floral inspiration

I find myself drawn to flowers (and butterflies- but I'll save those for another time, perhaps).
Flowers have always been a source of design inspiration.
They can be complex or simple, elegant or casual... anything... except ordinary.


everyday art design studio's 3 flower lapel pin


There is just something about them that feeds the soul.  
I would guess that God intended us to feel something when we look at flowers.  "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Rom 1:20. 
Creation reveals God to us- intentionally.
What a joy it must have been to dream up all the colors, sizes, and shapes that make up the world of flora.

There are numerous tutorials out there for wrapped/twisted flowers- all similiar in their construction.  I don't feel the need to add mine to the masses.  Here is a tutorial I particularly like from Cherry Street Cottage.




Cherry Street Cottage- fabric rosette tutoral

 

a recent creation of mine:



everyday art design studio's wrapped flower lapel pin

 The fabrics for my flower pin:
pinky/orange- a cotton dyed batik
brown- a two tone printed diamond pattern cotton
green/blue- printed swirl cotton
orchid purple- synthetic tafetta

I added beads to the center of two of the flowers.
The leaf is created in the same fashion- just shaped like an oval to begin with instead of a circle.
I prefer sewing the flowers (as opposed to glueing).  It feels more permanent to me.
I stitched the flowers and leaf to a stiff felt on the back and added a locking pin back.


My youngest gave it to his Kindergarten teacher for Valentine's Day.

Have a blessed weekend!

leave no stone unturned

crocheting around a smooth beach or river stone....
i made these:

everyday art design studio's crocheted stones

inspired by these:

Margret Oomen's crocheted stones featured on Purl Bee

These beautifully wrapped stones were designed by Margret Oomen and called "Little Urchin crochet covered sea stones".  They are featured on Purl Bee's website.  Margret generously supplied the crochet pattern for this design:

Margret Oomen's crocheted stone pattern featured on Purl Bee

 

Margret's Blog: resurrection fern

Margret's ETSY shop: knitalatte : resurrection fern

Thank you Margret for sharing your creativity with the world!

I crocheted the white stone (on the left above and on the right below) following Margret's pattern...  except that I continued the crochet around the whole stone (just continuing with "dc in every second stitch pulling tightly to make the cover very snug on the stone" from Margret's pattern: step 9).

the back of my white stone

I used Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Crochet Thread in White for the white stone. 

For the cream stone, I used a DMC crochet thread in Ecru.  For this stone, I started with a pattern for a heart.  From there, I improvised with different sets of stitches around the heart to fill in the rest of the front of the stone.  The back is completed in the same way as the white stone: dc in every second stitch until the spiral closes.

a new experiment

I am always up for a creative challenge.
Actually, I suppose I would say I thrive on them.

I read a shop owner's profile on ETSY the other day.  She is a crocheter who says that she only works without a pattern.
Innteresssting! 
Challenge On.

I think I probably know enough about crochet to work without a pattern... I think.
So here is where the experiment comes in.
What to create?
I am thinking... a cowl... a simple circle with lots of potential for... experimentation.
So here is the work-in-progress:

I started with a slubby cotton yarn (merlot colored).  Worked a few rows in a single crochet, double crochet repeat. 
I continued the sc,dc repeat with a double strand of a wool yarn (lavendar colored). 
Then completed the circle by joining the wool to the other end of the cotton yarn.

Ok.  Nice.  Lovin' the colors and the texture (thanks to the sc,dc repeat).

Time for a little embellishment.

I thought: trim.

Scallop.

I had a remnant of a ball of Noro sock yarn (sssooo love the long color gradients in Noro yarns) that is in the same color family as the first two yarns I used...  

Scallop started.

Now where?
The experiment continues....
I'll let you know...