Italian Dragon

Italian Dragon
Originally uploaded by sukigirl74

This dragon sat above a busy street corner in Venice. I stood and watched the crowds as they passed this corner and almost no one looked up, they simply walked by without noticing this lovely creature.

I was never at this corner at night but I imagine that
the umbrellas are street lamps.

Italian Door knocker

DSC01237
Originally uploaded by sukigirl74

I love European door knockers and this is one of my favourites so far!
It is from a lovely town called San Gimignano in Tuscany and was one of a pair which hung on a set of huge wooden doors.
A while back I posted this one, also Italian.

Italian women

Tomorrow I'm headed to my favourite place in the world...Italy.
I started thinking about some of the women I have seen there.

This is Galatea, the sea nymph who I also visited here in France.

This is one of the many beautiful Annunciation paintings.
 

A beautiful door knocker...

I hadn't realized, until my good friend Colt-pixy told me,
that this is probably Medusa.
Obviously this is not meant as a welcome.

This woman is glazed into a small tile.

Frenchy bag...Amy Butler

I'm totally in love with my new bag.

It's the first bag that I've sewn and the first time I've used Amy Butler fabric and there's no turning back now!

A couple months ago I literally dusted off my old sewing machine to make my niece some bibs for her new baby. It felt so good sewing those few items that I thought why not try something else. So I went on flickr and naively searched 'sewing' thinking that a few hundred results would pop up......more like 250,000!

One style of bag caught my eye, the Frenchy bag, and by coincidence it was a pattern made by, no other than Amy Butler.
It is a wonderfully well designed pattern and I found it very easy to put together, I'd recommend it for anyone who has some sewing experience.

A smaller handbag version is also included in the pattern and I'm definitely looking forward to sewing it.
Fabric names: green nouveau trees from her midwest modern collection and blue gothic rose from her Belle collection.

Second afghan

I finished the second one.
Exactly the same except this one has a larger border.
I'm afraid to say it but I am very tired of making these guys!

Japanese pouch

Japanese pouch
Originally uploaded by sukigirl74

I’ve been meaning to post this little Japanese pouch (made from a kit) for ages.

It is basically a crocheted hat-like roof

with three pieces of felt (2 circles and 1 long rectangle) that form the base.

Then some basic embroidery and a zipper.
The roof is stuffed; the base isn’t and forms the pouch for coins.

There are tons of permutations (yes I enjoyed math as a kid)…substitute knitting for crochet, fabric for yarn, hand felted instead of acrylic, etc.
If you make the base higher and insert a can you would have a cute container…
the roof would form the lid.

I’m thinking of making one that has no bottom and is unstuffed and larger and would fit over a teapot.
Voila….a teacosy.
Or make it smaller and pop it over a soft boiled egg to make an egg cosy
(how cute would that be!).

You can make it as simple or complicated as you like.
I hope it gives you ideas and please let me know what you think.

The Luxembourg Garden in Paris

I saw this lovely fountain in the Luxembourg Garden
in Paris and instantly fell in love with it.
Who were these lovers and why was the god
who hovered above them unhappy
....no doubt he wanted her for himself.
A little research and I found out a few things...

The god was in fact not a god, but a cyclop
named Polypheme who was
indeed in love with the lovely sea-nymph Galatea.
But Galatea, as fate would have it,
only had eyes for Acis and the
giant Polyphemus pushed a boulder, killing Acis.
In sorrow Galatea
turned her dead lover's blood into the river Acis.

A little French window shopping

A little French window shopping
Originally uploaded by sukigirl74

Aren't these lovely! So feminine and so French.

I found these in a window of a little shop
in southern France.
Maybe one day I'll actually get the nerve to wear something as beautiful as this.

Inspiration from France

One wonderful thing about traveling is that it slightly shifts your view of the world and inspires all sorts of wonderful ideas!

One of those inspirations has become my new addiction.
French magazines
Today's ideas come courtesy of Mari-Claire Idees June/08 issue.
This was the one magazine I wanted and
as far as I know they are not available in Canada.

The title of the article is "Rouge comme une tomate".
In English "Red like a tomato".
This mosaic watering can makes me want to get my tiles
out and get back into mosaics. Beautiful!

And look at this bag. The variations are endless!
All you need is some beautiful fabric and then add some embroidery.

Next is a beautiful kitchen cupboard made with a combination
of decoupaged and painted images.
You could come up with all sorts of variations on this theme.

And my favourite is a beautiful linen covered binder to hold your recipes.
Most of the details are done in embroidery but what I love most is the tomato.
It looks like it is layered fabric sewn down in strips to
create a three dimensional effect!

Coffee with Stan Marsh

Stan is the last image that I need to finish before
putting my second South Park afghan together.

I sit with him most mornings,
sharing a small table by the back door
with a cappuccino in hand.
I like quiet in the mornings
and he is silent for the moment since
I haven't yet made his mouth,
which makes him good company.

Gifts for baby Jasmine

Clock made from a book

Jasmine (my nephew's daughter) is 6 weeks old and she needs something cool for her bedroom wall. With this in mind I decided to make her a clock from one of my favourite books
Where the Wild Things Are.

I used this excellent tutorial.
I had originally thought that I could find a second-hand copy of the book but, when I couldn't, I had to buy a new copy. The hardest part was cutting into this beautiful book but when I made the decision to cut out and save the inside pages for another project it became a little easier, but only a little easier. Originally I wanted to add numbers but I like the look of it uncluttered.

I also crocheted her a bib from the book
Baby Crochet by Lois Daykin.
By the way, the top edge is only wonky in the picture.
I'd take a better pic but it's not in my hands anymore.




I found some cute Peter Rabbit material and sewed some
reversible bibs from this tutorial.

The power of the bib

Such a simple cute project so what's the deal?

For some strange reason I can't get myself to pick up the hook and 'Just do it!' (Pattern from baby crochet)

The Imposter is surrounded

Fred questions his costume choice for the
New Year's Eve Ball.
It's difficult being a tape measure.

All hail the Queen

Toronto has some very cool neighbourhoods
and Queen St West is one of them.

I first discovered it when I was checking out one of the best yarn stores in the city......Romni Wools. On my first visit there I mention to the woman who is helping me that I am a crocheter. 'Wait for it." I say to myself. Usually this c word elicits a reaction of discomfort from clerks. Think of me as Julia Roberts walking into that posh clothing store in Pretty Women. But no...without skipping a beat she is showing me all sorts of goodies

Walk further down the street, past the ladies dancing in the window in their lingerie (another post), and past the sweet aroma coming from the coffee shop Niche, and you will find the lovely textile store of mac Fab. I have found out that they sell Amy Butler fabric and after seeing all the beautiful things people are making with her fabric I decide to take the plunge and buy some to make pillows.

Next ....... The Paper Place.
What can I say...the papers are incredibly beautiful! I end up choosing some cards and envelopes in greens and greys and I also pick up this cute Japanese kit. It is a small purse in the shape of a domed house. The roof is to be crocheted and the yarn is the so soft and from Japan. The bottom part is wool felt. I can't wait to make it up...I can see myself making up some variations of these!

There were so many other shops to visit: Bakka the sci-fi bookstore (DH's favourite), great places to eat (Rosebud, Terroni's), a heavenly bakery, and lots more. I'm looking forward to going back and checking out their great clothing stores where most of the clothes are reconstructed items made with vintage material. Sweet!

South Park Afghan

Bet you never knew that the south park boys
were on Hollywood Squares.

This past year I learned to crochet, so I naively thought that it would be a piece of cake to create the boys from south park. I had to learn how to do tunisian crochet, how to chart an image, how to change colours, and how to put this all together into an afghan. It took me a while but I finally finished it and now I am working on a second one for my other son.

Here is a quick overview of how I made it.
First choose your images... You can search online for ones or draw your own.Either way save them to your computer.
Next go to this very cool site
http://www.microrevolt.org/knitPro/
and upload your images. Pick the size of chart that you want and also whether you intend to knit, crochet, needlepoint or cross stitch your image (tick off knit if you are going to use tunisian crochet). Then print off your charts...it is that easy! I used tunisian crochet to create my images and a combination of sc and twisted trc for the background blocks.
More questions...just let me know!

Link to amigurumi Butters
Link to amigurumi Cartman
Link to amigurumi Kenny