Christmas Countdown 25... Christmas Tree #1

Background : It has become a bit of a Christmas tradition for me to write an Advent blog - a series of posts leading into Christmas from 1 December . In the past, I have featured Christmas characters by the alphabet, all you ever needed to know about Christmas cakes, Christmas Firsts and Christmas traditions. I usually find myself on 30 November, thinking what to do this year? However, I've had the idea of "crazy " Christmas trees in the back of my mind since last year. So this year, it's about non- traditional, unusual, crazy, weird Christmas trees. There will also be a "handmade" element to my posts, so there may even be some links to tutorials or other ideas....

So here we go. Christmas Countdown 25 - 1 December.

Source : https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/455285843573622091

This is the image which started this line of thought.... a yarn bombed, crochet granny square Christmas tree. I thought I would like to crochet a tree like this, but perhaps another year.... This tree was created by the Urban Knitting Zaragoza Group for the Plaza del Pilar, Saragoza, Spain. They covered a metal frame with knit and crochet squares with embellishments - helped by two children's yarn bombing workshops

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/35325178301076166/

Other places have had similar ideas Stoney Stanton, a village in the Blaby district, Leicestershire, England was yarn bombed for Christmas in 2016.

Source : https://www.hinckleytimes.net/news/local-news/gallery/stoney-stanton-yarn-bombed-christmas-12286641

If you think time is not on your side for this Christmas, perhaps a tree skirt or some of the smaller Granny square Christmas tree projects might be possible.

Link to online tutorial for Christmas tree skirt

Link to a online tutorial for Granny square tree decoration.

And if Christmas trees and granny squares don"t sit well with you ... perhaps a fashion item for your Christmas party.... We have seen crochet granny squares used for all sorts of crazy wearable items and even in fashion shows and on the celebrity red carpet.

Sources : https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2017-menswear/moschino/slideshow/collection#57

https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2017-menswear/moschino/slideshow/collection#57

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/288019338654505631/

Source : https://www.demilked.com/crochet-shorts-schuyler-ellers-lord-von-schmitt/

Source: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/135389532532708655/?lp=true

Here's a video tutorial on how to crochet a granny square - the beginning of many projects, even a Christmas tree.

For more information about Christmas trees go to a previous blog post.

A November project

A few years ago, I began scheduling into my day, the routine of a daily art practice.... seven years later, I still love #the100dayproject and am a strong advocate of "create something, anything, every day" . In more recent years, I haven't been content with a mere 100 days and have often pursued shorter /or longer projects requiring some daily attention. For example, I completed 145 days of slow stitching my garden and then another 60 day random cross stitch garden.... but that's a digression.... This month, I am being far more practical... I still like to send and give Christmas cards, but am always getting them in the post very late, and trying to make some special unique cards for the family the night before.... so all this month, I am making Christmas cards - just one a day. By 30 November, I should have some to choose from for posting within Australia and for giving in December. Here are my first 4 days .... If you're wondering why bother ...

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How does your garden grow with stitch?

"How does your garden grow with stitch?" is an update on a post I published way back in 2015, when I stitched my first "impressionist garden" for a course I was studying at the Embroiderers' Guild. Gardens are my constant inspiration for my artwork, and I create gardens in cloth and stitch repetitively, using many different techniques. I am particularly fond of this heavily stitched embroidered "impressionist" garden. In 2016, I stitched two small gardens in this style for an exhibition and they included photos of my husband's grandmother and her brother and sister as children. Although the collector who bought these two works did not know our family, the children reminded him of his own family from England of about the same era. These two 'gardens' have become my "stitch" reference and images which best showcase the technique although I don't have the originals any more. Since then, quite a few other gardens have gro...

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