Kimara's blog

Monday night we called the wee ones at 8:30 as they were getting ready for bed. Michelle answered the phone.

Me: Do the kids want to spend the night and go for a late swim.

Michelle: Let me ask. "Do you guys want to go swimming at Gammy's and spend the night?"

Wee Ones: ((no words, just screams and shrills of delight))

Within 10 minutes they were over, we swam for a couple hours, made s'mores, then crawled into bed.

In the morning they got up one at a time. First Bug came down at 6:00 a.m. (And me without caffine yet!) I introduced him to the online sight Pottermore and opened an account for him. He has read the first 4 novels, and was thrilled to read more about Harry's world.

Pixie came down next. I was working on some embellishments for the Little Guy's quilt. She wanted a quilting project, too. So after some discussion, she decided she wanted to make a dog bed for one of her stuffed friends, picked out a lovely rainbow print, and got to quilting.

Finally, Fairy came down. Of course she needed to busy her hands, too. She decided to quilt a head band, and chose a beautiful celestial print.

We spent the day stitchin' and swimming and reading Harry Potter. Isn't summer just grand?

When people ask me what is the one piece of crafting equipment I couldn't do without, I tell them their are 2 things. The first is a very sharp... razor sharp... pair of scissors. That's pretty straight forward. The second item is a little more unconventional :)

Everyone can understand the importance of a good pair of scissors, but it might surprise you to hear what I consider to be the other essential thing in crafting supplies. Several years ago I went to this quaint yarn shop in the garage of an elderly woman. She was definitely "off grid". I heard about her from my sister-in-law. Louise had a small house, on a small dirt road, with a small sign hand painted sign in her yard announcing the shop. To enter the shop you sauntered up the front walk, knocked on the door (the sign on her door asks you NOT to ring her doorbell 'cuz it makes the cats go crazy'), and waited for Louise to answer. When she did open the door the first time I went there, she was wearing a striking muumuu and oversized men's slippers. (True story.) She told me to meet her at the side door.

When she opened the shop's door (the service door to her garage) I felt like Dorothy entering Oz! From floor to ceiling in shelves on the walls and on (and under) an assortment of mismatched tables, was an array of beautiful yarns that rivaled the nicest yarn shops I have ever been in. When I asked her where she got her yarn, her answer was "here and there". As I rooted through the yarns, I marveled at the assortment of beautiful wool yarns. "Unfortunately, I can't knit with wools. I'm allergic and it destroys my hands."

"Oh, child, do I have something for you". And with a twinkle in her eyes (really... there was actual twinklage!), she introduced me to a product that changed my life... Gloves In A Bottle.

She explained that by rubbing this into your skin, you created a barrier between your skin and the wool, so it wouldn't bother my skin. When I seemed a bit skeptic, she STRONGLY encouraged me, so I bought a bottle, along with some wool yarn. I tried it, fell in love, and not only use it when working with wool (yarn and felt) but always. It's actually gotten rid of the eczema on my hands!

So here's the skinny on Gloves in a Bottle. Not only was I able to knit with wool (I rubbed it into my hands and my wrists), I found I was using it before I cleaned bathrooms, when I went into the garden, or for any wet or irritating tasks. Finally, I started using it as I would handcream. After a lifetime of dried and cracked hands, my hands are now soft and crack free. I do not use hand lotion anymore, which often burned my sensitive skin. Rather, I use a SMALL dab of Gloves In A Bottle a couple times a day... more if I'm doing particularly skin challenging tasks. It works like MAGIC for me. How does it work? (From the back of the bottle...)

"Conventional lotions only attempt to replace natural moisture with artificial moisture. The problem is they come woof when you was or touch something. In order for moisture to really do any good it needs to get below the second major layer of skin; only your natural moisture is going to reach that level. Unlike conventional lotions, Gloves In A Bottle will not wash off and helps keep out the moisture-robbing irritants while helping to retain natural moisture, resulting in smoother skin that is not dry. It comes off naturally with exfoliated skin cells."

When we were opening the shop, I told Michelle we HAD to carry Gloves In A Bottle. For one thing... I wanted it :) but I also wanted to give our readers a chance to try it for themselves. So, there you have it. I keep a couple 8 oz. bottles in my house and a 2 oz. bottle in my bag. Of course, I can't guarantee it will work for everyone, but it changed my life! We now carry Gloves In A Bottle in our shop. If you'd like to try it, make sure to visit Wee Folk Art Market Place during our two week opening August 6 through August 20. It's a staple in my crafting supplies :)

So, a couple of days ago I told everyone about the baby quilt I'm making for the Little Guy. I was so very excited, nah, I would say I was all a twitter to be using my Woodsy Wonders fabric that has been in my stash for two years. After posting the blog, I got to work. Progress was good.

Then, that evening, I got an email from my son Drew... the father of yet to be born Little Guy. The email was titled... "A Little Eerie", and the text said, "Is this based on Sweeny Todd?" He attached this photo:

Holy Schnikes! This looks bad... really, really bad. What's that frog doing? Is that a sinister look in his eyes? Sure looks like the razor Sweeny Todd used!!! No, no, no I tell myself. It's a sweet print. It's adorable. It's a butter knife used for spreading jam. Must be... has to be!

Well, one of our lovely readers, Bonney Teti, had emailed me to let me know I could still buy the fabric from Fabric Attic. http://www.fabricattic.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=159. I want to make a couple of matching things and needed more fabric. While I was at the site, I noticed a companion fabric...

So, see Drew!!! Not a Sweeny Todd reenactment... just a very hospitable frog, with a mirthful twinkle in his eyes, preparing a lovely strawberry jam sandwich for a friend.

As far as the quilt progress goes... I've finished the top of the quilt. It is a "quilt as you go" so if I wanted, I could just add the binding and be done. However, I want to do some hand stitching on the quilt, so I'll wait to bind it til I'm done.

Just a little aside... Knowing my family, this quilt will forever be known as the Sweeny Todd quilt. Thank you, Drew ;)

As we start looking towards Autumn (I know... how can we do that when it is so summery outside?) we wanted to share a few of our plans with you. (Subject to change, of course, for no good reason :)

First let me say we received so many kind and loving emails from people when we closed our shop for family reasons. I am so thankful and pleased to say my father not only adjusted to the Alzheimer's facility, he has thrived. He seems to enjoy the routine and quiet. It has alleviated much of the guilt and sadness we all felt.

As we shared last week, we will be reopening Wee Folk Art Market Place for a limited time for all of you that didn't get a chance to order from us, and were hoping to use our kits and materials for Christmas gifts. We will be open for TWO WEEKS, August 6 through August 20. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! We will be running workshops in the shop in the Fall, so we decided to give everyone another chance to order online before we restocked our shelves for classes. If you are at all interested in buying from our shop, make sure you do it then. It is possible we might run another 2 weeks in October, but I can't promise that. We have a few more items to add to the shop that we will share over the next few weeks. More details to follow.

This fall we will be using our Autumn Curriculum with Pixie. She went through the program a couple years ago, but we know she will get so much more out of it as a kindergartner. We will be going through the book list to make sure everything is up to date and adding some new books and activities. We will be sharing our adventures on the blog and hope many of you will join us.

For a while now I've been wanted to quilt with the wee ones. This fall we will be working on a quilting unit. We will be sharing our activities on line. You can expect to see some interesting books, projects and, hopefully, a community service project. We will keep you posted.   

  

I must admit I've been a slacker the past few weeks enjoying some guilt free R and R. Although I'm not done slacking completely, I do need to get a few projects done and start making plans for the fall. The first order of business... make a baby quilt for the Little Guy. He is due August 31 and I have a few other projects I want to make for him (and, of course, a couple for the Little Lady so she doesn't feel left out!) so I need to get to work!

I have this wonderful piece of fabric that I bought before Little Lady was born. I was going to make her a quilt, but then Michelle did, so I've kept this fabric put away for the next baby in the family. It is a wonderful print in J. Wecker-Frisch's "Woodsy Wonders" collection. Adorable, right? Unfortunately, I don't believe it is still available. (If you know of a source, I'd love a link :)

I plan to use this fabric as the backing, and make a simple diagonal striped quilt front using these colors.

I haven't decided whether I want all the edges finished or leave one side of each strip unfinished so it will fray. I also want to add some of the Woodsy Wonder print on the front... not sure how I'm going to do that either. I'm sure it will come to me as I start working! One way or another, I'll take plenty of photos and turn this into a tutorial :) 

Actually, I made a diagonal quilt for the gnome house a few years ago :) Directions for this wee quilt can be found HERE.

Enough work for one summer evening! Off to take a dip in the pool before bed. Life is good :)