Cyra ~ Crafts update

Hi again,

I'm back with some crochet eye-candy for you. I've been making mandalas for a yarn bombing project later this year.

18 Mandalas made so far..... and probably a few more to be done too.

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I am privileged to have taken part in the Suffrage In Stitches project which is currently exhibiting in the Wellington museum for the whole month of August.

The Suffrage In Stitches project has recreated the suffrage petition through fabric, stories and conversations.

546 individual New Zealand makers. An extraordinary textile work reflecting the physical size of the original suffrage petition and celebrating it through stitching the lives of the woman petitioners of 1893 and beyond.

THE FINISHED PIECE is:

• 300m long the length of the original petition
• 546 panels the number of pages in the petition
• 25,521 hand stitches the number of votes in the petition

My panel (pictured below) honours Mary Guy who was one of the pioneer ladies who helped build and create my home town. The trials and hardships that these immigrants to NZ suffered as they cleared the areas of bush and flax to make farms suitable to live on and created wonderful community townships. 

I found a kindred spirit in Mary Guy. Her journey to New Zealand was very similar to my own journey here, and she was born in Newport, Wales, which is the next town to where my own mother was born. I have subsequently discovered that Mary Guy is the grandmother of a very good friend of mine. 

 I hand-painted the background cloth and then stitched the portrait of Mary Guy in black thread with stem stitch.

I designed and cross-stitched the Mount Egmont (Mt Taranaki).

The Embroidered house - 30 Napier Street, Opunake - I recreated in thread from a photo of the original house that Mary and John Guy built.

The Embroidered Methodist Church - I recreated in thread from a photo of the first church to be built in Opunake (by John Guy).

The La Hogue sailing ship - I recreated in thread from a photo.

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The Suffrage In Stitches exhibition will be touring NZ and is already proving to be a very popular exhibition.

That's all for now folks.......

Happy Stitching

Cyra

Cyra ~ Mandala ~ The Games

Part 13 (of 18) is now complete on my Summers End Mandala Madness project.

The full 'thing' is shown here

and just these two ecru rounds were added since last week.

It's quite a mission to find quiet time to crochet on the the mandala. It really does need NO distractions while reading the pattern and counting counting counting.

Only five more parts to go, haha, but I shall be putting the Mandala in hibernation from this Friday, for a couple of weeks, because of The Games.

No I don't mean the 2016 Rio Olympics, 

I mean the Ravelry Ravellenic Games 2016, 

which is the YARNY FIBER equivalent of the Olympics, and will be on at the same time.

So far I have entered myself in 6 events and hope to complete them within the short time-frame of the games, and maybe some more as well We'll see how I get on with these 6 first.

I have joined TEAM PARTY for the games.

There are loads (and I mean LOADS) of different teams to join if you would like to add yourself to the fun.

There are medals for different events, and laurels awarded for different items and techniques.

So now I have my foot on the starting line and waiting for the opening ceremony to finish so that I can make a mad dash for the finish post.

I am so glad there are so many people just as mad as me in the fiber world.

Cyra - Mandala & a bit of stitching

  Summers End   crochet mandala.

3 rows added since last Sunday. One row of orange, two rows of yellow.

As this gets bigger it takes longer to complete one full round, hence only three rows rows done this week.
 It also takes a fair bit of concentration to follow the pattern (peace and quiet helps too, but there isn't much of this available at my home at the moment).

  Crazy Quilt Colour Journal  

Back on the Crazy Quilt Block

This block will predominantly read as lime green (I hope) and is number 8 of 12.

Basic stitches to these seams were done while I was travelling/living in caravan since selling our farm last year. Additions and embellishments have been added this week. The seams are not complete complete yet though.

Cyra ~ Another part of mandala done

And another part of the mandala is done. That is 76 rounds so far.

Cyra ~ 9 and half of 10

Part 9 is complete. 

The 6 rounds of Part 9 starts above the long white stitches on my mandala.

And I am half way through Part 10. Up to round 66, which is quite labour intensive with all the changes of colours and multiple repeats of popcorn bubbles and long stitches, and is causing quite a stir with others who are in this CAL. Personally I quite enjoyed this challenging row, and hence was singing along to the song of a similar name. 

But I have a few rounds to go until Part 10 is complete, so on to it.

Cyra ~ Part 8 of Mandala Madness

Part 8 of Mandala Madness is complete.

And here's a close-up of the outside edge.

Those long 'spiky' stitches were a bit on the fiddly side to keep in place.

I have been in the garden a lot lately and have started a new wild-flower area that I hope will be a great show of colour in a couple of months. Thanks to Angela, for the idea and inspiration for this.

Also, have been working on my vegie patch.

One other thing for this week.

We have been adopted by Billie. Her previous owner lived in this house, and Billie wants to stay here.

We renamed her Billie because her original name was Furry, which seems rather 'non-personal' to me. The name Billie came about from Billy Fury (hahaha).

Cyra - And another round on Manadala

Mandala Madness crochet along - part 7
Some may have already seen this on my fb page.
I am actually half way through part 8 but not taking photos until up to date on that part.

Cyra - Mandala Madness part 6

Mandala Madness - Part 6 added

Complete with a 'blush' of peachy-pink and with an orange glowing edge as the sun sets once more on another beautiful day.

We are told that the 'points' will curl a bit at this point in the proceedings, and mine are definitely starting to curl up.

Loving this mystery crochet along. There are 18 parts altogether, so I hope you dont get fed up with me posting my progress every week for the next 12 weeks or so. Hope I can find the time to keep up with it as I like getting a surprise of the next part each week.

Cyra - Summers End - double whammy

My Mandala Madness CAL is growing fast now.

I have two more part to show you this week (a double whammy)

Part 4

And Part 5

I'm calling it 'Summers End' because that is where we are in this part of the world (NZ) at the moment, and my colours, so far, resemble the glow of the sun on the lower arc as it rises from behind Mt. Egmont every morning, and then sets over the beautiful white surf sea in the eve. 

Not sure where I want to go with my colours next though. Will ponder on it some more.

Happy Stitching.

Cyra

Cyra - Part 3 done

I'm still playing catch-up with the Mandala Madness CAL.

Here it is with Part 3 added. 

Love the yellow addition to my neutrals here. I wasn't sure if yellow would work with the other colours, but I needn't have worried.

Onwards and outwards now - part 4 awaits me.

Cyra - Mandala part two

The Part two rounds are complete now, and I am about to start on Part 3 soon.

Catching up slowly. I don't know how so many of the other CAL crafters are managing to get two or even three of these mandalas done each week.

I expect that things will get even slower when the 'rounds' get larger as it will take an awfully long time to complete just one round.
I think there are 18 parts altogether.

We are given a few rounds to complete each week.

Did I mention that this is a mystery CAL too, so we don't know what the finished Mandala will look like.

Here is mine so far -

  Coffee, Cream & White Chocolate

And I made a Ruffled Hexagon before I began on the mandala, and I am thinking about what border I want on it.

It needs blocking yet but I can't find which of the million packing boxes my pins are in 

(I may have to buy more pins)

Here it is -

Cyra ~ Pink Block Done

YAY..... I've finished this block now.

It's PINK.

I like this one, it has some interesting shapes and seam treatments.

There's a couple more photos on my blog -here- (and also about something dear to my heart that I cannot take with us when we move).

So now I have to await the big move in November when I shall be reunited with my stash to make the next naked block and start embroidering on it.

I shall have to invent a new crafty project to occupy my creative mind and restless hands in between packing. 

ALL my 'stuff' is now out of reach, and I dare not go shopping for more because I'm fed up with packing it all away and out of sight.

I wonder what I will have to show you next week, lol.

Cy - CQJP and a bit extra

February - Yellow - CQJP

Lots of random 'BITS' have been added to the yellow block this week.

Stitching is dominant in this project, and (as I am a crochet-aholic) I am making an occasional piece of crochet to fit where ever I think I can 'get-away' with it, lol.

A Mandala that needs finishing in the middle, probably with French Knots.

A slice of lemon for my G & T.

A 'sort of' elongated Yin & Yang' design.

This is the centre of my block.

And, last but not least, a Paisley.

I'm still enjoying using yellow threads and creating designs for this block.

Almost finished with the February CQJP now, just a little more stitching to get it to my happy place.

I've been doing a bit of cross-stitching on Stitchmap lately too.

Here are a couple of my designs.

And 'just-for-fun' - here are Fred and Mojo catching the sun by our front door.

And Juliette is looking for her Romeo by the lounge door. Luckily she didn't hop over the sill and poop on my carpet. I kept a close eye on her.

I hope you have had a great week.

Happy Stitching.

Cy ~ Crazy Quilt Mandala

 Straight From the Heart Crazy Quilt 

Week 15

A stitched Mandala (not complete yet).

I have had another try at needle tatting. Still not totally got the hang of it.

Something got a bit twisted in the wrong direction somewhere along the line, and its all a bit uneven.

I shall persevere.

Sorry if I'm a bit short on photos this week.

I have actually accomplished a lot more than just these two offerings this week, but I am not able to show you my other things yet as they have to remain a secret for a little while longer.

I hope you can find some patience while we wait for deadlines.

Happy Stitching