Handmade in 2014

My Divine Inspiration: One of my favorite bloggers - Matt at According to Matt - blogged his craft year in review. You can read Matt's post here. I thought that was a great idea. So here I go!

These are my projects completed in 2014.

 2014 started with prayer shawls. A prayer shawl for a friend who lost her husband. He was a first responder to 9.11 who died of an associated lung disease.  

I also made a prayer shawl for my cousin - who is now cancer free! My daughter was flying to CA to visit her, and I stayed up very late the night before she left finishing the shawl, and I was too exhausted to photograph it. However, my wonderful daughter Meredith thought to video my cousin receiving it. 

2014 introduced me to Uptown Art. Uptown Art is an art studio where you select the night you want to go by which painting you would like to paint, you sign up, bring your own wine and snacks, and they provide everything else. On top of that they teach you how to paint a beautiful picture. Wonderfully relaxing music is played in the background. It is a fun and relaxing evening. Uptown Art is a franchise chain. Google it. There may be one in your area.

The picture above is from my first painting class. I am in the top row between two of my dearest friends. The three beautiful girls on the bottom are my daughters. Isn't it amazing how all of our pictures came out different yet they are all beautiful!?

The second time I went to Uptown Art I went with my daughter Shannon. It was just the two of us on a cold rainy Friday in December. Usually the classes have about 40 participants, but this night there were just five of us. That was nice ... for us. We painted holiday wreaths. Shannon and I brought gingerbread lattes from Starbucks instead of wine, the teacher put James Taylor radio on Pandora, and we spent a very relaxing evening painting. It was a wonderful evening!

2014 was the year I taught myself how to use my knitting machine I was blessed to receive as a gift. It is a 25 year old Bond knitting machine that a friend of a friend had in her attic. I needle felt, and I like to knit felt my canvas, pillow fabric, or handbag fabric. This can take a very long time - like a month or more. Receiving the knitting machine was a God-send. On the machine I can make fabric for two or three projects in a day. Then I go to work creating a picture, pillow, or handbag. 2013 was the year of pillows. 2014 was the the year of pictures. Above is the needle felted picture I made as a thank you gift for the lovely lady who found the knitting machine for me. Below is the thank you gift I made for the generous lady who gave me the machine. I am eternally grateful!

 Every now and then I enjoy making a wreath. The hydrangeas came from my garden. I made this wreath for myself. I was hosting Thanksgiving this year, and I was enjoying decorating my home. I made this to hang in our mud room where our guests hang their coats.

2014 was the year of Mother Bear Project teddy bears. If you knit or crochet and are interested in making a bear to comfort a child you can check out the Mother Bear Project here. 

While spending a day in NYC with my daughter Shannon I found some wonderful knitting books at Strand book store. I made the knitting doll in the center of the picture.  I forgot to photograph my own doll before I sent it off as a gift. This is a fabulous book. If you click on the book you can find out more about it. 

New Year's Eve 2014 I took my hand to painting an old table lamp. 2015 is going to be the year of Annie Sloan Paint. My husband and I have will celebrate 34 years of marriage this year. Our dark pine furniture is old and battered. We decided that instead of buying new furniture - we are still recovering from putting 4 children through college - we would paint what we have and make it new for us. I took an Annie Sloan painting class in DE in the fall --- so in 2015 I will be doing lots of furniture painting. This table lamp will be my first completed project in 2015. I will share it when it is done. Wish me luck! 

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

With gratitude,

Terry