Baby Jesus in a nutshell - tutorial

I wanted to make a tutorial on how to make a Baby Jesus in a nutshell like this. They are traditional in Hungary. You can make a handful in an hour, so perhaps it is worth sitting down tonight, in the middle of the hectic preparation, and make some with the kids.

Unfortunately I haven't made photos when I made these, and have no opportunity to take any right now (I am sitting on a ferry to Finland), but I thought if someone wants to make some, it is so easy, perhaps I can write down the tutorial without the pictures, and it might still work.

You will need:

halved walnutshells
wooden beads (mine were about 1 cm in diameter)
white fabric scrap for the duvet: a circle about 7 cm in diameter)
a little bit of fiberfill or other stuffing
a piece of white lace for the head (I had some small pieces of crocheted lace, but if you have none, just a small piece of white fabric would do)
golden cord, about 20 cm
small golden charm (I used a star)
glue


To open the walnut, push a knife in the wider end, wiggle carefully, and most of the times it opens easily. Take out all the nut. I have pictures of this step.

Take the golden cord, fold it in half, tie a knot and glue it in the narrower end of the nutshell.

Wrap the lace piece around the wooden bead, as if it was a head scarf, and sew or glue in place. I just sewed through the hole in the bead a few times.
Glue the head on the top of the golden cord.

Sew running stitches around the white circle, about half a cm from the edge. Pull the ends, and put a little stuffing in it, then tie the ends together.
Glue it into the remaining empty space in the nutshell, push it down so that it fills it all.

Glue a star in the middle.

Actually, next time I will make them, I will embroider something in the middle of the fabric circles before doing the running stitch, it might look even better than the glued star - but I came up with the idea too late.


Finally, draw a face. I only drew sleeping eyes but you can add more details if you want.

If something is not clear, go ahead and ask.


I made about 20 for the Christmas market and they were very popular. :)

New Life? Using old pieces of needlework

I have lots of old pieces of needlework. I have some I inherited or received from my family, and lots that I bough in Sweden. Sweden is a wonderful place, you can find tons of old embroidery and crochet pieces in the second-hand shops and flea-markets.
I have quite a few I am collecting as my personal museum, really beautiful works.

On the other hand, there are quite a lot in the collection that are not all that beautiful. They are worn or faded and I wouldn´t put them on my wall or table. Or they are in a colour that was fashionable at a time (probably the 60s and 70s) but not any more. However, I wouldn´t want to throw them out either, because I keep thinking of the unknown people who spent weeks or months making them.

I was thinking about using them for something else. For a while I was not really sure if this is a good idea, it almost feels like a kind of sacrilege. Finally, I decided it is more like giving these things another, new life. Here are a few examples.


First, although it might be too late now for making autumn-projects, I would like to show you what I made with my students in the "creative crafts" lesson a few weeks ago.




It´s a branch of tree stuck in a jar filled with gravel. Then each student made a leaf and we hang them on the branch.

You can also see me in the reflection. :)
I took another picture at another place, perhaps you can see it better.




I also made a few leaves myself, and this is what I want to share with you.

I had these old pieces of crochet:



I sewed a leaf shape with zig-zag stitch, and cut it out. I made experiments, because the crochet got more than once caught in the sewing machine. So I tried sewing it with tissue paper, which was difficult to tear of the crochet, then I sewed it on a piece of fabric, I think that worked best.

The first one:



You can see how the thread is tangled in once place where it was caught in the machine.

Then with the tissue paper:







Finally with fabric:





Another "new-life project:

My first patchwork, a hanging folder for bills and receipts for my boyfriend:



Look at the inside:



It is a piece cut from an old cross-stitched tablecloth that has really faded colours, in some places the embroidery has even come undone, but I think it works well as the lining for this little project.

I would like to hear your opinion about this question. Is it all right to make new pieces of old embroidery or crochet, or is it a disrespect to the original creator?

Knitted and felted bag

This is my first attempt, but definitely not the last. I bought some really cheap wool at a thrift shop, and it felted, well, not 100 % perfect, but I quite like the effect. You can still see the knitted stitches, but barely.

Woven bookmark

I do have a loom but have no energy for warping. So I just took out a drawer and made a mini-loom.

This is what I made. The edges are not really even and the width is not exactly the same at the two ends, but then I haven't woven anything for about 15 years... Feels as if learning anew. :)



And another one in progress: