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...

today

today's project:  bias knit scarf

I was inspired by a scarf that I saw at a local yarn store.  It was long and skinny with diagonal stripes of different art/novelty yarns in MANY shades of pink.  It was capped off with 1" wide silk ribbon (in ombre pink/white) streamers as fringe.  It was fabulous! 
SO, I went searching on the internet for a pattern or directions on how to knit on the bias (diagonally).  Ravelry.com is a glorious source for patterns of all kinds- I can usually find what I am looking for there.
Although, this time, not so much.  I did not find exactly what I was looking for.  I wanted my "scarf" to be wider that what you would normally think of a "scarf" being... almost a "shawl"- but not a triangle... maybe a "wrap"- but not old-lady-looking...  so I took bits and pieces of other patterns and experimented.
LOVE EXPERIMENTING!!!!... the process of creating is such a joy! It took some tweaking... the first try was not what I wanted.  I adjusted.  And, LOVE the end product!

12 or so, yummy, quality yarns in shades of colors and a variety of textures.  Wool, Cotton, Acrylic.
I am working on an orange/brown/blue/ Autumn Leaves color scheme one right now (the collection of yarns at the top of this post).  You can see a couple of other color groupings here.
 It seems to me it needs a special style name.  "Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dream Scarf" or something of the like.  Help me name it, will you? Post some suggestions.
Happy Knitting!

yippee, quilt show!

I had a ball today at the International Quilt Festival in Houston!!!

So much inspiration!

Some new items on my list to do:
paint flowers on fabric with my new fabric paints then quilt it
make a scarf with felted wool beads at the end
make an art quilt with new hand dyed silk ribbons and embroidery cotton thread
practice machine quilting... got a new table for my sewing machine
use my new "do-dad" to "braid" silk ribbon into a necklace

So, off to play.

The Babette

The Babette blanket.
Such an amazing pattern.
I think it is seen in the crochet community as a crocheter's rite of passage.
I came across the pattern in a search for something completely different- not knowing of its renowned.
I fell for it immediately!
Went on a search for the perfect yarns.
And started crocheting. 

It was my first big project. 
What an initiation!!

Flickr has a group dedicated to the babette blanket! Over 1000 versions of THE babette.

I used a combo of Vanna's yarn and Simply Soft and I Love This Yarn... all easy, not-fancy purchases from Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

This pattern produces a thick, weighty, bucket-of-love blanket!

Love poured into
Time devoted to
Wrapping a loved one into an everyday work of art!

- have a blessed (and creative) day!!

Pin-Interesting!

Pintrest...     http://pinterest.com/everydayartlg/
Ohhh... Yummy.... I can do that.... I want to create that..... THAT is delicious... Inspirational... That blesses me... This make me think of @you!... My ideal house would have one of those... My child would LOVE to do that, or have this, or play with that thing....

Oh yeah... I am addicted... I knew it would happen- and so did LM (you know who you are)!  But it is official.   A new source of inspiration, creative feul has entered my life like a whirlwind!... blowing fabric, thread, beads, scissors, yarn, needles of all kinds all around my house!  ... And boy, does it make my heart sing!

That is just what I plan on doing!
Art of the Everyday variety!

Have a blessed (and creative) day!!
Laura