Cluny doily started....needs.....practice

So, here’s the cluny pattern section I’ve been working on.

practice cluny sample

I still think I need more practice at cluny leaves. These were described by the designer as needing to be shuttle shaped. I’m thinkin’ they’re a bit more like celtic shuttles than the one I’m trying to work with! I just may repeat a bookmark pattern I enjoyed last year.

Cluny bookmark by Georgia Seitz

(thank you Georgia!)http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2010/clybkmk2.jpg 

 

Maybe that will help cement the technique and the current doily pattern will work out better? Hope, hope, hope

Chocolate bunny earrings

Ruth bunny earrings

Well, here they are:

Ready to wear.

I know they will bring lots of smiles. Thank you Ruth for sharing your pattern with all of us!

flower petals ready to be assembled

Well, I think I have a good set of clunys to assemble into my poinsettia. I won’t show you the ones that were “binned”. (I think the Brits have a good expression there!) At any rate, I will be setting these aside for a day…..or so…..before assembling. And, of course, no photo of the complete flower here. At least not until I hear back from the folks that run the TATprograms.

cluny petals for a poinsettia

Now, on to the doily with cluny parts. No wires needed for those.

Of Spring and bunnies

My thoughts are on spring today. Last night a storm blew in and gave us some rain. We needed it! Unfortunately, the timing may not be great for the fruit trees. I hope the bees had a chance and the fruit has set. We’ll see in a few months.

Ruth's Tatted Easter Bunny

Currently, the non-fruiting plum outside my window is in bloom. The blossoms look so bright! And the pink matches the thread I used to try out Ruth’s Tatted Easter Bunny.

I had great fun and plan to do a chocolate version with the Fudge thread from Handy Hands. Now to get out to the garden to weed now that the soil is moistened up!

close, so close

I asked what you thought of the different cluny technique. So far, no one has weighed in. Well, I think I could use both techniques; just need to play a bit more to see what I like about each one.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on the knitting board. I’m so close! When I get this close to the end of a project, I have to be quite firm with myself. I tend to rush and make all sorts of sloppy errors. So, I will be careful in the last few rows.

weekend accomplishments

What a weekend. It actually was a 3 day weekend; we included Friday in our errands/yard work time. To recap:

Sold a car

Pruned the roses and honeysuckle
Spiffed up the trumpet vine and a boogie
Tried to figure out if the lantana and cherry tree will survive.

Our treat: a fresh orange picked and eaten while still warm from the sun. mmmmmmmmmm

Still to happen:

Revive the lawn

Replace the shrubs that hide our “reused” bricks (necessary for curb appeal)
Weed the bed of oxalis

Now, if the oxalis that grew in our yard looked as lovely as this , I wouldn’t be so keen on eradicating it. But, alas, ours is the yellow version that doesn’t smell nice, grows from miniscule corms that break off from the stems, and spreads faster than dandelions! Hopefully, the predicted rain will make weeding next weekend more productive. Well, one can hope, right?

I’m off to finish the poinsettia. I rather like how the leaves are shaping up. Unfortunately, I can already tell my photography skill, or lack thereof, will not be up to sharing a picture of the finished bloom. Sorry.

a cluny technique to explore

I recently came across an intriguing idea: use wire to shape the outer parts of a cluny. Here’s what I came up with:

cluny leaf



cluny with floral wire

 

 

 

 

The one in gold without any white showing is completed with just thread using a loom, no wire or stabilizer help. The one in gold with white showing is completed using a loom and covered floral wire (in white).

Now, I’m not a crafter (just ask the Girl Scout troop I worked with); I don’t do flowers (silk or live); and this is size 10 thread (a bit larger than I like to use). Personally, I like the way the one with wire holds the shape, I just have to learn to deal with the wire. What do you think?