Working the textiles

Last week I got the crazy idea that I wanted to sew my daughters some skirts.  I am not a seamstress.  Skirts are fairly easy, though.  I opened the pattern and picked out the size I wanted for my youngest.  With the cat sitting on top of the fabric and Peanut bringing me her own scissors offering to help cut the pieces out, I spread out the fabric on my floor and began to work.

The fabric was awful to cut.  It was only two piece to make the skirt, but they ended up being quite different in size.  A battle with the sewing machine began and after a little trim here and there and I finally made the skirt.  I actually made two.  The girls love them.

The sewing machine was put back into closet!

I've been weaving more.  About a month ago I decided to do a project as big as my loom would hold.  It's been kind of slow.  I don't spend nearly as much time on it as I could.  I have one little complaint, though.  My bobbin's are small and the project is large.  I go through a lot of thread very quickly.  I wind three bobbins at a time.  It's really cool looking, though. 

The loom, fully warped.

See the little white bobbin?  It doesn't hold much thread.

The underside of the loom so you can see the pattern

At the bottom of the picture, you get a glimpse of the

underside of the weaving.  It looks just as good, maybe better.

Last night I pulled out my cross stitching.  I haven't done any in a very long time.  Each of my children have a beautiful, elaborate Christmas stocking that I cross stitched.  Peanut is three and this year will be her 4th Christmas.  Her stocking isn't even halfway done. 

I've got a couple of months. Maybe I can finish it for her this year..... maybe.

To see more pictures of the weaving, go to my weaving blog, The Tangled Weaver.

Pulp Non-Fiction

When it comes to kids, you just can't make this stuff up.

I had the bright idea of giving my daughter, who gets bored very quickly, a jar of ideas.  In the jar were slips of paper.  Each paper had an idea of an activity that she could do.  One idea was to make a boat and see if it floats.  Sounds like a great idea, right?

So Daughter got a shoe box and cut the lid off.  She poked a stick into the lid and taped a piece of paper to the stick.  So, we have a boat (box lid), with a stick mast and a paper sail.  She proceeded to fill the bathtub with water.  The younger two kids decided to join in on the fun.  They all changed into swim suits and hopped into the bath.

The boat was set afloat and they all had a wonderful time splashing, playing and sailing their boat.  I didn't give it much thought.  I was happy they were in the tub getting clean.  Well, when I finally went to check on them, the boat was gone.  It didn't sink.... It wasn't tossed out of the tub.... It had disintegrated.  I got the kids out of the tub and sent to their rooms to get dressed.

What to do?  I didn't want to pull the plug on the tub.  I didn't want all that box pulp going down the drain.  So, to the kitchen I went and got the pasta strainer.  Using the strainer, I scooped up pulp out of the tub and emptied it into a bucket. 

After I was done scooping all the pulp out, I thought about giving the bucket of pulp to the kids and let them try and make their own paper.  Then I decided I had cleaned up the pulp mess once, I wasn't going to do it again.

So, Hubby, the great dad that he is, gave our daughter a scrap piece of wood.  He drilled a hole in the top for her stick mast and paper sail.  Last I saw, the new boat was happily floating in the bathroom sink.

Scenery

Two weeks until the auditions for the play.  I hope someone shows up for them. 

I thought I had three weeks, but then on Sunday I realized I was down to two and have kind of gone into an excited panic.  Instead of only thinking things through, I've started to act on what needs to be done.

One of my biggest concerns has been scenery.  What do I use?  I'm trying to go as cheaply as possible, but still have something to show.  My answers have come by way of  bed sheets from the local thrift stores and cheap paint from Wal-Mart.  I'm a terrible artist. Zero talent for drawing and painting.  However, my table has been occupied these last few days with the big sheets laid across it and paint.  I've been painting trees, windows and a large door on the sheets.  Backdrops!

It isn't pretty or professional, but at least you can tell what it is.  The trees look like trees anyway.
This is the forest backdrop:

Yes, the trees are standing on each other.  Like I said, ZERO talent for art.

This is a window for the house backdrop:

(Still working on the window...)

Such Crafty Kids

I have a little bucket that I keep some general craft supplies in - googly eyes, pompoms, glue sticks, beads, ribbons, foam stickers, scissors, that sort of thing.  It has a place in the closet next to the construction paper.  This past weekend, my youngest kids re-discovered this bucket of fun.

(Also kept within the bucket is the hot glue gun. I should probably take it out, but when I need it, I know it is there.  If I put it in a new spot, I'll never remember where it is.  Today, my youngest pulled out the hot glue gun and asked me what it was.  I told her it's a hot glue gun.  My 5 year old yelled out excitedly, "It's a gun?!"

Yeah, well, sort of.  That's a boy for you, I guess.)

I have a love/hate relationship with the bucket of fun. I love when they pull it out and are creatively making things with it. I hate the mess. When they pull that thing out the creative destruction is huge. Guess who cleans it all up...  I'll give you a hint, it's not the kids.


That's OK though. I really love to see their creative juices oozing onto their project in front of them. My 5 year old son made the coolest little race car out of paper and a black foam sheet. It was decorated with foam stickers and had a few beads glued onto it. So creative.

Right now the three year old is sitting at the table, bucket of fun in front of her and a bottle of glue in her hands.  I want to go re-claim the kitchen table, but who can squash such creativity?

Finished tartan

I had to share my finished weaving project. It's beautiful and I'm so excited about it. It's more than 6 feet long and a little more than two feet wide.I've got enough thread on the loom to make another one the same length or several smaller ones.

pretty scarf

I finished a weaving project today. It turned out nicer looking than I thought it was going to be.

Next project will be silk!

Christmas snood

So, I've been learning to crochet and for my first project I decided I didn't want a scarf or a blanket, I wanted a snood! I'm totally crazy for these now. With the help of my friend JoAnne, I've finished crocheting my Christmas snood. I still need to put the elastic on it that will make it wearable, but the crochet is done!

What do you think?

(OK, I just realized this isn't the finished picture, but it looks like this, only with a few more rows along the top)

I'll get a picture of me wearing it next. Watch out!