A little find

While rummaging though one of my tote bags I came across this little house that I started and forgot about. I finished it this morning and now to find a place for it.

Artsy Postcards

Since I joined a postcard swap on Art2mail group I thought I would try to think outside my quilt box and try something a little more artsy and less quilty.
They were really fun to make. I painted Tyvec, then took a heat gun and heated it until it started to shrink and get bubbles in it. I cut it to size then sewed funky fibers through it. The odd colored card was my experimental one and is going to my daughter.

Reject Post Card

Here is the finished postcard that I started a couple of weeks ago and wasn't really keen on it. Well, now that it's finished it's kind of growing on me and I don't think it's that bad. So it went out in the mail to my blogger friend that said she would love my rejects.

Sewing Caddy

At our crazy quilt meeting one of our members, Mary brought this pattern and the wool to go with it, so I had no excuse to put off making it. It has a little pocket that I put an applique cat in just for photo purposes only.

Spring has sprung

With all the excitement about bed springs, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and dig out that old crib mattress from my attic. Don't ask me why I have a baby mattress in my attic when my children are 20 and 23 years old. It's not like we kept it 'just in case'. It actually moved with us when we build this house. I guess just one of those unexplained phenomenal mysteries in life.
Here are what the bed springs look like when they are semi taken apart, and a word to the wise, they are a bit like Christmas tree lights, if you let them get to close to each other, they start in intertwine and it's just not a good situation for a very impatient person like me. Then put a playful dog in the mix and things could get ugly fast.
My husband helped me drag it out of the attic above our garage on a day when the temp was well below 0 and also got the tin snips and helped me cut them apart. So I knew I needed to make something out of them very soon or he would start asking why I needed them at that very moment. Yes, peer pressure has always been a problem for me.
These are the first two and I can see many more in the future, probably 30 or more if I am going to use all the springs.
The bird needs a little jazzin' up. I sprayed him with coffee to give a little primitive look but he definitely needs something else.

A Knitted Dwarf

This doll is fashioned after the Waldorf educational model founded by Rudolf Steiner in the first quarter of the twentieth century. It is designed to stimulate and preserve the inner nurturing creative forces in the child. The pattern is from Weir Dolls. I have a lot of beard yarn left so I am thinking I didn't make his beard full enough so I may just have to make it longer and fuller.

Pin Keep

I made this for a friend as a 'thinking of you' gift.

Fabric Postcard

It's another fabric postcard. This one is going to a friend in the hospital. I used my fabric paper for the back, but did take a picture of that since I had her address on it already.

Anyone know big foot?

Since I'm not a very experienced knitter and crocheting has always been more my thing, I thought I would try making a pair of crochet felted slippers. I really didn't have a good feeling about them as I neared end of the first one, but I forged on and just thought if I followed the pattern they would surely turn out. After felting them I realized my fears came true these slippers will only fit someone with very usual feet.. I thought perhaps I could save them by cutting a couple inches off the toe and sewing them back up, but they shrunk too much in the width and I can't get them on my feet. I keep looking at them thinking there must be a use for them, after all, I do have time and money invested in them so I am not going to cut my losses yet.
Before felting After felting

Guess what this is

I joined a postcard swap with the Art2Mail group and I need to make 20 postcards. I thought I would do a little experimenting and here is what I came up with. In my mind it was a tree and looked nothing like this. So back to the drawing board I go. I'll finish this one and probably send it one of my children. They are the lucky reciprocates of my rejects.

Michele's new scarf

I thought my daughter needed a scarf so I knitted her this funky one. I mailed it off today and with all the below zero temps I'm sure she will put it good use.

Taking recycling to the next level

It all started in December. Ever since both my children when off to college I have been taking over their bedrooms with my stuff. It has been working pretty well since they usually are not home at the same time. When my son would be coming home I would just transfer tubs into my daughter room and when she would be coming home it would just go into my sons room. When I realized they would both be coming home for Christmas at the same time and my sewing room to filled to the max, I decided it was time to do some cleaning, organizing and throwing. Well, I came across a tub of blue jeans and a tub of flannel that I didn't even know I had. I took it as a sign the I was supposed to make a quilt and since I've been meaning to make to toss in the back of my car I thought this would be perfect. This is before clipping and washing.


This is after clipping and washing.



Then in the spirit of recycling I made this postcard out of one of the pockets.



As I was pulling the little jean do dads out of the wash machine I was thinking I bet I could use this for something. So I got a crazy notion to make fabric paper out of it.
I dusted off my blender and found the paper making kit I used with my kids when they were little and 5 hours later this is what I had. I decided to change it up a little and make some different colors so I added tissue patter to the mix. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, I'm thinking more postcards, but don't know where I'm going with that idea.

Fan and Pin Cushion

My friend Bonnie thought it would be fun to do a fan and pin cushions swap. These are the two she made for me. I absolutely love them both and they will be great additions to my collection.

I really messed up on my fan and did all my stitching up side down. I wasn't happy with it from the get-go and wasn't going to give it to her but she talked me out of it.

She thought her fan was too large and I thought mine was too small. I think sometime in the future I will make her another one and make it somewhere in between.


This is the pin cushion that I made for her.

The weather outside is frightful

This little guy is needle felted and is only 3 inches high. I thought today is the perfect day to post him. It's actually quite beautiful out today, about 23 degrees and lightly snowing.

New Year Post Cards

I had high hopes of getting these done and sending them out before Christmas, but that just didn't happen, so now they will be going out with New Year wishes.