Sunday, July 17, 2016

Nothing to do with paper or cards

Good morning friends,
I hope you are enjoying a relaxing weekend, with good weather.

Today's post ...as the title says has nothing to do with cards, paper, stamping embossing or any of those things that I normally would be writing about.   I hope I don't bore you with this post, but feel free to leave... I just want to talk about some of the things occupying some of my time at present.

As a young child I had a love for fabrics,wool, embroidery cotton and those kind of things. I am sure it was what rubbed off from my Mom and my Ouma. My Mom taught me all I knew about sewing and embroidery and my Ouma..using needles and yarn.

Eventually having own family of 4 boys to keep in clothes,  I did lots of sewing and knitting, Crocheting and embroidery were my special hobbies, even though not always enough time for them.  As my family grew older, sewing for them became less, but knitting still stayed, even though eventually with a knitting machine which allowed some time for other hobbies...stained glass work, pewter, and a few others.

After a time I started my own little craft business, Firstly with fabrics,... covering boxes, both wooden and heavy duty cardboard. and items for home decor all using fabrics.  Then it all grew and branched out and other elements were added, and slowly  paper came into the picture,  decoupage becoming so popular., and my hubby retired from the business he was in and worked with me in  producing ceramics and other items for my various crafts.

Paper crafts were a large part of my business and finally being encouraged by other crafters to start my blog in 2008.  I was also invited onto a few Design teams then and was able to share my love for this new medium. Classes became very popular and in demand.

After 18 years  my craft business had become a full time occupation for both of us and finally 3 years ago we decided to retire. Sold up,  moved, to a retirement village and are now enjoying a relaxed lifestyle.  OK you might now be saying ...so what...



I have now the time to take up my hobbies again. I saw a project ...The Joseph Jersey project, They were knitting jerseys for children in orphanages and needed kintters, so  I started knitting for them. Great fun as they had to have lots of colour. What a pleasure to see the joy on the childrens faces when they received these lovely colourful garments.   beanies and scarves were added to the list.

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I then decided to hunt for my crochet hooks as well and have had so much fun finding new designs and ideas on the various sites.
 I discovered lovely granny squares, CALs and many other projects. I joined my first ever CAL, Saw a lovely pattern for Winks mandalas blanket which I had to try.   So my first finished project.



Busy on my next project which is another blanket Wade's blanket CAL

I have a few others lined up, so I will have more to post at a later stage.

I think I might even take out some of my unfinished embroidery projects soon.


I will be posting some of these items from time to time, so it won't just be cards from now on. I will understand if you aren't interested in all of this, but thanks for letting me write about what I am doing other than making cards.


Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, take care and see you soon with a card this time.

Love Ursula



5 comments:

Petra Swart said...

Oh, my, Ursula, I'm sure your know that I'm also a keen knitter and crocheter, hey!!!!! So I really enjoyed seeing what keeps you busy when you're not busy with paper, stamps and ink!!!! I have also knitted for charity at times and really enjoyed that - your little jerseys are so pretty!!!! - I'm going to have a look at the Joseph Jersey Project!!!! And your granny squares and mandala blanket are so beautiful!!!! Oh, I wish I could go without sleep - so much great things to do and so little time in a day, hey!!! Wouldn't it have been nice if we could meet and enjoy knitting and crocheting together while having some coffee (...and cupcakes!!!! LOL!!! ;) )!!!! And imagine how much fun we would have visiting yarn shops ...I loooooooove yarn shops and can spend hours there!!!! Oh, my, now you want me to go knitting, but I've got some blogvisits to do first and by that time it will be late and time to go to bed!!!!
OK, I'm off - so lovely seeing your 'other' projects!!!
Hugz

Patti J said...

Wow! You are a woman with many talents, Ursula! These are all beautiful. My mom always wanted to teach me to crochet, and I was always too busy, and I guess in my mind, I thought she'd always be here to crochet for me! Now, I wish I'd stopped and learned! Your projects will be welcomed at the Joseph Jersey Project! Hugs...

Teresa Arsenault said...

Ursula, I had no idea you were so multi-talented. Your knitting and crocheting are gorgeous. I would love to see some of your embroidery too. My sister used to do lovely embroidery work.

I am very interested in seeing your non-paper crafting projects in the future.

hugs,
Teresa

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

What beautiful projects with lovely colours, those little jumpers are so cute with great design.

I love crotchet, but can't do it very well and haven't knitted for years. How lovely you now have time to enjoy your hobbies.
Faith
x

Marjeta said...

Us much us I can see, you make wonderful things. Congratulation.

Marjeta