Monday, March 18, 2019
Thursday, March 14, 2019
3 in 1: Spring Necklace, a Bracelet & a Cuff
Deep through a thick forest, there is a dirt winding road that ends up at an open green valley embroidered with colorful wild flowers.
The air is laden with invigorating fragrances and the silence is decorated by the nature's unique orchestra composed of buzzing bees and insects and the chirping and singing of birds. There you find me taking all these in, soaking them up.
I love taking long walks in nature, exploring and discovering with all my senses wide open and finally I take photos, fearing that these images might fade out in time.
When searching for inspiration for my work, I invoke images similar to the opening one of this post, which was used to create this.
I am happy to show you my newest piece - a necklace which turns into a bracelet and a cuff.
The tube necklace turns into a bracelet, but I didn't take a picture of it for this post. I am planning a video with Eva as to show you how it transforms.
I am working on several more in different colors and cannot wait to show them all!
Monday, March 11, 2019
Insta love: Anacardia Dolls
It was one of these embroidery loop art creations by Ana that caught my eye! I simply adore 3D embroidery hoop creations, especially those that are not retained into the constraining hoop-y walls.
What scarce information I found about Ana is the one on her blog, which sadly she does not keep any more and where she writes:
"I am Ana Carolina. In my childhood I loved the toys that we could do with simple things. My favorite dolls were small sticks that we dressed with feathers and flowers that stood by my grandfather's farm ground. This memory is very present, I'm still playing ... I think of my dolls and drawings as a piece of childhood."
Find more of her work on her instagram.
Friday, March 8, 2019
Granny Square Baby Sweaters
Happy 8th of March ladies! Stay strong in this rough world!
Today I am showing you a small peek of my baby sweaters I made using the granny stripe stitch and my most favourite flowers. I chose a rose for the red one and an anemone for the purple one.
There are some with long sleeves in the make. What can I say... I am in love with these.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Neverending Macrame Possibilities: Macrame Tops
Having originated from 13th century Arab weavers who used this technique of knotting the excess of thread and yarn along the edges of hand-loomed fabrics into decorative fringes on bath towels, shawls and veils, macramé found its way to Spain through the Moorish conquest and slowly spread throughout Europe.
Macrame had its peak in Victorian times where it was used for both the home and the garments and though the craze subsided for a time, it regained its popularity in the 70' only to fade away during the 80's.
The trend of household items in the past several years has been holding quite well and has also spread to include jewelry accessories and garments.
To illustrate the affluent possibilities macrame offers, I have selected a handful of eye-catching designs of tops hoping to spruce up inspiration. I have never really tried macrame seriously, although I had a colleague at work who had it mastered and had showed me a couple of knots.
Have you tried macrame? What have you made?
The credits for all respective images used in this post can be found on my pinterest board here.
Monday, March 4, 2019
Lace Roses Necklace
Happy Monday guys!
May this week be tender with us, treat us well and let us reach the weekend without any major stresses :)
Today, instead of an inspirational Monday post, I am shifting things a bit and showing you this lovely and delicate necklace I made a while ago. I showed it first when I talked about this interview of mine, but at the time it was still not done, that is to say it was not beaded as was originally imagined.
The lace dictated the beading so I used cylinder and seed beads for the flower accompanying circles and the sides - although the ones on the left are almost invisible in the picture and some pearl beads for the flowers. I hope it finds a good home.
It is listed here.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
What I Have Pinned Lately #16
Today's
pin sharing session is quite short and mostly about grannies. Being known as a sucker
for crocheted granny squares modified into various clothing or
decorative items, I can't nonchalantly pass a granny to save my
life.
Next is this lovely Peach Dream Jacket (their name - I'd have used a cardi for this one) worked in a square using a lace pattern.
St.Patty's Day is coming up, so Kathryn has rounded up some lovely (and free!) shamrock patterns in a square you might want to make for the day, and she was kind to include mine too.
Marjan has shared the pattern for an amazing coaster. Visit to see what a great garland she's made with these lovelies!
And to spice things up at the end - these gorgeous, floral pom-poms by Honestly WTF.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Crochet Coral Necklace - free pattern
I still have a lot of this amazing Nako's Val yarn and was really into playing with it -rather than make a constructive project - like a sweater for example, but no, I had to make a necklace.
This particular piece is gorgeous in reality (forgot to wake up my modesty today - sorry about that!), and I am really pissed off with the camera for not being into it as much as I am.
It is easy to make it, so if you like it, here's the pattern:
With desired yarn and adequate hook (I used 3mm and DK yarn) chain as many as you want the ties to be long. The pattern is for the necklace you see in the pictures, but you can customize it.
Note that the whole piece is made (as a whole) in 2 turns.
Start necklace tie: chain 60. Next curling.
First curl: ch15 and in the 2nd ch from hook, sc in each st.
Second curl: ch17 and in the 2nd ch from hook, sc in each st.
Third curl onwards: increase 2-3 stitches (or more) with each curl until you reach the longest you'd like to have. The curls in the center of my necklace are 30-32 stitches. After you reach the desired peak, start decreasing the curls' stitches.
When done curling, chain 60 for the other tie and join with the beginning.
Next, sc across in every stitch across the whole necklace. Finish it off.
Round corals
Coral 1:
Ch 5 and join to make a ring.
Rnd 1: sc5 in ring.
Rnd 2: sc2 in each st (10)
Rnd 3: sc1, sc2 in each st. (15)
Rnd 4: repeat rnd 3
Coral 2:
Ch 5 and join to make a ring.
Rnd 1: sc5 in ring.
Rnd 2: sc2 in each st (10)
Rnd 3: rep rnd 2 (20)
Rnd 4: sc1
(Rnd 5: sc1, sc2 in each st.(30)
Play with the number of stitches to make different sizes of these. Make as many as you like and arrange them around the curls and ties. Pin and sew them together.
I used different seed / cylinder beads to give the corals a bit of glam. Have fun!
Monday, February 25, 2019
Monday Inspiration: The Colorful World of Katie Jones
If you are deep into crochet and a fervent lover of granny squares, the chances of not knowing Katie Jones are quite slim.
She is the girl truly dedicated to the traditional, old-fashioned grannies that she magically turns into unique designer creations.
Katie has launched her self-named brand in 2016 and became fast recognizable for its focus on sustainable practice, embracing Katie's Granny vision of making something beautiful from nothing and addressing issues of over-consumerism. She creates wearable, artisanal collections infused with bursts of colors and textures.
She has a grandiose MIY (make-it-yourself) collection. My favorite is the one inspired by Frida Kahlo. Find it here.
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Crochet Bridal Bouquets
The finishing touch to a bride's wedding day is the bridal bouquet. Flowers give an enchanting visual and romantic effect to the bridal outfit and enhance the whole appearance of the bride.
Why did brides started carrying bouquets?
Read more here.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Mermaid's Necklace
I still hadn't used all the ceramic pieces I made in this workshop. So this pendant was the trigger for the creation of the necklace I named Mermaid's necklace mainly because I couldn't shake off the image of Ariel's tail while working with the shiny green (bluish) scale resembling sequins.
Now, it is a pity the decorated pendant doesn't steal the spotlight, because I left my back on it - I am serious. The beading got the best of me. And still, I am not satisfied how it looks, so I think I am going to add some more beads or sequins to the tubes.
If you were wondering whether there is an end to my crochet tubes showing up here, well, I will have to disappoint you. There will.be.more.
Monday, February 18, 2019
Kantha Embroidery
Kantha is perhaps the oldest form of Indian embroidery originating from the cities of Bangladesh and West Bengal.
Traditionally, women would take several old and used saris, layer them together and employ different running stitches to decorate them and crate unique quilts and blankets. The word kantha refers to the running stitch used in alternate or parallel repeats.
The running stitch/ kantha is the source of uniqueness of this type of embroidery because it creates a wondrous visual interest and amazing texture with the slightly wrinkled and wavy effect the fabric acquires. The kantha also emphasizes the Indian cultural principal of reusing and recycling old cloths and garments. Another interesting point is that the threads used for the embroidery are taken from the borders of saris, with which the life of used fabric is elongated and most often heirloom pieces are created.
The first kind is the Lep Kantha, which is used to make warm, padded quilts. Then there is the Sujani Kantha which is used to make bed covers for ceremonial occasions. Baiton Kantha is used on covers meant to wrap books and other precious objects.
Oaar Kantha is used on pillow covers, while Archilata Kantha is used for covering mirrors and usually comes with colorful motifs and borders. Durjani Kantha is small pieces used to make the insides of a wallet, and the last kind is the Rumal Kantha which is used to cover plates, and come with a lotus motif right in the center.
Resources I used to write this post:
1. Coveting Kantha
2. Kantha
3. Kantha Embroidery
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