In the little lady's service

Lately, my craft time has been in the service of the little lady. She keeps talking me into making things for her, and she's terrible persistent about bugging reminding me to finish them.

Here's a crochet bag, to hold the little lady's dance shoes.  The flower and butterfly are from 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet.

Also, a doll, aptly named 'Dolly'. The pattern is from the Wee Wonderfuls book.

I'm trying to knit a book bag for the little guy, but I put in a single line of pink, and now I'm having trouble convincing him that it's 'manly' enough.  He says that he only wants things in 'boy-ishy' colours.  Sigh.

German heart

I was surfing and came across alamonabeads blog.  I was smitten with the heart, found the pattern and discovered it was in German (Rollendes Atelier).  The free patterns had lots of diagrams, so I crossed my fingers and ordered a kit.  I figured if I can work Japanese tatting patterns, I can figure German beading diagrams.

The kit got here last week.  After a few false starts and consults with Google translate, here's the result.

There's a ribbon tied slap-dash on it because I was determined to wear it today, TODAY!  So, I've been jaunting through KL with a heart on a ribbon tied around my neck.  I don't know if I looked good, but I was certainly happy!

Blocking blunders

I finished the Nora Benporath doily. It's been a while since I've worked on a traditional doily with a smaller thread, so I was not as careful as I should have been with joining picots and long chains.  So, blocking was painful.

I ironed it.  It looked wonky.  I laid it out between napkins and stacked books on top.  It still looked uneven.  Finally, I grit my teeth and pin blocked.  It wasn't perfect, but it looked OK.  Then, the little lady grabbed it, said it was pretty and crumpled it in her little hand so she could carry it around.  I nearly cried.  I can't bear to pin block again, so here it is.

On a happier note, her are some more hair clips.  They're like potato chips; I can't seem to stop at one.

 
The heart pattern is from My Daily bead.  The bottom ones are beaded bezels.

Lace Mat progress

The Norma Benporath lace mat continues. My pre-made clovers are getting attached.  I live in fear that one will get lost.  Two down, six to go.

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.

Tatting along

Jon has a great list of people taking part in the Norma Benporath tat-along.  I've had some very nice comments (which I enjoy tremendously).  I feel rather guilty, since I'm not very good at leaving comments on other blogs, although I like looking.  Hmm, perhaps 'comment more' would be a good resolution for the new year.

Here's the mat, at the beginning of round 3.  After the giant, multi-coloured size 10 doily, I decided to use plain white size 40.  The big old hand is in the picture for scale.

I've also finished this button necklace designed by Sally Kerson.

It's a colourful necklace, but I keep rifling through my closet trying to figure out what to wear it with.  I admire Sally Kerson and Jane Eborall's ability to make things they actually wear.  For me, the brain cells that choose clothes, and the ones that choose craft patterns, live in very different parts of the brain.  Apparently the crafting cells have more fun.

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.