Hand lettering practice

They say dreams do come true. I dreamed of gold and blue and so here they are on my postcards during my hand lettering practice. They also say practice makes perfect. But I do not aim for perfection because there is no such thing as perfect.

I wish you all a lovely day. And yes, continue doing what you love.

The day I said goodbye to the tiniest things

I used to day dream a lot with my miniatures. At one time, one of my 11.5 inch dolls was having a picnic with my handmade clay croissants and crocheted bread linens. Before I shipped them all back to my hometown, I took a few photos just to relieve me. Now those tiny things are all over my niece's toy "store" which is how she calls it.

I don't know if it makes sense to start collecting and making miniatures again. But it did bring me joy whenever I give life into tiny things from my imagination. Sometimes I think I am too childish but then you'd be surprise that those who are most serious with the tiniest things are those with a thumb bigger than my toe.

Doodling

Apparently I have found new love in painting and writing. I cannot quite call it calligraphy yet because I do not the rules. Doodling is probably a safer word to call it at this point. Nonetheless, I love how I can control the brush now in a way so different than I used to.

I am currently spending more time with brushes, paints and inks, and giving more appreciation to my current stock of student quality art materials. I do not need very expensive stuff right now. As long as I see the colors bleed and blend, I am happy.

Blue granny square bag

I have to admit that one Instagram photo of a project can be enough but why am I still blogging about it here? It's because it can be so easy to get lost in a feed. I am obviously resharing that photo of the blue bag I made. The project started on a plane en route from Singapore to Dubai. There were obviously so many other things to do on a Singapore Airlines flight like logging on to the Internet though not for free or watching movies on the digital box but I still could not resist the hook.

For this project I've used different types of leftover yarns such as combed cotton and acrylic blend. The bag string is made of vintage style cotton lace then I lined it with muslin and handsewn a zipper for the closure. The pattern is a modified granny square since the yarn weights were different and original pattern pattern only had three rows so adjustments had to be made.

The pattern on the other side of the bag is different. I like asymmetry a lot because it makes handmade pieces unique. I usually give away bags I crochet but this is too pretty to give up. It can carry my passport and wallet so that comes in quite handy.

The case of the crochet throw pillow case

Just before I was about to finish my crochet throw pillow case, I thought I have bumped into a design flaw. I have not researched enough about weaving edges of the pillowcase. Most of the suggestions are buttons or zipper but I decided to just make a long chain and weave the edge so it would not be very visible. I am happy with the result and the throw pillow with the crochet case is happily sitting in our home.

The project was completed with just six different colors of a 40-gram acrylic yarn and a D/3 aluminum crochet hook. I cannot quite figure out the yarn weight but on the label it was recommended to use a 3.5 mm hook so I am quite close. A common granny square pattern was used and repeated across the entire area enough to cover the throw pillow. In this case, it was about 48 cm x 48 cm. I am getting a little technical but it is always better to have a record of the project just in case I want to make another one like it.

Projects like these does consume time and it can be a little challenging to the attention span because the pattern is repetitive. It is good to have other projects in parallel to switch to just in case you need some variation. Speaking of parallel projects, there was one blue bag I had also finished but will be blogging about later.

Weekend Project: Candy-colored crochet purse

Even my weekends at home are packed because I am that kind of person who never gets bored because I have tons of things to do -- crafting is one.

Here's a crochet purse I came up with based on a round motif pattern of mostly treble stitches. I finished it off by binding two circles with singles and chains. The colors are inspired by one of the crochet thread balls and then added complementary pinks and blues. If you are not sure which colors to choose, review your color wheel or better yet, visit your candy shop.

And before I forget, the button is also stitched using a thicker cord since the plastic buttons came in a little late.