Out of natural materials such as dried leaves (ginko and oak), birch bark, grasses and feathers, Cory had us make very beautiful and unique decorations:
Friday, December 31, 2010
Congratulations Cory and Pierre!
Cory and Pierre-Paul were married on December 29th, and we are proud to say that we helped with some of the wedding decorations, earlier in the month.
Out of natural materials such as dried leaves (ginko and oak), birch bark, grasses and feathers, Cory had us make very beautiful and unique decorations:
Out of natural materials such as dried leaves (ginko and oak), birch bark, grasses and feathers, Cory had us make very beautiful and unique decorations:
Farewell to Jess [sigh...]
Best of luck to Jess and Daniel, who left us to move to greener pastures in Guelph, Ontario.
We celebrated Jess's parting from us with lots of silly hugs, on December 15th, our last craft gathering of 2010!
We'll miss you, Jess!!
Rainbow Cake for Kaitlin's Birthday
On December 8th, Kaitlin celebrated her birthday, and we surprised her by making her (and fellow December birthday buddy, Sheeva), birthday rainbow cake and cupcakes.
We followed the recipe found by Jess online at the following link:
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Welcome to Canada, Mirna!
Our previously-Spanish Mirna became a Canadian citizen this summer, and in late November we finally had a (surprise!) celebration for her. We all wore red for the occasion (well, some of us may have been more orange than red...), and presented Mirna with a book we put together, a guide on how to be a Canadian.
We red (ooops, I mean "read") Canadian anecdotes by the Canadian writers Will Ferguson and Ian Ferguson ("How to be a Canadian"), and we ate poutine, and pancakes with maple syrup, to initiate Mirna into the native cuisine!
Pretty paper Photo quilts
We did our first field trip together as a craft group back in October, and we went to Ann Arbor (Michigan) to visit the awesome paper craft supply store Hollanders (check out www.hollanders.com). We each came away with lots of gorgeous papers, and about a month later, five of us had created photo quilts (a technique used by Michelle in her art quilts) using some these papers.Cory used a photo from Peru or Costa Rica (which, Cory?), of lush tropical vegetation, and below is her finished piece. Look at all that textured green-ness at the bottom! There are bits of crafty lichen in there too, among other fibers.
Ellen downloaded a photo of the Portuguese coastline (the Azores), and used the back of one of her pretty papers for a great sunset-in-the-daytime-sky look:
Jess used one of her own photos of Machu Picchu, and brought out the stone walls in the photo to great effect.
Kara made this piece for her grandfather, using one of her own photos. The off-setting of the photo looks great in this piece!
And Mirna downloaded a photo of poppies in the sunset, for a splash of red colour. The black tissue paper with the gold thread she used for her background sets off the reds in the center very nicely!
Jaxon's Halloween Costume: a Ford Flex!
For Halloween this year, Michelle's 3-year old nephew Jaxon asked to be a Ford Flex! So his dad, Jeff, with a little help from Michelle, built him one!The car started with a skeleton of cardboard, held in place by masking tape. Papier machier was applied to surface to smooth it out, and then the whole thing was spray-painted.
Check out the 3-D tires, and the details on the front and back! The headlights are actual lights taped in through the back (lights that could actually be turned on!). The Ford logo and the licence plate were printed on glossy paper and glued on, and there are bits of yellow reflective tape on both the headlights and tail lights.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Baker's Dozen Squares to date
Many of you know already that I am participating in a swap on Ravelry. It's called Baker's Dozen and we have to make twelve 12" squares over the course of 13 months, and we receive 12 squares during our own month. I've made eight squares since April, and I'm the member of the month for December. I figured it was a good time to tally them up and show them off.
Month One: April
PennyIA (Penny) wanted to make a Ron Weasley blanket. She wanted manly earthy tones (Brown, Orange, Green) and simple squares. Her goal was to donate the blanket to the veteran's hospital.
My square for Penny was a simple Tunisian crochet square with four colours of yarn I already had on hand.
Penny's blanket is DONE! That's my square on the bottom right-hand corner.
Month Two: May
luckhappens (Kelli) wanted a sampler afghan of monochromatic squares in the cream / off-white family and she wanted her yarn to be botanical (cotton, bamboo, hemp, rayon, soy, linen, silk or a blend).
My square for Kelli was a pattern called modern alchemy in cream cotton that I bought for the project. I needed to improvise a border that would get the jagged edging to be square, but I think it worked out OK. I was in such a rush to send my square to Kelli that I forgot to take a photo. This photo was taken by Kelli which is why it shows the three teas I gave her as part of the swap. People normally give things like stitch markers and whatnot (i.e. craft-related stuff) but I don't know where to buy a lot of stuff like that so I send tea because I'm a tea-lover!
Month Three: June
omahabookworm (Susan) wanted to make blankets for kids in the local homeless shelter so she wanted squares that kids could be a bit rough on. She wanted bright colours (blues, greens, pinks, red, orange, purple, yellow) in any pattern.
My square for Susan was a velvet and lace square in purple and pink that I already had on hand. I needed to adapt the pattern a bit to make it 12" but I think it worked out well. Once again I forgot to take the photo myself so this is Susan's photo.
Month Four: July
CraftyMomOf3 (Renee) wanted to make a cream and sage blanket for her camper.
My square for Renee was a mandela in cotton yarn (I only bought the green because I had cream left from the other beige square). Yet again, I didn't take a photo; this is Renee's. The middle green part of this pattern was really fun to make.
Month Five: August
knitpixie (Aimee) just got married in June and wanted cream-coloured cotton squares to make a blanket for her eventual baby.
My square for Aimee was an on-the-huh square I made out of new beige cotton I bought for the project. I had to modify the pattern to work with a single colour but it turned out well. I took a photo but I've somehow managed to lose that memory card so I don't actually have a photo now. Aimee is very busy with her new job and hasn't posted photos of all of her squares yet. I will update this post when a photo shows up!
Month Six: September
middleofnowhere (Casey) wanted red, black, or white for a blanket for her sister's 21st birthday. She wanted eclectic and random patterns.
My square for Casey was an ice cave square in the three colours she wanted. I had the red and white on hand but I bought black for this project. This square is super dense, but I hope it gets softer once it's washed.
Month Seven: October
puzzlelover (Diane) wanted cotton fall coloured squares, preferably monocromatic, in any of: red, orange, greens, yellows, browns, etc.
My square for Diane is a 16-circles square, but I goofed and didn't read the bit about cotton. So I sent her an acrylic square using brown yarn that was leftover from when I made my first afghan for Kyle. I hope she's not mad at me :(
Month Eight: November
Irish (Maureen) wanted cream, sage or cranberry/ burgundy squares, and she wanted cables/textures. She preferred wool but said acrylic was fine.
My square for Maureen was an improvised square I created to highlight a textured green wool I had in my stash. I didn't like the look of the wool on it's own (it looked unplanned and sloppy) so I used 2 other greens I had in my stash (both acrylic). I used double-crochets alternating with chains to create texture. I like the end result but I feel like it's one of those squares you either like or hate. This is Maureen's photo and it's a bit darker and yellower than the actual yarn looks in real life.
So that's them so far! I'll post some photos when I start receiving my own squares in December. I'm planning on making a shawl out of jewel tones. I'm pretty excited. This is the photo I used for inspiration:
Month One: April
PennyIA (Penny) wanted to make a Ron Weasley blanket. She wanted manly earthy tones (Brown, Orange, Green) and simple squares. Her goal was to donate the blanket to the veteran's hospital.
My square for Penny was a simple Tunisian crochet square with four colours of yarn I already had on hand.
Penny's blanket is DONE! That's my square on the bottom right-hand corner.
Month Two: May
luckhappens (Kelli) wanted a sampler afghan of monochromatic squares in the cream / off-white family and she wanted her yarn to be botanical (cotton, bamboo, hemp, rayon, soy, linen, silk or a blend).
My square for Kelli was a pattern called modern alchemy in cream cotton that I bought for the project. I needed to improvise a border that would get the jagged edging to be square, but I think it worked out OK. I was in such a rush to send my square to Kelli that I forgot to take a photo. This photo was taken by Kelli which is why it shows the three teas I gave her as part of the swap. People normally give things like stitch markers and whatnot (i.e. craft-related stuff) but I don't know where to buy a lot of stuff like that so I send tea because I'm a tea-lover!
Month Three: June
omahabookworm (Susan) wanted to make blankets for kids in the local homeless shelter so she wanted squares that kids could be a bit rough on. She wanted bright colours (blues, greens, pinks, red, orange, purple, yellow) in any pattern.
My square for Susan was a velvet and lace square in purple and pink that I already had on hand. I needed to adapt the pattern a bit to make it 12" but I think it worked out well. Once again I forgot to take the photo myself so this is Susan's photo.
Month Four: July
CraftyMomOf3 (Renee) wanted to make a cream and sage blanket for her camper.
My square for Renee was a mandela in cotton yarn (I only bought the green because I had cream left from the other beige square). Yet again, I didn't take a photo; this is Renee's. The middle green part of this pattern was really fun to make.
Month Five: August
knitpixie (Aimee) just got married in June and wanted cream-coloured cotton squares to make a blanket for her eventual baby.
My square for Aimee was an on-the-huh square I made out of new beige cotton I bought for the project. I had to modify the pattern to work with a single colour but it turned out well. I took a photo but I've somehow managed to lose that memory card so I don't actually have a photo now. Aimee is very busy with her new job and hasn't posted photos of all of her squares yet. I will update this post when a photo shows up!
Month Six: September
middleofnowhere (Casey) wanted red, black, or white for a blanket for her sister's 21st birthday. She wanted eclectic and random patterns.
My square for Casey was an ice cave square in the three colours she wanted. I had the red and white on hand but I bought black for this project. This square is super dense, but I hope it gets softer once it's washed.
Month Seven: October
puzzlelover (Diane) wanted cotton fall coloured squares, preferably monocromatic, in any of: red, orange, greens, yellows, browns, etc.
My square for Diane is a 16-circles square, but I goofed and didn't read the bit about cotton. So I sent her an acrylic square using brown yarn that was leftover from when I made my first afghan for Kyle. I hope she's not mad at me :(
Month Eight: November
Irish (Maureen) wanted cream, sage or cranberry/ burgundy squares, and she wanted cables/textures. She preferred wool but said acrylic was fine.
My square for Maureen was an improvised square I created to highlight a textured green wool I had in my stash. I didn't like the look of the wool on it's own (it looked unplanned and sloppy) so I used 2 other greens I had in my stash (both acrylic). I used double-crochets alternating with chains to create texture. I like the end result but I feel like it's one of those squares you either like or hate. This is Maureen's photo and it's a bit darker and yellower than the actual yarn looks in real life.
So that's them so far! I'll post some photos when I start receiving my own squares in December. I'm planning on making a shawl out of jewel tones. I'm pretty excited. This is the photo I used for inspiration:
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Halloween costumes!
For the Biology Grad Halloween Party this year, our crafters got extra crafty on their costumes!
From left to right: Kara as Kristofferson (Fantastic Mr. Fox), Michelle as Michelle (so convincing! she could be her twin!), Katya as a devil, Mirna as a flamenco dancer, and Ellen as a barmaid. Below: Kara and Cory (as Ash from Fantastic Mr. Fox).
Little-known fact: Jessica is also present in these photos, but her ghost costume was just too good to show up on film.
Great job, everybody!
From left to right: Kara as Kristofferson (Fantastic Mr. Fox), Michelle as Michelle (so convincing! she could be her twin!), Katya as a devil, Mirna as a flamenco dancer, and Ellen as a barmaid. Below: Kara and Cory (as Ash from Fantastic Mr. Fox).
Little-known fact: Jessica is also present in these photos, but her ghost costume was just too good to show up on film.
Great job, everybody!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
HappyBirthday Jess!
We celebrated Jessica's birthday last week (about a week after her actual birthday) with some collectively decorated angel food cake and a mimed (by most) happy-birthday song. In honour of this occasion, we presented her with a 2011 calendar which some of us hand-crafted for her. We each decorated one or two pages/months of the calendar, according to our talents and imaginations. 
We also composed a poem for Jess, commemorating the year-long devotion to our craft group. Michelle performed the reading of the poem (entitled "Ode to Jess") to a rapt audience, while Mirna captured the recital on video (but Michelle has since destroyed any evidence of this...).
Below are each of our contributions to the calendar, in alphabetical order.
Ellen painted in acrylics (what a gorgeous rendition of a royal flycatcher bird!), and hand-sewed the Christmas ornaments with felt and ribbons.
Kara filled one page with colourful flowers/snowflakes, and did a couple of great pencil sketches of talking animals ("Yummmy yummy yummy" and "Oh No").
Katya played around with watercolours, for an abstract design using her signature colour combinations. She also painted a colourful version of Opabinia, a prehistoric creature the story of which you need a PhD in biology to undertand or remember!
Li used a collage of bird photos to express her gratitude to Jess for repeatedly baking for us over the past year, and Laxmi did a beautiful collage of flower photos as well.
Michelle printed a photo of her cat, Theo, and crocheted a small sampler using Theo's actual hair, spun into yarn and sewn onto the page. She also did a collage of silk flower petals and leaves, free-motion sewn onto felt.
Last but not least, Mirna glued an arrangement of glittery 3-dimensional dragonflies and butterflies, and the cute Easter bunny and eggs. She also marked her birthday on the calendar with what she thought was a harmless-looking ladybug sticker, which became the joke of the night (for reasons we will keep to ourselves, as Mirna's Spanish temper may get the better of her if we tell...).
We also composed a poem for Jess, commemorating the year-long devotion to our craft group. Michelle performed the reading of the poem (entitled "Ode to Jess") to a rapt audience, while Mirna captured the recital on video (but Michelle has since destroyed any evidence of this...).
Below are each of our contributions to the calendar, in alphabetical order.
Ellen painted in acrylics (what a gorgeous rendition of a royal flycatcher bird!), and hand-sewed the Christmas ornaments with felt and ribbons.
Kara filled one page with colourful flowers/snowflakes, and did a couple of great pencil sketches of talking animals ("Yummmy yummy yummy" and "Oh No").
Katya played around with watercolours, for an abstract design using her signature colour combinations. She also painted a colourful version of Opabinia, a prehistoric creature the story of which you need a PhD in biology to undertand or remember!
Li used a collage of bird photos to express her gratitude to Jess for repeatedly baking for us over the past year, and Laxmi did a beautiful collage of flower photos as well.
Michelle printed a photo of her cat, Theo, and crocheted a small sampler using Theo's actual hair, spun into yarn and sewn onto the page. She also did a collage of silk flower petals and leaves, free-motion sewn onto felt.
Last but not least, Mirna glued an arrangement of glittery 3-dimensional dragonflies and butterflies, and the cute Easter bunny and eggs. She also marked her birthday on the calendar with what she thought was a harmless-looking ladybug sticker, which became the joke of the night (for reasons we will keep to ourselves, as Mirna's Spanish temper may get the better of her if we tell...).
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