Friday Focus: Vendula Maderska

Happy Valentine's Day! Yay! I hope you're as excited as I am. Do you have any special plans? Alex and I are going to have a romantic evening at home and make ourselves lemon fettuccine alfredo. For dessert I'm going to make banana bread, stir up some fresh whipped cream to top it with, and then sprinkle it with blueberries. There are nice things about going out for Valentine's Day, but there are also nice things about having a quiet evening at home. :)

I'm really excited about today's Friday Focus. I saw Vendula Maderska's work months ago and loved it so much that I knew I had to save it for Valentine's Day. I'm so happy she said yes and made my vision come true! Her work is so bright, detailed, and whimsical. Whimsical is a word that's a little overused, but gosh darn if Vendula's work isn't the very definition of whimsy! Playful, quaint, and fanciful indeed. I just love it! And so, on this day of love, let us delight in the cuteness of Vendula's wonderful patterns.

Who taught you to crochet? How long have you been doing it?
My mom :-) My mom is a very creative and talented lady. She knit and crocheted for all her life. She wasn't a professional seamstress, she worked in health care, but she created professional fashion for me and my sister. And you know, every little girl wishes to be like her mom. I have been knitting since my childhood. I remember that I knitted my first sweater with black beads, using a Norwegian pattern and lot of colors when I was 12 years old. I didn't crochet, I only knew the basics. But I found the beauty of crochet 6 years ago. And I am absolutely hooked :-) I inherited an obsession with details and colors from my grandfather who was a painter.

Why do you crochet?
I love crochet because of its freedom. You could crochet everywhere and there is huge space for your own creativity, using colors and embellishment... When I am crocheting it is like time stops. The yarn is dancing around my hook and I feel all that energy, you can feel when something is arising. The silence of the night, or the bright day full of colors and different sounds – myself, colorful yarns around me and my hook ...I really love these moments :-) And I cannot forget my greatest inspiration, my two amazing daughters. 

Crochet Favorites
My personal star is a yarn called  Kacenka by Nitarna Ceska Trebova – it is mixture of cotton and acrylic. I love its beautiful colors and it is such a pleasant material. Because I crochet a lot I am using ergonomic hooks by Clover. I have no special books. When I was younger, I collected the Verena knitting magazine, because I did knitting almost all of the time. I am a self-learner in crochet. Crocheting is like every other skill - you have to practice, practice, and practice.. I still remembered the basics that my mom and grandmom taught me when I was a child – and I am very grateful for that. I am very happy that my crocheting became recognizable in this huge world, which is not easy. I am so moved when I read nice messages from all the world with compliments of my work. I am very glad for that. 

A few finished objects...

Hearts Purse in progress 

Owl Pendant

 
Crazy Rainbow Bag

You just have to check out Vendula's other patterns. Looking at her whole collection together really takes you to another world. I love them all, but a few of my faves are her Lighthouse Ruffles Hat and Wall Pocket Organizer. A big thank you goes out to Vendula for sharing her work with us. What a delightful way to spend Valentine's Day! You can find her on Ravelry, her blog, Etsy, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Dragon Egg Dice Bag

Do you like Game of Thrones? Both the books and the television series are quite popular with fantasy lovers. While I certainly consider myself a lover of fantasy (The Abhorsen Series, His Dark Materials, and Earthsea for the win!), I never really got into GoT. I tried reading the first book several times but it seems to cater too much to the male gaze for me to become seriously interested in it. Perhaps I'll try watching the series sometime.

Though I'm not terribly interested in it myself, I can totally understand why others are. One person in my life who really loves the books is my brother-in-law, Eric. Another of Eric's hobbies is playing Dungeons and Dragons. When I asked myself what to make him for Christmas this year, the answer came to me quite readily: a dragon egg dice bag. Many members of r/crochet have successfully made nice dice bags, so I thought I would follow their lead. Here's what I ended up with.

To create the egg I used this pattern by Rachael Fulcher. I used Bernat Satin and a 4mm hook. The pattern is for a stuffed dragon egg but I modified it slightly to make it into a bag. She also has this pattern that is actually meant to be a bag, but I liked the look of the first egg more since it is truer to the egg seen in the show. To modify the first pattern I stopped about 3/4 of the way through and worked up a row of posts to run a string through. I'm really happy with the finished object.

Wanna know something quirky? I find it tremendously satisfying when I'm making a project and at some point the yarn I'm using can fit inside of it so I can keep it there while I'm not working on it. Like this!

Isn't that satisfying? So tidy. This was a great project with nice texture and I would totally recommend it to all of the GoT fans out there.