Mandalas on Display

One of my daughter’s friends creates the window displays for this local Optician and I offered her my mandalas. She has created a wonderful display, don’t you think? She has given me permission to use her photo at the top of this post. The rest of the photos are mine.

A few little spiders have been added as if they have been working away at their intricate webs.

The window looks especially lovely lit up at night, although I haven’t managed to get a photo.

It is a thrill to see them so beautifully displayed.

The mission to create 50 white mandalas continues; 32 are finished and 7 more await the final touches.  The three below are all in Rico Essentials cotton thread, my favourite so far.

I am making Zoya Matyushenko’s Agnes in three different sizes by varying the hook size. They then need to be washed and attached to hoops.

The most common question I am asked, is “how long do they take?”

I really find this difficult to answer as time taken is the least important aspect to me. I did try to time myself but there are so many interruptions to the process, it was impossible. I make mandalas because I enjoy making mandalas. Crochet relaxes me and resettles my mind. I do it whilst doing other things, it fills pockets of time. It is part of maintaining my sense of ok-ness or well-being, it gets me through stressful times.

So I want to say – they don’t take time, they take attention, concentration, love and joy. They are a connection with my Mum and my Grandmother who taught me and all other crafting women now and through the ages.

But that answer would most likely be more than the person bargained for!

So my answer usually is:

Some take a couple of days, some take a week, depending on the thickness of the thread and the complexity of the pattern. Some sit waiting to be finished for months.

But that doesn’t tell you how many actual hours are spent making stitches. I often feel neither the questioner or I feel satisfied with the answer.

Any ideas?

If anyone in the UK would like to borrow the mandalas for an event, let’s have a chat. I would love to see them displayed in other settings.

All together now

All Zoya Matyushenko patterns.

I am in awe of her talent.

I have made three others as presents, but these are all mine! 🙂

Edit: I am often asked where I get the hoops from

I am in theUK. I try not to use Amazon and other large companies as I’m unsure of their ethics and I know Amazon avoids making tax contributions to the UK economy. I always use small independent firms when I can.

I get the hoops up to 50cm from Glitterwitch and the 70cm hoops Dannells

Victorian Snowdrop Garden

I have been beavering away at a new blanket: Lost Garden, another gorgeous pattern from Helen Shrimpton. This one really is a joy and very relaxing to make.

The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK and the colours are, from the top: Lincoln, Cream, Stone and Parchment.

The hook is 4.5mm

Helen has taken her inspiration from the Lost Gardens of Heligan – a favourite place of mine, full of history, magic and delight.

This blanket will be a wedding present for the daughter of one of my closest friends. The colours are to go with her sitting room – a lap blanket to fold over a sofa and use for romantic snuggling in front of the TV. ❤ ❤

Not a palette I would have chosen, but I am finding it oh so calming to work with.

The photo above shows the truest colours and was taken in Egypt. It was my early morning project before the rest of the house was up and doing.

The colours and their placement have got a lot of attention in the Helen’s Hookaholics Facebook Group. Some have said it looks Victorian, like a Meissen Plate and like Snowdrops. I love all these references – especially the snowdrops.

This is just before I start to square the corners.

A few people have asked me to give the colour order, so here goes:

Rounds 1 – 10: Cream

Round 11: Parchment

Round 12: Lincoln

Round 13: Stone

Round 14: Parchment

Round 15: Stone

~

Rounds 16 – 18: Parchment

Round 19: Lincoln

Round 20 and 21: Cream

Round 22: Lincoln

~

Round 23: Lincoln

Round 24 – 26: Parchment

Round 27: Stone

Round 28: Cream

Round 29 – 32 : Parchment

~

Round 33 and 34: Parchment

Rounds 35 and 36: Stone

Round 37: Parchment

Round 38: Lincoln

Round 39: Parchment

Round 40: Lincoln

Round 41: Cream

Round 42: Lincoln

Round 43: Cream

Round 44 and 45: Parchment

~

 

Rounds 46 – 50: Parchment

 

 

and just in case you were wondering what it might look like in just two colours:

It could look rather sophisticated in just grey and white don’t you think?

And for the next bit – the corners, see this post.

What to Do on an Aeroplane

When planning a trip, I put more thought into what I will do on the plane, train, whilst waiting in airports, stations and in quiet moments on holiday, than almost any other aspect of the trip. I have to get that planned well in advance, only then can I think about clothes and what the place will have to offer.

I will be taking my Scrap Happy blanket to crochet – yes you can take crochet hooks on board a plane. I have done so many times. (Just in case I meet with a problem, I take a cheap old plastic hook that I wouldn’t mind losing, keeping a better one tucked away in my case).

There needs to be an alternative to crochet as well. At first I thought I would take this 11″ x 11″ sketchbook in which I have painted some backgrounds,

but it is rather big and heavy, so I bought two 6 x 6 inch sketch books, one with black paper, one with white, and some gel pens intending to draw some small mandalas.

I’m not sure if the airline will be happy with a compass, hence an old CD to draw round. I drew some circles in preparation

and could not resist having a quick doodle.

and another

I remembered the ‘false writing’ Julie Balzer had shown us on the Whimsical Collage Workshop

It is such fun to do

These mandalas were not turning out at all as I had originally planned. I thought I would re-visit Alisa Burke’s superb online Mandala Magic Course, that I first took back in July 2015. She has so many wonderful online classes. I can highly recommend them – Alisa is very generous with all of her tips, techniques and ideas. Once you have bought a class you have unlimited access to it forever.

I was on a roll and enjoying this more minimalist form, keeping to the CD as the basis of the patterns – it feels like it might turn into a little series – I’m fantasizing about how I will frame them as a group …….

But Stop! This is supposed to be for when I’m travelling.

Luckily there are 40 pages in each book.

Reluctantly I have put them away for now.

What do you take with you to do when you are travelling?

 

Mandala-la-la

 

At last I’m out the other side! Energy has returned Hurray!

The upside of lounging about for 16 days is that I got to play in my sketchbook

Alisa Burke’s Mandala Magic, online course could not have come at a better time

some are still work in progress

some are complete

and they have all been supremely satisfying and relaxing to draw

I never know what will happen as I start drawingit is fun to let it flow and develop, sometimes over a few days

and because it is only a doodle and a sketch I can just do it knowing I can throw them in the bin if I don’t like them or tear them up and use in collages.

I like the last two best – do you have a favourite?

If you would like to have a go Alisa is holding a Summer Sale of her Classes. I can highly recommend them, full of inspirational videos and clear, easy to follow tips and guidelines.

 

Shells

Some more shell mandalas – they make me feel calm and creative, just looking at them – hope you like them too …

this one is simple but one of my favourites

 

it became the centre of a few more mandalas

 

 

 

i could spend days sorting, categorising, re-sorting and putting into size lines

this quote seems to sum up the zone I was able to get into on holiday

grr! I can’t remember where I saw this quote – it might have been on Quinn Creative, she comes up with such great quotes and comments about all sorts of aspects of creativity.

and then

 

this happened .. which led me into other designs…

and they are for another day….

Hope you have some peaceful meandering creative time in your day or week.

 

 

Labyrinths and sand dragons

Back to the beach, rock pools, caves and gentle waves

 

the baby spuddled amongst the masses of black seaweed, E and my daughter went for a swim and R and I  made a labyrinth

When looking for a link to a ‘how to draw a labyrinth’ site for those of you who would like to have a go I came across this site of ‘Peaceful Endeavours’ for children.

I love the way children always run around labyrinths, and R then spent ages making more paths and trails with his spade……

Since about 1989 I have been drawing or creating labyrinths, mandalas and spirals all over the place and walking other labyrinths whenever I can

this is one made out of carob pods in the garden of La Serrania, a retreat centre I went to in Majorca some years ago. I went on a walking holiday, but after half a day walking up a mountain and the second half walking down, my right knee gave way, so for the rest of the week whilst the others went walking, I had a delicious time drawing, sewing, chatting to the gardener and creating carob pod labyrinths

which smelt of chocolate as you walked them

 

and stone spirals

the gardener had placed this stone on the tree stump and painted a face on it, I did the spirals of stones so that one could walk in to greet your own inner smile!

and then a mandala of carob and olives on the terrace just outside my room.

Back on Solva beach another sand dragon was made,

but the tide was coming in so we had to leave her and walked back along the beach creating stories about the sand dragon swimming off to America when the tide came in and all the adventures she would have along the way……..

 

 

 

Bee in hollyhock

Playing with the picture of the bee in the hollyhock I took at Charleston

in the SumoPaint app as shared by iHanna

by reducing divisions to 4, I got this

 

and then by increasing the divisions I discovered some perky little Circle Dancing Bee Angels

which I sent by email to a friend who is far away and low on energy at the moment to perk her up!

I have become fascinated by finding faces in the patterns that emerge – here is another kinda light-being from the creamy hollyhock

I have an urge to create some paintings with these pictures as a starting point – but not today the garden is calling. . . .

 

First cut of the year

Yesterday was a perfect gardening day – no wind, no sun, just pleasant warm weather – the first time for months and months I was happy to garden all day – and I cut the grass for the first time – that must be a record – 21st May!!!

It put me in a pleasantly nostalgic mood, fondly remembering the garden I left in 2005. I had a large orchard and was able to mow a huge 7 circuit grass spiral

It was just wonderful to see the grasses grow and change throughout the seasons. I walked the spiral each morning for about 2 years.  Children nearly always ran into the centre and out again, shrieking with joy.

Andy Goldsworthy (one of my favourite artists) says the best way to observe change is to stay in the same place; and watching the grasses grow, in the spiral, and flower and go to seed and notice what bugs and beetles, birds and butterflies were attracted to the grasses at each stage, was a brilliant way to understand what he means.

Early morning dew:

January

Mid-summer party

I had a wonderful 10 years in West Dorset and it is the garden and the grass spiral I miss the most.

So when i moved to where I am now I mowed a spiral

It could be seen on Google Earth!

And on what seemed like the only warm day of that summer (2oo8), after the paddling pool was put away:

I could not resist a play myself

  Goodnight!