Cyra ~ Crochet, Quilt & Art

Hi all, hope you are getting through each day with some creative work.

I have been stitching lots of new things and here are a few of them.

The reversible Autumn quilt below was for one of my sons birthday present in June.

The Front is 30 mystery quilt blocks, and the back is using up all the scraps from the front blocks plus some 'wild card' orphans and pieces that ended up the wrong size for the front, lol.

This was my main 'lock-down' project.

During lockdown I just had to cut my own hair, and I made this beanie to cover up my embarrassment until it grew back again, hahaha. 

A crochet blanket in bargello style.

A lovely rose in my garden was the inspiration for this painting.

Take care, stay safe, keep stitching, keep sane.

Cyra

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 ~ Finger-less Mitts & Miniature Rug

There is always a bit of crocheting going on in this house.

A pair of finger-less mittens (wrist-warmers) for wearing while riding my bike (winter is coming here in the Southern hemisphere).

My Raleigh bike -- very retro, lol. 

I use this to get to my local craft groups meetings and for a jaunt around the town or to the library and also for grocery shopping. I try to do my bit to save the earth and not use fuel if I don't have to. If the weather is really horrible though I will take the car.

I'm designing a double-pannier bag to sew for the back rack. I have the perfect fun fabric to compliment the bike colours. 

(the basket balancing on 'his' handlebars is the basket for the front of my bike)

This will be a carpet/ (rug) for my miniature house. 

It's a trial run for me on the new loom that my darling hubby bought for me on his trip to England last year. I eventually found time to warp the loom and 'go-for-it'.

I'm experimenting with the loom to see how it handles making 1:12th scale rugs, so I chose a simple straight weave for this rug in a two colour chunky stripe.

I have actually done about double the amount that is showing on the photo, and hope to have it finished by this weekend (famous last words, haha).

Next week I'm off to a remote stitching retreat, so I might not get a post posted here because I don't think there is internet where I'm going, and no telephone signal either, so it will be a very interesting (and fun) week with a great bunch of stitchers. I am sooooo looking forward to it.

I'll show photos etc after the event.

All for now.

Happy stitching.

Cyra

Cyra ~ Freeform Crochet x 2

Hello again. 

This week has seen the completion of two (yes two) accessories. Two cowls, or neck-warmers, very similarly put together, in slightly different colourways.

The fuchsia edged one ----

And the Purple edged one ---

I have also started on another rug for the mini house, but not enough of it yet for a photo.

We have survived the tornado that whipped through Opunake yesterday morning, The next village to us didn't fare so well in the tornado though, and I think 5 houses lost their roof and 3 more with major damage. The whole community is coming together for those left without homes.

The weather has definitely changed for the worse now, and we actually have the heater on in the lounge for a bit of respite from the unusual cold blast. 

It's good time to stay inside and stitch (as if I needed an excuse).

Happy Stitching

Cyra

Cyra ~ scrumble, hexie, mini's.

What have I been up to this week. Well, lots of things of course, lol.

Another scrumblicious  scrumble.

I have been slowly plodding away with my little ¾ hexies for the quilt.

Not a very interesting photo, but at least it is progress.

And on the 'mini' scene, I have been making and staining more floor boards. 

This is about 60 boards. A long job ahead still.

Thats all for now.

See you in the next post.

Cyra

Cyra ~ Scrumbling & Craft room tour

A belated Happy St. Paddy's Day to all who celebrate.

This is my own design for a shamrock, which I attached to a hair slide and wore in my hair for the weekend. 

I've been scrumbling again.

I've had a big sort out in my craft studio to make room for a dedicated 'art-space' as well now.

Loving the natural light that I get from the window.

My drawing board table can be tilted to any angle and also can be adjusted height ways too. Love it.

The black shelves hold the paints, acrylic, guache and water-colours.

The tan shelves hold my oil paints on the bottom shelf, all my containers of soft-pastels are on the 2nd shelf up, my journals and sketch pads next shelf up. All sorts of marker pens and inks on the next shelf, and then on the very top are things like masking fluid, rubbers, glue, and my larger art paper pads.

Under the table are two of my easels (the larger easels are stored in the garage.

The table holds my most frequently used supplies, i.e. china mixing trays, water container, brushes, pencils, and art crayons.

The armchair is where I do crochet and embroidery (or just chill out with a book).

Opposite the armchair is the sewing table which double up as a weaving table too.

Behind where I'm standing and to my left is the miniatures work station and my book shelves, plus another ranch slider (windows & door) the same as that one by the art table.

(I've not tidied that area so no photos, lol).

Hope you enjoyed that little tour of my art space.

I'm off to do some drawing now, catch you next next time.

Happy Crafting

Cyra

Cyra ~ Three different projects

Little bits are progressing on a few different projects.

Back into drawing again. A quick hand sketch for practice.

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The Pilli Pala Dolls House

All the kitchen walls are up now, and the entrance hall next to the kitchen is almost done.

The checkered floor is a paper sheet that came with the house. Not sure that I like this look,  so I shall probably create some other flooring (and a better quality) than this. 

I think a wood floor would look better - watch this space, lol.

Auditioning some wood strips for flooring. I will remove the bent pieces from this pile first though.

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That is a spiral scrumble to be added to a few other scrumbles (ok, LOTS of other scrumbles) to create something -- I don't know what it will be until I have few more of them made, then it will tell me what it wants to be -- a bag, a hat, a garment, a wall hanging, whatever.

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That's my lot for now.

Happy Crafting

Cyra

Cyra ~ Working in miniature again

Last week our power got knocked out by Cyclone Gita, hence no post last week.
We survived the storm with little damage to the property thank goodness, just a few large tree branches came down. More firewood to give to the neighbours, lol.

Working on the miniature items for the dolls house is so much fun.

This small blanket/afghan for the bed is finished now and on the bed that I have shown you in a previous post. It is crocheted in embroidery threads, and each block is about 1" small. In real life the granny square blanket would be bigger, but as this is for decoration purpose only, I want the underneath bedding to be seen too.

Construction of the house has started at last now that Tony has cut me a base board to work on.

One downstairs room is almost complete.

And the kitchen table was a new start for this week.

Today is an embroiders guild work day and I shall be stitching on the miniature rug.

See you next time with more miniatures

Happy Stitching

Cyra

Cyra ~ Happy Valentine Day

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The only thing I've got to show this week is a broken plate.

Here is my stitched plate.

And here it is broken...... (cut apart)

Then I put glue (stitches) on all the broken edges.

And then stuck (stitched) it back together again.

Close up of repair job, lol.

That was all in the name of experimenting and having fun.

See you next week. 

Cyra

Cyra ~ Boots & Bed

These little boots were made to fit a cloth doll that I also made. The doll turned out to be about the size of a new born baby, and is in the process of being dressed. I'll show the whole doll next week when she's dressed.

Continuing with the dolls house miniature furniture etc.

I have made the mattress and a top and bottom sheet for the double bed.

No luck on the base board, for the house, getting cut to size yet though, lol. I'll be patient.

A knitted swirly spiral thing-a-me-gig. Just to see if I could do it, lol.

(happy to say I can)

That's my lot for this week.

Happy Stitching.

Cyra ~ Crochet Squares & Mini House Start

I have finished two 12 inch crochet squares. These are already winging their way across the seas to US, where they will be included in two different afghan blankets for a charity auction.

One blanket called for warm colours, and this is my square for that blanket.

The pattern is Marigold on Ravelry

And the second blanket called for neutral colours, and this is my square for that blanket.

The pattern is Dahlia on Ravelry 

(I do not recommend this pattern for novice crocheters as the pattern isn't easy to understand and I had to 'fudge' my way through it in parts).

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Pilli Pala mini house.

I cleared half of my work table ready to start on the 1/12th scale house. 

But after measuring up the approximate size of the house, I found out that this space is way too small. So I've had to clear the other half of the table too, so now the whole table is just for the house build. 

Sorting through the first 6 parts of the set, I realize that this house is not going to be a top-notch sturdy house like the dolls houses my dad used to make. So I need to find a base board big enough for the house and hopefully it will help to keep everything straight.

Meanwhile, I got started on what is called a Sleigh Bed.

This first pic is the footboard. The laser-cut pieces have to be removed from the sheet of wood, and this is what it looks like.

Before

I don't like the rough and rugged edges, so I gave it a thorough sanding to round off all of the edges.

This is it after sanding.

After

Much neater. I am happier with this look even though it took a big part of my day to gently sand all of the parts for the bed.

Anyway, on to the painting, 

(it can be stained instead, but I want a painted bed).

Primer done and drying. Top coat to do tomorrow after another light sanding.

I have more information about my miniature house set on my blog here.

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So that was my week. Hope you had a good one too.

Happy Crafting

Cyra