Felting

Our cat does not play with cat toys.  Instead, he steals balls from the boys' rooms, plays with them, and leaves them all over the house.  So N thought maybe Hobbes (the cat) needed something of his own to play with.

Wool felt balls in various stages of completion.

A few years ago, a kind farmer friend I know let me have a whole huge sheep fleece.  I spent an entire summer washing, and picking and cutting the pieces I could salvage so that I could try my hand at dying the wool with plants growing in our yard.  Now, this fleece isn't good enough for spinning (something I have tried a tiny little bit, but plan on doing some more this year) but it is fantastic for stuffing things, and I thought we would try some felting with it.

Carding...this took two nights due to attention span issues :)

This picture was not, in fact, posed.  The cat kept following us wherever we moved the fleece to.  And laying down on it, beside it, eating it...you name it.  That big cheese box in the back...that's what I keep my fleece in.    

What?  People don't keep their fleece in a cheese box?  :)

We both did a bit of the needle felting to get the fleece into a rough ball shape, and not so loose.  This is our first real attempt at felting so we were kind of testing things out as we went along.

We moved on to wet felting.  The tutorials on the internet said to alternate hot water and cold water and use plenty of dish soap. So that's what we tried...note: this plus a nine year old makes a mess...a happy mass, but a mess none the less.

Make sure you get plenty of lather going...

...put your hands in this very essential formation...

..and blow very gently.

This is a very important step in the wet felting process.  It must be, considering the amount of time that was spent on this step alone.

Which is why, only two balls are felted, and a few are partially felted, and at least one..not at all felted.

Good thing we have time on our hands.

I just turned around and the cat has made off with all but the largest unfelted ball.  Hmmm.  He has been playing with the two finished ones for a few weeks.  They are a big hit.

Join along with Linda at Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday, and 

Andrea of Wisdom Begins in Wonder for Fiber Arts Friday.

Today I am thankful for:  our lovely town library...I got quite the haul this week, and projects lined up.  

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies

A family recipe:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, not packed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour (I use whole wheat, but you can use whatever)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup coconut

you can add pecans or other nuts if you wish...and I have also added wheat germ before and you can't tell it is in there...oh, and I have added up to a cup of dried cranberries without a problem.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, coconut, and rolled oats.  If you are adding wheat germ, add it here.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until well combined.

Add whatever "stuff" you are adding in...dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts...make them yours, right?

Mix until well combined.

Drop by the spoonful onto a cookie sheet lined with a silpat liner.  Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are firm enough for your taste.  (Please note:  I always check them at 10 minutes, and I always put them back in for a few more minutes, as my oven is "wonky" at 350...I usually regret the last minute or two.) Cool on sheet before removing to a rack.

Also note:  I made 40 cookies from the recipe above, with another roll of dough in the freezer that will probably make 24 or so.  This makes a good size batch of cookies...so feel free to make a half batch :) 

Have you met me?  I don't do the half batch!  Cookies will be my downfall.

Enjoy!

Today I am thankful for:  my cold starting to disappear.  I can see!  I can breathe! woo-woo!  A few more days and I should be right back to "normal".

Cast iron pan handle cover

I am joining several people with today's post...I will link at the bottom.

First up:  Stash-busting.

 

This piece of wool from an (accidentally) felted sweater was in my stash, and has been for a few years.  I have used most of the rest of the sweater but I have a few pieces left.  I fished out the smallest ball of wool yarn I could find, and voila!...

 ...a handle cover for my cast iron skillet.  And since this was quick, and I have more than one cast iron pan...

...I made a few more.  I know that since these pans have been around for years and years (I'm sure all our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had them) that I am not the first person to ever come up with this, but it felt pretty darn good to make something so useful and quick with what I had sitting around.  I just rolled up the sweater piece so that there would be two layers top and bottom, and blanket stitched around it.  Easy, peasy, and kind of cute, no?

Creative Friday - a work in progress

Now is the time of year when I usually focus on finishing up some unfinished projects that I have around the house.

Right now, I am working on finishing up a rag rug to put in front of the dryer. I made one last year for in front of the washing machine, and still have not finished this second one.  I have reached a slow part because in order to finish this rug up, I need to unravel a braided rug that just wasn't working (to get the strips).  I am using a giant crochet hook and simply doing a single crochet back and forth in rows (so far, it is the only thing I know how to crochet, but that is something to work on in the future).

I think I am about 3/4 of the way through, with the work I did on it yesterday.  Soon, I will do a finished items post.

Come join the fun at Natural Suburbia's Creative Friday and at Wisdom Begins in Wonder for Fiber Arts Friday
I look forward to seeing what you are all working on.

Butterfly Conservatory

Warning: This is a picture heavy post.

We went away for our Christmas Holidays this year.  One of the places we visited was the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls.  It is a fantastic place to visit...very warm and humid and tropical on a cold winter day.

Some butterflies were camoflauge.

Some butterflies were technicolour

Some butterflies were huge!

Some butterflies were friendly!

They were everywhere, and there were lots and lots of them.  Quite something to see.

And if plants are more to your liking...well, there were plenty of those too.  Tropical plants that don't grow here (well, outdoors anyways)...

It is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the area. 

Yarn Along - December 21

Joining Ginny at small things again today for this week's yarn along.

Look everyone, I finished my hat!  Don't I look so serious in this picture?  I took it in the mirror...tricky tricky.  I have to say I just love the hat.  It is warm, and cozy, and stripey and gray, and a little different.  It is a bit top heavy, but I will get used to it.

That is the last project I had on the needles (well...except for "the sweater" that I will have to revisit).  I have to pull out the sleeves and start over...a good project for the winter I am guessing.

You will notice there is no book in the picture.  I am on my way to the library right after I post this to pick something out for the holidays.

There has also been an absence of "using what you have" posts lately as well...so here we are:

I used to have a punch bowl...I no longer have a punch bowl...and the other day, I needed a punch bowl.  What I do have are mixing bowls.  So, the punch is in a mixing bowl, with a soup ladle for the scoop.  The whole thing is on a glass plate that I covered with bits of greenery snipped from the yard.  It worked out quite well.

And for the cups...I have been meaning to make those fancy beaded things you attach to the handles of cups or wine glasses to show which one is yours...but I still haven't done it.  So...the kids each picked a colour from the yarn stash, and there we go.

I can't wait to see what you are all making.

Handmade Holidays - Teacher's gifts

I have to say, I love having handmade holidays.  While my friends are out shopping for gifts and gift wrap and fighting the crowds, we are staying at home baking and crafting and spending time doing things we enjoy with family and friends.

So for this week's handmade holidays post...more cookies...

Every year we make home baked goodies for the teachers.  Most years, we make cookies, but sometimes we make breads, scones, muffins, and other breakfast goodies.  This year, we went back to cookies.

Because we give such simple gifts, we like to "fuss them up a bit".  A few weeks ago, I made these gift bags:

In October, I sliced a fallen branch into slices to use as gift tags.  You may have seen them on earlier handmade holidays posts (see here and here).  For the teacher gifts, I made them a little more fancy by painting them instead of using a marker.

 I used "Spun Gold" for the letter and "Bronze" for the highlighted portion, and outlined them with a black pen.

I also made some fabric feather tags to add.  I would love to give credit where credit is due here, but these are all over the internet so I don't know who to credit.  I believe I saw them for the first time on the "Green Wedding Shoes" website, but I can't be sure.

I added some real feathers to mine, and tied them together with gold thread and hot glue.

I put the cookies into a small plastic bag first, and then into the gift bag to keep them fresh longer.  Some teachers are getting a variety of cookies, so I put each flavour in separate plastic bags and then into the larger gift bags. 

I quite like how they turned out, since I usually put them in boxes.  I think I might do bags again next year.

 
Hop on over to Plain and Joyful Living to see what other people are sharing for their handmade holidays.

Handmade Holidays - brothers making for brothers

I am joining Tonya at Plain And Joyful Living for Handmade Holidays again this week.

The boys have been working hard making gifts for each other.

N has been making book covers for S, an avid reader.

He made three book covers in different sizes, one to fit each of the three current favourite series that S is reading.  The hardest part was sneaking the books from S's room so we could be sure they would fit.

He cut rectangles out of fabric (he is 9 and chose striped fabric from the stash so that he could cut with scissors rather than a rotary cutter).

He serged all of the edges, even the ones that were going to be folded over.

He sewed pockets on each end for the book cover, and even sewed down the side in between so it would be neat and tidy (if you have met N, insert GASP here!).  He did need help with starting the very first one, and he asked me to put the pins in...but with instructions.  "Tuck the pins back under after, Maman.  I don't want them poking up." 

Interesting what your kids teach you...after years of sewing, and more than a few pin pricks, it never occured to me to tuck the pin ends back under.  And I also learned to just let him do it...he is perfectly capable.
Yikes.

 He folded the covers in thirds and added a handprinted label telling him which book would fit which cover.

And packaged them up...

in this gift bag...note the gift bag...you will see something interesting later in the post...

And made a tag, cut from the side of a "facial tissue" box.

S has been making bath items for N.  N loves to have a bath, but usually only has one when he is ill (he gets the croup a lot! and spends a long time in the bath each time he gets it). 

S made N a jar full of bath fizzies:

and a jar full of bath teas,

For the bath fizzies:

He sifted together citric acid, cornstarch, and baking soda (you can find all kinds of recipes for this on the internet...but for each batch, we used 1/4 cup citric acid, 1/2 cup cornstarch, and 1/2 cup minus one tablespoon of baking soda if I remember correctly...we had to modify for smaller batches).  In hindsight, you can make one large batch, and then divide it up to add the colours.

He added food colouring to a spray bottle of water,

and sprayed slowly while stirring until the mixture could hold a shape when squeezed.
He added a few drops of essential oil,

and pressed the mixture into a mini muffin tin.  Let it dry at least two hours at this point.

Then he flipped them out and put them in a jar, which he labelled with the name of the oils he used.

For the bath teas, he cut squares of cheese cloth, using two layers per bag.

 

He placed three tablespoons of herbs in the center (he used lemon balm, lavender, and mint),

tied each one up with a colour-coded piece of yarn, cut off the extra fabric,

and packaged them up in a jar.

He put both jars in a gift bag...

and made a tag from an old Christmas card.

Here is the funny part...I have maybe 30 gift bags in different colours, shapes, and sizes that we consider our Christmas or Solstice gift bags.  Most of them were made with "holiday print" fabric, although some are just solid colours.  There are exactly 2 bags made of the above fabric in the box where we store gift bags.  They both chose the exact same bag.  We also have a variety of ribbons and ties that we re-use from year to year...they both chose white ribbon.  When they are together, they will often both choose the same thing but I always thought it was "to be fair".  I find it interesting that even when they are doing things secretly, they still happen to choose the exact same thing.

What have you been making for handmade holidays?