Another Giant Game finished for the Carlisle Country Craft and Old-Fashioned Market.

Good morning all!  I certainly hadn't intended to be gone for a whole month, but there we are.

Here's just one of the myriad projects I've been working on lately...a giant checkers game.

This one is for the Carlisle Country Craft and Old-Fashioned Market Mercantile in August (click here if you are on Facebook for this year's event), or here for pictures of last year's event if you aren't on Facebook.  I am sponsoring the games this year (as Remembrances Pottery).

The checker pieces are sliced from a large maple branch downed in some rather strong winds last year.  My husband cut them with a chain saw, and since a handful lost their bark in the process, N chipped the bark of the rest of them to match.  I painted both sides with some iridescent paint I had lying around, and there you have it.   They aren't quite finished yet because I think one side needs a crown (king me, king me) but S thinks I should draw on chess pieces instead.  Still debating.

The board itself is from an old wool blanket (I love re-using wool blankets and sweaters) that has been stored away for years.  I had fully intended on making it into a hooded cloak, but realistically it will get more use this way.  After all, it has been in the "to do" bin for about 5 years.  I painted it to look sort of like a quilt to match the theme of the show (Pioneer meets Victorian meets Steampunk).  Also, it was taking WAY more paint than I anticipated so I ended up mixing and matching.

I'm quite looking forward to the show.  With each project we finish up, N gets more and more excited to go.  He's the "Gamesmaster" in the Village Green so that if little ones show up with their parents and have no one to play the games with, he's on the scene to play along...and to get races going just generally to get everyone having a good time.  The perfect job for him.

Feel free to weigh in on the crown vs. chess piece debate...which would you vote for?

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Felt sushi - more craft show props

There are only 15 1/2 weeks left to the Carlisle Country Craft and Old-Fashioned Market Mercantile (by next big sale) and there is still so much left to do.  While the studio is on a break, I'm taking the time to make some more faux food props to set the scene.

These would be so great for a kid's play kitchen that I had to share.

 I started by cutting strips of felt - some of which then got "julienned" and some were left plain.  I've got carrots, crab, egg, yellow pepper, orange pepper, red pepper, avocado, tempura in the following pictures.

 Basically I just rolled are wrapped the coloured "filling" bits and then wrapped it twice or so in white felt and then one layer of a dark green "seaweed" felt and stitched it shut.  Because these won't be handled that much I didn't worry about gluing or sewing any of the fillings, but if it was going to be for play food, I would probably dab some glue here and there on the fillings.

 I also made a bunch of different kinds rather than 6 of one piece.

 And then for my little "double dippers" I cut some pink felt for ginger and a circle of dark brown for soy sauce.

 And of course, because they are props for my pottery, I have to share that too.  This one (above) is my favourite.  I made a bowl for Empty Bowls in this style and it was very difficult to part with, so I made some sushi plates.

 This plate, I think is "cute" but it doesn't scream sushi like the bamboo one...

...and this one, not so much either.  I think some plain white ones are in order - although there are still a few awaiting their turn through the kiln.

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Annual Elementary School Art Show

For the past 5 years or so, the elementary school my youngest attends has hosted an art show where every piece of art is made of recycled, repurposed or upcycled materials.

Here is what the students (and classes) came up with this year:

 One little girl made an elephant out of an old vacuum cleaner.  Hilarious.

 Not having seen any of the projects in advance, we were thrilled to see that some naturally went together, by colour or style.  See those paintings...the person who submitted them found the frames in the garbage.  They just needed a cleaning, sanding, and coat of paint.

 This was a big hit with so many of the kids.  

 Nice bright magazine page art.

 N, of course, made this monster candy jar by reclaiming the clay I trimmed off my pottery pieces.

 This was a class project (I forgot to take a picture of the artist who's work this is based on).  They made a video to go with it, which we played on a loop through the evening.

 Kindergarten project:  They had a hard time understanding why they couldn't take their little bugs home with them last week, so we gave them a tour of the show in the afternoon.  Now they get it.

 One family worked together to build a whole house and yard out of recycled materials.  This little cauliflower was one of my favourite bits.

 There was a whole collection of these little robots made of scraps and leftovers, made by the grade 4/5 class.

 Ah, the sloppy jalopy...one of the big hits of the show.  It's an old bike that someone has had in their garden for a couple of years, fixed up with a few bits added.  The little fold down table goes back up and locks into place in the triangle of the bike frame.  The front of the drink holder even has a bottle opener attached to it.  Note the rolled up picnic blanket rolled up and strapped in underneath the bottles.  

 Another kindergarten project...a whole collection of little owls made of juice lids and bottle caps.  As much as I love that the projects are all made of recycled materials, it is sometimes a little discouraging to see how much waste is still being produced.  There were about 25 of these owls, each of which had water bottle lids for eyes.  Why, oh why, are people still drinking water from plastic water bottles with all the options out there?

 One of the teachers brought in all of these partition walls from their church.  It really helped make the displays come together.  It was nice to have the teachers on board this year.

The special needs class outdoes themselves every year.  These sheep are made of the material they used to use to make casts but that isn't used any more (our school is across from a hospital).
Here's a close up:

It was a fun night, once again!

Linking up with: Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia

Working on Costumes for the Carlisle Country Craft and Old-Fashioned Mercantile

Last year I attending the Carlisle Country Craft and Old Fashioned Market Mercantile as a vendor for the first time. click here to see pictures of last year's event

I had such a great time I thought the boys would like to go with me this year.  Well, not only are they coming, but S is going to be one of the buskers (magic) and N is going to be the "Gamesmaster" to help entertain children and add to the festivities.  Needless to say, costumes are in order - they're optional, but seriously, we all know that I'm going to make costumes - who can pass up a chance to dress up as a pioneer for the weekend?

Although there are hundreds of ideas out there for girls (I have been collecting a few of them on this Pinterest board), the patterns for boys are limited.  I have decided on vests, suspenders, pouches, hats and possibly a bow tie for S, and then just regular pants and a light coloured plaid button up shirt (if I can find them).

I started by looking for patterns on-line and in the costume section of pattern books at my local fabric store.  I couldn't find anything that was the right size and style.  But then, in the clearance section I found this one...it's NewLook #6036...for $1.00!

I actually bought a men's jacket at the Goodwill to take apart for this vest because I wanted the nice big pre-made pockets.  The boys each picked out their own with the fabric they liked ---funny enough, not even close to what I would have picked out for them (I would have picked brown tweed).  The lining on this one isn't from the jacket, since I sliced right through it while taking the jacket apart.  I think I might line the other one in plaid flannel for fun.

There is just one part that I'm not too happy with.  The jacket I bought had a lapel pocket and no matter how I positioned the pattern piece, I couldn't get it to fit and still keep the pocket at the bottom.  I ended up having to cut below the lapel pocket and make the front pattern piece out of two pieces, using a spare piece from the arm.  I'm hoping it will look better once it is ironed very carefully. (Note: the orange shirt was for contrast in the photo, and then somebody decided he looked so great he had to wear the ensemble to school this morning - as is...pick your battles, right?).

Also, this morning, N asked if I could add a button.  From the picture on the pattern, I thought it would allow space for button holes, but it turns out the buttons are just decorative.  I'm going to add button holes to both sides and lace it up, I think (like Peter in Monastic Tudor Farm on TVO - are you watching that?  It's the best one yet!).  On S's vest, I will add an extra piece to the pattern to allow for buttons - I think).

A note about sizing:  I made the size XS first after measuring my 14 year old.  It fits my 11 year old - and he's not big for his age.  I'm going to have to make the M for S. If you are going to use this pattern, I would suggest making at least one size bigger than the measurements suggest - I'm going 2 sizes bigger for S.

We also picked up this hat at the Goodwill for an extra $4.00.  They had leather cowboy hats and lots of straw hats.  The girl that was working said they often have them in.

Linking up with: Keep Calm Craft On over at Frontier Dreams

Game #3 for the Village Green

I'm still plugging away at making a few of the games that will be available for families to entertain themselves with at the Carlisle Country Craft and Old-Fashioned Market Mercantile in August.

This month's contribution is "Tic-Tac-Toe" ---and in true pioneer spirit it is made from a flannel shirt, 2 pairs of corduroy pants, and a few bits of felt scraps.

You'll want to change the sizes to suit whatever fabric bits you are using, but I'll give you the run-down just in case.

I cut the biggest square I could from the back of the flannel shirt (18" square) and then used the front and the sleeves for the bean bags.  I cut 9" x 4.5" rectangles, folded them in half right sides together, sewed one side and the bottom, filled  the just under half way with beans, and machine stitched them shut.  Although it would have been easier to add the Xs and Os before-hand, I wasn't sure what I wanted to use, so I hand stitched them on after the fact.

I made a paper template for the Xs and Os to make sure it would fit nicely, and then traced them on to bits of felt.  I chose to keep them neutral, but depending on the event, nice bright colours would work just as well.

 For the "game board" I cut 6 1/2" squares from two pairs of outgrown curdoroy pants and sewed them together in a 3x3 grid using a 1/2" seam allowance.  I ended up cutting a little of the sides so that I could turn the edges of the backing over instead of using seam binding.  After the back and front were sewn together, I sewed a line 1/4" from each of the seams to give it a quilted look, and to stabilize the whole thing.

I'm pleased with the result as it looks a little "boyish" - the boys thought I should balance out the games since they thought the Hopscotch looked a little "girlish" by the time it was done.

We tested it out...I was X's...

...and one of them never learns.

Enjoy.

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Old-Fashioned Games #2

I have mentioned before that I was working on some simple, old-fashioned games to fill the village green at the Carlisle Country Craft and Old-Fashioned Market Mercantile in August.  Here is game #2 if you are looking for a fun little activity with kids.

Who doesn't love hopscotch?  For this one, I used a piece of a table cloth that I picked up at the Goodwill, and some leftover seam binding.  I used different colours for each of the sections because I want it to have a kind of patchwork look to it (the time span we are going for at the show is about mid 1800s to 1910).  Plus, I didn't have very much of each of the colours.  My squares are 11", mostly because my tablecloth was only 78" long...I would go with 12-13" if I had an unlimited amount of space.

I made the numbers from seam binding as well, and just sewed them on.  At first I was trying regular numbers, but it was rather difficult to make the 2 and 3, so I switched to the straight lines of roman numerals.

The "stones" are small bean bags made of old children's shirts.  I may or may not add a coloured stripe or circle to the ones that are the same colour.  I haven't decided yet.  They are 3" squares, with 1/3 cup of beans inside.
Note: if you are playing this game indoors, I would stop here.  It won't slip on carpet, and for wood floors, you could just lay it out on those anti-slip mats.

Mine, however, is for outdoors - and it has to last a whole weekend.  I lined the back with a sturdy piece of fabric (that happened to be a futon cover in a previous life).  I sewed it together front to front and then turned it right side out and sewed around the edges a second time.  It should be pretty tough.

Once the front and backing were sewn together, I edged all  around the squares a second time.  It gives it a quilted look while making it less likely to slip around when a child jumps on it.  I plan on adding grommet holes to the corners, and quite probably the long sides as well, so that we can anchor the game down with tent pegs.

In case you are curious, this went together in an afternoon.

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A simple game with items on hand.

In August, I will be attending the Carlisle Country Craft and Old-Fashioned Market that is part art/craft show but also includes family games, costumes, food and drinks, animals and demonstrations of old-fashioned and pioneer skills.  I'm in the process of getting some of the games ready for the village green, and thought I would share the first one since it would be a great indoor or outdoor activity for any event (including an "I'm bored" day).

In keeping with the theme of the event, I have kept it as old-fashioned as possible by using the fruit buckets. Note: If you are making this at home, you could easily swap out shoe boxes, mixing bowls, or whatever you have on hand.

The "points" tags are made of leftover bits of felt and pieces of a ruined wool sweater.  I just drew out some numbers (on paper)  until I was happy with the size, traced them onto the felt, cut them and hand-stitched them onto the front circle of felt.  The backing is a second piece of felt.  The two circles are blanket-stitched together to hide the stitching of the number and make it a little more durable.
Note:  My tags have to be weather proof as the event is held rain or shine.  If you  are using this game indoors, you could simply draw the numbers on to a card stock tag.

The bean bags are made of some old children's shirts.  I found the ideal size to be 4 1/2" squares filled with 2/3 of a cup of dried beans.  With 4 patterns, children can play alone, against an opponent, or even in teams.

I did make some smaller squares (3 1/2") that were filled with only 1/3 of a cup of dried beans.  If I can find one more bucket, I will pair the smaller bean bags with it as a "target practice" or solo play.
Note: If you are using this game last minute, you can easily make quick bean bags using small children's socks filled with beans and tied firmly shut with yarn.

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