Crafting In The Age Of Covid

Pandecrafts 

Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia. - Charles Schulz

To date, Day 223 PE (Pandemic Era) since lockdown and now-limited outings except for essential work and activity...

   I've finished Netflix's entire movie offerings, new and old. 

   I've been eating double bowls of ramen and taking three naps.

   I've been shopping HomeGoods and thrift shops via YouTube.  

Yup, that's me. It's getting to be pretty boring. But I've resolved to be productive with the shelter-in-place time on my hands.

BY.CRAFTING.TILL.I.DROP.

Herein revealed are my creations using materials I already had on hand.

Exhibit A (left): Framed Anatolyan kilim needlepoint with yarn feather tassels. It hangs in the master bath. 

Below, Exhibit B (left): Anatolyan kilim needlepoint centerpiece and Exhibit C (right): Macrame (on a formerly thrifted wrought-iron plaque) above our bed headboard.

 

Exhibit D (above): Navajo-design needlepoint coasters.

Below, Exhibit E (left): Cross stitched tribal and crocheted mudcloth-design pillow covers and Exhibit F (right): Tabletop moss garden on an RH-duped pedestal bowl.

And just in, Exhibit G (right): Fall wreath. 

These projects get the A Craft A Day Keeps The Crazy Away Award.

I just saw the sun peeking through the October sky. The day is looking brighter, inspiring me to yet create another craft. I have some discarded curtain rods - to frame a canopy for the kids' top bunk bed, perhaps? ... if I can remember where I put the rods.

The point?

Keep calm and craft on.

Sometimes we already have what we need to make a project. Given enough glue sticks, we can rule the world. We just need a little creativity and balmy fall days.

Good thing there are plenty of those on the horizon.

Dream Catcher

Weavings

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it;

if you can dream it, you can become it. - Anonymous

This set of lit-up dream catchers.

Seriously.

A bunk bed headwall has never looked more festive.

In Native American culture, a dream catcher is a handmade willow hoop on which a web is woven and adorned with beads and feathers.

Hung above the bed, it allows good dreams to pass through and float down to sleeping children. Bad dreams, however, are caught in the web and disappear.

I have enough craft supplies to make this hanging ornament for the entire population of the city, but I made only three. 

One for each of the precious littles in our life who were coming for a summer visit.

The project was really easy. If I were to rank its difficulty by Netflix movies...

You know.

     A one-Netflix movie project.

     A two-Netflix movie project.

This craft? It took about a fourth of a Netflix movie to complete.

Here was how I made it.

Wrap yarn around an embroidery hoop. From there, tie any number of thicker yarn in a desired pattern from one point of the hoop's circumference and across. Or use a small crocheted doily for its center, attaching it in star-pattern to the circular edges. 

Tie tassels with beads and feathers. Add fairy lights.

That was IT.

I was done.

This plain, white, blank wall twinkled with giggles and whispers and cushion fights and drawing and playing with LPS-es and lazy afternoons and eating unlimited snacks under the bunk on those delightful summer days.

Meanwhile, downstairs around the dining table, their Moms with Hubby and me gathered and talked. Just like so many years ago.

It was my best summer ever.

I give this project the Best of Times Award because it beckons with the promise that you can catch your dream...

Of being surrounded with loved ones - precious grandchildren and treasured daughters.

All at one time.

(To be continued)

Pom Pom Festooned Curtain

Weavings

Okay. This was the easiest how-to-make-a-Walmart-sheer-curtain-look-festive project.  

Ever. 

I simply added ribbons and pom poms.

You may have seen this craze that has hit Blogland and Pinterestville. Tassels and pom poms are on the ends of blankets, corners of throw pillows, used as earrings, accessorized on handbags, and pretty much hanging from anything and everything you can hang something from. 

For the record, I have been a supporter of this trend. (I said so in the previous blog, remember?)

It was easy.

Simply wrap enough yarn around your hand. Gently pull the yarn off of your hand, wrap another piece around its center. Tie tightly to secure, cut up both sides. 

Now comes the fun part.

Fluff and trim it until you have something that resembles a ball. Be careful not to give it too much of a haircut or your pom pom will simply be a 'pom.'

And, Voila! Done.

Now, with pops of pastel pink, yellow, blue, and green fluffy balls festooned on the window curtain, the room (the grandkids', actually) looks fresher.

Younger.

Like a party just waiting to happen.

I give this project the Super Cute Pom Pomy Award.  

(To be continued)

Moroccan Wedding Throw

Weavings

Have you ever seen something and become obsessed and think about it all the time?

I have, on all three counts.

For me, it was a Moroccan Berber wedding blanket.

The handira (for that is what it is called) is woven out of sheep's wool, cotton, and linen. It is traditionally made by the wife-to-be and her female relatives. The blanket is used throughout the wedding ceremony and ultimately as the blanket the couple sleeps under on their first night of being husband and wife. Afterwards, the wife will wear it around her like a cape while traveling to her new home.

My heart beat a little faster when I saw one in a souk market in Marrakesh. I loved the look of neutral colors interspersed with bits of sequins and sparkles.

Except.

Except that it was pricey, starting from at least 1200 dirham (about $327) for a five-by-eight-foot blanket, and go up to 3200 Dh depending on the quality and intricacy of its design.

In my vocabulary, that was a cost equivalent to an arm and a leg and maybe a few other extremities.

But could I CREATE it myself?!!

And the answer?

It’s a wonderful, incredible, resounding YES.

Yes, my friend... YES, YOU CAN!

I looked at Pinterest pictures. And planned. And plotted how to climb the craft challenge mountain. And finally figured out how to make a dupe. 

By latch hooking. 

For those who may not be familiar with this craft, it is a simple process of tying short segments of yarn to the horizontal strands of a canvas grid. Emulating a Pottery Barn pattern, I latched brown diamond shapes and hooked vertical black segments and added pom poms. (I've designated myself the president of the Original Pom Pom Club, as you will learn in the next blog.) 

It was a project I poured every little bit of my heart into for about five months or so.

And then?

Incredibly.

Awesomely.

….I emerged victorious and showed that craft who was boss.

This throw gets the 'You Got This, Girl!' Award.

(To be continued)

Tribal Throw

Weavings

It’s like October showed up and bit me with the crafting bug. 

Suffice it to say I am all about crafting right now. Needlework, latch hooking, weaving. Anything that uses yarn and floss. Capturing designs that I love. Folk, tribal, ethnic.

In this series, meet my completed projects from months past and present, each given its unique award. 

First off, this throw.

It's really old. 

This handicraft got started way back when I was channeling the fun, sweet vibe of the early 90's with a medium bob and butterfly-clipped bangs and a dress with extra big shoulder pads matched by colored tights from Marshall's.

My pursuit started out as a blank canvas. I loved the concept. A loose weave monk's fabric. Bordered within were twenty squares that could be embellished with cross-stitched or latch hooked depictions.

Painstakingly, I filled each space with an image - of an inuit fish, Aztec and Mayan ornaments and statues, a Hopi spirit being, a Navajo kachina figure, and various other designs that expressed the natural beauty of tribal cultures.

Then, life happened. My needlework endeavor got stashed. 

Recently, I reached back for it (actually, accidentally found it while looking for my ceramic pumpkin in the basement). And it showed up. With ten out of its total twenty areas completed. (Aside: Good that I had spread out the images, so the open spaces looked intentional.)

I did update it with an inscription, come and sit a spell (also the title of this year's July series, as you may remember).

To me, it looks sufficient overall. 

A reminder of the good old days of cross-stitching enthusiasm. 

I give this throw the Was-Lost-But-Now-Am-Found Award.

(To be continued)

Yellow Unicorn

Fantasy

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child.

There are seven million. - Walt Streightiff

I love the creativity and incredible genius that little hands can bring into being.

Just take a look at this drawing by First Granddaughter.

I Drew A Yellow Unicorn. First Granddaughter. 2020.

It invites you to look up the sky where three furry fish are flying upside-down and bees as big as basketballs are buzzing through.

Underneath, the magic and mystery of an octopus dressed in plaid, a carrot flying a kite, and a camel wearing a crown come to life. To their right, a green rhinoceros floats on the breeze.

Her vision is a colorful paradise where miniature, blue spaghetti trees grow and penguins wear pajamas.

It is a world filled with a marching caravan of a purple-spotted pig, a yellow polka-dotted unicorn, and a seven-legged elephant walking on the tips of its toes.

What a view!

Her teacher, shown to the right of the unicorn, applauds the imaginative artwork, It's beautiful!

First Granddaughter said her teacher was right.

I agree.

It's a masterpiece in which the heart of an artist pulses with vibrancy and exuberance. It's a joyous invitation to view ordinary things around us with a complete suspension of disbelief and eyes wide with awe.

I know days ahead can be busy. Everything is kind of crumbling in front of our eyes. But my wish for us is a moment to unwind. 

   To behold the miracle of the earth wobbling on elephant back.

   To indulge our curiosity and spin a ghoulish tale.

   To be mesmerized by a gyrating snake.

   To get lost in the garden of our mind with the wonder of a child.

Whirling Cobra

Fantasy

The buzz in Marrakech's central square was like the humming of flies.

A crowd of onlookers had begun to gather, happy to form a  circle around the commotion - that of a turbaned snake charmer wearing earrings and a necklace of beads. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of a closed basket.

I stared hypnotized, as if I was soon going to be a witness to a secret ritual, because I knew what was in the basket.

He removed the lid, then began playing a flute-like instrument made from a pungi gourd. The music struck up softly at first. There was something comfortable, almost soothing about it. Then full and high, it started vibrating in the air. 

As if drawn by the tune, a cobra, extending its hood, eventually emerged from the container. It swirled about, its tongue flicking and nudging.

I was swept away.

It was as if I had fallen asleep in between two moments and awakened inside a dream. 

I allowed myself to slide into the fantasy. 

For now, this was my enchanted moment - full of spells and smell of sandalwood and dreams and magic.

And a whirling cobra.