but she told me it's OK.  She just takes it off when doing housework so it will last longer.

So I've learned two lessons here.  First, it's nice to have understanding friends.  Second, if I'm going to do more beadwork, I need to learn more about my materials.  Buyer beware.

Tatted edging

The Malaysian Tatter's group has a monthly challenge.  The March challenge was to attach tatting to fabric.  I was feeling very old-fashioned so I made this little lace mat.

The pattern is Edging 15 from Anne Orr's Classic Tatting, done in DMC Cebelia 30.  Here's a closeup.

 

I was feeling too lazy to sew the edging on, so I punched holes along the edge with my sewing machine and a wing needle.  As a result, there are small unused holes along the edge.  It's not perfect, but I think it looks acceptable.  Now I'm itching to make another one with a crochet edging.

Metallic butterflies

My latest bit of tatting is an embellished card, made for the Malaysian Tatter's monthly challenge.  The group is lead by Jon Yusoff and she works hard to reach out and share her tatting knowledge.

The heart is one I had already (Susan Fuller's Heart's Desire).  The edging is from Yusai Shokoin's "Tatting" book.  The butterfly is the Birte butterfly from "Tatted Butterflies" by Adelheid Dangela.

It took me a few tries to get a butterfly the right size, so I had some extras.

This is the Mia butterfly also from "Tatted Butterflies.  A friend of mine saw me making this and liked it.  So this is the last picture I got before it flew away with her.

I liked the Birte butterfly enough to make it again.  The thread is Oren Bayan metallic thread.  I'd love a few more of these (I think they'd look great hanging on a mobile), but my hands need to recover first.  Does anyone know of a metallic thread that doesn't feel like tatting barbed wire?

Fancy enough?

I made a dress for the little lady last month.  She chose the cloth.  She's wears it happily, but tells me that it's not 'fancy' enough.

And here I thought 3 full yards of ruffly lace was already pretty fancy.  The little lady is my sweetheart, so I added a tatted heart as a 'badge'.  You can somewhat see it in the picture above.  Here's a close-up.  The pattern is from Georgia Seitz.

Been tatting

I've been tatting. I was following along with Jane Eborall's Tat-it-and-see, and feeling so pleased for keeping up this year. Then, I completely missed the last two days and am finishing late, as usual.  Ah well, it's done now, and you couldn't ask for a cuter pattern.

I'm also working on a doily (from Sumi Fujishege's 'Tatting Lace' book). I don't use doilies. I'm not even sure I like doilies. So why am I making one?  It's those intertwined chains. They are charming. There is a 4 row and a 6 row version. I think I'm opting for 6 rows. Let's hope I still find this charming after that last long row.

Last is a pair of earrings from Marilee Rockley's 'Boutique Tatting' book. I'm really unhappy with my choice of bead colours and sizes, but I thought I'd take a picture before cutting everything up and starting over.

So-so soutache

Soutache jewelry is on my list of things to learn this year.  I'm waiting for this book and this book to come out.  While I wait, I'm googling for tutorials.  The best way to learn is to try.  So here's my second attempt, loosely based on a tutorial by Anneta Valious.

I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm in check, so I'm sticking to what's in the stash.  There's still much room for improvement.  Still, it got a compliment from an unusual source.  My little guy (aged 8) thinks it looks nice.  It's always nice to get compliments from the opposite sex.

New Year 100th post

It's a new year, it's my 100th post and I don't know what I'm going to do with the blog this year. Ah well, perhaps I'll do a crafty roundup.

This is step 1 in Jane Eborall's 2013 TIAS.

Next is, Susan Fuller's Heart's Desire, done in response to the Malaysian Tatters January challenge.  It's a lovely pattern, marred by my careless joining.

This is a little snake knot bracelet done with satin cord.  I'm still trying to figure out how to finish the ends neatly.

Here's a soutache hairclip.  I'm planning to learn soutache jewelry making this year. There are some new books coming out. I like it because it reminds me of the Chinese frog closures my mother used to put on the baju kurung she made me as a kid.

Here's more jewelry. This is a spiral rope chain.  I nearly went mad with boredom trying to make 60cm (2 feet) of it.  I kept at it because it used up the stash and will go well with one of my favourite tops.

Next is another necklace.  It's a crochet chain, with plastic beads and metallic thread.

Here are some more stash busters; a knit garter stitch bag and some stackable cats from Mochimochi Land.

The cats were meant for my baby niece, but the big cat is super squishy, so now my kids fight over it.  Sigh.