For now two years, I have been taking bobbin lace classes, with a wonderfull teacher and a group of very nice ladies. When our familly schedule allows, I meet with them for a couple of hours once a week.
I truly enjoy lace making! It is very methodical, almost mathematical; and the results are just amazing. I never knew I could make things that delicate.
One thing that I would not have believed when I started, is how long it takes me to learn that craft. Maybe I am slow, and I am certainly not as dedicated as I should be, but let me tell you: it is by far the hardest thing I have learned so far.
In any case, this week, I finished a bookmark for my friend Therese.
Well, if this does not make everyone understand why I challenged myself, then what will?
So this week, I finished a summer top I was sewing for E. I had started it sometimes in July, and it was lying around in my sewing basket waiting for me to give it the finishing touches. And when I say finishing touches, I really mean it. In order to complete it, I only had to hem it, add a little ribbon, et voila!
I finished it on Monday, and it was ready for her to wear on Tuesday. I hope she’ll wear it one or two more times this year. If I am lucky she’ll wear it next season as well, if not… well I’ll find a little girl who will.
Alright, week one is already over by 1 day, but I have a good excuse: It is Labor Day week end! In other words the week end is not officially over until tonight.
From my perspective, week 1 was very successfull: I finished my project of the week (more details to come), and I did not buy more yarn.
Let’s start with the later. Part of the challenge, is to use up things I already have: yarn, fabric, paper… And for those of you who are crafty, you know how difficult it is to resist buying more supplies. It’s true! When I hold a ball of yarn, I do not see the yarn itself (well still a little), I mostly see a million of possibilities. Will this be a blanket, a sweater, or a dishcloth? What about adding more colors, a button, etc…
On Wednesday night, I was in a crafty store and held new yarn in my hands. I was dreaming about making a blanket… I then thought of the challenge, looked at the yarn one last time, and turned around. WIN ONE!
This week, I also finished 2 projects. NOOO, I am NOT an overachiever, it just happended this way. I first thought about posting on both, when I realized that I might have “dry” weeks. I therefore will keep a spare one and report on it another day.
Back to my project of the week. This summer, I found a magazine which included a little stuffed bear embroidery kit. Now… I always wanted to learn how to do this, so I purchased the magazine and the included kit.
I started working on this during our vacation in Vermont and had a lot of fun doing it. I will definetly plan on doing more embroidery going forward. I must admit tthough hat the French knot is my absolute least favorite stitch. It is messy, and while I would love to be proud of anything that is French, I did not like doing this one at all.
Once the embroyedery was done, I made the bear, and stuffed it with lavender. I am very happy with the result!
