photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I ‘ve been thinking

that you could make

great little bog coats

from Origami Paper,

to use as Christmas ornaments.

Fold a square

of origami or

other decorative paper

in half.

(Note that you

can use a square

of any size that you want).

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Now,

open the

square of paper up

and fold it

in half

again,

top to bottom.

bog-coat-origami photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Open the

paper up

and fold

the top edge

to the center

line.

The top section

is going to

become the sleeves.

bog-coat-origami photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Open it up again

and fold the side

edges to the

center.

This will

create the

center front opening

of the bog coat, as

well as the side edges

of the coat or jacket.

I drew  lines on

the paper

so you could

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

see  which

fold lines

you’ll need

to cut to complete

the bog jacket.

Black dotted lines

are folds,

and the red lines

are the cutting lines.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

You can see now

that the lines are

snipped, how

the folds

form the shape

of the jacket or coat.

Isn’t that clever?

People have done

this for thousands of years.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

If it was made in

cloth, you would

stitch the

underarm seams,

and across the fronts

of the jacket to join

the upper sections.

But, since this is paper,

all you need

by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

is a couple of

snippets of paper

and some glue,

and Voila!

You have made

a very cute

little bog coat

to hang on the

Christmas tree,

or glue to a card,

or  to embellish

in lots of fun ways…. I’ll post some of them soon, so stay tuned!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Well…. I didn’t  think that the buttons were hideously ugly…. just kind of

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

hopelessly kitschy.

I certainly wouldn’t

have bought them….

but the upcycler in

me just could not

resist the challenge.

I wondered if I could ever use the buttons in a reasonable way.

Hmmm… I could cover them with fabric, if worst came to worst…

This evening, I was looking for something else, and found the poor much maligned buttons.

I thought…. why don’t I use a flower from my flower looms and a little spool knitting and make a flower doll?

Why not indeed?

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

So, I spool knitted

2 cords- an 8 inch one

and a 4 inch one.

And, I took one

of the flowers

that I had previously

made with my flower loom,

and plugged in my

hot glue gun.

I don’t usually use a hot glue gun in doll making, but, I was feeling kind of , ‘ah, what the heck’- so, what the heck?

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

First,I glued the face button

to the flower.

Then, I folded the

8 inch cord in half,

and glued it to the

flower.

I made feet on the long

cord and hands

on the short cord

by folding the ends over,

wrapping and gluing to secure them.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I glued the arms to the

body and made a little

paper heart by

punching out a heart

from a piece of junk mail.

I glued it on, and

Voila!

A surprisingly sweet

little flower doll.

So, the next time someone

says to you:

“Blech! This is soooooooooooo ugly I am going to throw it in the trash!”, you might just want to think for a moment before you let them toss it.  A very sweet little doll might be hidden in the “ugliness”.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The other day,

on one of my fave lists,

someone posted a link

to Bog Coats.

Bog Coats are an

ancient style of

woven coat that

are rather like

a kimono.

They are made from a

rectangular or square

woven piece of fabric

and are simple to make

but offer endless opportunities for embellishment and exploration.

Because I have been playing with tiny vintage Magic Looms that a friend sent to me, I immediately thought-

Woohoo! I could use the Magic Loom to make a tiny bog coat that would work as a Christmas ornament…….

sketch and photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I knew that I wouldn’t be

able to cut into the fabric

made on the Magic Loom,

so I decided to make 4 squares

and stitch them together

as shown in the sketch.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I used the 2 inch

square Magic Loom

to weave these 4 squares,

but you could use

any size or style

of loom that would give you

squares.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The 2 lower squares are

for the body.

The 2 upper squares

will become the sleeves.

Body: The center back is stitched

together by joining 2 squares.

Then, the shoulder section

of the back is stitched together

(also at the center back),

by joining 2 more squares,

but only stitching half way,

so that there is an opening for the front neck.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

In this photo,

the sections between the

2 needles have been

stitched together,

and from the ‘x’ down to the

center ‘x’.

The other seams aren’t stitched

until the fronts

and sleeves  are

folded into place.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The lower 2 squares

are folded to the front,

to complete the body shaping

and the upper 2 squares

are folded down

to complete the sleeves.

The sleeve seams are

stitched, and then the

remaining seam across

the fronts, and the  bog coat is done!

When I went searching through the studio to see who wanted to model this tiny Bog Coat ( It’s about 3 inches tall and 4 inches from sleeve cuff to sleeve cuff),  Albert Einstein volunteered!

Well, okay…. my Albert Einstein Action Figure volunteered…  and immediately invited a friend over for a cuppa tea to admire the new addition to his wardrobe, and to discuss the nature of the Universe……. If you listen carefully, you might hear them chatting…..

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The flowers from

flower looms work

beautifully  in combination

with crochet.

I quite like using

unusual yarns with

the flower looms.

This is slubbly quite

hefty silk handspun

in a shawl.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here are a

bunch of flower loom

flowers in another

shawl- also all

made in handspun yarns.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The rainbow  flower

was made with

spool knitted cord

on a flower loom.

The white flower

was made with chained

yarn…..

so you can really play with

your yarn before you use it

with a flower loom.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

What are those flowers part of?

Well…

a wild and wonderful

freeform crocheted, spool knitted,

tatted, woven, sewn, sculpted

doll made with all manner of

found objects.

Yes…. her

head REALLY is a vintage

shaving brush.

Aren’t her shoes cute?

The red square was made with a

magic loom and soft ribbon.

flower looms and freeform crochet photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here’s the back of the doll.

I used black  ribbon with

the flower loom,

and with the magic loom,

and a fair amount of spool knitting,

and crochet, with lots

of vintage buttons, a little lego,

beads, and found objects.

Putting together

all the diverse elements

in a cohesive way

can be challenging.

flower looms and freeform crochet photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

But, seeing the possibilities

for creative adaptive re-use,

aka: Upcycling found and

discarded objects and

using them to create

wild and funky dolls

that are an expression

of human experience

is one of the great joys of

my life….

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

She gave it to me, and I had an idea….

For years,

my sisters in law

had been giving each

other the same

cardboard box

back and forth

back and forth

at Christmas time.

That little box

held many gifts

and many memories.

It got shabbier and shabbier as the years went by, but, it became more precious even, than the gifts it contained.

We all would look for ‘the box’ to see how it was holding up.

Well, when the polka dot bear came in the door, I thought… ‘Hmmmm, what if I make an addition to this bear, and give it back to her?’

I asked Sis if she’d like to designate  Blue Polka Dot as a ‘Sister Bear’.

She agreed enthusiastically.

So, for several years, Sister Bear would travel back and forth from her house to mine, whenever she came back to Canada for a visit home.   Sister Bear lived with Sis  for about 6 months, and then me for about 6 months. Although, sometimes, if visits were more frequent, Sister Bear might pass back and forth more frequently.

Sister Bear became more and more elaborate, as each of us added more embellishments.

Sister Bear made a sad journey back to me 3 Christmases ago, after the death of beloved Sis……

Sister Bear  has lived with me since then, and has been the recipient of many hugs, and a fair few tears.

She has begun another chapter of Sister Bearhood, as Jim’s Big Sis has taken Sister Bear home with her.

And now, Sister Bear will pass back and forth between us, and each of us will be adding new touches to Sister Bear while we have her.

Perhaps this is an idea that you and your sister or dear friend would like to adopt…… it’s amazing how precious Sister Bear has become to us.

If you decide to create a Sister Bear, please let me know! I’d love to see pictures.

I’ll take pics of Sister Bear next time I see her.  That will probably be next summer…. I wonder what Big Sis will have added.  I have plans for my next addition….

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Today, I used the

upcycled paper yarn

to crochet a

fairy doll to

keep the Unicorn

company.

Crocheting the

paper yarn is

a touch tricky.

It will break  if you pull too hard on it.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

At the same time,

it has no flex to it,

so it is a lot like

crocheting wire.

So, you have to

be gentle with

the paper yarn,

and gentle with

your tendons.

It’s a delicate balance.

Rather like riding a unicorn…..

While I was crocheting the fairy,

I had some questions.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here’s the  fairy doll.

I was wondering….

should I add hair?

should I paint

the fairy doll

a color,

or combination

of colors?

So I took a

photo of

the doll….

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

and then,

I photo shopped

out the

background.

I sketched in

the outline of

the ear that

wasn’t

showing up.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

This gives me

a chance to

sketch in some

hair….

yes!

I like that!~

So, I think

that I will

add some

hair.

Good.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And,

because the fairy

is crocheted

from paper yarn,

there is a tantalzing

possibility of painting

the fairy……

BUT… I don’t want

to wreck the doll

by painting it and

then going- oh oh…..

So, by playing with photoshop, I can experiment with different colors, different saturations and different combinations….

What a useful tool!  I am definitely going to add hair, and need to play with more photoshop colors before I pick up my paint brush and start splashing paint around.

Working with a photoshop program is a superb design tool. It gives me so many ways of exploring a design without making potentially damaging changes to the project. It’s win-win!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Today, we had a baby shower for our daughter.

Oh wow the preparations!

We were turbo charged!

My husband was outside,

busting his chops,

getting the yard tidied,

while one of his visiting

sisters helped with the mowing.

His other sister was vacuuming

and cleaning sinks etc, (bless them both!)

while Darlin’ Daughter-in-law

was baking her world famous

lemon merangue pies.

The house was looking pretty bad,

because I have been quite sick for a couple of weeks, so things had seriously slipped…. so we were all racing around, getting  things organized and cleaned (entertaining is HARD WORK!!!!)  And, whew, now it’s looking very nice indeed!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I decided that I wanted to make little presies for the guests,

so I made little dolly bee pins for everyone….

using acorn caps from the Garry oaks in Sisters yard (thanks, Sisters!).

And then, I had to make flowers to put them on,

and I was so immersed in doing that ,

that I forgot to actually gather ~real~flower

to go into the

darlin’ duckie vase.

Oh well!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I wanted to

create a way

for the baby

to have a memento

of this special event,

so I got out a little

notebook and colored pens.

(That’s my daughter’s

handprint from when she

was 5… I cut it out of wood.)

We are not into doing ‘games’ and stuff, just into eating fabulous food, enjoying lovely company and basking in the warmth of family and friends. It was just perfect.

I asked all the guests to draw around their hand, and to write a message of welcome to the baby.

Well… what a treasure!

Reading the messages, and seeing the outlines of the hands of all these loving friends and family is so moving!

Sob, sniff!  (Sentimental? Who, me?)

I’ll make a nice cover for the book, and will print out the few photos that I actually remembered to take, and include them in the book.

And, hopefully, it will become a treasure that this dear child will cherish, knowing that s/he was loved and welcomed.

Some day, knowing that  people made promises, commitments  and wishes of love and welcome to and for him or her, will help to set this child’s feet upon a path of knowing that life is meant to be lived with love, and feelings of gratitude and blessing.

And seeing all the hands of the family and friends who are giving welcome to this child, will give him or her a sense of the community that  says: You are precious to us, little one…. we wish you a life of joy!

Every child deserves such a welcome….. it would make the world a better place…..

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Of course, I immediately thought…. ooooooooooooh! You could make such a neat doll using the God’s Eye wrapping technique.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Sis wanted

to make

hers with

toothpicks

and size 10

crochet cotton

from Coats.

To get started,

glue 2 toothpicks

together and

tie on the cotton.

Wrap the thread in an ‘X’

around the center.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

To make a larger

scale God’s Eye,

tie 2 twigs together.

The thread

(in this case, hemp cord

from Jolly Store)

is wrapped

around one arm,

taken to the back,

and wrapped around the next arm.  Keep turning the God’s Eye, and wrap, turn, wrap turn….

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Sis and I laughed

when we saw that

there was a bit

of tatting in the

bobbin of thread

that I gave her.

My God’s Eye

took longer

than her’s to

make, because it

was bigger,

and because…..

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And,

because

I got a bit

carried away…

I had

crocheted

a wire face

a few weeks ago,

and it seemed

perfect.

The shoes are

temporary,

but will do fine

until I can get the ‘real’ ones carved.  This doll is made from Arbutus (aka Madrona) twigs from the tree in Sisters yard. It seemed perfect to use them to make this doll, as she was inspired by the fun of sitting together with a beloved sister, each playing with sticks and string, in our own way!

Here’s to sisterhood, and here’s to the joy of sticks and strings- hurrah!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Since I am a

great believer

in the healing

power of the fiber arts,

and especially of

doll making, I decided

that I would make

myself a tooth fairy

doll to bolster my

immune system

and to help me

lighten up in

my response to the pain in my jaw.

So, I got out my sketchbook, and did some drawings, and then set to work on making myself a little Tooth Fairy Doll .

She’s a pin doll, so I can wear her on my lapel.  I really enjoyed making her.

After I finished her, I had to laugh, as I realized that I had unconsciously made a version of my Rosie Recycle doll.

Well, I guess that makes sense, as my Tooth Fairy doll is all about restoring balance and renewing energy, which is what the Rosie Recycle dolls are a metaphor for.

She’s terribly sweet and is smiling cheerfully at me, reminding me that: ‘All shall be well’

Here’s to healing, and most certainly, here’s to finding healing in creativity!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Why not upcycle paper into wrapped quills instead of using bobbins?  and who knows?

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

You might get inspired,

like I did, and wind your thread

into sculptural forms like these

Wrapped Thread Goddesses of Upcycling!

I am lucky enough to have

a bobbin winder for  the long bobbins

used in weaving shuttles.

I have found that winding bobbins

is a great way to store yarn and thread,

as it makes dense, compact units of thread

or yarn that are often smaller than the way

the yarn or thread originally entered your life.

If you don’t have a bobbin winder,

a hand held drill works okay for winding bobbins.

When we drove off to a small town about an hour away to buy tractor parts for our ancient tractor, Jim and I were talking about Christmas presents. He wondered if I would like more wooden bobbins. He turns them on the lathe, and they are gorgeous.

I thought about it, and said that it was an awful lot of work to turn the bobbins, but I would love a cool little box to hold wound up bobbins in. And, then I thought… hmmm… why not make paper quills for storing threads and yarns instead of putting my bobbins into limbo by using them for yarn storage…. hmmm….

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Whenever we go to other towns,

we always look for a second hand or thrift store.

Sure enough, we found one,

and lo and behold!

There was this enchanting little

(very grubby) Mother Goose box,

with a sadly broken nose.

She’s perfect for holding little

quills of thread and yarn!

And, of course, I found a couple of bags

of thread and yarn to put into her!

In the photo above, along side Mother Goose, there is a piece of junk mail that I have torn in half, an 11 mm knitting needle and a bone folder.  I used the folder to tear the paper in half.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

In this photo,

I have wrapped the paper around the knitting

needle -

quite tightly.

And, I have started

wrapping some

brown paper tape around the

tube of paper to secure the wraps.

You can use a dab or glue or

any kind of tape to hold the wraps.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

At the bottom of this photo

there is a paper quill,

and above it,

there is a paper quill,

wound with yarn.

The lumpy thing

right in front of

Mother Goose is

a rather tangled skein

of yarn, identical to

the one that I wound

onto the center quill.

It really makes it compact, doesn’t it?

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I couldn’t resist buying a bag of

6 partial balls of

#10 crochet cotton.

Look how much less space

the partial ball takes up

when wound onto

a paper quill!

Paper quills can be used

in boat shuttles for weaving,

but can’t be chubbied up the

way I have done with these ones, as

they won’t turn freely in the shuttle

if they are packed so full.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And, here is the Mother Goose

box, full of upcycled paper quills,

organizing a whole treasure trove

of second hand yarns and threads.

And, as I said earlier,

I got all inspired

while I was winding the

quills, and ended up

getting all sculptural about it.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I am so easily inspired and even more easily amused!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn