This weekend I made seven capes. Most of them don’t look like this one. Well, none of them look like this one. One of them looks kind of like this one but with zebra stripes. The rest are velvety, and I can’t wear them because I don’t have the neck of a 3-4-5-year old, and Anya refused to model one for me, and so I have no picture. And now for a fair-crafting update.

137 | Needlework | Quilt | Wall Hanging: Completed

I feel like a real quilter now. The pattern I chose was called “Amish Unknown” and was from Quilts from America’s Heartland: Step-By-Step Directions for 35 Traditional Quilts, which I found at the library. I love the library. If you recall, I had a bit of a rocky start. Yeah, I am pretty sure the measurements in the book were wrong. Here’s a picture of the size called for in the book (left) and what it really should have been (right). (I forgot to mark the mistake in the book before I returned it. Arg.)

After I ranted and whined for a while about having to cut down those squares, the block went together pretty quickly. I stalled for a week or two, though, on the binding. My goal was to finish this weekend, but yesterday I realized I was almost out of thread. So, I took a nap. But when I woke up the thread fairy had not appeared, and I learned the fabric store in town closed in 32 minutes. I threw Anya and Andy in the car and flew! I thought all was lost when a fancy car from one of the funeral homes in town pulled out in front of us on the road-with-few-passing-zones. Luckily, they were done with the funeral and on their way home and I guess ready for a beer because they drove pretty fast. We pulled into the parking lot of the fabric store with three minutes to spare. One of the workers was walking out the door, and I began to panic. I grabbed my money, ignored Andy and Anya, and dashed to the store door, which was mercifully still open. I walked in, and the lights were dim, and all the other employees were standing in the entry way with their coats on and their purses on their arms. Uh oh.

But, when I held up my nearly-empty spool and declared a thread emergency, one of the women calmly escorted me to the thread display, picked out what I needed, gave it to me, and ushered me towards the checkout, where another woman rang up my purchase with a smile and turned off the cash register, and then they all gathered behind me and herded me out of the shop before I could be distracted by shiny objects. I was so excited and full of glee, I flung my thread-holding hand up into the air as I skipped to the car. The spool flew from my fingers and bounced off the parking lot surface and rollllllllllllled under the car down the hill towards the huge drop off to the street below. Time went in slow motion as I yelled, “My threeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!” Then I realized there was a wall there and the thread didn’t go so far and it would all be O.K.

Anyhow. After that I felt I must do the binding immediately. Otherwise all the drama was pointless. It took me three episodes of Monarch of the Glen and several furry helpers to do the hand stitching on the back, but now it is done! (I can’t believe they killed off Hector!!!)

Now, without further ado….

84 | Horticulture | Cut Flowers | Dahlia: sprouting
85 | Horticulture | Cut Flowers | Gladioli: sprouting
94 | Horticulture | Cut Flowers | Calla Lily: planted

133 | Needlework | Clothing | Tote bag or Handbag: Completed

I bought the pattern for this bag around Christmas of 2010. At the same time, I bought some fabric and thread and bias tape. I started work on the project fairly soon after my purchases, but when my fabric ended up being too short of the pattern, I tucked everything away in despair. Stupid fabric being too short. I’m not really sure what qualifies something as a tote bag, but I am going to say this grocery-type bag is something you can tote things in, so good enough. This bag really stumped me several times, starting with the pocket on the front (which you can’t really see in this photo). I learned about top stitching, and I did a lost of basting (without a turkey), and I sewed bias tape around a corner (tucking in the fullness). The bag took me a really long time to make, but I think now that I know how to make it I could make another one a lot quicker. Don’t know if I want to make another one, though.

139 | Needlework | Quilt | Misc: Completed

I wanted something simple for my first venture into quilting. When I saw the Ziggity Mug Rug, I knew this was the piece for me. I’m not quite sure what a mug rug is. I thought at first it was a fancy coaster, but it’s really big in a rectangular sort of way. The best I can figure, you put your mug on it and have room left over for a pile of cookies. For my mug rug, I poked through the bag of scraps from my yo-yo adventure last fall and found almost enough teeny pieces. I cut the last two pieces from some other fabric I found in my fabric stash. (I hesitate to call it a stash. It’s more like a handful of handkerchiefs crammed in between yarn bins.) The fabric colors and patterns don’t go together all nice and cute…part of that is because I accidentally sewed a few pieces together differently than I had meticulously planned. The binding is pretty messy, and I wonder if the washable marker I used to mark the points will indeed wash out. Still, the points match! THE POINTS MATCH! I am in awe.

I’ve posted some more pictures.

According to the trail map we went about 3.5 miles, ranging from 2200-2600′ elevations. Anya did incredibly well, leading the way for most of the trip to the falls and part of the way back, at least until we started to run out of energy. I was impressed at her rock climbing abilities, since I have all the agility of a wounded rhino.

So I put everything away and went to watch “Fairly Odd Parents.”

Tomorrow everything will magically make sense, or I will find a red pen and fix the bloody book.

1. “Daddy, would you go get my weasel out of the car?”

2. “I got a casket today!”

I pulled out my rotary cutter, iron, and sewing machine a week or two ago to start on the quilted items for the fair. (Should I mention it took me a week to find the iron?) Anya was immediately intrigued by everything. Letting her use the rotary cutter was out of the question, especially after I sliced my finger. But, I remember helping my Mom iron when I was a kid, so that seemed something okay to try. (I was in charge of my Dad’s handkerchiefs!) We do have an ironing board, but it’s buried in the closet behind a few hundred pounds of scrapbook stuff and a dozen shoes (some matched, some not). Who needs an ironing board, really, when you have stone counter tops? I laid out a hand towel with a cloth napkin on top. Worked quite well. After I had the iron heated up, the kid pushed a chair over against the counter and demanded a turn.

She is, I think, a better ironer than I am now that she’s had about as much practice as I’ve had in my entire life. She only ironed in a few wrinkles and nothing got burned (fingers or fabric). Yay! If anyone in the house needs a shirt straightened out, I know who I am asking to do the job.

I also remember my Mom showing me how to use her sewing machine, so if this story ends in a trip to the ER it’s all her fault! (Don’t worry; it doesn’t.) I found some scrap pieces of fabric and talked Anya through all the parts of the machine. Everything was set up and ready to go when we realized Anya and Miss Piggy have something in common (other than being awesome singers). Neither one can reach the pedal. Miss Piggy wears super shoes to reach. Anya ran off and came back with her step stool from the bathroom. Perhaps not as glamorous as 12inch heels, but it worked just the same. She was a bit startled by the zoooooom of the machine, but she got used to it pretty quickly and sewed several scrap pieces together.

That’s my girl!

104 | Needlework | Crochet | Infant’s Set: Almost done…just have to finish the hat

139 | Needlework | Quilt | Misc: Mug Rug – In progress

143 | Craft | Handicraft | Misc: Quilled Raspberries – Completed

152 | Craft | Homecraft | Decorative Painting: Completed

I think I’ve found my next new thing. Linoleum block printing. I got a starter kit for Christmas two years ago, and it’s been patiently waiting for me. When I saw that stamping was an art item, I knew immediately what I was going to do. The two little people in the image are from our Loafkeeper logo. I planned to have “Loafkeeper Farm” written under the people, but I had a tough time getting the image to transfer from my paper to the block (using carbon paper). I was able to see enough of the carbon image of the people to trace over it with sharpie, but the letters were totally lost. Plan B was to cut the letters out of cardstock with the cricut, use removable adhesive to stick them on the block, and then trace or carve. With that in mind, I left a big uncarved spot on the block. This morning when I looked at the stamp, I realized how much that uncarved spot looked like a little hill and how nicely the people seemed to be sitting on it. I curved the edges a bit and decided to leave it. I love the way it turned out. Lino blocks rock. Cheap, easy, and fun!

“Mommy, is the chicken sad?”
Yes, I think so.
“Why? Because she lost her family?”
Yeah.

In other news, I’m still working on Fair stuff. It’s starting to feel like a bit of a burden, though. Sorry, can’t do whatever because I need to work on this whatever for the fair. It mostly doesn’t seem that way, but sometimes it does. “Fair” is, after all, a four-letter word. But, I also love how I am trying new things and learning new crafts and making neat stuff.

184 | Craft | Art | Misc. Art: Completed

For Christmas, Andy gave me a groupon for a bead-making class at the Jacksonville Center. We’ve lived here six years now, and except for a recent birthday party, I’d never set foot in the Jax. Made me a bit sad. The class was held about two weeks ago, and it was taught by a friend and mama of a classmate of the kid. When we turned on the torches, I felt like I was back in chemistry lab. Don’t I look cool and arty?

Hot glass is fun. When I came home, Andy wanted to know if I was going to add bead making to my crafts. Not for now, I said. This is definitely an activity that requires a lot of practice, and it’s also not cheap. Maybe, I said, when the Fair is over I’ll play with it more.

157 | Craft | Holiday Decorations | Christmas: Re-Completed

When I saw this kit on clearance, I made an executive decision. I took the piece I’d previously made for my Christmas decoration and moved it to Metal Art (see below). Then I set to work on this holiday garland. I was rocking and rolling and thought I would finish the piece in one day, but then I discovered I was missing the pink birds. What is it with me and kits and missing pieces? I did as much as I could, and Andy emailed the company, and a week or so later I got the stuff I needed plus an entire new kit for a “PEACE” garland.

177 | Craft | Art | Metal Art / Metal Jewelry: Re-assigned / Completed

The metal stars I made a while ago and was going to use for 157. Now they are 177.

106 | Needlework | Crocheting | Misc. Crocheted Item: Completed

I am starting to believe that free patterns from magazines, display racks at stores, and included with yarn are bogus. There was that teepee trellis I tried to make years ago, and the great afghan disaster, and the latest, a crocheted market bag. The pattern was on the paper wrapped around some cotton yarn I’d bought a while ago. The directions said it was Easy! After trying for several days to figure the pattern out, I tossed it and went searching online. I found this pattern. It took me less time to finish this bag than it did to realize the first bag pattern was junk.

Last week, the kid had winter break, so she and I packed our clothes, toothbrushes, legos, dollies, and various crafts and drove to Georgia. We did all the usual things one does when on winter break. We drew monster eggs on the porch and waited for them to hatch. We planted and watered acorns in the flower boxes. We made chalk outlines of each other and then washed them away.

We went to Michael’s four or five times, bought little wooden birdhouses, and did a little painting. Anya’s first birdhouse (of 3, they were only a dollar!) was done up in bright, happy colors. After that, I can only figure that she decided birds were goth or emo or something, so she gleefully mixed all the colors we had into a big gray mess. I have to admit her coverage on those last two houses was impressive. Nary a bit of wood showed through the thunderstorm-colored paint.

I re-started my afghan. Anya was very excited when the afghan was big enough for her. It still seemed too small to me, so I plodded on. I really should have stopped. More on that another day.

We helped Gramma with the afghan she’s been working on for about a year now. It’s Anya’s rainbow blanket! We bought the yarn around Christmas of 2010, and Gramma’s been crocheting squares ever since. I was supposed to help with this project, but my squares weren’t. Christmas of 2011, we figured out we needed more squares, so Gramma bought more yarn and crocheted more and then POOF! Now all that’s left is to sew all the squares together. I’d help ya, Ma, I really would, but, um, I have 150 fair items to finish. Sorry!

The highlight of the trip? Mulch! I love mulch. It’s all smooshy and weed killy. One afternoon my mom noticed the neighbors were having some trees taken down, so she did what she does (talk to people!) and by the end of the day, she had three newly trimmed trees and a giant pile of mulch in her yard. I like to put down mulch. It’s sort of like mowing the lawn or vacuuming. Quick, visible change. Anya wanted to help me out (because I forced her to stay outside). She clambered up the pile and quickly declared herself, “KING OF THE MULCH!”

To wrap up the break, I got food poisoning or a stomach bug and spent a day moaning and whining and barfing. Sorry, I didn’t take any photos.

Progress continues on the studio space.  I’ve wired all but the back wall, and since I can’t get to the back wall right now, it will have to wait until I work my way back.  But now we (I) can insulate and put paneling up on the rest of the walls.  I broke three mason jars while moving things around.  Fortunately we (Cabol) have approximately three billion.

We started getting milk again! Tonight I started cultures for yogurt and buttermilk. I can finally use my Christmas yogurt maker! I hope the living room is warm enough for the buttermilk to set. And that the cats don’t try to eat it.  Maybe I can use Anya’s room as an incubator. If only I knew where my thermometer went.

Surplus auction this weekend, they have some oak cabinets and a large wooden table, I’m hoping they go cheap.  Maybe I’ll come home with a file cabinet too. And a giant band saw.