It was inevitable....

....that I make bead soup without meaning to! The pictures are the result of my having an entire box of nicely sorted beads land on the floor. Of course, to make matters worse, it's right next to the cat litter box. YUCK! Those that landed 'In' the litter box are just going to stay there (that's just too gross to contemplate). I swept the ones up from the floor (including all sorts of cat hair & bits of litter...really don't want to think about whether it was of the used variety or not!) and picked out my favourites. The rest went in the garbage. There ARE limits!

Now I'm gonna read a book...at least if I drop that, I won't have to play five-thousand pick up!

Knitting? This blog has knitting content?! Who knew?

Oh my, I'm actually doing a knitting post! I know this blog is supposed to have at least a little knitting content and there hasn't been any for quite awhile.

This is my next project...the Einstein Coat from 'The Knitting Experience Book 1: The Knit Stitch' by Sally Melville. ISBN#189376213-0

This is apparently quite simple to knit so it should be a good project for my first garment...I hope! I have the yarn on order and will be making it in Bernat Softee Chunkee in the wine colourway when it arrives. Can't wait to start!

Are you tired of experiments yet?

This is another of my 'play with technique' results. I repeated the basics of another process I tried a few days ago, only using a different base. This one I like!

The base this time was a used (and washed) Swiffer cloth. Washing Swiffers makes them all fuzzy and not particularly useful for a second time as they are intended, however they make a great base for art! I removed all the 'fluffy' bits, which left a soft, but substantial piece. Over that I sprinkled all sorts of stuff - bits of silk ribbons, threads, fibres and even some of the 'fluff' I had removed from the original cloth. Then I sprinkled the whole thing with some embossing powder & ironed it between two pieces of parchment paper. Once it cooled I added some bits of Angelina fibres and ironed very lightly again (don't forget the parchment, or your iron will end up yucky!). This is the result. It's much more sparkly than the picture shows of course. I love it!

More experiments

 

Now, as for today's pictures - I've been experimenting again, using a technique I found on http://ko-ok.blogspot.com I'm not at all sure I'm happy with my results, but found the process quite fun to do. Hopefully the pictures will be in the right order for you. The first step I did was to glue torn pages from a dictionary onto some cardstock. Over that I glued some torn-out black & white pictures and allowed it all to dry. Once dry, I painted on a coat of Decoupage & Collage Gel (brand name Crafter's Pick) & allowed to dry. The original instructions called for Golden Soft Gel, which isn't something I have, but thought what I had was similar enough.

The next step is to add streaks of Vaseline in the places that you want to have showing when you're done. After that I watered down some black folk art paint and painted over top with a soft brush. There's where I think I went wrong because in my first experiment the brush smeared the Vaseline around (the larger picture shows the results...not particularly wonderful).

I tried the whole process again, only this time I just gently dabbed the black paint on & allowed it to dry (the smaller size pieces are the ones I ended up with using this). The final step was to wipe using a paper towel & then a baby wipe to remove the Vaseline.

The jury is out on this one....

More Mumblings...

Sorry, no work got done yesterday and today, so I have nothing to show...so...you all know what that means!

1. Did you read that a couple (in either Japan or China, I think) named their poor baby '@'? How weird is that?

2. Found a recipe for old-fashioned furniture polish today. I can remember my mother using this (when she polished her furniture, which wasn't often!). Pretty simple: just mix 1 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup lemon juice in a spray bottle. Shake before using. Apply to a soft cloth and use to polish furniture. It doesn't have any build-up of nasty things like silicone.

3. Just finished reading a pretty interesting book: "Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit, and The Era of Predatory Lenders" by James D. Scurlock. On first glance, this looks like it would be pretty uninteresting reading, but I found it fascinating and totally frightening. I highly recommend you get it from your local library and read it.

4. I had a fun afternoon yesterday hanging out with one of my 'cyber' friends who is a very talented needleworker. We did a show & share and then hit our dollar store where we got some beads at half the price that most other places have them for. We did a wander around Fabricland too. Lots of talking & laughing and catching up, which was great fun.

5. Something odd...tonight it was raining. That in itself is very unusual for our area this summer, however the odd thing was that it was raining on one side of our house, but not on the other. Weird.

6. After I cleaned my workroom so well for 'company' yesterday I now don't want to mess it up by doing anything. It just looks so purty right now! Every time I spiff it up I resolve that I will put things away as I use them and won't let it get so yukked up. Never happens. I might as well just face up to the fact that I'm inherently messy.

7. It appears, thanks to my friend Kym, that we will be going to see the Yarn Harlot (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) talk on Tuesday night. This will be the second time we've seen her, and we know it will be worth it. For those of you that don't know her, she is the author of the following books: 'Yarn Harlot'; 'At Knit's End'; 'Knitting Rules'; and her latest 'Casts Off'. Anyone who knits will enjoy her books and her great sense of humour, and she's Canadian. She also has a very entertaining blog: www.yarnharlot.ca

There's the latest issue of mumblings, folks!

Cleaning and Organizing

Tomorrow I'm expecting one of my on-line friends (and her sister) here for the afternoon so thought it might be a good time to clean up a little! Although this shelving unit wasn't really too bad, I've re-organized a bunch of stuff and have everything pretty much in neatly labelled containers to make it easier to find. Of course I forgot to take a 'before' picture so you can't really see what an improvement there's been, so you'll just have to trust me!

More experiments

I'm really liking these! The original instructions were on a site called 'Elizabeth Creates' (sorry, I don't have the link), but I changed them somewhat to refect what I have in my stash.

The base was cardstock which I covered lightly with some coloured doll stuffing (source unknown). After that I dropped little snippets of fibres on top and sprinkled it all lightly with embossing powder. Ironed it on a low setting between two pieces of parchment paper. Wait until it cools and peel the parchment away. Then I put a light 'coat' of Angelina Fibre on top and quickly ironed again (also between the parchment papers). This is the result and, unfortunately, the camera doesn't do the shimmer on these justice!

Tiger and I....

Who would have ever thought Tiger Woods and I would have anything in common? Yesterday he won his 13th major golf tournament and today I finished my 13th denim tote! 'Course he makes a little bit more money on what he does!!

Ten minute Tute!

In the interest of not boring you overly much with yet more totes, here's a very quick atc I just whipped up.

I used one of my technique backgrounds. The little bird was done using the directions on http://paperbouquet.wordpress.com with a few variations of my own (due to not having all the called-for 'ingredients').

I have a few of those little brass stencils kicking around, including this little bird. I held the stencil against the pre-done background and rubbed a glue stick back & forth until the bird was pretty much filled in. Removed the stencil, sprinkled with embossing powder (returning excess to the bottle of course) and then heated with my heat gun. I would have liked to use black embossing powder, but my choices aren't that extensive!! This process left the bird very dimensional. I then outlined it with a fine Sharpie marker in black. I free-handed the branch (again with my trusty Sharpie!). The leaves were pretty simple...moisten some mulberry paper and roughly tear out vague shapes to represent leaves. Glue down with the glue stick and you're done. Ten minutes tops!!

Just tote-in along

I can hear the collective groan from here...oh no, she's back doing tote bags again. Well, you just hafta do what you hafta do and, after all, Christmas is coming! Besides...which would you rather have, a picture or just me, mumbling??

Mumblings about life, and such

You will have guessed by reading the title of this post that I haven't a thing to show today. I 'have' been working though, but what I've done isn't ready to have a picture taken. So.....


 I was quite proud of myself today. I made a trip into our local Fabricland and only bought what I went in for (two spools of thread)!! In and of itself that doesn't sound particularly monumental, however this is Fabricland I'm talking about - you know the place - fabric, notions, buttons, sparkly things.... Think I'd better take my temperature, because I'm sure I must be sick.

Speaking of which (I wasn't, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have!)...ahem...I'm struggling with whether or not to spend money on some wool AND two books. I swore (quite seriously too) that I wasn't going to buy any more craft books. However, somebody named Sally Melville is trying really hard to topple my best intentions. She's written 'The Knitting Experience (Book 1 - The Knit Stitch)' and Book 2 - The Purl Stitch. To make matters worse there's a pattern in the first one I am dying to make (actually there's a pattern in the second book too, but I won't go there). I have wanted a longer sweater (somewhat coat-ish) for a long time and there's a really nice (and easy!) one in the book. Of course, my worst enabler (and she knows who she is!!) is making one and is doing her best to convince me I need to make one too. Misery loves company and all that. I've been doing a whole lot of muttering things like 'thou shalt not covet' and 'thou havest altogether too many projects on the go already' and 'thou must remember that Christmas is coming (with the related presents requiring my time to make)'. To make matters even worse I managed to convince hubby that I just 'had' to go to Zellers and just 'happened' to wander into the wool section and (wonder of wonders!) they had a ball of the exact wool and colour I was drooling over. Get behind me, Satan...........

TAST...weeks 29 thru 31

I'm a few weeks behind so have been working on three stitches on this doll (which is a challenge through our CQTeers group).

Week 29 was Arrowhead Stitch (yellow). I've done this one before, but it was a first to try to make it curve around the doll. Not sure that I succeeded very well!

Week 30 was the Buttonhole Wheel Stitch (purple) which is one I always have fun with. I will be adding beads to the centre of these at some point. Lastly, week 31 was the Cast-on stitch, which I am familiar with but have only used to make flowers. This time, in the interest of trying to change things up, I decided to do them more free form. Fun!!

I have no real idea of where I'm going with this project, but I'm approaching it as a challenge to my more 'safe' traditional embroidery. We'll see what happens. Now I'm on to this week's challenge stitch...the Crested Chain Stitch (which I have never seen before). Thanks always to Sharon, for leading us and certainly for challenging us to learn new things. I'm lovin' it!

Bleach & Stamps

Today is another technique I just tried - another cheap experiment with decent results. The first photo shows 'step one': I made my own ink pad simply by using a folded paper towel flattened in a disposable plastic flat-ish container. Moisten the paper towel with bleach (not so that it's sopping wet, just nicely moist). Rubber stamp onto a dark coloured card stock & let dry. You can see the results in the first picture. Make sure to wash the bleach off your stamp!!

Let the bleach dry on your paper. Next, you repeat the process, only using a permanent stamp in (I used black Staz-On). Don't worry if you don't get the stamp exactly in place over the bleached area, because you're looking for a 'shadow' effect.

The second picture shows three examples of what I ended up with. The one on the left was when I had too much bleach on my towel and ended up with very little detail. The middle one is on a darker coloured card stock and the one on the right is on a mid-tone cardstock. I think I like the right one the best. Have fun if you try this!

Another technique!

Today I've spent some time playing around with this new technique for backgrounds. This one is fun (and cheap) to do!

In the first picture, you can see step 1: simply colour with crayons onto a piece of paper (I used sketch paper). You should colour quite heavily. After that, crumple the paper quite thoroughly. Then I painted over it with a coat of black acrylic paint, which I then removed (before it dried) with a wet sponge (or you could use a wet papertowel too). The paint will remain in the 'cracks' that were formed when you crumpled the paper. The results are shown in the second picture.

The next step is to let it dry and then place it between two sheets of paper (I used a couple of pieces of printer paper) and then iron it, using the low setting on the iron. Picture 3 shows the atcs I have ended up with. The 4th picture shows what happened to the piece of paper which was on top of the crayon batik when I ironed it. It, too, is a fun background. Hope you try this!

Oh, Great Mystery of Life!

Ok, folks, I have a puzzler for you. This was found in my knitting bag today, cozied up to my ball of wool. 'Tis a mystery of monumental proportions as to how such a thing as a retainer would be in my house in the first place, never mind IN my knitting bag!!! My kids both threw theirs out (with great ceremony, I might add) a number of years ago. Hmmmm.....walking away, scratching head in great puzzlement......

It's just too hot!

Me, who prides herself on never complaining about the heat, is now complaining. It's just too hot to do anything, so you'll just have to amuse yourselves today, Have fun!

Searching for topic today!

I was trying to come up with a topic for today (after missing a post yesterday) and was hard-pressed to think of something (heaven forbid I should have to resort to mumbling again...horrors!). Kym very nicely reminded me that I hadn't shown these yet, so you've been saved from another does of mumblings. Lucky you!

The picture (which is slightly out of focus AND off-centre because, of course, the camera needs to be recharged) is of the atc's we exchanged for our summer-themed swap with the CQTeers. The one on the bottom right is the one I made. It's funny how six people can have such radically different 'styles'!

Windfall!

My sister-in-law gave me these this morning - dated from 1925-26, wondering if I was interested in them. Oh boy, am I ever!! Apparently she has discovered a whole bunch of them residing in the attic. The illustrations are priceless and the advertisments are a hoot.

I think maybe I can scan some of the pictures into my blog so they can be downloaded, but have to do some investigating to see how I can do that. Is anybody interested in them if I do? If there's no interest, there isn't any point in going to the effort. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Done, done and DONE!

Today I'm showing the final pictures of my 'treasure box' These pictures show the inside. The first picture shows the inside 'pages' open so you can read the text. Click to enlarge if you'd like to actually read them! The next picture shows the outside of the pages (the inside of the box...are you confused?). The remaining pictures are close-ups of the work inside. Enjoy!! I've had a blast making this, but won't be repeating the process anytime too soon. It was very labour intensive.

OK....here it is!

Since I'm never quite sure which order Blogger will post the pictures in, I'm going to have to guess at it.

The outside of my rust project is done! I *think* the first picture you see is the top (I hope). The ribbon is threaded through some interesting wire beads I had in my stash to form a closure of sorts. The next three pictures show the sides...the box has five sides, so hopefully you can see the details (click on pictures to enlarge). The final two pictures are of the 'stand' and the outside of the main part unfolded. When it's all complete, there will be art inside each of the five sides too, but I haven't had time to tackle that yet.

The base I used was some of the rust dyed fabric I made awhile ago. All of the embellishments were dug out of my stash so I haven't had to spend any money on this, which makes it even better. Notice the drinking straw beads?

If I had it to do over, I would use a much more solid type of interfacing inside it for more stability. I used what I had, which is ok, but it would have been better with something thicker. All in all, it's been a great project and I'm thrilled with it.

Specs: The box measures approx. 6". Pattern: pg.48-55, Quilting Arts Magazine, Issue Sixteen Winter 2004

Please tell me what you think in the comments!

Oh, the suspense!

Yep, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're just sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what on earth it is I'm creating with my rust fabric! Weeelllll....stay tuned, folks, cause I'm going to unveil part of it tomorrow.

Remember the drinking straws from yesterday? They are now beads. Simple to do too - just put a little glue along the edge of a piece of plastic drinking straw (I cut mine into approx. 1" pieces). Wrap with fabric and glue down the outside edge. Wrap with fibres and you're done! Altogether too simple, right? Tomorrow you will see what I've used them for. Just one more sleep......

Now what do you suppose....

.....drinking straws have to do with anything? Hmmmm.......

On another topic, I guess this morning I had best do a general shovel-out of my workroom. When the actual working area dwindles to a tiny little area about ten inches square I know it's time. I am constantly promising myself that THIS time after I clean I will put things away as I'm finished with them. That resolve might last an hour! The creative muse strikes and I'm done for. I even end up with piles on the floor beside my chair, which can be dangerous when I forget and get up in a rush to get something I need right this instant. Doing a face plant on a cement floor (cushioned with a VERY thin layer of tile!!) doesn't seem to do a thing for my muse.

So....I'd better clean. Sigh.

Another installment...

Here's another 'bit' done on my rust project! Can you tell I'm somewhat obsessed with this?

Rust project...part ???

I've forgotten what 'part' I'm at with showing you my progress on this, but here is what I've done over the past day and a half. Doesn't look like much, but then again, I haven't had much time to work at it. Being able to use things that have been in my stash forever is great!

I'm baaaaackk!

Heaven! That's pretty much what the last couple of days have been like. We were at our friends cottage near Haliburton on an absolutely beautiful, unspoiled lake. The weather was lovely the first day, but we had rain yesterday (which isn't a hardship when you're in such a nice place).

We ate FAR too much and laughed just about as much and I feel as though I've been away for days, not just overnight. Talk about the 'pause that refreshes'!

We went for a couple of long walks and saw some of the damage the hurricane that went through there last summer caused. What a mess it must have been, but no cottages were damaged, which was a miracle. We walked with a bit of trepidation though, because bears have been sighted closeby. Actually one broke into a cottage just a few places down and gorged himself quite happily from the fridge. The owners came back from a boat ride and she dashed into the cottage to the bathroom, entirely missing the fact that the bear was in the kitchen! Scary! If I didn't have to 'P' prior to that, I certainly would have when I saw the bear!!!

We went for a lovely boat ride (small pontoon boat) around their bay where we could see some of the mansions people are building and calling them cottages. Must be nice to have money. Our friends have a small cottage with two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, small kitchen, a big deck overlooking the water and a smaller closed-in porch, but it's nothing fancy in comparison with the majority of the rest around the area. Fortunately the rules state that all cottages must be built back on the property so as to leave the shoreline relatively untouched and wild. Enjoy the pictures (they're clickable to enlarge, as always).

Rusty stuff...part three

This is my progress today on my project. The 'believe' section isn't completed yet, but I think you can get the general idea of where I'm going with it.

I will be leaving you 'blogless' for a couple of days because we're going away to a cottage for a couple of days with our friends. Feel free to mumble amongst yourselves and will post when I get back.

Rusty Project - Part 2

I'm working away at my rust project and trying not to give too much away about the final product until the end. Not sure that will work, but we'll see! Today I had a good time playing with beads and buttons and you can see the results here.

Yesterday we had a family reunion for DH's side. Luckily we only got a few drops of rain and for once we didn't pick the hottest day of the entire year as we've been known to do before. It's potluck or else we wouldn't be able to afford to feed about thirty people on our own. Nobody should be able to go away and say they were hungry afterwards, that's for sure!

Rust project - Part 1

Today I went to my friend Kym's for a sew day and got some work done using my rusty fabrics. The colours aren't really 'true' in this picture, but you can get the idea I think. I decided I *will* post pictures as I go along. The entire thing is being made using what's already in my stash, which is a good thing (right, Martha?)

Rust Project Beginning!

This is the latest piece of rust dyeing and now I'm ready to start my project. This is my favourite piece so far - I love the intense colours. I left it 'cooking' for about a week, rather than just a couple of days and I like the end result much better.

I can't decide if I will show you progress on what I'm making, or wait til it's done. Hmmm....decisions, decisions.....