Wednesday, March 11, 2015

She Sells Seashells...

Slow going on the runner, but my machine is getting a workout with all the satin-stitching! She hasn't had to do that in some time.  We've also been to two Spring Training baseball games in the last week, which were good, yesterday's especially.

Shells, and a starfish, completed as of Saturday
I'm pretty happy with the selection of batiks I picked out for the shells.  It also helps a lot that I have quite a large selection of actual shells here to look at for added inspiration and detail. The starfish was a bear make that a crab (haha) to turn right side out.

Shells as of yesterday; two of the clamshells have yet to have their detail stitching
So I have two conch (I learned from the most excellent book, An Embarrassment of Mangoes, by Ann Vanderhoof, that it is pronounced "conk") shells to make and two shark's teeth.  I need to buy some black batik for those as I did not bring any with me.  A few days ago, I finished Ann's second book, The Spice Necklace, which tells of their second sail to the Caribbean 9 years after the first. Both were such good reads, and both of them sent me to the Internet to Google information, look up various images of trees and plants she describes. I love it when books educate me!

I do have a finish for this Work in Progress Wednesday:


Finally. I had to rip out the first glove a third time, the second glove twice in order to have enough yarn from the ball to finish them. Good thing Brianne's hands are small, like mine, as I omitted 3 rows from the hand part of the gloves, and one row from the knuckles part.  I had about 60" of yarn left!  This pattern cuts it that fine. 
One of the few times Naala wants to be in a picture and Rocco has to get in on the act like the annoying little brother he can be; can you see how she's just smacked him?!
Now, I just have to finish Brady's DVD movie of their trip to see us last Fall, and then I can send these off.  And I can start on Dayna's, but think I'll unwind the ball of yarn and divide it exactly in half before I start! 


Linking up with WIP Wednesday and Let's Bee Social.

6 comments:

  1. Wow those shells look very realistic and absolutely beautiful! And I knew that you would absolutely love those books! And poor poor Rocco, always photobombing! Just love him so much! Great job on those gloves! :D

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  2. Sandra, your seashells are amazing! They have such lifelike details and the fabric you picked really adds to the illusion. I especially love the scallops and I adore the starfish! (Even if it did make you crabby, LOL)
    Is Naala sorry for smackin' Rocco? She sort of looks apologetic in the last photo. Your fingerless gloves turned out great! I would have been so nervous about running out of yarn with a pattern that cuts it that close.

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  3. Those shells are so pretty. Batiks are perfect for the natural shimmer. And I love the fingerless gloves. Dividing the next one in half is a good idea.

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  4. Umm, why didn't I get notification from Bloglovin' that you posted??? Your seashells are freaking amazing!! Batiks are perfect for them. Too bad you had to go buy more black ;)

    Those fingerless gloves!! LOVE them!! Yes, divide that yarn before starting the next pair. . . I had to rip out the ones I crocheted several times. Totally frustrating!

    Naala :) such sweet pictures! Rocco obviously needed a little smack haha

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  5. Sandra, your shells look fantastic. Especially that starfish, so it was worth the finicky turn-out. :) The gloves are adorable and would be super useful as a quilter in a cold climate! Pretty frustrating about the yarn.

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  6. Your sea shells are gorgeous! Wow!

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