I have just finished designing the newest crocheted healing doll- The Angel of Compassion:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
Like the Angel of Healing doll, you can make them any size you want, using any combination of threads, yarns, cords, fabric strips, string, cord or whatever strands appeal to you.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
The Angel of Compassion is meant to be a reminder of being kind to each other, and to ourselves- as compassion is one of life’s greatest gifts!
You can order the pattern for the Angel of Compassion from my website:
Recently, friends of ours experienced a tragic loss. At the same time, some close friends and family members have been facing some health issues.
I wanted to show my concern, my love, my empathy and my wishes for healing, so I reached for my crochet hook.
I designed a new Angel of Healing doll, and have been crocheting them up for the dear ones that I am wishing healing and wholeness.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
You can order a copy of the pdf pattern from my website if you would like to make some Angels of Healing for those that you love, and also, while you are at it, do make one for yourself!
And, that is what this Crocheted Angel of Healing doll is all about. The Angel of Healing is meant to be made in a contemplative, meditative, prayerful way, so that it is filled with wishes for healing, wholeness, peace, harmony and happiness.
The crocheted Healing Angel doll can be made small enough to fit in your pocket (or the pocket of someone that you care about) to remind you (and them) that you (and they) are loved and cherished. Or, you can make it larger.
When you crochet your Healing Angel, you can express your creativity in endless ways with your choice of yarns or threads. (It’s a great stash buster, as it takes only tiny amounts of yarn, and it’s also a great way of upcycling by using tarn and other ‘alternative’ yarns).
The Healing Angels are meant to have treasures included in them, so the pattern tells you how to do that.
The wings are shaped into a sideways ’8′, which is the symbol of infinity, because this Healing Angel is a reminder of love, which is “to infinity, and beyond….. “
Make Angels of Healing for yourself, or for the ones you love. They are a beautiful way to express the wish for healing and wholeness!
I’ve just made a new video tutorial showing how to use a nifty technique to embroider motifs onto small loom weavings.
The technique is tambour crochet, and the motif is one of my most favorites, the heart…
This is the first in a series of video tutorials and free projects that I will be posting in honor of ‘Stitch Red’, which is the Needlearts industry’s campaign for heart disease awareness- working to benefit The Heart Truth through the end of June 2013.
I care deeply about heart health, as my mother and mother in law both had heart problems, and my mom had to have surgery on her heart.
I don’t want any of us to have to go through that …. so I am very committed to helping people have happy healthy hearts!
I used the tambour technique to embroider the heart and greyhound for the memorial piece about the passing of our beloved companion in this blog post Link
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
In the video, I promised that I would share a heap of links, and so here they are:
I am calling this series, ‘Woven Women’. I made a little video mini tour of one corner of my studio, showing ‘The Green Empress’.
The Green Empress brings together many of my favorite fiber techniques: Tapestry weaving, inkle weaving, small loom weaving, crochet, wire work, tatting and punch needle embroidery.
My plan is to eventually have enough ‘Woven Women’ for a one woman show. I don’t have enough of them finished yet, but I am working on it!
Here are some more photos and the video tour that shows The Green Empress:
Close up of one eye and part of the crown. You can see that I love Byzantine art, as there is a definite influence here.
And, here is the link to a mini studio tour, with my wonderful husband playing one of his compositions (with our small dog in his lap, as small dog insists on sitting in Jim’s lap when he plays and practices!)
Well, September has been challenging so far… I am playing unwilling host to a nasty flu thingie that has me feeling like a squashed bug, so I have been spending a lot of time curled up in fetal position wishing that the virus or whatever it is would just go away and let me return to my normal happy, healthy self!!!
Needless to say, I haven’t felt like blogging – who wants to hear moaning and groaning?
Anyhow, I thought I would FINALLY tie up the adventures of the tiny traveling bears (see part one and part two)
Earlier in the summer, my son and his wife and one of their closest friends moved one of their other near and dear friends to Vancouver, BC.
I gave them wee teddies to keep them safe on their journey, and my son took photos of the bears on the trip.
He also took pictures of Paul and his teddy as they settled into their new home:
copyright Angus Findlay
Teddy decided that he quite liked hanging out with the prayer flags. He sent lots of good wishes out with them, too….
copyright Angus Findlay
He’s mostly hanging out around Paul’s computer, helping with editing school work and stuff like that.
He needs to give Paul a little nudge to send us a note… ahem….
Because we are all sending Paul and Teddy tons of love and hopes for great happiness in their new home and school and city!!!
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! sometimes, technology is BEYOND frustrating!
I have spent the last 2 hours, trying to get this post to ‘take’…. but even though I have edited it a dozen or more times, and even deleted, and started over …. the photos just WON’T show up….. I’ll try again tomorrow….
In part one of the adventures of the traveling bears ‘ Link ,
the bears and their humans set out for Vancouver to get Paul moved and settled in for his new school year.
photo copyright Angus Findlay
The bears loved sunbathing on the dashboard of the van, and agreed that they had the very best view of the scenery.
photo copyright Angus Findlay
They quite enjoyed exploring the sand dunes in the Rocky Mountains.
…
Secretly, they were relieved that they didn’t meet any of their large Grizzly cousins.
Although, they assured everyone that they would be very brave and speak politely to any enormous bears who ambled past….
..
Paul and Little Bear took a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry deep breath when they arrived on his new doorstep.
One of our son’s closest friends, Paul, decided to move to another city to go to school.
So, our son and his wife and another of their dear friends, (Mike), decided to drive Paul to his new city.
They loaded up their van with Paul’s possesions and came out to the farm to spend the night before ‘take off’.
As I watched them preparing for the journey, I had the sudden impulse to ask Paul if he would like a travelling comfort bear to keep him company on his great adventure.
A few weeks ago, a whole lot of my mother’s embroidery threads came to live at my house…. my mother, in her glory days, was a master embroiderer. Sadly, she is no longer able to do needlework and there is no room for her embroidery threads in her new home.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
At first, I was incredibly saddened by the presence of her threads in my studio… I knew that she had had a hard time making the choice to leave her condo…. and the threads were symbolic to me of her decline. I also felt, oddly, that I was ‘snooping’ through her things as I sorted the threads and needlework tools. It was quite depressing.
I felt like she had treasured her threads so much that I couldn’t possibly do anything with them that would match her dreams for them, and it brought up all kinds of ‘not good enough’ stuff. Very painful!
Luckily, I have close loved ones who helped me shift my focus away from the painful focus, and to embrace the threads as my own, and to work with them in a way that is a celebration of all the delight that my mother felt in her needlework…..
And, so I started weaving with them, and then got the inspiration to use her threads to continue my shadow scarf series….. this time, to crochet mermaids! My mother always loved mermaids as much as I do, so it seemed right to me…..
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
And, so, I have been discovering the mermaids that were living in my mother’s threads- it has been a joyous discovery for me, and I am delighted with them!
I have just finished the pattern, and have put it up on my website at:Crochet. (click on link).
You never know where you will find joy and healing…. isn’t it amazing how often that it lives in the middle of threads, yarns and the tools of our needlecraft?
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
So, here’s to imagination, and to creativity, and to the healing that they can bring- and of course, here’s to love, and to friendship, too…. and to all the tender mercies that they bestow on us!
