Well here at Fruitful Concepts Studio it is Spring, with such a long, rough winter we sure are glad that seasons change. In North Carolina it is not uncommon to experience all 4 seasons on any given day. Thankfully the days are getting longer and warmer, as well as more exciting. I am going out on a limb and have started filming some instructional videos today. The plan (with the help of my better half) is to have them edited and posted by the end of the week. Art is in the air people so be on the look out because there are great things ahead!!! Until next time… Don’t worry be crafty! ~ Jama

I now have my own website FruitfulConceptsStudio.com

Encouragement, we all need it and yet, how often do we give it? A caring smile in passing,  looking someone in the eyes while they talk to you. You never know how a simple gesture will help improve someone’s day. The mere act of holding the door open for another, can lift my mood. Self-less acts to show human connection often go unnoticed by many, but for the one that receives it, it can be life-saving. There is a new charity/ministry that has been developed among my crocheting and knitting  friends, called “Comfort Squares”. This is a VERY quick and  simple project that goes to people going through cancer treatments, surgery, etc. They are 4- 5 inch crochet/ knitted squares  of bright and pastel colors made in any pattern that you like. What makes this special, much like prayer shawls, they are blessed by clergy so the patient that receives this piece of cloth has a reminder that there was another person that cares for them and prayed for them. What a powerful way to send people a message of love,hope and encouragement!  I must admit that I could always use some hope and encouragement. In recent months I received a note that MADE my day. It so simply said, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy…” {Phil. 1:3-4}  I love it!  For more information on the “Comfort Square” project leave me a message here or at Fruitful Concepts Studio on Facebook.

Until then, don’t worry be crafty- Jama Stallings Currin

For several months I had been mulling over if it were time to fully dedicate myself into trying to sell items that I have made. Studying what could/would be the right name. Wondering if there is really anyone out there that would buy the projects that I put so much time, thought, and yes even love into. Meanwhile I returned to the local community college, to soak up even more design knowledge, medium (i.e. thread, ribbon, etc.) experience, and fellowship of those are creative with yarn.

So with all that said, today my husband and I decided that it was time to take the plunge and set up Fruitful Concepts Studio. It will be a place for people to purchase crocheted products for home, children, and eventually even original patterns. Colossians 3:23 says it best, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men”. Let me tell you, all I know is God has given me a passion for textile artistry. All I can say is at this point I love every aspect of crochet and color with , pardon the pun, every fiber of my being. 🙂  The Lord gives us the talents we have and sometimes it is a venue to help provide for our families. I feel blessed to atleast  try my best to  share this passion.

Until next time, Don’t worry be crafty!! ~Jama 🙂

Toys. Admit it, everyone needs them. Children use them to build up a creative imagination and, well, so do adults. As we get older our “toys” change from simple things to more complex objects that we focus on. For some it may be motorcycles, boats, computers, video games, and handcrafting of some sort. Woodworking, sewing, knitting, crocheting, quilting, scrap-booking,and painting just to list a few. Point is the Creator made us to be creative. How great is that? We need to find outlets that express our creativity in ways we can find joy and even share our happiness with others. I must tell you, I got a new toy last Friday that has been fun experimenting with. It is called the Knook, by Leisure Art. For $7.00 at Wal-Mart you can get this kit that contains 3 bamboo crochet hooks, 3 cords, an instruction booklet with 4 projects. I have not had success in teaching myself how to knit with two needles. Espesially left handed. Probably the selling point on this kit for me was that Leisure Arts thought to give just as clear instructions for lefties as they do for right handed crafters. 🙂 It teaches how to knit with a crochet hook{ and a nylon cord}. In some research that I have done, this is not a new method, but it has not been really been widely used in the USA. I have a feeling that is about to change! 😉 Also I am getting excited to use the patterns in “Knit 1, Purl 2 in crochet” by Bendy Carter. It now seems a little less intimidating that I can use a crochet hook, any hook, and create a work that looks like knitted fabric. Knowing there are some variations to both methods, I think that the Knook has prepared me for working some of the projects in “Knit 1, Purl 2 in crochet” because it would seem that they both have the basic principle of how to hold your hook and yarn.  All I can do is practice both and see what the differences are. [slideshow]

Until next time, don’t worry be crafty! Jama

No I am Not a procrastinator, I am not, I am not. LOL Really I have not had any extra time to spend with this blog until today. I have been sooooo busy with the garden, and the work to prepare VBS at our church. We are half-way through with VBS and it has been a blast so far. Have I mentioned the heat wave. That is also an obstacle in the course of living in the south. Record- breaking heat for July and still continuing to I can take higher temps if the humidity is a bit lower. You all would say that I am a die-hard crocheter, because I have been taking some of my work with me. I have made daisies, wildflowers, and cacti for our snack shack for VBS. Because of so many commitments I have had to lay aside the baby blanket I was making, as well as all the practice of newer techniques. That makes me sad, but there are only so many hours in a days.  😛 Maybe the rest of week will be a little slower and then I can play catch-up. I hope that your projects are going well. By the way, in some pattern research, I have found a stitch pattern called the Alligator Stitch. The admission must be made, it does sound intriguing! I have to study up on that. Have any of you ever tried it? If so please let me know in the comments. Don’t worry, be crafty!! Jama

Since I have been very busy this week with preparing for VBS at our church, I have neglected posting anything. Sorry. I have started making flowers and cactus pots with thread. I have just in the last two months started getting into thread and floss crochet. By nature I am a visual person, meaning if it does not look right at first I frog it and redo, frog, redo. To me when I first start a thread crochet project (any thread project) it never looks like the picture in the pattern or even like the design in my head. I have learned just to keep with it because it takes me a little longer to see that the outcome is not going to be a piece of junk. LOL Patience, that is what I have learned with it! More to come of my wildflowers and cacti!! Until then, don’t worry be crafty!! 😀

 

Often I am reminded of my baby sister,who at the time was all of three years old, sitting on the desk of our home-school instructor named, Mom. 😀 She would get up in Mom’s face and ever so sweetly but firmly say, “Teach me, teach me”.  Aww, if only we all could have that kind of outlook that brings out such sincerity. Somehow as we get older, we often feel like we have to fake our way through knowing something that we may have never even heard of before. For reasons that are not always in our conscious minds. Nobody likes to think that they are not smart enough, over looked, ridiculed for not knowing  how to do something that they don’t, etc. I know from personal experience that there is not one person out there that likes to be talked down to because they do not know how to do something. That spans across the board, from academia to crafts and all in between!  As my goal is to help share knowledge of how to crochet {ie left-handed} and if I don’t know I will try my best to learn!! When you stop learning, you stop growing, and when you stop growing life becomes dull! One of my personal goals is to set up a all left handed manual for how to crochet, my style.  🙂 Feel free to ask any of your crocheting questions! I would love to hear from you! Just remember no question is too simple!!

One of my friends asked me how to get the tension right when crocheting left-handed I told her I would post pictures of how I hold the yarn I am working from. [slideshow]

I tried to post a video, but i can not at this time get the video to post to here, but I have it on my Facebook page, if you are interested. Until next time, stay hooked on happiness!!! Jama

Conducting my own survey today. Do you listen to music or the TV when crocheting? Or does it depend on your mood?? For me, I’ll be the first to admit, it depends on my mood. Also where I am at in my project. When I need to concentrate more on a difficult piece, music helps. When I am doing a self-repeating pattern, once started I listen/watch TV while working. So what are some of your favorite things to watch and listen too? Here’s what I am  playing;

MP3 list: Backstreet Boys, Glenn Miller, the Carpenters, Queen, and Absolute Modern Worship

TV: any 80’s movie, Murder She Wrote, Perry Mason movies, Downton Abby, Despicable Me, Finding Nemo {those colors still inspire me}, and my all time favorite, Home Improvement! Let me know some of yours in the comments, please!

[slideshow]

This is a baby blanket that was my first Bavarian Crochet piece. I made it for my cousin’s baby girl. 🙂 Time is short today, so I have to stop writing. Stay hooked on happiness! Jama

Do you ever feel as if there should be more hours in the day? Agh… I have not had alot of time to get much done on my projects, for about a week now. Life, it is full of wonderful surprises, heart breaking moments and in-between ups and downs. The past few weeks have been filled with such moments. We have had cookouts, seen family we haven’t seen in years, welcomed new members to our family and had to say good-buy to one. There has also been garden work, and you have not eaten until you have had fresh summer veggies!! 🙂 There are no complaints since I love that kind of stuff! Yes I even make jelly. Hard to say that about most people my age. Anyway I have been thinking allot about one side of the family that I know nothing about. I got to talking to my great aunt and even she could not tell me names of her grandparents. That makes me sad and left me searching that much harder. What makes the fabric of Jama? When you come from a southern family you never expect to not know who you come from. It left me shaking my head  wondering how things like simple family history can slip through the cracks of time and somehow get forgotten. But it the fault lies on no one particular person. It just happens! I hope to find out that somewhere along the way they were a crafty people. 🙂 I know that there are several branches in my family that the creativity gene was passed down.

I almost have completed this baby blanket… have been working on it (off and on) about 3 1/2 weeks. [slideshow]

Thanks for reading! Until next time stay hooked on happiness! Jama