Coming in March : crochet and daffodils

March is Crochet and Craft month, and I'm already crocheting at the moment, so I'm in phase with the world.

I joined the Cherry Heart blanket crochet along. I'm making the granny squares afghan at the moment, so it sounded like a fun thing to do. To share my pictures I also had to join Instagram, so you can follow me there too.

I don't knowif I will use it after that or not, it looks like a lot of crafters use Instagram, so please share your experience of it !!!

Lately I got nostalgic of the time I was livingin the UK reading peoples blogs. Spring is my favourite time of the ear, and daffodils my favourite flowers. When i see pictures of new borm lambs in the fields,daffodils people bought to brighten their homes.... ah ! I reminds me of when I bought daffodils buquets in Tesco !

But then yesterday MIL gave me those lovely daffodils she found in a plant shop, and the world felt right again. I'm looking forward to the daffodils coming out here and there in town.... It'sa bit early for that here.

Wanderings of a crafty mind

(Note : the pictures are from 2005 projects !)

I'm still working on the granny square afghan, but I'm thinking about free hand embroidery.

It's the first craft I learned. I was stitching handkerchieves when I was 4 or 5. Of course I have no recording of that, but the pictures are showing things I made in 2005. I did a lot of cross stitching, knitting and crochet since then, but since I saw Teresa Lim's travel stitching, I feel like doing embroidery again.

But one crucial question remains : what to do with a piece of fabric with embroidery on it?

I don't want to make framed pictures, even in hoops. My walls are filled with cross stitch already. So it's time for a little research of what's out there on the web, and especially on Pinterest. The initial idea is that I would like to transfer my drawings onto fabric, but then what to do with it?

So far I have :

- stitching on felt and make a decoration out of it
- stitching on towels
- mini doll/cushion type thing.

So please give me other ideas !!!!

The adventures of the granny afghan

Crafting is an addiction : no matter how much you tell yourself you should stop because you already have too many items, you have to make stuff. It's part of what you are. I managed to stop stitching when I came across my folder of stitched projects that never see the light, but I still need to crochet from time to time.

Luckily mom needs potholders and doilies, that's already something. And I'm thinking about trying crocheted fingerless gloves for DBF.

But at the moment I crochet granny squares. When I see all those lovely afghans out there, I feel a bit ashamed to leave mine in progress for so long. Last time I worked on it was 2 years ago ! That's where keeping a blog is really useful.

So for those who just arrived, this afghan is DBF's idea. He wanted a blanket with many squares of many colours, like old times. So I started this in 2011 and I'm still working on it.

The random colours are not so random, of course, and it's a good exemple of probability and alternations. The only concern is that I won't haveenough cream colour to link them all. So I will need to make an extra border. But so far, so good.

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Me voilà de retour sur la couverture en carrés commencée en 2011 pour DBF. Ca avance pas mal cette fois....

Coup de coeur : Teresa Lim

Today I won't writeabout my crafts,but share a "coup de cœur". After all, being inspired by other crafters is part of the creative mind living.

So I was just wandering on the web, from Pinterest to Feedly, etc.... when I came across Teresa Lim's website. Her originality is to make free hand embroideries of the places she visits. It's such an original idea. Ok, it takes a few hours to make, instead of a few seconds to snap a picture, but it's so much more personal.

I've been toying with the idea of having a travel sketchbook, but so far I'm too shy to sit and draw in public. I want to go out and practice locally,  but I live in the north of France,and it's hard to find a sunny dry day, especially in winter.

So you guess I'm far from ready to embroider on the go ! But it got me thinking that I might try free hand embroidery of my drawings. Could be fun. I haven't done that in ages....

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Coup de cœur pour Teresa Lim,  qui brode les vues de ses voyages au lieu de dessiner ou de prendre  des photos. Même si je ne suis pas prête à faire de même, cela me donne envie de me remettre à la broderie traditionelle.

Beaded birds

Here are the first critters from the book "Animaux miniatures en perles 2". They are a bit challenging, I think I made the chick's wings the wrong way around.... But mom love them, so I have at least one person to make my little beaded animals for ;)

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Voici les premiers oiseaux faits à partir de mon nouveau bouquin. Ce n'est pas évident, je crois que les ailes du poussin sont à l'envers ! Mais ma maman les aime bien, cela me donne une raison d'en faire d'autres !

Coming soon: beaded animals

When you stitch a big project, frog a bit of it, don't stitch much anyway, there isn't much to show or tell. Remember how enthousiastic I was about stitching at the beginning of the month, with so many projects to make, etc.... That was until I looked at the file where I archived the stitched pieces I didn't hang on the walls or gave away. So many stitched fabrics just put in an album... for nothing ! And if you count the 288 something stitched things I made in my life, you understand my discouragement : why bother?

The mini Pluto charm is always on my phone, so it's no problem for it, but a big project that can only be framed (I already havetoo many cushions)... I don't think I need to stitch it as fast as a sewing machine ;)

I wonder what are you thoughs about it, especially the long time stitchers out there with walls filled with framed stitches....

Needless to say I spent more time reading and playing video games (Farmville 2 Country Escape, Hungry cat picross on Android, and Fantasy Life on 3DS)

Then yesterday I came across this great book about making beaded animals. If you follow my blog you know I made quite a few already. I had the first book a few years ago, and this one is even better !!!
I hesitated between buying it straight away or buying on Amazon, and ended up buying in the shop at the editor's price of 10 euros. After all, it couldn't be much cheaper on the web, and I didn't want to wait for the delivery. I had to check afterwards, and I realised how lucky my move was : only second hand available at 23 euros minimum !

Now I have to start beading....

Winter Fairy progress 3

I had to dig deep into the blog to find when I last posted about this project. February 2010. Looks like I worked hard on it for about a week, then left it 5 years. Now that's what I would call an UFO !!!

Of course I'm in a white/very light grey/ very light blue zone, not ideal  to start stitching again after years of absolutely no stitching ! How, well....

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J'ai du creuser loin pour retrouver quand j'ai commencé ce projet. Février 2010. On dirait que j'ai travaillé dur dessus pendant 1 semaine, puis plus rien pendant 5 ans ! En prime, je suis dans une zone riche en blanc, gris presque blanc et bleu presque blanc... une joie pour recommencer le point de croix !

Sapin biscornu

Ah, the first finish of the year ! Of course it was started last year ;)

And yes, I start the new year with stitching a winter biscornu. I counted the fabric a bit short (only2 aida squares extra in some places, but sewing the 2 pieces wasn't so complicated. In my memory biscornus were harder than that ;)

I also took a picture of it flat, so you can see the pattern bet;ter. I used this pattern, but added stars.

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Premier truc fini de l'année, un biscornu d'hiver.... J"ai aussi pris la photo à plat pour voir le dessin. Le modèle est ici.

Totoro pendouillette

After mini Pluto, I made a Totoro, this time on aida fabric, to try and stitch a front and back, and turn it into a charm.

The result isn't quite as good as I expected, actually i don't know really what I expected, I suppose it's a bit bulky or something.... But I still love it ;)

You can see the flat version prior to the finnishing down here.

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Après Pluto, j'ai fait un Totoro, cette fois-ci sur toile aida, avant et arrière, mais le résultat me semble un peu bizarre, trop gros ou je ne sais pas quoi, mais je l'aime bien quand même...

Christmas in beads

Before we dive into the new year.... here is a picture of the Christmas scene I made with hama beads. I made the gingerbread house a few years ago, but the little characters were made on Christmas eve.

I don't craft much at the moment, I'm playing with "Fantasy Life" 3DS that Father Chistmas brought me, it's quite addictive.

Scene de neige en perles à repasser hama. Sinon j'ai beaucoup joué à fantasy Life 3DS