Friday, 26 February 2010

Thing-a-day Day 26 – Clootie Tree Ribbons

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As some of you may remember I recently posted on thing-a-day crochet clootie tree. As a result of my endeavours I have inspired a fellow crocheter in the USA to create their own Clootie tree. We have agreed to a mutual exchange of crocheted ribbons for our respective clootie trees. Today I spent time making ribbons to send to MA USA and sent them.
For more information on the history of clootie trees please visit here.
To see photos of my clootie tree please visit here.
The Sunroom UK
Crochet Fibre Art UK
Create a Blog Dialogue
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Thursday, 25 February 2010

Hatastic

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I’ve been playing about making lots of hats recently, must be the awful weather. As part of thing-a-day I made this hat mosaic.
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Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Thing-a-day Day 23 – Crochet Poncho

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Here I have just knocked up a quick chained poncho. It was very easy and quick to make and I just wanted to try out the concept. I think it would look great as evening wear or on top of a plain coat for outerwear.
Free pattern can be found here.

Friday, 19 February 2010

Thing-a-day Day 19 – Vintage Sewing Chest Roses Decoupage

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Not fibre but I thought I should post this anyway!
A long time ago I acquired this wonderful vintage sewing and crafts treasure chest. It came complete with all contents lots of lovely vintage trinkets and boxes. A plethora of vintage buttons, zips, threads, needles etc and a full manicure set. Anyway long story short I think it looked hideous.
Thing-a-day gave me the impetus to make it somehow pretty and I hope that I’ve achieved that. I prepared the chest by washing it all down. Then I applied some ivory satinwood paint mixed with crimson water colour to give it a pink tinge. I then enlisted the mister to cut out many many roses from the english rose wrapping paper I had.
The chest required two coats of satinwoood. I then applied PVA glue and my roses, waited for it to dry and then varnished it with floor varnish voila job done. I think it is much prettier than it’s previous dark brown drab.
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Wednesday, 17 February 2010

Thing-a-day Day 17 – Playing with Trellis Pattern

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Today I just wanted to have a play about with multiple layers of trellis. I came up with this scarf and I do like the movement of it.
184-8448_IMGAlthough, as is often the case with me, I prefer the reverse of the made up pattern.
184-8449_IMGReverse views.
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Sunday, 14 February 2010

Stupid Cupid – David Thelfall AKA Frank Gallagher BE MY VALENTINE !!!!!!


David Thelfall is without a doubt one of the UK’s best actors. No matter what you feel about the character ‘Frank’ this boy is a sound actor and very convincing. The fact that he come’s from my neck of the woods has nothing to do with it. This is a man who has worked hard and consistently to arrive where he is today.
Bring it on, MAKE POVERTY HISTORY
Born October 12, 1953, in Manchester, England. Addresses: Agent: JamesSharkey Associates, Third Floor, 15 Golden Square, London SW1, England.
Nationality
British
Gender
Male
Occupation
Actor
Birth Details
October 12, 1953
Manchester, England

Famous Works

  • CREDITS
  • Stage Appearances
  • Blackie, The Sons of Light, Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), OtherPlace Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, 1977, then Warehouse Theatre, London, 1978
  • Philip, A Bed of Roses, Royal Court Theatre, London, then Bush Theatre, London, 1978
  • Fritz, Savage Amusement, RSC, Warehouse Theatre, 1978
  • Jake, A and R, RSC, Warehouse Theatre, 1978
  • Mike, Shout Across the River, RSC, Warehouse Theatre, 1978
  • Abraham Slender, The Merry Wives of Windsor, RSC, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1979
  • Second lord attending Cloten, Cymbeline, RSC, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1979
  • Viktor Viktorovitch, The Suicide, RSC, Other Place Theatre, 1979
  • Mark Antony, Julius Caesar, RSC, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1979
  • Smike, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, RSC, PlymouthTheatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1981
  • Mike, Not Quite Jerusalem, English Stage Company, Royal Court Theatre, 1982
  • Apoo, Topokana Martyrs' Day, Bush Theatre, 1983
  • Malcolm, Selling the Sizzle, Hampstead Theatre, London, 1986
  • Title role, Hamlet, Oxford Playhouse Company, Assembly Hall, Edinburgh and Elsinore Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1986
  • Title role, Riddley Walker, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1986
  • Title role, The Traveller, Haymarket Theatre, Leicester, England,then Almeida Theatre, London, both 1987
  • Title role, Bussy D'Ambois, Old Vic Theatre, London, 1988
  • Title role, Macbeth, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1989
  • Over a Barrel, 1989
  • Gregers Werle, The Wild Duck, Phoenix Theatre, London, 1990
  • Mickey Robinson, Your Home in the West, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1991
  • Also appeared in Paper Flowers, Watermans; The War at Home,Hampstead; The Party; Oedipus: The King; Oedipus at Colonus; The Count ofMonte Cristo; and as Bollingbroke, Richard II, National.


  • Film Appearances
  • Jack Jenkins, When the Whales Came (also known as Why the Whales Came), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1989
  • Leward Wicklow, The Russia House, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1990
  • Inspector Highland, Patriot Games, 1992
  • Television Appearances
  • Movies
  • Trevor, The Kiss of Death (also known as Play for Today: Kiss of Death), 1977
  • Archer, Scum, 1977
  • Vasily, Red Monarch, 1983
  • Edgar, King Lear, BBC, 1984
  • Alex, Murderers among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (also known as The Simon Wiesenthal Story), HBO, 1989
  • Tom Rowse, A Casualty of War, USA, 1990
  • Stanley Rode, A Murder of Quality, 1990
  • Syl, Clothes in the Wardrobe (also known as The Summer House), 1992
  • Joseph of Nazareth, Mary, Mother of Jesus, NBC, 1999
  • Voice, 1000 AD, 1999
  • Also appeared in The Daughter-In-Law; The Gathering Seed; Jumping the Queue; The Brylcream Boys; Dog Ends; and Making Plays: Arena.
  • Series
  • Bell, Nightingales, NBC, 1990
  • Men of the World, 1994
  • Miniseries
  • Smike, Nicholas Nickelby (also known as The Life and Adventuresof Nicholas Nickelby), syndicated, 1983
  • Leslie Titmuss, Paradise Postponed, ITV, then Masterpiece Theatre, PBS, both 1986
  • Weaver, The Marksman, 1987
  • Leslie Titmuss, Titmuss Regained, 1991
  • Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Diana: Her True Story, NBC, 1993
  • Norman, Sex, Chips and Rock 'n' Roll, 1999
  • Aaron, In the Beginning, NBC, 2000
  • Episodic
  • "Pratt Outta Hell," Lenny Henry Tonite, 1986
  • "He's Asking for Me," Screenplay on Sunday, BBC-2, 1990
  • Radovan Pradic, "High Speed," C15: The New Professionals, 1999
  • RECORDINGS
  • Taped Readings
  • The Secret Agent, Reed Publishing, 1997
Read more: http://www.filmreference.com/film/0/David-Threlfall.html#ixzz0fQz8VGsW

Saturday, 13 February 2010

Thing-a-day Day 13 – Prodded Wheatgrass

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Completed prodded rag rug thing – recycled wheatgrass sack. Not a clue what I’m going to do with it – suggestions on a postcard please.

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Thing-a-day Day 11 – Anti-Valentine Consumerism – Painting

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I love love hearts and hearts as much as anyone. Today I’m bored with the total consumerism of the manufactured ritual of romance i.e. Valentines – Yuk!

Gouache on Canvas – 24” x 24”

Thing-a-day Day 10 - ‘Pretty in Pink’ - Crochet Shoulder Wrap

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This pattern is really quite simple and works up very fast.

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I really got the urge to work with pink today and so as you can see I did.

This shawl is worked in a basic trellis pattern. Shaping is created through beginning each row with 7ch and 1 dc into 4th ch.

You can access the free pattern at The Sunroom

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

Thing-a-day Day 9 Recycled Rag Rug

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Ah ha now I’ve caught up. Here I have made a circular rag rug using recycled fabrics and incorporating some reclaimed yarn too.

You can find a tutorial on how to make a rag rug here.

Thing-a-day Day 8 Lego Frog & Crochet

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I was feeling a tad pants yesterday hence my lateness in posting day 8. Anyway I thought it would be nice to make something fun and cheerful. I love frogs and Lego is such an iconic visual image, I merely crocheted a background that looks similar to a Lego board.

Sunday, 7 February 2010

Saturday, 6 February 2010

Friday, 5 February 2010

Thing-a-day Day 5 – Freeform Crochet

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This is part of Thing-a-day 2010 project but will obviously take more than 30 mins to complete and so it remains a work in progress. It is my intention to work on it and complete it before the end of February, 2010 and I hope to produce a functional item.

Crochet Heart Rag Rug

As you may know I have been busy working on a beastie of a rag rug and as it approaches 6ft I’ve decided it would be better at 7 or 8ft. It’s getting incredibly heavy to have on my lap as I work my way around it. So as a little incentive I decided that I would attempt to create a small, quick, heart shaped rag rug. I think it would make the perfect bath mat or shower mat. Not really my normal type of colours but as I worked on it I decided it would do equally well in a Nursery.
I had no pattern and just started where I thought would be a good place with a 6 chain loop and went from there.
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When working with a crocheted rag rug my methodology is to literally feel your way. Not only are you trying to construct a shape but to feel and decipher the appropriate tension. A rug that lies flat is definitely the desired outcome. After all I don’t want anyone stumbling out of the shower to be tripped up by a rippled and wavy mat.
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Here again I have worked with a 10mm hook and cut the fabric to approx. 1cm or 1.5cm.
168-6881_IMG Here we go – colour change number one and the beginnings of an embryonic crocheted heart. The thing I love about crocheting fabric is how quickly you can achieve growth. The thing I hate most is the time required to go through the cutting process.
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This week, being the summer holidays, I have had my little people to help me with this. However the premise of their help has been negotiated on a financial reward basis and so my little rag rug must be worth more than an axminster carpet.
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This is me working on the rug and it is the reverse that you can see. It looks pretty against the poppy print of my skirt, well I thought so anyway.
168-6892_IMGAnd voila it’s all but done – well in fact it is now complete. It’s a naughty little heart as it has distracted me from the bigger picture, the mega rag rug.
168-6896_IMG Here is the little naughty heart photographed on some of the fabric used in the crocheted rug. The colours remind me a Kath Kidston creations and are outside my normal comfort zone. The rug measures approx. 60cm or 24” and will be a bonus to the shower room I hope.
Once dinner is cooked, spaghetti bolognaise, and the mini people are away to slumber the big beastie rug will be upon my lap again. Hopefully early next week I will be able to take the final photograph to show you all.
I now have the weekend in front of me to plan, imagine and muse over yet another ‘project’ – or I could finish one of the outstanding ones, I know. The next two weeks are going to be hectic with little people coming and growing (freudian slip but it’s appropriate). I have other visitors to come to and so my creativity will be hampered. I shall enjoy the calm before the storm.
Have a creative weekend.

Thursday, 4 February 2010

Thing-a-day Day 4 – Crochet Sculpture

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Here I just crocheted 5 separate hyperbolic roses and then stacked them on top of each other.

The Butterfly Project

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Hello Everyone,
I hope you are all well today. I’m somewhat tired on account of staying up way past my usual bedtime last night in order to make another butterfly and to write a pattern to share with everyone.
In an earlier post I did say I would let you have more details about The Butterfly Project sometime this week. well here are the details.
hmh
In an effort to remember them, Holocaust Museum Houston is collecting
1.5 million handmade butterflies
.
The butterflies will eventually comprise a breath-taking exhibition, currently scheduled for Spring 2012, for all to remember.
As of Summer 2008, we have already collected an estimated 400,000 butterflies.
You can find the full details at http://www.hmh.org/minisite/butterfly/
You can handcraft you butterflies from a variety of media but the organisation states the following.
  • Butterflies should be no larger than 8 inches by 10 inches.
  • Butterflies may be of any medium the artist chooses, but two-dimensional submissions are preferred.
  • Glitter should not be used.
  • Food products (cereal, macaroni, candy, marshmallows or other perishables) also should not be used.
I think this is a great project to get involved in and I hope that all of you will too. I have created a Flickr group for everyone to post their butterflies on here http://www.flickr.com/groups/1194157@N20/
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I have also written the following crochet pattern for a butterfly which I hope will be useful to fellow crochet chums everywhere. Of course you don’t need to stick to crochet any craft will suffice. This is a tremendous project for children to participate in and express themselves. 172-7232_IMG
The Butterfly
The last, the very last, So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow. Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing against a white stone....
Such, such a yellow Is carried lightly ’way up high. It went away I’m sure because it wished to kiss the world good-bye. For seven weeks I’ve lived in here, Penned up inside this ghetto. But I have found what I love here. The dandelions call to me And the white chestnut branches in the court. Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.
Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942
Born in Prague on January 7, 1921. Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942. Died in Aushchwitz on September 29, 1944.
I have posted the crochet pattern on a separate page so that people can link directly to it. http://www.goodtimesithinkso.blogspot.com/2009/09/holocaust-butterfly-pattern-crochet.html