Household

A couple of months ago we were contacted by Rhythm of the Home and asked to submit a project for their Autumn Edition. We were very excited to participate since we so enjoy the publication. If you are not familiar with Rhythm of the Home, here is a description from their website:

"Rhythm of the Home is a quarterly online magazine. Our focus is to unite a readership which is interested in Waldorf or Montessori education, or simply living intentionally and hoping to incorporate a rhythm and reverence for the natural world in the lives of their children. Each edition will publish seasonally, with articles and projects dedicated to incorporating the upcoming season into the family’s rhythm."

The hard part was trying to decide what to make. We decided to share something that anyone could use to celebrate the season. Michelle and I love to use wreathes in our decorating. The wreath, a symbol of eternity, reminds us of the circle of life; of how one season flows into another, only to return again and again. So, we designed the Autumn Oak Leaf Wreath, combining sewing and stenciling. To get directions for this wreath visit Rhythm of the Home.

And while you are there, pay a visit to their blog. As an extra bonus, they are hosting a giveaway featuring handmade goodies from some of this edition's contributors. They asked for a giveaway that directly related to the submitted project, so we created two over-sized Maple Leaf Potholders, using the same fabrics and stenciling techniques as our wreath. You can sign up to win our potholders or any of the other giveaway items being offered from Rhythm of the Home blog.

It has been a lot of fun crafting and contributing to another publication. You can now visit Rhythm of the Home to find our tutorial for the Autumn Oak Leaf Wreath and check out all the other wonderful crafts being shared to help us celebrate this beautiful season!

I've already mentioned that Pixie has a birthday coming up and all the gifts I'm making for her have a rainbow theme. When thinking about all the little things I'll be crafting, I thought (dangerous past time, I know :) that I needed something to put them in. Back in the 80s I was really into using the upholstery cording to make all sorts of things. I haven't used it in years, so I decided, what fun! So, here are the directions for Pixie's Rainbow Coiled Rag Bowl. I'll be sharing my "stuffings" as I get them done!

Materials:
new or used light to medium weight cotton
(I bought 1 yard each of 6 rainbow colors and have tons left for other projects)
1/2" upholstery cording
(I bought 10 yards and used 9. Yardage depends on the size of the bowl you cover)
embroidery floss (2 strands) or quilting thread (needs to be heavy duty)
sturdy needle

BEFORE YOU BEGIN… IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT TACKING: As you start assembling your bowl, you will be asked to tack the cording together to form the bowl. When tacking, you must go through 2 pieces of cording; the piece already part of the bowl, and the new piece you are adding. The method I used was to go through the center of a new piece, and bring the needle out halfway through the cord below.

I would then push the needle back into the cord, close to where the thread came out, and angle my needle so it comes up through the center of the strip of the new cord that has not been tacked down yet. (Sounds much more complicated than it is. Check out the photo!)
Pull the thread tight enough so it holds the coils together but not so tight that it begins to dimple the cord. I then put a very small tack stitch where the thread came out to stop the threads from loosening up.
When tacking your bowl together, you want to keep the outside of the bowl stitch free. So as you form your bowl, think about how the next piece of coiling will be added to the bowl, and make your tack stitches so they will be hidden by the next row of cording. On my final row you will be able to see your tacks, but if you use matching thread, and evenly space your tacks, it will not detract from the finished bowl.

Directions:
Pick a bowl you want to use as a form. My bowl was 4" at the base, 8" across the top, and 5" high. Turn the bowl over so the bottom is up.

Rip your fabric in 1" strips. Again, how many strips you need depends on the size of your bowl. I needed 4 strips, 1 yard long of my purple, blue, green and 3 strips of yellow, orange and red. I suggest you rip as you go, so you only rip as many strips as you will actually use. You will also need a 2" square of the first color you use.

Begin by wrapping the end of the cording with the 2" square of fabric. I wrapped my matching embroidery floss around the outside of the fabric to hold in place before I tacked it to the cording.


Take your first color and place the end of the strip near the tip of the covered end of the cording. Pin in place. Begin wrapping the cording with a strip by wrapping on an angle, always overlapping the previous piece by 1/2". Continue wrapping the cord firmly, slightly condensing the cording as you go. Stop when you are about 3" from the end. Pin the strip to the cording so it does not untwist.

To start forming the bowl, begin coiling the covered cording, tacking as you go. (See note above about tacking.)

To add a new color, you can either sew the pieces together by simply overlapping and stitching, or you can tuck the new color under the old color by 2” – 3” and continue wrapping as if they were 1 continuous piece. The tacking and wrapping you do will hold them together, and since this is a rag bowl, some unfinished ends showing are acceptable HOWEVER, make sure any of the unfinished ends are in the inside of the bowl, not the outside, and you can trim back some of unfinished ends on the inside to “neaten up” the bowl when you are done.

To begin with, you can work on a flat surface. Periodically place your piece on the bowl bottom. When your coil is as big as the base of the bowl, continue wrapping the cord with the strips as you have been, but now, as you coil the wrapped cording, use the bowl as a form. Wrap the cord around the bowl, pinning the cording to the previous coils, on the angles the bowl is creating. Continue tacking in place as you build up your bowl.


When your bowl is as tall as you want, cut the cording. Then, taper the last 4” of the cording before wrapping it. Wrap in the same manner. The cording will diminish in height, but you should keep the width the same. Pin in place, and tack as before. You may want to put a couple of extra tacks in at the very end.

Have you ever had a summer that you felt like you lost? Here we are, with Fall around the corner, and I realized that I did precious few of my summer activities. It was an extraordinary summer. Memorial Day weekend my mother decided it was time to move into a condo... something I've been suggesting for 5 years. Before she had a change of heart, I jumped right in. The summer was grueling with buying, selling and moving BUT last weekend we were all done. The last of the boxes unpacked and on Friday we closed on their old home. They are now just 4 miles from me... 2 from Michelle... so spending time with them will be so much easier... definitely making up for the lost summer.

You may be wondering where I'm going with this since this is a tutorial. Well... one of the last things we put on my parent's wall was a eucalyptus wreath I made for them over 20 years ago. It was the year I made everyone I knew a eucalyptus wreath for Christmas. I'm sure most people have gotten rid of theirs many years ago, but Mom still has hers. And I was shocked that it still smelled like eucalyptus. Sure, the smell wasn't as strong as it use to be, but if I gave it a very hot shower, I'm sure it would stimulate the oils and much of it's old smell would return. You gotta love eucalyptus!

Anyway... I realized that I missed my old wreath. Somewhere over the years, in one of our many moves, I probably decided it was time to get rid of it. But looking at my mom's the other day, I realized that I needed to find time in my "catch up" existence, to make a new one. And I'm so glad I did! The house smells wonderful, and it takes me back years and years ago, when I made them as gifts. They are very easy to make, although I remember now that it was hard on my hands. If you have very good, thin leather gardening gloves, you could probably use them. It is a little pricey, too. It took 3 bunches of eucalyptus that I bought from Joann's, each costing $9.00 a piece. But I suppose when you consider my mom has had hers for 20 years, it's a pretty good investment!

Materials:
3 bunches eucalyptus (I bought one red, one brown and one green)
3 packages (300) 3" floral picks
14" straw wreath
optional: I like to add bows and dried flowers seasonally
Pruning shears or kitchen shears
 

1] Begin by cutting the eucalyptus into 5" - 6" pieces.

2] When cutting the pieces, cut one piece off just above a set of leaves. This will make the next piece look more like the tip of a eucalyptus stem.

3] If necessary, pull off a couple of leaves at the bottom of a piece so approximately 1" of the stem is leafless.

4] Place a floral pick against a piece so they overlap about an inch and attach the stem and floral pick together.

5] Beginning on the front of the wreath, add pieces of the stem to the wreath on an angle, pushing the floral pick into the wreath about every 1 1/2". Make a complete circle.

6] Stagger your next row so the stems are between the stems in the previous row. Continue adding pieces until the front and sides of the wreath are covered. Do not cover the back.

7] When you are done, check for "bald spots" and fill in with additional pieces. Also, look for wild and crazy pieces and give them a little snip. If you would like, you can tuck dried flowers directly between the eucalyptus stems without using florist picks. You can also add a bow or tuck ribbon in the wreath.

8] To hang it on the wall, use a wire from one of the floral picks and make a loop around one of the strings, on the back, holding the straw wreath together. Hang the wreath on a nail.

9] Now sit back and enjoy the beauty and aroma of your new wreath. Over time you can give your wreath a very hot shower to remove dust and to rejuvenate the scent. 

10] BTW... don't throw away the eucalyptus scraps. Break them up and use them as potpourri.
 

"Nooks and Crannies" are special places in our homes and gardens that deserve mention. It is not a whole room, but rather a single element that adds to the overall charm or functionality of the space. Words may accompany photos or photos can speak for themselves.

If you would like to share one of your "Nooks and Crannies", just link to it in the comments and others will be able to stop by and take a peek!

Although we are empty nesters, we still need to share our space with visiting children and grandchildren. My craft room needs to double as a guest room when the need arises. My totally brilliant and accommodating Timothy introduced me to the wonders of a Murphy Bed, then built one in my craft room. When guests are visiting, we pull the bed down. When they leave, we fold up the bed, return my table, and wah-lah, I have my craft room back. BTW... I am aware that I have not finished painting the door panels of the Murphy Bed... I've been aware of that for 6 years :) AND, before anyone asks... No, we did not trap little George in the bed! 

For more information about Murphy Beds check out these two sites.

http://www.Wallbed.Com
http://plansnow.com/dn1117.html

Edit: This contest is now closed. Congrats to the winners and thank you to everyone that participated!

NOTE: Everyone is welcome to participate in this Give Away. We will gladly send a basket anywhere in the World :)

A couple of weeks ago on Facebook, I mentioned that I have recently fell in love with bolga baskets. I included a link showing how they were made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDKTj2z9pmA Authentic bolga baskets come from the small village of Bolgatanga, Ghana and continue to be made by hand, making each and every basket slightly different.


As it turned out, there was a lot of chatter about the baskets. Some readers were already proud owners of a bolga basket and sang their praises. Others, like myself, just drool over them and don't own one themselves... yet! After a few days, and several emails with questions about them, I had an idea... a perfectly brilliant idea, I might add.


I contacted the lovely Sonya over at A Toy Garden because I know she carries bolga baskets. I told her about the wonderful response to my post, and asked her if she would be interested in hosting a bolga basket give away. She said, yes... YAY Sonya! She sent not one, but two baskets that we have to give away. There is a small Child's Bolga basket and a large Child’s Bolga Basket. (The Large baskets are 9" or more in diameter. The Medium baskets are 7 1/2" - 9" in diameter. The Small baskets are 6 1/2" - 7 1/2" in diameter.) BTW... she also carries a medium size, a large size, and an oval market basket. These are all much larger than the children's baskets. The oval market basket is a great size for actually taking to market instead of using disposal bags or for stashing your knitting and craft projects in! The children's baskets are her best sellers and children use them for play and for lunch baskets. But don't let the name "child" fool you. They are absolutely beautiful and would make a nice addition to any family... even those without small children!


As a way of saying "Thanks bunches" to Sonya, I'd like everyone to think about the wee ones in their life be it child, grandchild, or even neighbor. Then decide on 1 gift you would buy if price were no object. I'll start us off. I believe in making the ordinary, extraordinary. (That's why I have 314 napkins :) I am in love with A Toy Garden's Rainbow Salad Bowl Set. If you have a child that normally won't eat salad, put it in these beautiful bowls, and they just might have a change of heart!

To enter the contest, head over to A Toy Garden and find the perfect gift. Then, come back here and leave a comment telling us what you would purchase. If you would like to increase your chances of winning then Blog, Facebook or Tweet about us. Then, come back here and leave a separate comment for each additional time you spread the word. Make sure to include a link to your postings. 

The contest ends Sunday, August 1 at 9 EST when two winners will be chosen at random. Winners will be announced shortly afterward and contacted via email. Winners will have 1 week (August 8) to send us their snail mail address for shipping or a new winner will be selected. 

A big thanks to Sonya at A Toy Garden. This is an absolutely lovely give-away. And good luck to one and all. Uhmmm... I do wish to point out that I have these 2 beautiful bolga baskets sitting on my hutch right now... the very baskets that I was drooling over a mere 2 weeks ago... that I am going to need to pack up in a week and ship to 2 lucky winners! If I'm a bit "mopey" on Monday, you'll know why :)

I bought this cabinet over ten years ago to hold my ever expanding collection of music cds. Designed for that purpose, it served me well. Then, in the past few years, I started buying my music online and was going to the cabinet less and less. Finally, I moved the collection downstairs and began using the cabinet for napkins. It was in my dining room and the shelves were the perfect size for napkins. I had a few stacks of homespun napkins and stored votive candles in there as well.

Then, last summer, I decided I wanted napkins for each month of the year. I made my own using the easy Rip and Tear Napkins that I wrote about last August. So here I am, 1 year later, and I did it! I now have 24 napkins for each month of the year. (Actually, I have 48 for December since we have a large Christmas dinner.) Before you start taxing your brain, that is 312 napkins. Crazy, right? Given the fact that you can get 4 napkins from a yard of material (let's see... 312 divided by 4)  that's, gulp, 78 yards of fabric!

Me: Ah, Tim... we have 312 napkins.

Tim: I love you.

 Me: You must.

But, in my defense, the children LOVE them! They are excited each month to get out the new napkins. Some months, like March and August, all the napkins are the same. Some months have 2 prints, some 3 and April and December have 4. Each day the wee ones try to be the first to get out napkins so they are sure to get their favorite pattern. (BTW... Gammy is very tolerant of napkin exchanges so everyone gets a favorite!) I have to admit, even though I bought all of the fabrics on sale or with coupons, it was an expense, BUT, they will last for years and years. 

I'm not suggesting any one else should get so carried away... BUT if you do... it's tons of fun, and I love leaving the cabinet door open and just staring at them! 

January:

February:

March:  

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Yesterday Pixie and Fairy had their dance recital. There was talent-a-plenty I can tell ya! This was Pixie's first time on the big stage and Fairy's third... a real professional! Both of the girls did great, and Pixie stole the show, with a prop mix-up, and her grace under pressure. Thought there was going to be a standing ovation for her! Truly exciting.

As in past years, I made the girls felt flowers, presented in a spray of baby's breath. The idea being that instead of giving them flowers that will be thrown away in a few days, they have a permanent keepsake to mark their special days. By the time they finish high school they should have quite a lovely bouquet of memories! Fairy's past flowers and tutorial can be found HERE.

This year I made a Fluffy Felt Flower... perhaps a bit Seussian in appearance... with dense yellow petals and this fluffy thingy in the middle. They wound up looking lovely. Here are the directions for making our Fluffy Felt Flower.

Materials:
gold wool felt for centers
yellow wool felt for petals
dark green felt for leaves
strip of green cotton fabric 1/2" x 36"
3 12" pipe cleaners
embroidery floss
pattern

Make a copy of the pattern.

Cut out the felt pieces as follows:
     1 flower center - gold felt
     3 small petals - yellow felt
     5 medium petals - yellow felt
     7 large petals - yellow felt
     5 leaves - green felt

Twist the 3 pipe cleaners together.

Fold flower in half along fold line on pattern. Using the pattern as a guide, clip beginning at the fold, being careful NOT to clip all the way through.

Place one end of the folded flower inside over the end of the pipe cleaners. Tack in place using 2 strands of gold floss.

Continue twisting and tack the inside around the pipe cleaners. NOTE: I often slip my needle between the pipe cleaners when tacking the flower inside to the pipe cleaners. Tie off the end of the thread and clip thread.


To add petals, begin with the 3 small petals. Attach 2 strands of yellow floss where the flower center touches the pipe cleaner. Sew a running stitch along the bottom of a petal. 

Push the petal up against the pipe cleaners, gathering the running stitch, and tack.

Continue adding the other 2 small petals, spacing them so they surround the flower inside.

Do the same thing for the other 2 layers of petals, adding them slightly below the other layer of petals.

Switch to green thread and sew on in the same manner, gathering, placing and tacking.


At this point I embroider the girls' first initial and the year with 2 strands of floss. You could embroider something more elaborate if you wish, just make sure you hide the stitches on the inside of the felt because the backside is visible.

To wrap the stem, rip a piece of green cotton fabric 1/2" x 36". Remove any loose threads.

Beginning directly under the leaves, tack the strip of fabric to the flower, slightly overlapping the bottom of the leaves. None of the pipe cleaner should be showing. Begin twisting and tacking the strip in place, overlapping the strips as you go.

When you get to the bottom, clip off any length you don't need, turn the end under, and tack in place. 

To present the flowers you will need:

baby's breath
a cellophane flower sleeve
wide ribbon.

Nestle the flower amongst the baby's breath.

Place the flowers in the cellophane sleeve and tie a bow with a wide ribbon.

They flowers are now done and ready to be presented to your tiny dancers or place them in a vase for their play kitchen.

The directions for the Flower Fairies pictured below can be found HERE.

I hate to waste anything when I'm crafting. You never know, right? So, I have bits and pieces of this and that in jars, in baskets, tucked in cubbies, and hanging from the ceiling. It is amazing how many times I hit these "should throw away" stashes!

Well, the other day I made my April (Easter) Rip and Tear Napkins.

This is what was left over.

On the next sunny day (5 days of rain in the forecast), we will go outside and drape the pieces of string in tree and bush branches, and throw them hither and yon in our green belt. Birds and field mice will use them to help make their spring nests comfy-cozy. (You're welcome little friends!)

But, I have a special plan for the fabric scraps that were ripped away from the napkins. I will be making a couple new Spring Crocheted Rag Rugs for the gnome house. (They can also be used as lovely spring coasters!) I made a basic circle. I've included the directions below. If you would like to "see" the basics on how to crochet a circle, check out our Bean Bag and Coaster Directions.

Spring Crocheted Rag Rug for the Gnomes (or Coasters)

Materials:
scrap fabric strips (ripped to about 3/8") 

Note: To have one continuous strip of fabric to crochet with, simply overlap the end of one piece with the start of a new piece. Sew them together. You do not need to be neat... it's a rag rug :)

Directions:

1] Chain 6.

2] Slip stitch through 1st chain to form a ring.

3] First Round: Chain stitch 3. This is called your “turning chain” and will be counted as your 1st stitch. Next, crocheting through the hole in the center of the ring, double crochet 9 times. Slip stitch in the top (the third chain) of the turning chain. You will now have 10 stitches (including the turning chain).

4] Second Round: Chain stitch 3. Double crochet into the base of your “turning chain”. You will be increasing 10 stitches this round. In the remaining 9 stitches from the first round, double crochet twice in each stitch. Slip stitch in the top chain of the turning chain. You will now have 20 stitches.

5] Third Round: Chain stitch 3. Double crochet into the base of your “turning chain”. You will be increasing 10 stitches this round. In the next stitch double crochet once, in the next stitch double crochet twice. Continue this pattern double crocheting twice every other stitch. Slip stitch in the top chain of the turning chain. You will now have 30 stitches.

6] Fourth Round: Double crochet into the base of your “turning chain”. You will be increasing 10 stitches this round. In the next two stitches double crochet once, in the third stitch double crochet twice. Continue the pattern double crocheting twice every third stitch. Slip stitch in the top chain of the turning chain. You will now have 40 stitches. Slip stitch in the top chain of the turning chain and pull the strip through.
 
7] Using a yarn needle, weave the beginning and ending fabric tails into the rug. Clip close to the rug.

If you would like to continue making the rug slightly larger, you can add 1 or 2 more rows, continuing in the pattern established above, increasing 10 stitches each round.

 

EDIT: This posting was originally published March 9, 2009, but I thought it was worth moving to the top of the blog again! The kids loved these, and it is a project quite easy for children that are comfortable with a needle and thread to do. Make a dozen decorated for Easter, and a dozen for the play kitchen. 

This is the last egg project of the week. If you're not into making eggs out of roving, then try some of these Traditional Felt Eggs. VERY easy to make. Copy the pattern then you simply take 2 egg pieces, blanket stitch them together, leave an opening at the bottom, stuff and finish blanket stitching them closed. You can leave them plain or add embroidery or fabric paint to decorate. I did a combination. Although you can paint or embroider the eggs before you stitch them together, if you want a uniform pattern around the egg, wait until after it has been stuffed. The pattern includes 2 different sized eggs. The smaller eggs will fit in a standard egg carton. Perfect size if you'd like to make a dozen white or brown eggs for the play kitchen! There are no additional directions since it is very straightforward, but the pattern is available in the FREE Open Pattern section. Enjoy!

FYI... If you can't tell from the photo you are either being very kind or I did a remarkable job of camouflaging... I really am puff paint challenged! I always felt like my embroidery flowed like paint... thank goodness I was wrong! I was all thumbs as I tried to transfer my mental image to the eggs. So... there are smudges here and blobs there. Alas, not perfect, but the colors are still lovely, right? And if you squint your eyes just a wee bit, you can hardly notice the imperfections. Ah, we all need to be humbled occasionally!

I finally finished Part 4 of the hairpin lace tutorial. If you would like to try this technique, I hope you find this tutorial helpful. Although there are tons of pics and instructions, I tried to break each individual step down. In a perfect world, I would be able to have everyone over for a cup of tea, cozy up on the couch, and show them how to do this very easy technique in 15 minutes. But, alas, that is just a cyber dream! So, since I can't do that, I'm hoping the detailed instructions will answer all questions and make the learning process easy.

This tutorial is strictly instruction on how to make hairpin lace. There are no projects listed. If you Google hairpin lace projects you will find many. You will also find different ways of joining the loops, and even ways to make them into circles, instead of strips. You can also use them for making lace. There are so many fun and interesting ways you can use hairpin lace.

The Afghan I'm Making:
The only things I've ever made with hairpin lace are afghans. I put 348 loops on each strip, and I'm making mine 30 strips wide. This is going to be a BIG afghan... I'm thinking about 84" x 60" without the fringe. But I wanted one that could fit across the laps of everyone sitting on our big leather couch! I find I get 2 strips from skein of 4.5 oz (128g), 268 yds (245 m) worsted with enough left over to make fringe. I am only using 2 colors: sage (S) and a variegated (V) in sage, off white and tan. I'm make the following pattern:

4S-2V-3S-2V-3S-2V-3S-2V-3S-2V-4S 

I will share pics and notes when I'm done making mine, but chances are it won't be in the next few weeks. I seem to drag my feet on those large projects, even though hairpin lace goes fast. I takes about 1 1/2 hours to crochet a strip, and 15 minutes to join 2 together.

I'm thinking how pretty this would be to make for baby dolls, using naturally dyed yarns in soft, muted colors... or for the bottom of Pixie and Fairy's bed... we are going to be redecorating their room soon... Michelle's thinking, bright tropical colors... what fun it would be to work with those yarns... but I digress.

So... with a very quiet drum roll, are the 4 parts of the tutorial. Have fun!

Part 1 - The Loom

Part 2 - Crocheting the Strips

Part 3 - Joining the Strips

Part 4 - Finishing the Project

Although we normally do not share links to other sites on the blog, we mainly reserve that for Facebook, if you know of a cool hairpin lace project out there, feel free to link to it in this comments section!