Collection in my dryer
The 2 green ones and 2 pinks ones are my successes. The other one was a pain in my hand! I tried to use a carpet needle and sew wool yarn around a tennis ball. Ha! What a joke!
I found this tutorial on Good Mama. It was a start, but I didn’t like how the center was yarn. I have tons of scrap fabric and since I am on my big kick about using up everything, I figured I would use it for the center.
So, I wadded up a handful of scrap fabric and then wrapped 100% wool yarn from the Michael’s clearance section around it until I got the size I wanted. Washed in hot, dryed in the dryer. I gave my felting needles a whirl to decorate my balls. That was fun!
The pink ones were another adventure as I wanted a way to incorporate essential oil into my ball. Putting the oil on the outside put some oiliness to my clothes and that is no good. I asked my doctor for an ear-lookey-insidey-thingy and she kindly obliged. I wrapped the wool around it and then felted it with it in tact.
The center ball has a slit in the center. The hole isn’t huge, but it is big enough to put the ear-funnel thing in to put in more essential oil or other smell good into the ball.
These turned out fantastic! I absolutely love that I used up all my fabric stuff, including the bits left over on the serger. One ball of yarn made 4 of these.
The long time between posts is due to baby arrivals and another blog. This area is great for my craft tutorials and patterns. To get myself current, here is a tutorial for making a pair of warmers for the baby.
Items you will need:
wide elastic (You don’t want it too thin as it might really cut into those precious little baby legs. I used 5/8″ braided and it works.)
toe socks (These have no heel section, they are a straight tube)
sewing skills (You could hand sew these, that is why I put skills and not machine. Heck, even if you don’t have skills, you could hack at this and still get it right!)
scissors (Again, not actually something you need. If you are hungry, don’t value your teeth, and don’t have them, feel free to gnaw at ‘em)
pins
willingness to make it through one pair
Cut off the toes. Notice the sad little piggy. 
Seal the ends with a serger or zig zag stitch. Pictured here, I am serging, but found the zig zag to produce a better finished edge due to the stretch.
Measure around the fattest part of your baby’s thigh (for us it was 8-1/2 inches). Cut a length of elastic measuring 1 inch more than your measurement. Sew that length into a loop, overlapping each end 1/2 inch. Lay this over the end you previously sealed, fold over the elastic toward the inside of the sock, and pin. The fold should extend past the edge of the elastic by at leat 3/8″. Using a stretch stitch (zig zag, triple zig zag, long length straight stitch), sew the folded edge down ensuring you don’t catch the elastic. You might have to stretch the sock or elastic a bit to make it fit properly. If it gets wonky, don’t worry as the sweater-esque fabric will hide it. The picture shows the pinned in elastic ready to be sewn on the machine.
Repeat process for other sock.
These can be worn with the original band or the newly created band on the thigh. It offers a bit change. Here is another pair I made but held off on the elastic. They need elastic if that end is going on the thigh, but these are the same pattern either way you put them on.
Filed under: Uncategorized
These little dollhouses are so danged cute! After a couple of weeks of dolls and dogs made from thread and pipe cleaners, they all needed a home.
The next one I make, I am going to not use plastic canvas and see if some stiff insert like TimTex will do the trick and make is so I can just bias bind the edges.
Fun stuff happening around here! Schmap wants to use one of my flickr images from New Orleans’ French Market. I would add the image directly here, but the last couple of flickr blog entries I attempted had the image missing. It wasn’t just me, but please check out the image and my other flickr images!
Wish me luck as they make their final selections!
I have been fortunate to work on a photography database of Southeastern Indian Basketry. I love these baskets! Inspiration, information, and cultural respect are yours for the viewing of these baskets.
I am the web designer for the site and used an open source project out of MIT called Exhibit from the SIMILE project. So cool! So very cool!
felt covered and plaited ribbon barrettes
The cauldron barrette was followed up with a few more designs. What a fun weekend! We added to the barrette mix those plaited ribbon ones from the 80s. Phoebe ate them up! She made the one on the bottom in yellow and lilac.
When I saw that Michael’s had their narrow spools of ribbon on sale 5/$1, the memories of the 80s came flying back. That, and scenes of Robin Sparkles from How I Met Your Mother. Anywhoo, we got totally stocked up for under $2!
Wrights has a short tutorial on how to make them.
cauldron designed barette
We woke up today and listened to the last couple hours of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows audiobook. While we listened, Phoebe & I crafted up some barrettes. Halloween is such a great theme!
Now, we are watching the 4th HP movie! I love mother-daughter days.
A basic tutorial at Angry Chicken got me rolling.
I sewed the sides and then turned it inside out. That made it too bulky and weird. This first attempt came out a bit thick, but cute enough for us to wear.
I have so much of this mangosteen fabric. Just made me laugh when I saw it on the shelf. The craziness surrounding the commonality of mangosteens!
I altered the pattern a bit by not applying the bias tape and just sewing it closed. I love eyelets and grommets and used some brushed brass ones to put in for the ribbons and buttons.
The pattern is from www.belleepoquewhimsy.com
I am a proponent of end rolls. They are unprinted remnants of the huge rolls that our daily newspapers are printed on. I got a huge roll when we started packing up to move almost 2 years ago. I paid $4 for 2 inches. That is 2 inches of paper thickness from the tube to the outside. I use it for everything!
Perfect use for an end roll
- Pack up items securely. No print tranfer.
- Drop cloth. Paint on it. Draw on it. What ever! Cheap as can be!
- Pattern drafting.
- You can use some for starting a fire since they are without ink.
- Kids drawing paper.
- Wrapping paper. Decorate it and then wrap it up!
- Put down over carpet for some light protection. Works well for wet cats and the hoard of shoes coming in from lawn mowing.
- What can you use it for?
Here is a sample of drawstring pants drafted onto the end roll. A little colored duct tape was needed to complete the crotch seam width.
Get you some at your local newspaper printer. They usually have tons and it is cheap, cheap, cheap! They are happy when you want it.
Filed under: sewing, toy | Tags: boil, corn, crawfish, food, garlic, toy
I have been working on the pattern to make a fabric crawfish boil. I really love crawfish!!!
Fabric Crawfish Boil
The pot is black-velvet upholstery with a crawfish print lining. The corn is still undergoing some alterations to really bring forth its “corn-ness.” The garlic is also still in prototyping. It needs symmetry and uniformity before it is ready for sale.
I am also working out the crawfish pattern. It is so hard to make something look like it supposed to in your head! I am also working on the patterns to make these as a nice booklet. I miss book layout. *sigh*
These are geared as a kids toy. They are stuffed creations that are just too cute not to squeeze.
