Polymer Clay

Sienna’s socks

| Sonia Knits

We had an early birthday celebration for my niece who turns 18 (!) this week. Sienna’s socks were completed with time to spare, phew!

They were very well received! Someone commented she looked even more excited receiving them than her other gifts. You’ll have to imagine a gorgeous girl looking very happy, because Sienna’s not keen on having her photo taken let alone having it splashed over the internet. I can completely understand that.

Now there’s just one more pair to go for the year (maybe 2, I know, I know). But the next pair are going to be late. A 78-stitch sock takes a lot longer than 64 stitches. They are plain socks once again, so great for Knit Night knitting with the Richmond Knitters.

As the end of the year is fast approaching, I’m looking at my WIP pile and wanting… hoping to get some long languishing projects finished so I can start the new year with a clean slate. I’m also wondering when to put up the tree… the year is ending so quickly at this rate.

Birthday Month

| Sonia Knits

Wow, it’s been a month, my birthday month in fact. Yes, despite my advancing years, I still celebrate my birthdays for as long as I can get away with.

img_9178As part of Birthday month, I went to see the Harry Potter Cursed Child play. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope to see it again in another year or so, it was truly spectacular.

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I got treated to dinner by my loving husband.

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I got to celebrate my birthday with some of my adorable nephews and nieces. Can you spot the allergy free cake? Not as good as my usual Burch & Purchese birthday cake, but at least all the kids could partake in this creation by Tidbit Cakes.

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Quite a bit of ‘alternative’ crafting happened this month.

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I’m still working on the layout of my pinwheel quilt.

Have I even told you about this project? After a crafting weekend away with my quilting friends in March, the quilting bug finally bit.

I haven’t absolutely decided whether or not to put sashing between the blocks (which I would make a pale blue). I don’t think I could possibly make more than the 121 pinwheel blocks already in the works…

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Last weekend I took a Polymer Clay class with The Polly Collective. It was a super fun day. Sheree is a great teacher.

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This is my first ‘slab’ piece. Looks kind of like a pizza.

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Before squishing…

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This is the slab after squishing…

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And these are all my cut-outs. The fronts of future pairs of stud earrings. So much fun.

This ‘cane’ slab was my next sample. The pieces are cut from a ‘candy cane’ made up of different colours then laid over the top of a thin slab of clay.

This is the slab pre-squishing

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Sheree described how her design process is like riding a train, and how you just have to stay on board even if you’re hating how it’s going (to the bitter end). i.e. a train wreck… but then there’s always foil and that makes anything look better. I kind of felt like that when I was making this ‘caned’ piece. I felt like I had taken my cane too far (the details got too small), but then I mixed it up with some of the original cane off-cuts and then it didn’t look quite as shite. I even got compliments!

The slab after squishing.

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There were a few other techniques demonstrated in the afternoon, that I’m going to try at home. I got a few supplies and tools to take-away to have a play.

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Oh ooo – a new craft…