Fibre Art Jewellery

I've been making fibre art jewellery lately and thought you might like to see some.

This is a blue cotton and red button flower pin brooch. I can make them in different colours and sizes. They look great jazzing up a little black dress or on a casual outfit. They also make beautiful hair band decorations.

This is a freeform turquoise and silver necklace I created a while ago. It took me a long time of laying out the individual discs until I was satisfied with the shape of it before sewing them all together to get this asymmetric necklace. It is a one off as it is made from vintage cotton sparkle yarn that cannot be purchased any more. I love how it has turned out. It is a real statement piece. 

When I was a little girl my dad liked to play tennis and he would take me and my big sister with him to the grass courts at his work and we would sit on the sidelines eating picnics, playing at being ball-girls and making daisy chains together. This is my first attempt to make daisy chains from yarn. I will be having another go and this time I think I will get some yellow pompoms to put in the middle so they look more daisy like.

I hope you like them. I will be working on more in the coming months.

Facebook Find... Mister Finch

I found Mister Finch via a link on a friends Facebook likes section and Oooooo how I love his work. I just had to put it up on the blog for you all to see.

Mister Finch is from Leeds in the UK. I think his work is imaginative and beautiful. He is quite evidently interested in and influenced by nature, but his works have a fantasy quality too and I think it is that which attracts me to them so much. He describes himself as "a self taught male textile artist", and I think Textile Art is a great term for what he makes. His mixture of vintage and modern fabrics interests me, as well as his use of textures. I like the tea wash he puts on the pieces to age them. The effect reminds me of the pieces of vintage linen that I have inherited from my Welsh Grand Mother.

You can find more of Mister Finch's work on his website, Etsy, Facebook, Tumblr and Flickr. It really is worth a look.

Hooping Workshop - Swansea UK

The lovely Dawn Roberts of Circadian Fitness Dance Studio, Swansea, has invited me to teach a 2 hour beginner/intermediate workshop Saturday 9th February 2013 12-2pm. The tickets are limited to 12 and are selling fast, so if you fancy an afternoon of wiggletastic fun and learning you need to book your ticket very soon.




Level: Beginners/intermediate
Price: £15 per person
Teacher: Lynne Davies
Date: 9th Feb 2013
Time: 12-2pm
Venue:Circadian Fitness Dance Studio, Mond Buildings, Union Street, Swansea. SA1 3DN

 This 2 hour workshop is perfect for complete beginners through to people wanting to advance their hoop skills past the basics. We will be covering core body and off the body moves, arm and leg hooping and generally having fun. Individuals will be shown moves to suit their abilities. If you have your own hoop please bring it along, if not I will have workshop hoops of various sizes for you to borrow. Book now as there are only 12 places. Come and have an afternoon of wiggletastic fun!

This course is now full.

Look Who Needs Adopting

Let me introduce you to Sir Tarquin Mortimer-Finknottle. He is a gentlemen art doll monster, who has fallen upon hard times. This stately blue woollen knitted monster has been used to the finer things in life. He was born into a long dynasty of land owning, massive manor living, country monsters. He had all the best toys, the finest education and everything a young monster could wish for. Sadly, when Tarquin's father passed away and Tarquin inherited the title, the land and the manor house it became very apparent that the family was bankrupt and that the new lord of the manor was going to have to sell everything to pay off the debts. All he has left is his top hat, monocle and purple handlebar moustache. This means that the new Sir Mortimer-Finknottle is homeless and looking for person to adopt him. Could that be you?

This monster to me many hours to make. He has a hand knitted 100% wool skin, that once completed was washed and felted down. He then has his eyes attached and sewn in place before he was stuffed. He then spent a very long time sitting on the shelf in my work room whilst I waited for him to tell me his life story, so I could style him. 

It took some time to decide how he should look, as originally I believed he should be wearing a lot of clothes, but after making him some and putting them on him it just felt wrong. The only part of the clothing that stayed was his top hat. The top hat was also knitted and felted down in the same way I make all my mini top hats and then sewn in place. After sitting on the shelf for what seems like an age it suddenly occurred to me he needed a big handlebar moustache. Once that was in place it was obvious he should have a monocle. Now he is finished and looking for his forever home. I hope you like him. He was created with lots of care and love.

New products at the Pirate Pixie Crew

Today I listed a new item in my shop. It's a mini journal or notebook. It has a lovely soft forest green recycled leather binding that wraps around it's unlined multicoloured paper pages, which protects them when the book is in your pocket or bag. It was designed that way, so you can carry it around with you, a portable journal. It has a contrasting purple lace thread to tie the binding securely shut. To see more photos and details, please click the photographs.

  I can make these journals in other sizes and colours if you wish. Please contact me with details to get a quote.

Finding Fabulous on Facebook!

I have to confess I spend way too much time on Facebook, but I have the excuse that it is for the Pirate Pixie Crew and Hyperloop Hoops  pages. Well Today I stumbled upon a fantastic Jewellery maker Simona Chytil who trades as Studio Swoon. Her work has simple yet perfect lines and I wanted to share some of it here with you.

The sterling silver Cloud pendant on silk cord catches the light, giving it  earthy feel.

These yellow gold, white gold and sterling silver Stack Rings have such a stunning soft colour combination.

 

Beautiful texture in this sterling silver and 9ct yellow gold Galaxy ring. 

I so would love these sterling silver Cicada Wings on this silk cord. They make me smile. 

I like the simplicity of these little sterling silver stack rings.  

 

Beautiful sterling silver Butterfly Wings on vibrant coloured silk cord.

If you are liking Simona's work as much as I am you can see more of it on her website. You can also find out much more about the woman behind this beautiful Jewellery on the same site.

Written by Lynne

Pirate Pixie Crew

Hyperloop Hoops 

Kitties!

As some of you might already know, I am a massive cat fan and have lived with cats most of my life. In fact I think the longest amount of time I have been living without one is approximately a year. I thought in honour of the lovely kitties around the world I would make a collection of handmade, painted and photographed kitties. I hope you like them.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

  Curated By: PiratePixieCrew

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

I've been making more ragdolls. This time cats!

 Squircle the ragdoll cat.

 Close up of Squircle's face.

 Squircle's Paw.

Squircle and Spike

These cats can be made in a variety of colours and more will appear in the shop in the coming weeks. If you have a particular colour you would like one making in, please get in contact to let me know what you would like.

Meow!

It is Wimbeldon Fortnight...

...and in honour of that I have made something that is traditionally served at the event... no not balls.
STRAWBERRIES!

Amigurumi Strawberry

If you would like year round strawberries that never go off then these amigurumi creations are just the job. You can look at them in the depths of Winter, to remind you that Summer is not so far away with it's promise of yummy fresh seasonal fruits.

If Strawberries aren't your favourite, you can contact me and request a different fruit. I love commission orders.

The Bunnies Are Coming

In May I joined in with my Fibre Arts Guild Challenge of "Childhood Toys" and I made a Pirate Ragdoll Bunny.

It was a bit of a rush for me to get him finished in time, so his clothing was a little bit rough and ready, but over all I liked him so much and so many people asked me about him that I decided to make a few more bunnies.

The green faced pink floral bunny came hot off the sewing machine a couple of days ago and as soon as I posted pictures of her on my facebook page she was sold. I never even got a chance to list her in my Pirate Pixie Crew ArtFire Shop. 

I think I better get the sewing machine fired up again tomorrow and make more bunnies! Once I have a few more made up, then I'll start designing proper clothes for them.

I hope you like them!

UPDATE

More Ragdoll Rabbits have been made and are now available in my shop

Grannies knew what the were doing!

For the last few months my M.E. has been making me have to stay fairly still. I started to feel a bit trapped in my bed and on my sofa. I wasn't able to go out shopping for gorgeous yarn, or play with my hula hoops in the garden, so I was doing most of my yarn shopping online and instead of hooping my self, watching hoop videos of friends showing me all their new moves. Not great, but it helped to prevent me from feeling blue about being stuck in the house. Shopping for yarn online can be a bit hit and miss, as you don't get to touch the yarn to test it for softness or weight, so I made a few mistakes, but.....

In January a lovely lady Called Anne, ordered a custom made hood, based on the Shades of Blue Hood I have in my shop. She wanted a different colour way, so we searched online for a yarn she liked the colours of and this was the resultant hood.

I loved the yarn so much I purchased more and whilst trying to decide what to make with it, I got the urge to crochet granny squares with left over yarn from other things I had made in the past. Very soon it occurred to me that not many of the squares really looked all that good together as the colours of some of the squares just jarred the eye when sat next to each other. Then it dawned on me that squares made of this beautiful multicoloured self patterning yarn would look fabulous, so.....

I now have 105 squares, and a full 100g ball yet to be turned into squared. I just can't decide what colour yarn to use to connect them all together. I'm going to put  rows of single stitch crochet between the squares to connect them all up, so each one is framed. I just can't decide on a colour. People have suggested jade, orange, magenta, dark purple, grey, white and dark blue... but I still think black would make the colours pop most, but is black going to look a bit too goth when there are so many purples in the squares? Hmmmm... Time to have a good think whilst I turn the last 100g of yarn into more squares.

Win A Monster Of Your Own!

In thanks to all those that have liked my Pirate Pixie Crew Facebook Page already and in the hope of getting a whole lot more people to come and like my page I and going to give you the chance to win a custom made Monster. Each monster is free knitted and individual and if you are the lucky winner you will be able to choose the colour of your monster and have input in his/her design as he/she gets made. The monster will be a medium sized one... approximately the size of Captain Strongy Von Strong.

HOW TO WIN

1. Like the Pirate Pixie Crew Page
2. Open the "Win A Monster Of Your Own" photo Album. 
3. Share a monster pictures from this file on your wall. To do this, all you need to do is click the photo and when it opens click the word "Share" that is on the side, or under the photo and type the comment "I Love @Pirate Pixie Crew Monsters" in the share box and post it to your wall. 
4. Post under the photo to say you have shared it. 

 When the page hits 1000 likes, all the names of the people that have shared pictures will be entered into a prize draw. The more times you share, the more times your name will go in the draw. The winner will be announced on the page and contacted privately so that they can choose a colour for their monster to be made in.

Get sharing and good luck!

More new goodies in my shops

Just a quick post to show you a few of the new items in my shop on Artfire. It's a mixed selection of knitted and crochet goodies.

This is Pervival the Owl. He is looking for someone to adopt him and take him on adventures.

In an attempt to get children to like vegetables I've been making amigurumi carrots. They will come with instructions on how to grow your own carrots. Learn, grow and love.

Amara and Udo are mother and son monsters that originate from Nigeria. They have travelled far in the search for a new home.

Shamus is modelling the latest Pirate Pixie Crew hat. When you own a hat from the PPC you become a crew member. Captain Skulduggery Dug is always looking for more members to join!

This is a pretty little crochet clutch bag so that you can take all the essentials with you when you go out. Phone, check, keys, check, lipstick, check... good to go!

And finally, the Pebbles... all seven of them. They are so sweet and all they want is a new home where they can make friends.

Thanks for stopping by!