Catching Up

Yey! In a few days I'd be able to catch up with my WIPs. Sure, I'd miss my students for a few weeks but I could use some free time for my life's passions.

For the past few days, I have been spending my coffee and lunch breaks on a tee pattern by Pierrot Yarns.  The pattern, Beauty Silk Cotton Tee, can be found in Ravelry and also in Pierrot Yarns' free pattern site.  The tee is made up of lacy, daisy-centered motifs.  I think this would look better if a thin yarn is used for the project, but of course, would take longer to make.

In the above photo, I used Cannon mercerized cotton crochet thread and an IMIA 4 crochet hook.  I still have to work on my tension and gauge though.  It's not that neat to look at, uhmmm, not yet!  But I'm looking forward to actually finish this project before June. Wish me luck on that, ha ha!

Aside from this, I have been working on coin purses, again.  I will share the pics once I put the last stitches on its lining, errr... Soon!

Oh, before I forget, I found some jute strings for garden use ( as the label says), but I think this would be useful in some crochet projects, don't you think? (*wink!)

Thanks for stopping by! 

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Moms and May

It has been more than a year since I last checked in here. After my mom's demise, I've been busy both at home and at work.  You can say I do miss this --- just as I missed my hooks and yarns.

Oh, it's May! I see my neighbors' children gathering flowers to bring to the chapel for Flores de Mayo (and thankful that my lilies outside our house were spared, as of today). I'd love to catch up with the last days of summer at the beach, and hoping I'd find time to say yes to some fiesta invites. Aside from summer and fiestas, it's Mom's month here in the Philippines. Here's an early greeting from me:  Happy Mom's Day to all moms out there! 

Speaking of moms, I miss my mom a lot, and my grandma too. I wouldn't have anything to share here if they didn't teach me how to sew and crochet at an early age.  I used to sit with my nanay (mom) and lola (grandmom) while they work with their hooks and yarns.

Since the hooks available here in our place are IMIAs, I've learned to work with it up to now.  I'm hoping to get better hooks soon. :)

Remembering Nanay and Lola.
Mom always supported my love for crafts.  In fact, she painstakingly kept all my beads organized by color, size and shape. And she kept my loose yarns around boards to prevent tangles.

Aside from my IMIAs, my nanay and lola left me with this.

I don't know what it's called but it is a flower-making tool. My Lola used to make motifs for table runners and covers.  This comes in sizes too. I have kept this one for more than 20 years now.

This tool is quite easy to use.  You simply wrap the yarn or crochet thread around the spokes, and sew around the center. 

Then you can press the spring (they remind me of polvoron molds) to release the flower. You can crochet around the flower any way you want to form a motif. 

I'm hoping to make a lot of this flower motif before May ends for a project.  

Till next my next post!

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baby, baby!

I have been really busy lately. Work tied me up in front of my PC for longer hours a day, and yet I couldn't find one sec to update this blog. I'm glad I still have a few finished projects I haven't shared with you before. These are for the little babes.

Little ballerina shoes for baby. I forgot to draw a diagram for this one.

This headband is knitted.  The flower is done in crochet. 

I miss my hooks! I wish I could start again after a few weeks. By the way, here's where I have been the past weekend. Relaxing to be away from the busy life for a while.

Sugarcane! And a road to the middle of nowhere. =)

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my first shrug

i finished this black shrug months ago.  this was my first try ever.  for this one, i used an unusual stitch i found while browsing the net.  for now, i'm still trying to figure out how to crochet and keep my dimensions correct.  this shrug, supposedly, should fit me.  but it didn't, haha!!!

no front views, though. my niece who modeled it for me is kinda shy. i should get me a mannequin.
happy weekend!

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little shop of happiness

For the past few months, I have been spending my days inside this little shop.  I personally call it my little shop of happiness - a place where i can explore my craft and share it with others.
 

 This is my niece, Fiona, playing with the wind chimes hanging on the entrance.  That's my "clutter" table in pink.

These crochet flower strings on my window are so homey to look at.

My first attempt at painting. :) 

These are just some of the bead earrings that I have been making.


See you at the store!

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Mobile Phone/Coin Purse

Hello again.

I have been making these purses for a while now.  These had been keeping me busy lately. 

This design was inspired by the crochet blankets that Lola Rose (my brother's mom-in-law who is so good at crochet too!) had been making.  Looking at it more closely, it resembles long and short stitches in embroidery.  Is there a name for this stitch?

I saw this pattern while surfing the net (I think it was on FB).  In fact, it was merely a scanned diagram from a magazine and uploaded on Facebook.  I decided to print it out. To my dismay, the diagram wasn't that clear and it was disappointingly so small that I had to use a magnifying glass just to count exactly how many chains and trebles were there.  I ended up with a diagram, resembling the one I printed out. Try after try (sigh!), i finally got to finish this purse. =)

  

This purse has a hand-sewn lining and zip.

For sure, I'll be making more of these. Happy crafting, everyone!

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