Tag Archives: Noreen Crone-Findlay

August 8, 2014 · 8:03 pm

Woven Women- Small Bird Sang and All Was Forgiven

When we went on holidays in July, I took along 4 small looms- My Norwegian Cradle loom, my 8 inch Mirrix tapestry loom, my wee copper pipe loom and my tiny peg loom.

I warped up my Norwegian Cradle loom with fine cotton to weave a narrow band, using my Swedish double slotted rigid heddle.

The heddle is actually too wide for the Cradle loom, but oddly enough, this worked well in a quirky way.

I wove and wove and wove and wove as we drove for many, many days, with the Norwegian Cradle loom in my lap:

The cotton thread in the narrow band is in the same colors that I was using to weave the sampler for Part 2 of the online tapestry course offered by Rebecca Mezoff.

I knew that I wanted to have narrow bands as part of the figure that I was weaving, using the sampler as the body.

And here she is: Her name is:
“Small Bird Sang and All Was Forgiven”.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Her body is the sampler that includes the techniques that were covered in Part Two of the course.

I wove her arms separately, using techniques from Part 2 as well.
I have included driftwood from our beachcombing at the ocean, as well as found objects.

Her hands, head, feet and the archway panel are cut from Baltic birch plywood. (Lovely stuff!)

I burned the features with a wood burning tool, and then painted and embellished with encaustic.

She is 36 inches/90 cm tall.

I wove her body first, then re-warped the loom and wove the arms separately.

Her body and arms were woven on my 8 inch Mirrix tapestry loom, which I also took along on holidays, as it’s a fabulous little traveling loom.

8 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as double hole Swedish rigid heddle loom, hand weaving, hand woven, Mirrix loom, narrow band weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Norwegian cradle loom, Rebecca Mezoff, tapestry, tapestry weaving, textiles, weaving, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

August 7, 2014 · 11:24 am

Tottie Tomato meets the Quimper Hittys

Tottie Tomato and I are enchanted by the magical blog: Quimper Hittys LINK

When we went on holidays at the end of July, Tottie Tomato and I (Tottie Tomato, Pinkie and Blue Bear always travel with us), were delighted to be able to meet the Quimper Hittys and their charming Mamma.

Quimper Hittys’ Mamma bravely scrambled in under the rosebush and cedars by our trailer to take pictures of Tottie Tomato and the Quimper Hittys that had hopped into their traveling basket.

Bravely, say I, as Jim had been eaten alive by the fierce rosebush when he stalwartly anchored our awning, while being pierced by the lovely rosebush’s monstrous thorns!

Luckily, the rosebush allowed us to take pictures of our girls together.

And, I took pictures of the Quimper Hittys’ human as she got the girls posed together.

Tottie Tomato and Perdita Quimper Hitty especially took to each other.

They were both so pleased to meet another doll of greenish hue!

Tottie Tomato was delighted to meet Min, Agathe, Constance and of course, Perdita.

Mungo Hitty had come along to see what all the excitement was about, but balked at being photographed.

It was a wonderful morning, sipping tea with a kindred spirit!

The Quimper Hittys gave Tottie Tomato some very beautiful gifts, which she showed admiringly to Pinkie and Blue Bear, as well as Wee Charlotte who lives in my traveling tatting case:

There were other splendid gifts, and I will tell you about them very soon 🙂

And, I hope that you are sipping tea with a kindred spirit, too, perhaps admiring a tiny pot of lavender and marveling at

Mouse Melons!

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Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making

Tagged as doll making, hand carved wooden doll, Hitty, Hitty dolls, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Quimper Hittys, Tottie Tomato, wooden doll, wooden dolls

August 5, 2014 · 4:00 pm

The Fairy Door opens again

Tottie Tomato and Peggotty Caroline heard sounds coming from the Fairy Door down by the apple tree.

What’s that?

A hand!

A hand opening the Fairy Door?

Oh!

A new friend!

Tottie Tomato shakes hands with Victoria Kjersten Hitty, known as ‘Tennie’, but, Peggotty Caroline is so excited to meet their new friend, that she throws her arms around Tennie in a welcoming hug.

Tottie Tomato and Peggotty Caroline decide immediately that Tennie Hitty is going to be a good friend.

Sometimes, you can just tell, can’t you?

And, they are thrilled that Tennie has come through the Fairy Door to live in the studio with them.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.crone-findlay.com

Tottie Tomato and Peggotty Caroline are very interested to hear all about how Tennie came to be behind the Fairy Door…. I’m sure she’ll tell them all about it over a lovely cup of tea.

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Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making

Tagged as doll, doll making, dollmaking, dolls, Fairy Door, hand carved wooden doll, Hitty doll, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Peggotty Caroline, Tennie Hitty, Tottie Tomato, wooden doll, wooden dolls

July 13, 2014 · 10:13 am

Woven Women- Edith’s Song

I’ve just finished weaving a new piece that I have called: ‘Edith’s Song: No Regrets’:

For the last 3 weeks, I have been weaving away, loving working on a sampler for Part One of Rebecca Mezoff’s online tapestry weaving workshop. LINK to her course outlines. (Love the course, highly recommend it!)

While I was weaving it, I got inspired to weave the last section in 3 panels- one for the torso, and 2 for the arms.

I shaped the upper edge in a semi circle to be the neckline of her bodice, and left empty triangles at the elbows so I could shape bent arms.

I pulled the warp strands to bend the arms and to shape her torso.

I chose to leave the slits unstitched in the lower panel so I could weave in narrow bands that I had previously woven on my double hole rigid heddle loom.

I also used the narrow bands as the hem and other embellishments.

I cut the head, hands and feet from 1/4 inch plywood.

The wings were a serendipitous thrift shop find.

The beads around her face are a peyote stitch tube that I made a couple of years ago and have been waiting for the perfect project.

Woven on my 16 inch Mirrix loom, using Paternayan tapestry yarn that I inherited from my mother and handspun from my daughter in law.

She makes me feel happy. 🙂

6 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Rebecca Mezoff, Rebecca Mezoff online tapestry workshop, tapestry, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

July 1, 2014 · 10:55 am

Tapestry diary June 2014 -Doorway

Having committed to weaving a tapestry diary for the year of 2014 has been a wonderful experience for me.

As I have been experimenting with my diary pieces, I have come to a huge ‘aha’ about the ways that I love to work.

I have found that weaving tiny tapestries, 3 inches/7.5 cm by 5 inches/12.5 cm truly makes my heart sing.

Here is my completed tiny tapestry for the month of June:

I wanted to show the small size of the tapestry by placing it in the context of my studio, and I inadvertently included a little self revelation that made me flinch when I first saw the pic.

My little rock with ‘good enough’ in chalk….. not feeling good enough has been a life long struggle for me, and it’s rather ouchie to have my little ‘good enough’ rock in the photo.

BUT, I figured that I am not alone in this struggle, so, what the heck…. if it feels too uncomfortable to leave the pic as is, I can take it down… but… maybe it could be helpful to someone else who navigates that particular minefield, too, so, I’ll leave it for now.

To be honest, the weaving in this piece does have aspects that are not good enough.

But, as I have lived with now for the few days since I finished it, I have decided that there’s more to it than meets the eye, and I like how I have had ‘aha’ moments with it- finding new meaning in it.

One of the rules of the tapestry diary that I have made for myself is that I have to ask myself:

Where am I right now? What am I working on?

And, then do a drawing that feels like it has possibilities to show me more about that.

When I began my June drawing, I was deeply grieving the death of one of our beloved little dogs, as well as several other losses.

It made me really aware of how those we love do come and go, and how tender and precious life is…. and that’s what came up in the drawing and the weaving.

On the other hand, my daughter in law thinks it looks like something out of Star Trek or sci fi.

LOL!!!! That works for me! I say: If you see something in it that I didn’t, then, YAY! that’s a win.

….. and that’s good enough for me…..

🙂

9 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as diary, handweaving, handwoven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry, Tapestry Diary

June 20, 2014 · 7:30 am

Woven Sloth

The day my daughter said to me: “Mum, you should design a woven sloth!”, turned out to be a happy one 🙂

I had always liked sloths, but until I started designing one, I didn’t realize how incredibly enchanting they are.

Their sweet nature is so clear to see on their faces!

I’ve been weaving and selling sloths in my booth at Maker’s Faires and Artisan Markets for more than a year and a half now, and people just love them- they always spark a chortle or a grin.

My daughter in law wants me to make one for her to hang on her spinning wheel, so I got out my potholder loom today and started working on one for her.

She told me that this week is ‘International Sloth Week’, so I thought… okay….

it’s time to publish my pattern in honour of the sweet slowpokes!

The pattern is available in my etsy shop:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/193617856/adorable-sloth-plushie-toy-to-weave-on?ref=shop_home_active_2

Happy Sloth Week!

8 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, potholder loom, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven sloth, Noreen Crone-Findlay, potholder loom, sloth, sloth pattern, sloth toy, woven sloth, woven toy, woven toys

June 6, 2014 · 11:43 am

Woven Women – Spiral Eyes

A couple of days ago, I posted photos of ‘Woven Women- Spiral Eyes’ in process and with the weaving finished, but still on the loom. LINK

I was planning on weaving more small diary pieces on the same warp, but- oops!

I broke a warp strand while advancing the warp- ack!

So, I cut the warp off and finished framing her:

My thoughts while weaving this piece were

that we simply have to come from a place of compassion….

which is what the spirals represent to me-

spiral in, spiral out.

The eyes, of course, are about seeing….

the blue around her face represents tears,

the green in the spirals is all about hope.

So… that’s what’s woven into a very tiny tapestry. (It’s 3 inches by 5 inches)

9 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, Uncategorized, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as miniature tapestries, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestries, tapestry, tapestry diary weave along, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay

June 2, 2014 · 4:27 pm

Tapestry Diary May 2014

I have committed to a year long project on Ravelry- weaving a tapestry diary.

I didn’t quite finish my May tapestry diary piece in May…. I just finished it today.

I have been bothered and irritated by one of the eyes and just wasn’t happy, so had to do some serious unweaving and unpicking.

I am still not quite there with it, but it’s going to be on the loom until I weave the next diary piece (I warped enough to weave several small diary entries) so, I can puzzle over it more, or simply accept it as is.

It’s called: Woven Women- Spiral Eyes.

Here it is in progress:

And here it is in it’s ~almost finished~ state (of course, it will have to be ‘really finished’ later when it comes off the loom, but that won’t be happening right away)

It’s about how we spiral inward when we are faced with difficult events in our lives-

May was very challenging for us, with the death of one of dear old dogs, the destruction of my website by hackers, then, learning that the gallery that was supposed to be hosting the solo show of my tapestries and other woven works has been botched by the builders, so the gallery can’t open this year- so my show is cancelled.

Then, we learned that a long, long time friend is very ill.

Rough, rough month…. and in the news, the school girls in Nigeria still not being released, as well as troubles all over the planet…. oh my….

And, the thing that I take away from my personal journey and looking at what others are facing,

is that we simply have to come from a place of compassion….

which is what the spirals represent to me-

spiral in, spiral out.

The eyes, of course, are about seeing….

the blue around her face represents tears,

the green in the spirals is all about hope.

So… that’s what’s woven into a very tiny tapestry. (It’s 3 inches by 5 inches)
I will be framing it in one of my painted plaster frames when it comes off the loom.

On a very happy note, I was thrilled today to receive the most gorgeous package of yarn from LeiLaniSue of Heavenly Fibers LINK

Thank you, thank you, LeiLani!

So very beautiful!!!!!!! and soooooooooooooo appreciated!!!!!

7 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry, Tapestry Diary, tapestry weaving, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

May 28, 2014 · 7:58 pm

Lucet techniques- 6- Celtic Interlace Hearts

This is the 6th how to video in Noreen Crone-Findlay’s series of Lucet technique tutorials.

In this video, I show how to make gorgeous Celtic interlace hearts that you can use to embellish woven, knitted, crocheted or sewn fashion accessories or home decor items.

They are also great for scrapbooking and can be used on stationery.

They are perfect Valentines or as Christmas or birthday decorations and ornaments.

Another wonderful way of using these Celtic Interlace hearts is to hang them up as ‘Yarn Bombs’ for people to find and adopt. What a lovely way to brighten someone’s day!

The video shows how to make different sizes of the Celtic Interlace Heart.

Here is the template- print it out so that it’s about 5 inches square, but smaller or larger works just fine, too.

Spool knitted cords work fine for making the Celtic interlace hearts, too.

Here is the video tutorial:

Please go to https://www.etsy.com/listing/190037126/handmade-wooden-lucet-by-noreen-crone?ref=listing-1 to purchase one of my handmade lucets, and to check out all the nifty spool knitting patterns and eBooks, as all those patterns will work beautifully with Lucet cords.

This is Noreen Crone-Findlay’s original design and concept.

2 Comments

Filed under Lucet, tutorial & how to, video tutorial

Tagged as Celtic Interlace, Celtic interlace heart, Celtic interlace hearts, eco craft, embellishment, fashion accessory, green crafts, heart ornament, home decor, how to make a Celtic Interlace heart, how to video, Lucet, lucet cord, Noreen Crone-Findlay, ornament, scrapbooking, spool knitted cord, video tutorial, yarn bomb, yarn heart

May 28, 2014 · 7:21 pm

Lucet techniques- 5 – Shoelaces- upcycle to make aiglets

This is the 5th how to video in my series of Lucet technique tutorials.

In this video tutorial, I show how to make awesome shoelaces, and a great upcycling way of making those little thingies at the end of the laces.

I couldn’t remember the right name for them when I was making the video, and called them ‘aplets’, but the correct name is ‘aglets or aiglets’.

Wikipedia defines them as: The word aglet (or aiglet) comes from Old French aguillette (or aiguillette), which is the diminutive of aguille (or aiguille), meaning needle.[1] This in turn comes from acus, Latin for needle. An aglet is like a small needle at the end of a corde

Here’s the video:

Please go to https://www.etsy.com/listing/190037126/handmade-wooden-lucet-by-noreen-crone?ref=listing-1 to purchase one of my sweet little handmade lucets, and to check out all the nifty spool knitting patterns and eBooks, as all those patterns will work beautifully with Lucet cords.

This is Noreen Crone-Findlay’s original design and concept.