Just a thought….
Projects:
(How to):
Felt Daffodils
Bath Bombs
Felted Soap
Castle Cookies
Lavender soap scrubs
Favourite Projects:
Dollshouse doll 
Princess and the Pea
Heat bag covers
Felt dinosaurs
Melted crayons
Fun with recipes:
Easy meringues
Ice cream
Blueberry Muffins
Fun with felt:
Felted hair slide
Felted hair ties
Penguin bags
Felted beads
“Ta Da!”
It’s finished. BL’s summer school dress is finally ready for wear. It was started last summer. I lost misplaced the pattern, in the intervening months, so the lining was cobbled. Not perfect, but it just about works.
I like the buttons. Everyone should like the buttons that they sew on, but I really like these ones together. These are from BL’s collection and they…. are…. perfect. We had so much fun, sitting around the table, selecting the right three buttons. On their own, these buttons are run of the mill, but together they make a statement.
You see, from a distance they look the same. Get close up and they are all different. A tiny refusal to toe the line and match. Together, they add a touch of rebellion to the school uniform. Not that BL is in the least rebellious. Its me! It makes the teenager, that I used to be, smile. Just a little.
I love the buttons, but not the button holes. For the first time, I used the one-step button hole function on my sewing machine. Usually I either hand sew or manually machine them. I like simple gadgets and the buttonhole machine foot, holds the button, so the button hole is the perfect size for the button. Very neat. The sort of engineering that intrigues me. All I had to do was put my foot down on the machine’s pedal. Brum, brum.
It appears that although the gadget is ingenious, I need to practise. My side of the process is lacking. It didn’t leave a big enough gap between the stitches to snip without cutting some of my stitches. I was probably too busy watching how it worked, to think about the resulting buttonhole. Oops!
I would have re stitched them, but for a little girl’s palatable excitement at the prospect of a new dress. Darn. I got carried away by her excitement. Never mind. I’ll re-do them by hand tonight. Then I’m going to practise with the button hole setting again!
Oh. Almost forgot to show you the dress…..
Photo grabbed before school this morning. No sun and everyone else wanted to be in the photos, including the dog. The dress needs a final iron, but time did not allow it. It seemed too cruel to stand in the way of her wearing her dress today, so the final creasing will just have to wait. There is a back story about why I don’t spend £6 on a summer school dress from the supermarket, but insist on making their dresses. Not much of a rebel really. Oh darn those principles!
(Incidently, I checked. She can sit on the floor, cross-legged, and not reveal all. Even in the absence of pregnancy hormones, I still think 2 dresses for £7 seems on the wrong side of right.)
What a difference two days of sunshine make! Finally, we could enjoy the garden again. Cucumbers have been planted, clothes dried on the line, salad seeds scattered, grass has been cut. (Is it just me, or does everyone feel the house is tidier if the grass is short?)
Our wild-rabbits-and-stray-chickens-in-the-kitchen-garden problem has been solved. I hope. We used a strip of the chicken’s electric fence to go round the main area. The children spent a couple of hours, on and off, digging it over ready for planting. Broad bean plants are planted out and sweetcorn are in the soil, so we’ll wait to see if they survive.
I made the most of time outside and carded more wool. This is the white part of the jacob’s fleece, that I’ve been working with. Buttons were being made in the workshop this weekend, by father and son. TF is a dab hand with the hand drill and just loves to show everyone what he can do.
TF was also very concerned about a new type of marauding dinosaur that he has spotted in the garden. There were (stone and chalk) paw prints as evident of their existence. He insisted that I carried a trident of teasels around as protection from these wild beasts.
Fortunately I didn’t encounter any of these trouble makers, as I had no instructions on what to do with the teasels. Maybe tickle them into submission.
Apart from gardening, there has been some making. Last week, TF declared he needed a purse. Like the girls. How about a wallet like Daddy? OK. I grabbed my bag of wool roving and a bit of plastic for resist and began his wallet. Only noticed afterwards that I had chosen a perfect carrot combination. I’m adding a needlefelt picture onto the front. Maybe a tractor or a rabbit. TF would like a shield and sword or a dinosaur. He showed me a drawing of a pretty good sword. He has obviously studied pictures of swords in great detail. It was good. It’s just I don’t think my needle felting skills are up to a convincing sword. We’ll see.
Finally in the spirit of Stash Busting Monday, two projects. I spent some time in the evenings sewing my patchwork knitted blanket. It takes a surprisingly long time to sew together and lose the ends. Almost there!
I’m guessing everyone has their own definition of stash busting. Mine is a little fuzzy. Time languishing, intent of use and quantity used all seem to be part of it. The wallet probably counts as it uses existing supplies. This weekend, I also dug out a work in progress. It is BL’s unfinished school summer dress from last year. It was put on hold while I looked for lining for the bodice and then the end of term happened and the need for the dress had gone.
Now we are back in the summer school term again, so yesterday, I turned my fabric stash upside down and found just enough green lining to finish it. I’m on a roll again and the lining must count as stash busting. The dress must qualify as languishing far too long.
So a weekend of gardening and stash busting. Pretty darn good! How about you?
Its Wednesday, so time to share this week’s reading and what’s on the knitting needles.
To start, I have finished my cardigan, except for the buttons. Once the buttons are made and I can borrow a willing model, then I’ll post up a photo. Also hoping for a bit of sun, to show the variation of the dark wool.
While I wait, I’ve picked up my knitted blanket project. I’ve started to knit the bands between the squares and sew the pieces together. It looks a bit straggly at the moment as I sew odd bits together, but I should have it finished by next week. It is coming together quite fast. Typical of me. I spend ages umming and ahhing, while the actual doing flies by. Its all in the planning or should I say procrastination.
I have been knitting the bands, three at a time. Each band is only ten stitches wide. By having three bands and thirty stitches on my needles at the same time, it cuts down the knitting time taken as I’m not turning so often. It is a fairly mindless knit which is brilliant for doing while I help the children with homework or listening to them read. I’m far more patient if I’m knitting.
Moving on to books. I’m still reading The Hive
Now for the children’s recommendations. Over the weekend, we were near Oxford, so popped into the Barefoot Books store. This is a real treat for the children, and we limited them to one book only. While the grown-ups drank coffee and tea, the children spent time choosing. AJ went for Stories from the Opera
BL chose the World Atlas
Last night, just as I tucked him up in bed, he asked whether he could keep the book. So many of his reads recently have been from the library. When I told him that it was his, for as long as he wanted it, he hugged his new book to him.
If you are up for some more book and yarn chat, hop over to Ginny‘s for the Yarn along. I’ll be over later, once the children are tucked up in bed.
This year, and last, I have been trying to destash my craft cupboards. I squirrel fabric away. The odd balls and half-balls of wool are stored away. Just in case. There they stay. This year I have been trying not to add more, but to use what I have, which I pretty much have done, except for the odd purchase or two. I’m doing well.
When Mousy Brown suggested a “Start of the week Stash Busting” … well that seemed to fit right in. The idea is to blog about something that has depleted your stash by either being made, swapped or given away, and blog at the start of the week. I know it is Tuesday, but it was a Bank holiday yesterday, so this is the start of my week!
Instead of showing my current textile destashing projects which I’ve posted recently, I thought I’d share a foodie destash. Our hens are laying. Five of them at least. So I get 5 eggs a day. That is 5 eggs seven days a week. Thirty five eggs a week. Every week. Miss a day of baking or cooking and the eggs start to pile up. Today was the day to tackle my egg glut.
First I used eggs to make pastry. That used up 4 eggs.
Next I gave 12 away to a neighbour.
Lunch used up one egg with a batch of scotch pancakes.
Then six eggs disappeared into a blackcurrant custard tart, which cunningly used up some of my last year blackcurrants from the freezer.
I make that 23 eggs today.
Less than a dozen left in the box…
..until today’s five eggs were brought in….
Not that I mind. I just need to put them to good use tomorrow and not let them build up again.
Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post. I’m so pleased that the children’s marble run inspired others to give it a go!
How to make a magnetic marble run
Ingredients: a bagful of toilet roll tubes, paint, a sheet of magnetic circles, a group of enthusiastic children (aged 4, 7 and 9)…oh and a marble!
Step one: leave children to paint designs on the tubes. Allow time to dry. (Tubes, hopefully not children.)
Step 2: Watch children add magnetic circles to the dry tubes.
(These circles easily peel off the sheet and they are sticky on one side. No need to wait for glue to dry – remember that enthusiastic children are being used in the manufacturing of the marble run.)
Step 3: Discover that one magnet does not give enough balance when marble is sliding through tube, so subsequent tubes have two magnets. Return to step 2 and retrofit other tubes with another magnet.
Step 4: Shove all pre-existing magnetic attachments, on fridge door, out of the way. Do not clean fridge door (no one will notice the smudgy finger marks).
Step 5: With the use of the magnetic circles, start arranging painted tubes on fridge door. Careful attention to how the tubes line up with each other.
Step 6: Test the marble run. If marble run does not equal perfect and it is not bedtime, then go back to stage 5.
Step 7: ….it is unknown if we will ever reach step 7.
Absolutely loved this activity. So did the children. I let them design and build this totally by themselves. The only limit, apart from be nice to each other, that I gave them was that glue and sticky tape were not to be used. The run had to be a temporary structure that could be moved to another surface. So no permanent joins.
The children have learnt lots already. In the short time between supper and bed, they got a working run. This morning BL added the tubes under the catching station (which had three magnets) to stop it tilting and the marble escaping. No need for a brother to hold it in place anymore. They have played with the gradients, to alter the acceleration. They’ve talked about adding alternative routes for the marble. We discussed the weight of the marble and strength of the magnets. We talked about the restraints of the materials available. They will continue to add and learn.
Another successful crafting (and learning) activity!
Other magnetic projects:
Special thanks to Jonathan at First4Magnets who sent us the sheet of magnets. He noticed that we like to craft with magnets. Looking at their website, I had no idea how many different forms and shapes magnets were manufactured. Seriously, I have been living in the dark ages in terms of magnets. I can think of so many crafting and scientific activities that could be enhanced by using the right kind of magnet….
……I foresee more magnet projects!
(Disclaimer: we received a sheet of magnets free of charge, but were not paid in any way or provided with any words for this post.)
Linking up to NutureStore’s Paper free art
Hi. Welcome to our blog. My name is Cheryl and I am a mother of three. We live in the South-West of the UK. This blog includes some of the crafting, gardening and other activities that fill our lifes. We share this place with one dog, lots of chickens, wild rabbits and deer. I hope you enjoy our blog. Brighten up my day by leaving a comment. Thank you for stopping by.Products I like:
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Joining in 2012
