Welcome baby Kristine!

You'd think I would have had this card made and ready ages ago. I mean, I've known about this baby for a while now! But don't you think I threw it together right before leaving for my first visit? Go figure. Clearly, I could use some practice in planning ahead. Anyway, I grabbed my BG Wisteria paper pad and went to work. The lilacs in this set are just wonderful and I knew the recipients would like them. Misc flowers and bling, QK dragonfly and QK Frankie letters.

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The dragonfly on the front was inspired by this dragonfly pattern paper I used on the inside. Simple Spellbinder shapes frame the lovely "Welcome to the world" stamp from Stempelglede.

2/52: What a wonderful world

In the midst of all the madness and sorrow,

there happened the amazing miracle of life.

From deep grief to innocent bliss:

this has truly been a week of extremes.

OSLO

I have no words, no words to convey the shock and sorrow of yesterday's events.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by the terror.

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"People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are honest and sincere, people may decieve you.

Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others may destroy overnight.

Create anyway.

What good you do today, may often be forgotten.

DO GOOD ANYWAY."

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-Mother Theresa/Kent M. Keith-

1/52: Ignorance is bliss

The bubbles tickle, the steam rises and the rain falls gently,

and this is quite possibly the very best place in the world

to forget that summer vacation is almost over.
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Hey there, I'm back at it. Yep, here I go with another Project 52! The first one is completed and I like the idea of this thing continuing. I'll try to be a little more dilligent this year - it still takes some effort to keep shooting regularly and a Project 52 is a great help to do just that. Still working on the details, so for now, it's just going to be one shot from the previous week, no particular subject so far. We'll see what the year brings.

Oh, and for those of you wondering where all the cards went, they will hopefully make a grand comeback this fall when time and weather permits... :)

Beaded Vernal Equinox shawl

Some knitting projects are addictive. Really, really addictive! This is the Vernal Equinox shawl, knit in light blue DROPS Lace and beaded with silver-lined 6/0 clear seed beads. It was supposed to be a just-in-case knitting project, that I could bring when I couldn't work on other things. Haha... Famous last words. Once I started it was difficult to put it down, and when I started beading it was simply impossible! "Just one more row before bed" is a common statement, but when the rows are close to 500 stitches the hours are quickly lost. ;)
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I've done a few triangular and rectangular shawls, but this is the first time doing a semi-circle. Not sure if this qualifies as a half-pi? It was a strain to block, believe me! Getting all the distances and angles right took a lot more work than simply stretching out straight edges. Lacking blocking wires, I strung a strong cotton crochet thread through the stitches along the diameter line and pulled it tight to make a straight line, and it worked really well! It took 280 pins to block out the scalloped edge - every last pin I had and I still had to resort to safety pins and sewing needles for the last points. Post-blocking radius is ca 92 cm.

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After a bit of internal debate, I decided to bead the shawl although it wasn't designed for beading. I was afraid the beads would weigh the delicate shawl down too much, but even though there are 320 beads I estimate their weight to be no more than 5 grams. In comparison, the total yarn weight is pretty exactly 100 grams. I wanted a subtle effect, and subtle is what I got! Almost too subtle maybe? I don't think it would have hurt to add even more. A girl loves her glitter, right?

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When looked at from the front, you can hardly see the beads. They are strategically placed along the two dominant vertical lines in the pattern in the three last clues.

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But when the light hits the beads just right, the whole thing sparkles! It's very tricky to capture on camera. I've yet to try out the effect in a party setting, so I don't know exactly how strong the effect will be in real life. We'll see!

Details are also on my Ravelry page.

52/52: Fifty-two at thirty

Celebrations all around!

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So, my project comes to an end. 52 weeks, a year in pictures. Are they representative of my life? Well, yes and no. So much takes place that never makes it onto film (or rather, pixels). Quite a few weeks I was lazy and rarely picked up my camera. Sometimes I had so many pictures it was a pain to only choose one. I have found myself just sitting and looking at the set of pictures, at least the parts of the project where I was dilligent in my photography and had lots of good ones. Although I've spent a couple of Sunday evenings scrambling to get a shot off in time, I'm really glad I did this! It's been a kick in the behind to get the camera out more often. ;)

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And I guess the big question now is: do I do this for another year? Perhaps I should change the project parameters? Not blog them all, put them on a separate blog, choose a new topic, post several pictures if I have them and none when there are no good ones? I have many thoughts and few conclusions yet. We'll see. I think it's highly likely that I'll continue with another Project 52, but I'll probably mix up the details a bit from this year's project.

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Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Long long time ago...

A long long time ago, I used to make cards. Like this one, a wedding card that's been waiting patiently to be posted. And then some other projects engulfed me and the card making desk was loaded with more ane more stuff, and never tidied. Like Sleeping Beauty's castle, it's covered in an impenetrable wall of entangled stuff. I'm still waiting for the inspiration to tear down that wall and reveal a shiny, tidy desk that invites me to sit down and create something out of paper. Right now, in the middle of summer vacation and on the home stretch of a big big sewing project, I doubt it will happen any time soon. But some day, some day, I'll get around to it. Because I can feel the itch in my fingers now and then. As tactile as yarn and fabrics are, there's something uniqely wonderful about the smell of new paper...

51/52: Strawberry Fields Forever

Summer joy in a bowl: wild strawberries and forest blueberries.

My hands, stained a dark purple, bring back memories of summers long ago.

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Click here for more info on my Project 52.