Crafting ... Love it !!!
Howdy, dear Blog Friends !!
Just thought I'd talk about crafts with you !!
Now, you all must know that I love to sew, am obsessed with patchwork and quilting. Up until recently, I also did alot of scrapbooking (which seems to have taken a bit of a backburner, with the quilting taking over ... but I will get back into it, I am always thinking of special pages to create !!). And for the past couple of months, I have also become somewhat obsessed with crocheting !! In the past, I have also done cross stitch (in fact, I still have a couple of projects on the go), folk art / decorative painting (still have all my paints, plan on doing some aboriginal dot style painting sometime soon !!), along with various other things.
I was taught to knit (although I never really mastered knitting !!) and crochet, initially, by my grandmother. Also, my initial foray into sewing was thanks to my grandmother, whose wonderful old sewing machine I still have (I originally did a course through Knitwit ... all stretch sewing ... it was great fun, and I used to make heaps of clothing for both myself, and my daughter when she was little). I know back in the "good old days", many of these crafts were a means to an end ... you had to sew, or you had no clothes !! Likewise with knitting and crochet !! These days, I guess, for most of us, these are just hobbies / crafts that we do because we enjoy them, because we want to do them, just because !!
Many of the patterns around these days are very hip and modern, although I guess they all stem back to the original stuff they did "back in the day". I imagine most of the stitches used in knitting and crochet were invented long, long ago. I love to look around for older patterns, particularly the hippy style ... not because I want to wear them myself (although I do plan on making a poncho !!), but just because they are fun, and have a history.
Watching old TV programs (like Little House on the Prairie, and Dr Quinn Medicine Woman, for example), and old movies, you often see woman sitting around in groups, doing their sewing together, in a quilting circle, or whatever. Well, guess what, we still do stuff like that !! We get together in groups, workshops, classes ... and sit and sew (or crochet, or knit, or scrapbook, or whatever !) together ... hey, things haven't changed so much, really, have they !!!
What I was wondering was, do you think all these crafts, which seem to be making a resurgence, have taken on a new face, have changed, or are they basically just the same as when our grandparents, and their parents and grandparents, learnt and taught them ? Do you think things need to change, to modernise more, to encourage the younger generation to partake in these crafts, so they don't die out ?? I'd love to hear what you think.
I don't intend to ever be "craft-less". As we get older, we need to keep our minds active (and our bodies, too, of course) ... doing a form of craft helps with this !! It's a way of having "me time" too. There's not much better on a rainy day, than to be sitting in front of my sewing machine, which is in front of a window, with the heater on, knowing I'm scrumptiously warm and happy, whilst it's yucky outside.
Anyway, enough prattle from me for now ... back to my sewing machine !!!
Take care,
Just thought I'd talk about crafts with you !!
Now, you all must know that I love to sew, am obsessed with patchwork and quilting. Up until recently, I also did alot of scrapbooking (which seems to have taken a bit of a backburner, with the quilting taking over ... but I will get back into it, I am always thinking of special pages to create !!). And for the past couple of months, I have also become somewhat obsessed with crocheting !! In the past, I have also done cross stitch (in fact, I still have a couple of projects on the go), folk art / decorative painting (still have all my paints, plan on doing some aboriginal dot style painting sometime soon !!), along with various other things.
I was taught to knit (although I never really mastered knitting !!) and crochet, initially, by my grandmother. Also, my initial foray into sewing was thanks to my grandmother, whose wonderful old sewing machine I still have (I originally did a course through Knitwit ... all stretch sewing ... it was great fun, and I used to make heaps of clothing for both myself, and my daughter when she was little). I know back in the "good old days", many of these crafts were a means to an end ... you had to sew, or you had no clothes !! Likewise with knitting and crochet !! These days, I guess, for most of us, these are just hobbies / crafts that we do because we enjoy them, because we want to do them, just because !!
Many of the patterns around these days are very hip and modern, although I guess they all stem back to the original stuff they did "back in the day". I imagine most of the stitches used in knitting and crochet were invented long, long ago. I love to look around for older patterns, particularly the hippy style ... not because I want to wear them myself (although I do plan on making a poncho !!), but just because they are fun, and have a history.
Watching old TV programs (like Little House on the Prairie, and Dr Quinn Medicine Woman, for example), and old movies, you often see woman sitting around in groups, doing their sewing together, in a quilting circle, or whatever. Well, guess what, we still do stuff like that !! We get together in groups, workshops, classes ... and sit and sew (or crochet, or knit, or scrapbook, or whatever !) together ... hey, things haven't changed so much, really, have they !!!
What I was wondering was, do you think all these crafts, which seem to be making a resurgence, have taken on a new face, have changed, or are they basically just the same as when our grandparents, and their parents and grandparents, learnt and taught them ? Do you think things need to change, to modernise more, to encourage the younger generation to partake in these crafts, so they don't die out ?? I'd love to hear what you think.
I don't intend to ever be "craft-less". As we get older, we need to keep our minds active (and our bodies, too, of course) ... doing a form of craft helps with this !! It's a way of having "me time" too. There's not much better on a rainy day, than to be sitting in front of my sewing machine, which is in front of a window, with the heater on, knowing I'm scrumptiously warm and happy, whilst it's yucky outside.
Anyway, enough prattle from me for now ... back to my sewing machine !!!
Take care,
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