IT'S BEEN WAY TOO LONG......

I still have the crocheted hearts on the table that I made last year. time to go..   This mat is the crochet over jute technique. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Milano. I will make another one with the colors I have and found on ebay for a good price. It is Italian yarn and generally expensive. I like the nice texture and colors of the yarn. One more mate.

Valentine Basket of Love

Baby Sweater

We are expecting a new grandchild in May and I just finished knitting my first baby sweater. One thing I forgot to do while knitting the sweater, was make the button holes, so I decided to crochet some loops to hold the buttons and it worked beautifully. So...a great solution if you ever find yourself in the same predicament!
The yarn is a pure merino super wash worsted wt. made in Peru, called "malabrigo". It is named after 4 major rivers in Uraguay, with each river represented by one ply. These plies twist together like winding rivers. Rios also signifies the yarn's washability as rivers have provided water for washing garments for millennia. I love how the different shades come together in the sweater. Choosing buttons for the sweater was fun too. I decided on some wooden ones with a cute heart design.

Beach collecting for other decorations

 These globes are filled with sand and stones from the Red Beach in Waterside New Brunswick, Canada. The shells, tooth and bits of wood came from other beaches. The idea came from the globes on the tables at the restaurant at
Cape Enrage, New Brunswick.

The lights are LED candles.

That's what we got.

Working with Driftwood

Walking on the beach is something that we both enjoy very much. After the first time I sae drift mobiles, christmas trees,  and wreaths, I was hooked. My entire supply is gone, but here you see what came of the collection. Going back to PEI next summer to restock.

Embroidery

I've been working on some small embroidery projects these days.  I decided to create designs that can be put on top of mason jar lids as a decoration for Christmas gifts. They are quick and fun to make. Some are made using a punch needle embroidery technique and others use traditional embroidery.  I'd like to make some in counted cross stitch as well.  I think the next design will be a simple Christmas "feather" tree.  I'm curious what others might be making for this Christmas season...

Driftwood Wreath-making

Finally, this piece from last year has found a home. It was outside on the porch and suffered with the wind and damp....stuff came off. But today it has come inside and we love it. New beach treasures were added to it, netting, seaweed, and old frayed rope. It brings back the beach combing in New Brunswick that we loved to do. There will be another smaller one someday. We collected a bucketful at Red Head on the Fundy coast this summer. The idea came from a coffee shop on Campobello Island, NB where they are holding workshops on how to make them (seem below). I just worked it out.

The Pears in crochet

I am on a pear kick. The owners of the campground we go to on Lake Champlain have orchards of apples and pears. These will be for them. Working on a pear potholder now.

3 D Fruit

Making 3 D fruit will be fun. Bowls of apples and pears, etc., whatever ripens in my mind..
Here is the first...

Dishcloths, anyone?

Starting this past winter, I began making dishcloths, leaving folk art birds behind. Using the crochet quilt design book by A. Lep, another dishcloth pattern book, and patterns from the internet, they just keep coming. Most recent designs are fruit, inspired by the orchards on Lake Champlain, apples and pears ( to come) and of course my most favorite one, the strawberry.

Beyond the placemats......Crowns and Wings

It seemed that every scrap of paper that was left behind had to be made into something. The creative juices were flowing all afternoon to the amazement of John and Dan who had to find things to do...lol!  Here is what came from the paper scraps, with a bit of trimming......

Crowns and Wings

all the animals were crowned

then they received their wings...

and some  received a second set of wings...

Then we all were tired and hungry, (mainly me) so we took a break. We all enjoyed the newly crowned collection of the Royal Animals of Lydie and Ellie.

Weaving with kids is such fun

Lydia and Ellie were delighted to learn how

to make placemats out of wallpaper, a good strong, cheap endless source

 of designs and colors. 

 After they made their own, they continued on to make one each for Dan and Tracey

 Ellie's placemat

 Lydie's place mat

 Lydie's original design for Danny's placemat (I like this one)

Lydie's placemat.....closeup

 Ellie's placemat....closeup

Tracey's placemat....in green tones (she just went to Ireland!)

Revisiting Ellie's world with sister Lydie....

Ellie Pinkham named the crocheted watershed landscape a couple of years ago. Lydie never got to play with it as a baby. Now at age 5 Lydie was quite taken by a place you can sit beside and fill with a variety of tiny objects. Here is Ellie's world...shared....

introducing Lydie to Ellie''s world

water starting at the beaver pond

the water flows through the cranberry bog, Christmas tree nursery,  
 then through the prairie and on to the flower garden with bee hives

Police cruiser stopping a bus on the highway

finally the water flows through the vegetable garden to the sea

Lydie as a blond......it's Lydie's world now

Oh look.....

Well, that about sums things  up for now.

Printing...

I've been working on this new block print design for several months and finally got it finished and ready to print.  Wintertime is a good time for labor intensive crafts and I wanted to do a Springtime theme, so this is what I came up with.  The design idea came from the background of a card that was so faint I hardly noticed it, but when I did, I thought it was pretty enough to be it's own card.  I like it's simplicity.  With time, I will play around with different background and printing ink colors...any suggestions?

I wonder what projects others have been working on this winter...

Some of my Christmas Crafts

Inspired by your posts, here are some of my Christmas crafts this year:

For the Art Center holiday market, I made some of my origami flower sculptures (so far they are selling well):

I also did an origami bonsai Christmas wall hanging for the front hall:

We did a bare branch tree for the front hallway, inspired by a tree in the German Room at the Highfield Hall Christmas celebration.

And lastly, my ornament of the year is a mushroom ornament, inspired by the beautiful Boletus bicolor!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM AVERILL MOUNTAIN CRAFTS!

Guardian Angel Embroidery

I began this project before moving and just finished it recently.  In Greek, "angelos" means "messenger" and according to biblical scriptures, an angel is a messenger from God.  In the Orthodox tradition, a guardian angel is "an angel of peace, a faithful guide & guardian of our souls and bodies whom God sends to each of us.  A blessed Christmas to all, and may PEACE abound in our hearts and in the world!