March is National Craft Month. Any month is craft month as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve been doing a fair number of craft projects over the past year, more than usual anyway. It’s a nice form of escapism from the bad things in the world including the recent shooting in Colorado and, of course, all of the Covid news. So I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve worked on
My Aurora Anderson mystery series is the set in the world of tole/decorative painting. As you might guess, this is one of my hobbies. In the last year, a lot of decorative painters who would normally teach at painting conventions have gone online. I’ve taken 4 classes via Zoom and have enjoyed them immensely. In some ways, it’s nicer than taking a class at a convention since I get the recording of the video afterwards to review. These are 2 of the projects I’ve done, both classes taught by Chris Haughey of cdwood.com. I’m pretty sure that, even after we can attend painting conventions again, teachers will continue to offer some classes online. That’s one good thing that’s come out of this pandemic.
I’ve also gotten into macrame. The last time I did that was in the 1970s in 7th grade when we had to do a macrame project for art class. I remember really enjoying it. Last year, I was browsing Herrschner’s catalog, saw this cute project and just had to get the kit. Took me a bit to remember how to do a square knot, but I’ve really enjoyed it. There’s something very peaceful about tying knots. I did these Christmas gnomes and just finished the Halloween ones.
I have a bunch of other painting projects lined up, plus some counted cross-stitch ones I started mumble mumble years ago and never finished. Has anyone else done any fun craft projects recently?
8 comments:
What a great post! I enjoyed it so much and I have always loved doing crafts. I particularly liked the gnomes and their ladies. I like dollhouse miniatures and have a number of kits to make scenes and houses in different scales. 1" - 1 ft is the most popular as the smaller you go, the more detail you lose. I have a garden/greenhouse kit coming from a lady in England and because I am now 76 and a bit shaky on my pins I won't be doing any real life gardening, this is the next best thing. I plan to have rows of veggies growing in the ground and lots of flowers in the greenhouse. Hobbies saved my sanity during the lockdown and covid.
Hobbies really do keep us sane, I think. I've always been fascinated by dollhouse miniatures. Never tried creating one, though. I didn't realize there were kits for such things. Don't know why, because there are pretty much kits for everything.
Sybil, I admire your crafting talents! Haven't done anything like that since I was a teen and attempted a few counted cross stitch projects that amazingly ended up good enough to give as gifts.
In these times of ongoing craziness, I'm finding comfort in reading cozies. They continue to be my escape from all the bad news. No offense meant to authors of thriller/suspense, but my tired soul can't take any more stress beyond that provided by reality.
Wishing resilience and access to simple joys for us all!
Cozies are my escape as well, Tanya. That's why I chose to write that kind of mystery. I like some of the darker stuff as well, just not right now.
There's a very good cozy mystery series by Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino)The first one is Murder in Miniature. I love the relationship between the main character and her granddaughter.
Thanks for the recommendation -- I'll check it out. I see that she has several series under various names.
I'm not caught up with the latest in your series so I need to add your more recent titles to my TBR list, as well... more to explore!
Sybil, I'm an avid knitter. I do other crafts too, but always have something on my needles at the same time.
Thanks, Tanya. I hope you enjoy my books. All of Camille's series are great. Charlotte, my sister knits. I haven't really tried it. Seems so hard. But I love seeing what people make.
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