Arts&Crafts - the worx

[Mackie]

I hate buying gifts and tend to foist my creations on people instead, and I realised when doing the ones above that that kind are quite good for that, easy to hang and easy to make to fit the receiver.. this year being the 20th for many people I know i've been doing a few, here are 2..

 

for a friend who loves the band The Strokes, the singer in particular..

[Mackie]

and the one i did now for someone with a fondness for mr morrissey. she also has a thing for soap bubbles so i put those in there too with the lyrics

"you are not right in your head, and nor am i, and this is why i like you"

 

hard to see there but it's layered with glossy varnish on the face/hands part and the bubbles -->

 

[Mackie]

[Mackie]

[Mackie]

[Mackie]

 

Fulmar

[Mackie]

maritime pines, France

[Mackie]

 

Smew

[Mackie]

 

a page from the journal, France

[Mackie]

 

MadBro's carving that i got for my birthday. limewood dyed with inks. sorry it's a bit blurry!

[Mackie]

so today, i did a craft

 

can you guess how it is made

 

 

i did not want a precisely accurate print, it is leading to a weaving in autumn colours

[Mackie]

ok, the pumpkins have landed.....

 

 

 

 

 

[Mackie]

finally, the real thing....

 

the poem pumpkin: (2 lines of verse running round it... not mine, i hasten to add..)

 

Igor the pumpkin:

 

another pumpkin:

 

Tats at work:

(some of the many pumpkins we had to work on!)

 

[Mackie]

 

here are sweater-development pix

 

the two pieces look like a strange bikini

 

i did pin them together according to the assembly diagram and got a sweater shape, as you can see. but - the edges are too curled to sew the seams properly. i soaked the pieces and whirled them damp-dry in the washing machine, pinned them flat to a towel and now waiting for them to dry if they still curl, i'll hand-sew narrow paper to the edges and tear that away after the seams are completed.

 

what fun

 

 

 

oops sorry this one is blurry.

the ends of the second piece are the sleeves, folded over and sewn (pinned, in the picture). the two skinny handles of the first piece butt together, then starting at the centre of the second piece, in that sort of dip, that is the centre back neck. each skinny piece is sewn longwise to the second piece to make the collar, then along the neck edge where the rest of that piece becomes the lapels. the last is a long straight seam across the back and fronts to join the pieces there. i don't see the bolero shape yet, but i'm sure it shows itself when all is done

 

 

the black one, ok i'm a fan of black, but not to work with a lot. i worked in bright sunlight to sew in the tail ends.

 

here is the little sweater. i had a horrible feeling that it would be too big, and i chickened out on making the tag.

thanks for being with me

 

 

[Mackie]

done

 

 

 

the book is to give an idea of how much it shrunk

 

i made one mistake - i had started with two rows of red, and when i was done knitting, i added red borders on the remaining three sides, but i was too lazy to knit them, and crocheted. clearly the crocheted borders were not as shrinkable as the knitted part. as the piece shrunk more in height than it did in width, the right and left borders are a bit uneven.

 

well, we live to learn otherwise it is just like i wanted it to be.

 

(when it was in the washing machine i spent some time looking in, trying to see how it would turn out )