Meet The 1st Artist to ever Inspire Me!

Glass on Porcelain Pottery ~ circa 1980

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I have a very special post to share with you today!

I want to introduce you to the 1st artist to ever inspire me...

My Grandma, Stella Cole.

She loved to make gorgeous pottery like the piece above.

I am so blessed to have this piece.

She also liked to weave and made these gorgeous pieces below...

Wool Weaving ~ circa 1979

Wool Pillows ~ circa 1979

Grandma always shared her love of life, art and family with Melanie and me.

She had a special way of loving you that made you feel how much she adored you and that has carried me with a warm hug my whole life by just thinking about her.

Grandma was the most special and talented person I have ever met, and I am so grateful for everything she taught me...

• To love unconditionally
• To create what you love and love what you create
• To cherish those around you 
• and to laugh with and hug the ones you love everyday!

xoxoxoxo

Melissa

Weave your own FUN ~ Make a Loom out of Everyday Objects!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I have a FUN project to share with you!

Last year I found a fabulous tutorial on making a weaving loom on a CD!

It is so easy and relaxing to do!

I made two and glued magnets on the back to display them on my refrigerator.

I made another one this weekend and crocheted a stem and leaves on it to make it into a sunflower!

I hung it on a nail on the wall in my upstairs hallway so I can see it whenever I go upstairs!

Now I have another FUN story to tell you...

Just at the moment when I finished this new weaving the doorbell rang!

It was Sheila, my mail lady, and she had a special package from the UK for me!

It it is a giftie from my dear friend Lynne!

She recently went on a day trip to Whitby and bought me a surprise!

It is a Giraffe!

It was perfect timing since I just crocheted one!

She must have read my mind that I wanted a giraffe because I had not told her about the pattern!

So ... my other CD weaving now has a friend hanging above it!

I just adore him!

Look!

He even has a very happy, puggy eye like the just like my sunflower weaving!

What a wonderful way to start the month of May!

It is sunny and bright here today!

R-Chee is starring at me to take him on a walk through our park at the end of the neighborhood.

I think he wants to hop around the grass like our crocheted bunny and talk to the animals that live there.

There is a pond there where tadpoles are turning into froggies that croak at us when we walk by!

What do you have planned to enjoy today?

Please leave us a note and let us know!

We cannot wait to hear all about it!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

Creative Looms ~ Weaving on Cds ~ DIY

Happy Thursday everyone!

I have been having so much fun using up scraps of yarn from my stash and upcycling old cd's at the same time this week!

My wonderful weaving journey all began the other night right before bed...

I love ending my day with wonderful images so I was floating through the fabulous art and tutorials on Pinterest and came across this tutorial on how to turn cd's into tiny round looms and make magical round weavings on them!

I immediately repinned the project onto my Pinterest board and dreamt about them all night. :)


As soon as I woke up, I followed the link to the tutorial and created 2 fabulous weavings in just a few hours.

The project is perfect for young children as well as adults.

I love that the tutorial is written in a way that can modified for the complexity you are seeking.

The time flew by as these are soooooo much fun to create!

I chose cotton yarn to wrap my cd loom 37x around instead of 13 or 25x that was described for younger weavers.

I also decided to use a yarn needle instead of making one and the only knots I tied were on the back to start.

To avoid creating knots on the front when changing colors, I decided to just leave longer tails when ending and starting the new yarns and weave the ends in at the end to make them invisible and secure.

This is what the back looks like after wrapping your loom.

I glued magents on the back of mine when I was done and hung them on the refridgerator. :)

I think they look like Spring Flowers!


You could make a whole series of them and change the personality by the colors that you choose.

I am going to make another series that is more contemporary and hang them on the wall in a grouping.

They are so light weight that you can easily hang them anywhere or even glue felt or cork on the back and make them into coasters!

The possiblilites for designs are endless and exciting!

Weeeeee!

What FUN!

What fun things have you discovered on Pinterest?

Please leave me a note and let me know.

I would love to follow you!

You can follow me and R-Chee on our ever evolving boards here.

xoxoxo

m & a

Wonderful Wee Weavers!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am so excited to introduce two very special people to you today!

They are my nephews, Isaac and Benjamin, who are 7 & 5 years old.

Fred's brother and his wife are so wonderful to share these photos with us of I & B showing off their new weaving and knitting projects!

I & B asked to learn how to knit for their holiday presents this year, and I was so excited I cannot even tell you! :)

I got them each a french knitter spool and a loom & loop weaving kit to make pot holders and other neat creations with.

I had so much fun teaching them how to weave in just about an hour!

Here they are showing off their pot holders!

... and my heart just melted when I got these beautiful handmade Thank You cards in the mail.

I have them saved in a special box where I keep everything they make!

How FUN!

What fun things have been up to so far this year?

Please leave us a note and let us know!

We cannot wait to hear all about them!

xoxoxo
Melissa & R-Chee

Fiber Art Finds!

Happy Wednesday!

I am so excited to show you the fun finds Melanie and I got at the Fiber Art Show in Longmont, CO last week. :)

The Handweavers Guild of Boulder has a show every year and it is one of our favorites!

Melanie and I found the cutest things! :)

Here are Mel's purchases...

A hand knit Santa doll

A felted snowman

and a felted gnome ornament!

I got this wonderful handwoven orange and black pillow for my desk chair.

I like how it looks infront of the purple woven scarf I got last year.




and I also got a smaller one for my sewing chair!

and last but not least, a crazy woven doll that matches the one I got last year!

We had so much fun that we picked up 2 applications to join the guild this year. It will be so exciting to have Melanie's felted teddy bears in the 2010 show!

What fun things are you planning for 2010? I cannot beileve it is almost here! :)

Basket Weaving ~ Yarn Baskets ~ Complete

Melanie and I had the best time finishing our baskets together on Saturday.

Emmitt was very helpful too. You can see a glimpse of his tail in the mirror in the picture above. He was patrolling all afternoon incase they suddenly became food or gift baskets with his name on them :)

Here is Melanie working on her basket.

I just love the texture and richness of the basket weaving!

It was very fun and relaxing to do. I am sure we will make more!

You can never have too much art, yarn or containers!

Here is my completed basket filled with yarn for the Mother Bear Project bears I am working on.

I love making new containers. My new basket will be perfect to take on the Craft Weekend Retreat Melanie and I are going on again this Friday!

I know I will be working on the bears and a new sweater!

The other projects we have lined up are to finish Melanie's afghan, make mittens on our looms, and start a punch needle project.

We are going to be very busy having fun! I will take lots of pictures to show you!

Basket Weaving 101

Thank you so much for the wonderful birthday wishes yesterday! It really made the day extra fun! :)

As an early celebration, Melanie and I took a basket weaving class this past Sunday, and it was so much fun!

We started making our yarn baskets and are probably about 1/2 way done.

I am looking forward to this Saturday morning when we get together again and finish them.

I love taking classes at our favorite yarn store. Here is the classroom!

Look at all the pretty rattan weavers!

Here is Melanie working on her basket.

This is my basket so far...

and this is Melanie's...

I like that the yarn basket has an open top with no handle. I think it looks more like a woven bowl.

I will make more baskets in the future. It is very relaxing and each one is unique.

Our teacher, Margaret, was so right when she said the basket makes itself. We can help shape it, but it has its own personality and plan for how it will ultimately turn out.

I promise to show them to you again when they are all done. :)

Have you tried basket weaving before? What is your favorite structure to make?

Fiber Art Sale 2008!

Melanie, Linda and I went to the Boulder Handweaver's Guild Fiber Art Show and had so much fun!

I found lots of great things this year!

The first photo is a wonderful knitted creature. I just love the crazy knitted dolls this artist makes. I unfortunately do not know her name, but I buy one every year.

The second item I found was this woven scarf that I put on the back of my office chair. I got one in blues tones from this artist last year and put that one on the top of my bedroom dresser. I just love the colors and textures and woven art always reminds me of my Grandma.

The final 3 pieces are wool ornaments that just make me smile. Yes, this year was a fun and wonderful show!

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

xoxoxoxox

Melissa and Emmitt

Two Net Bags... Complete!

Melanie and I had fun last week in our 2nd Net Bag Class. We were able to complete the small rainbow bag and start a new larger bag.

I just finished the larger bag and tied wood beads on the ends of the handles for the finishing touch.

I created it to put all of our hats and gloves in so they are all in one place.

The small one is perfect for a water bottle.

My next one will be even larger to carry groceries.

Emmitt asked for a hammock with cookies tied all over the place to relax in and have a snack.

What a great idea! He is always thinking!