Another basket

I'm really enjoying the clothesline basket making.  I am not ready to make enough for a site on Etsy, but it is fun and I like the creativity of it.  I'm enjoying playing with the colors and sizes and shapes.

 

I had a basket of fabric strips I had left over from my large purse project.  I thought it would be enough to make another small basket.

 

I wrapped the strips around some clothesline and zig zagged them together as I have done since I learned it for my first basket.

 

This time I went to Jo-Ann fabrics and bought some beads and findings to decorate the baskets.  I wrapped a short length of clothesline with a single strip of fabric and did a zig zag stitch down the middle.  I attached it by hand to the basket as a sort of handle.  I added a few beards of a matching color and decided I liked it. 

 

Now I want to make MORE!!!

Baby Gift

I have a cousin nearby who just had another baby.  I wanted to get her a baby gift.  But I couldn't think of what she would need.

This is not her first child, so I thought baby clothes would not be necessary.  She has 10 children and so space is an issue and toys may not be appreciated.

 

I decided to knit her an afghan.  Usually I go to a fancy yarn shop for knitting gifts.  I don't want to spend 100 hours making something out of cheap yarn.  On the other hand, I didn't want to get a natural fiber, like wool or cashmere that would irritate a baby's skin.  I wanted something super soft, but washable.   There are things that babies do that are just unpleasant and washing can be necessary.

We were in Jo-Ann fabrics looking for crafting items and I found this afghan book.  I don't like crocheting as much as I do knitting and it is sometimes hard to find pretty, yet not too complicated patterns.  This book is full of great knitting patterns.  I bought the book and found some super soft, and not too pricey, baby yarn.

 

I hate starting a new pattern, because I always have to tear it out and start over until I establish the pattern.  This was no different. 

 

I have a good start and I hope to finish it in a few weeks.  After all the baby is about 3 months old and I have not seen him nor brought him a gift.

Gotta get cracking.   For some reason it is taking longer than I thought.   Even with Rhett's most excellent help. 

 

Another Chair

I scored an oak armchair with a needlepoint seat at an estate sale.  We went on Sunday when the prices are 50% off and got a pretty good deal.  The only problem that I could see with the chair was that the seat was sagging a bit in the middle.

 

I wanted to fix it even though it still worked.  It just felt kind of weird.  I had to wait until I was heading in to Roanoke so I could go to the fabric store.  I also brought along my coupon for Jo-Ann Fabrics that I get regularly.  More discounts!  I love that kind of shopping.

I bought some one inch foam.  I was worried that the needlepoint would not be big enough to wrap around the seat if I got a thicker cushion.  I didn't want the unfinished fabric to show around the edges of the cushioned seat. 

 

The seat had been recovered in the past.  There was some horrible, sticky vinyl under the needle point. 

Look at all the holes from previous  times when it was recovered.

 

Under the vinyl was some felt.

   

And under THAT was what I at first thought was horse hair.  After closer examination we discovered it was moss.  Including sticks.  Who puts sticks in a chair seat?

The moss was breaking down into dirt and sifting through the webbing to the burlap underneath.  I took everything off but the webbing that had sagged. 

 

Lee removed some nails from one side of the saggiest webbing so we could tighten them.  Once they were tight enough, I placed the chair seat on top of the foam to draw an outline.  Once again, I used my very expensive Cutco serrated knife to cut the foam along the line I had drawn.

 

I had some muslin left over from another project, so I used some to cover and protect the bottom of the chair. 

 

I wrapped the foam seat with some leftover batting to protect the edges and started to assemble the seat. 

 

I did five chairs earlier this year, so it went pretty fast.  A good staple gun is a real help.  It is also important to keep a screwdriver to pull out the staples that didn't go in properly.

The lighting is different on the finished chair because I took a break for dinner and it got dark on me.
But doesn't it look great?
 


What do you mean it doesn't look any better.  It is WAY better.  Wait.  I see what you mean.  Well, it FEELS better.  And that is the important thing.  And would you have wanted all the disgusting filling in your house?  Yeah.  Way better.  Totally worth all the effort!

Christmas Card Classes

The Fincastle Library has asked me to orchestrate some activities in the meeting room.  Library usage is down all over and a slight drop in a small library is a big deal.  I have been trying to come up with some things to do during the day to get in the adult crowd.  My father and my grandfather both used to do slide presentations of their various travels.  Travelogues were big events and they could fill an auditorium at Pasadena City College back in the day. My father was the school Psychologist and my grandfather was on the Board Of Trustees, so maybe they came to avoid losing funding or getting psychoanalyzed .  My brother kindly, and with ancient slide-type technology,  put some of them on DVDs and I may try that.

 Our good friend from New Zealand, Grant Foster, used to travel around the United States presenting travelogues of many interesting counties including New Zealand, Greece and Portugal with witty dialogue and glorious scenery.  I have thought of using some of them, assuming I can get the rights.  The question I have is whether people would come out for a travelogue, or is the National Geographic Channel in a La-Z-Boy all they want?

In the meantime, I thought I might offer some card making classes.  Without assistance I can probably teach about 10 people at a time and if we can fill the room with crafty adults they might just check out a book on the way out.  Maybe they will check out a book on card making and teach ME the next week. 

I decided to start with a Christmas Card.  I won't be able to get the room scheduled and the class advertised earlier than that.  If it goes over well I can do one more class before Christmas and then maybe Valentine's Cards?  Who knows.  Maybe some generic cards would work.  I guess I will ask the attendees what they want to do.

In the meantime I have been practicing a simple embossed card with a handmade envelope.  I may need to make a trip to Michael's or Jo-Ann's craft stores to get more ideas and an idea of costs.  I want them to be able to make two cards and envelopes and to keep the classes under $5. I also want them elaborate enough to be a challenge, yet easy enough to teach a room full of people to do in under 2 hours.

   

First I cut the card stock in half.  I may do that before the class...a bit worried about X-acto blades and distracted crafters.  Just fold it in half and then open it to see where to stamp.

   

I tried white and colored stock and different placements.  After stamping, I embossed with gold embossing powder and colored the card.  I covered the ribbon with matching glitter glue for a nice effect.  I like the gold on the green card, but the colors are hard to see.  Gotta rethink that.  Maybe I should use a lighter color.

   

I had the idea to use Christmas paper to make the envelopes.  This probably wouldn't work with cards to be mailed, but hand delivered cards could be pretty.  I have an template that is easy to use and makes the right size envelope for these cards.   I also made one using card stock. It would hold up for mailing.   I learned some lessons about gluing them together that I am thankful to have figured out before the class.

   

So here are a few ideas that I may use.  I'm hoping a "field trip" to some stores will give me more ideas so that each card can be embellished to suit the "artist".  I'm kind of excited about the whole thing.

   

 

 

Card Making Marathon

 

We went to town this week and I spent some time in Jo-Ann Fabrics.  I was looking for a new pattern to knit an afghan.  Nothing caught my eye.  Except for the craft sale items that had nothing to do with my excursion!  I always check and they usually have a few things I can't resist.  I am almost at the hoarder level.  I think that as long as I have room on the shelves and I still USE them I should get a pass!

I pulled out some paper and accessories and put them into piles that pleased me

                                

Then I cut some blank card stock to invitation size.  I used different color card stock based on the papers and findings I was going to use. 

                               

Then I turned on mindless TV and went to work.  I'm sure glad Lee moved the TV in there.  It gets lonely all by myself.  It makes it rough when we have more than one guest room in use.  SOMEONE doesn't get TV.  Oh, well, it's all about me, so I live with it.

                                 

I had some pastel papers that went well with some ribbons, lace and flowers.

                               

There was a pretty delicate heart paper I thought went with the baby ribbon roses.

                               

I needed a masculine, boy-type card, too.  I do have a son and a husband, after all.

                               

I even made a wedding one.  I have a daughter getting married and I may give this to her.  (Trista...don't look, just in case)  I bought some wedding paper and added some groom stickers to the bride stickers I had.  I kind of like it.

                                    

Sometimes you have to NOT use everything that you like.  You can overwhelm the card.  But sometimes excess is fun!

                                 

So, two hours and six cards.  I guess I won't go into the business, after all.  I would like to be more skilled and more creative.  Maybe I 'll take some classes at Jo-Ann Fabrics!

I left all the cards blank so that I could use them for any occasion.  Then I stamped and embossed some of the new stamps I bought (at a discount!) with sentiments like U ROCK, G THANKS and Make A Wish.  I cut them up and will be able to pull one out and put it on a finished card whenever I need.