Lonely blog

Poor lonely blog.  I've been crafting but forgetting to take photos.  I'll see if I can't get the camera working over the next few days.

Here are a bunch of finger loop braid bracelets.  I learned how to make them from LoopBraiding.com and ended up going through a few spools of thread making every version I could manage.

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.

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.

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.

Hair, hair, hair clips

The hair clips continue.  I'll just keep making these until I run out of clips.

These are little beaded balls I learned to make from MyDailyBead. I got a headache learning to make these as learning from videos drives me nuts. Still, these are so cute, I can't stop making them.

These crochet flowers with rose buttons are the little lady's current favourite. They match her preschool uniform nicely.

The next three were a birthday gift for one of my daughter's dance class friends. The blue flowers are crochet with gold buttons.

The ballerina is a crochet applique from EverLaughter. I showed it to the little lady as I put it in her friend's gift bag. Then I had to make a solemn promise that I'd make one for her.

The last set are these spiky paper bead clusters. They remind me a bit of durian.

 

The lace mat is coming along.  I'll get a picture for the next post.

Bits and pieces

I'm feeling a bit scatter-brained today, so it's time for a scatter-brained post.

First, 8 little clovers for Jon's Lace Mat Tat-along.  The amazing Jon is updating and charting a series of vintage tatting patterns. I'm doing mine backwards, clovers first.

Next, the hair clip plan in progress. The pansies are from 100 Flowers to knit and crochet by Lesley Stanfield.  The clips are wrapped in ribbon and the decorations are stitched on.  No glue.

Next, my new favourite skirt.  See the pretty colours!  It flares too, just enough to twirl.  Big girls like to twirl too.

Lastly, two baju raya, one baju melayu for my big guy and one kebarung for the little lady.

Friendship bookmarks

I spent the last few days making friendship bracelets. The kiddos are getting bigger ad starting to read longer books, so these are actually being used as bookmarks.

These next ones are from patterns on friendship-bracelets.net.  I put a little bell on the end instead of a tassel.  The kids like the tiny jingling as they carry the books around.

I used to make the usual chevron and diamond bands when I was a kid, but some of the ones on that website are just jaw dropping. See this rainbow one made with 24 strings. WOW!  I'm tempted to try it, but I think I need more practice to improve my tension first.

Almost round

Today, I have a collection of almost round things to show. First are these washi eggs. I think I was influenced by all the decorated easter eggs floating around on the web; all those lovely spring colours. I spent part of my childhood in Canada, so easter eggs, chocolate bunnies and candy chicks definately have some resonance for me. It took me the longest time to figure out how to blow out the eggs. I googled for instructions and kept reading about drilling holes and using rotary tools. So I hijacked one of my father's drill bits and gave myself sore fingers spinning the thing around on the egg, trying hard not to crack the shell. In the end, I got frustrated and just tapped the drill bit against the egg. That worked wonderfully; a beautiful, tiny hole, no sore fingers. I still don't quite have the knack of it though. I can't find a straw/tube slim enough to slip into the egg without creating a gigantic hole. Next time I'll try a sports ball pump or something like that.

Next are these almost round origami balls (they're actually cuboctahedrons). I still feel stunned looking at these thing. Who would have thought that you could get such lovely curves from straight, square papers. Those clever, clever origamists...