Street embroidery in Barcelona, Spain

Stumbled upon this lovely example of street embroidery from Barcelona, Spain. The cross-stitched dog and other designs were embroidered on a long railing/fence in a beautiful park in the heart of the city.

A perfect grid surface, a little colorful rope/string, some creative folks and we have a wonderful piece of street art.

For more photos, see the whole story here (it’s in Spanish but the photos speak for themselves).

Frayed Edges Swaddling Blankets

Close up of the stitching and frayed edges

My newest nephew (born the end of last summer) still loves to be swaddled when he naps or goes to sleep for the night. Unfortunately,  most swaddling blankets you can buy in the store are meant for younger babies and my nephew is also big for his age. So his mum asked me to whip him up a few new blankets so she could return to using her sheets on her own bed!

I knew I wanted to use soft, warm flannel since our weather won’t be warm until mid-May but I didn’t want to spend a lot of time with fancy edges since these blankets would be washed nearly every day.

After some online searching, I decided the easiest and most long term solution would be to let the edges fray naturally with some control. I started with the instructions at Sew Much Ado: Rag Edge Receiving Blanket and modified them so suit my needs.

I created the biggest square the fabric would allow (so each was about 42 inches square once complete) and decided not to worry about rounding the corners. I used the zig zag stitch to create a limiting border about one-quarter inch in from the edge (eyeballed it, really). Then I snipped every half-inch or so with the scissors and decided to do most of the initial fraying by hand because it made the blanket look so cute and I didn’t want the baby or mum to have to deal with too many little strings showing up in the wash for the next several months.

And the best news…mum and baby loved the new swaddling blankets!

My nephew and I have been experimenting with clay lately. We’ve started with air-dry clay and have created some amazing items. While looking to expand into polymer clay, I found these amazingly detailed and lovely Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice) dolls made from polymer clay. Wonderful! Definitely something to work towards as we continue our clay creations.

Street Embroidery - heart, anchor and crown in Hamburg, Germany

So Miss Cross Stitch (her blog) is traveling around Germany and the rest of Europe creating amazing street art using embroidery. She scouts for the perfect surface (benches, railings, etc.) and creates a design using colorful rope that fits in with the location.

Usually, folks stop to watch and admire. Sadly, sometimes she isn’t allowed to finish her creation. Other times, the project is removed soon after creation. And sometimes, like in the photo on the left, the creation lives on for a long time (in this case more than a year!).

Check out her blog to see photos of her projects (the blog is in German but each entry is also translated into English if you scroll down a bit).

Personally I find that I crochet more often than I knit, but I suspect that’s primarily because knitting hurts my wrists more than crochet does. I have so many in-progress projects in both media so I’m pleased to see that I’m not the only one who loves both crafts!

In honor of all my fellow crocheters out there, I found these great crochet designs over at Zazzle.

hooked on crochet by cfkaatje

i crochet by cfkaatje

life’s a stitch by cfkaatje

Ninja With Crochet Hook Shirt by NightOwlsMenagerie

rather bee crocheting by cfkaatje

Crocheting Queen T-shirts and Gifts. by leigh10970

Cute baby washcloths

Two cute little baby washcloths I knitted for my niece’s friend and her new baby. I used standard 100% cotton yarn (Sugar ‘n Cream brand) in a pale yellow and a heathered green. Simple enough pattern…mostly stockinette stitch with 3 rows of garter stitch at the start and finish to help the cloth hold its shape. I used my hand as a guide for the size–just spread my fingers like I was going to be using the cloth and that’s how long and wide I made it. Quick and easy and oh so cute!

This year the baby joined us and while he was too little to help much (and too little to eat any of the goodies), he seemed to have a great time being in the middle of all the fun. This year’s results were quite adorable. After all these years of practice, we’re all becoming quite adept and creative at working with frosting and candy!

Hooded Baby Blanket

Modeling the Blanket

I finally finished the hooded baby blanket I was crocheting for my youngest nephew (who is now over six months old). The project was not difficult; in fact, it worked up quite quickly. I was simply distracted by other craft projects (and life, of course).

I followed the pattern included on the Pound o’ Love yarn sleeve (if you are interested, the pattern is also available on the Lion brand yarn site but you have to be a member to view it–it’s free to join). The yarn is a worsted weight 100% acrylic that is machine washable and stays soft. I chose the soft pastel green color.

The puffy pattern stitch was not difficult to learn and the end result was soft and squishy with an interesting texture. The blanket portion worked up quickly and I was able to keep it square by regularly folding it diagonally and counting the stitches every 10 rows or so. I ran into some trouble with the attached hood and had to adjust the pattern a bit to make everything fit and keep the blanket square.

The best news is that mama and baby loved the final result and the blanket is perfect to keep in the car for quick covering. The blanket is still a bit too large but it will certainly last him through the winter.

She starts with pencil sketches and then develops a final pen-and-ink version. Once her design is digitized, we often need to simplify it a bit to make it easier to stitch.

Here is her Eye #3 from sketch to embroidery pattern to the embroidered sample I stitched.

Ribbon Blanket: the tutorial's First Step

With a new baby in the family, I’ve been looking for quick, cute projects to make. I found this excellent tutorial from Green Mommy’s blog that shows how to create those sweet blankets with colorful ribbon tags that you may haveseen in the store.

I’m still gathering the materials to make my own…I’ll try to post photos when I have them. (The photo on the left is from the tutorial.) They are small blankets so they should make up quickly.

Loom Knit Pink Hat

My twisted knit stitch pink hat was my first loom knitting project. Last Spring, I hurt my wrist and could no longer knit or crochet so I did some research and found loom knitting.

Loom knitting is definitely easier on the wrists and hands than traditional knitting (or crochet for that matter). I had no trouble learning how to use the loom with the help of the book “Loom Knitting Primer” by Isela Phelps as well as tutorials from her loom knitting site.

This pink hat is made from pink boucle yarn using the Simple Hat pattern from the book. My niece fell in love with this hat and it’s now one of her favorites!

Valentine's Day cookies

I’ve recently started experimenting with cake decorating…inspired by my mom (who was an excellent decorator) and some books she left me.

I started small: a cookie kit from Wilton. My niece and I spent a few hours last Sunday decorating these Valentine’s Day cookies. We each decorated four (mine are pictured). I didn’t want to waste the one I accidentally broke…I figured sometimes broken hearts just need a little TLC to mend, right? The process went smoothly and was quite fun so I’ll graduate to cupcakes next, I think.

Crochet Heart-Shaped Doily

A lovely heart-shaped doily in honor of St. Valentine’s Day.

My mother crocheted this doily for me several years ago. I can’t remember now if she used a pattern or made it up as she went along (she liked to do that).

The interior is a series of single crochet, double crochet, and chain stitch. The border is a ripple effect made with double and triple crochet stitches. She used 100% cotton crochet thread in white and red.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

Knit Christmas Scarf

This is one of my first knitting projects. Created five or so years ago at the request of my teen-aged niece who wanted a Christmasy scarf.

The scarf is made from a variegated three-color yarn with a bit of gold sparkle thrown in (I forget the manufacturer). It is quite long and thinner in the center (around the neck) then almost triples in width at the ends.

Simple garter stitch with lots of decreasing and increasing (excellent practice for me).

This is still one of my niece’s favorite scarves…particularly during the cold and windy days of this past Christmas season in Seattle!