Middle of 2022

 Gads. Been way too long. 

We have a sister for Max, a ninth grandchild, and sister for Griffyn, still being perfected. 

We have made it this far without getting Covid, but my Dan has been through Cancer treatment all winter. 

I want to share pictures of Lost To Covid panels here, but for now they are on Instagram, link on the right side....I think.

I have made many other things too, that I have not stopped doing.

COVID-19

So. I am ok. I haven't posted because I haven't done much. Well, not much fabric stuff. Lots of paper stuff. Now with the virus here and us all on stay-at-home orders, maybe I should revive this ole blog a' mine.

December....Gah

Back in November. When the deer are facing away, 

I noticed they resemble Lamas.  Can you tell how thick their coats are? 

Our youngest daughter collects snowmen, because I give them to her. I make many of them. This year they out grew the hoop-mobile version for hanging, and grew up to the tree shaped one.   In the middle of the 'pic-collage', the 'tree' I made for our cards this year. And last, the tree we have this year. Made by our granddaughters in their Girl Scout Troops!  

Max, #7, and his card from us....he is about 1.4 months old now. He fed the envelope to the dog, then took it back and ate it himself. Developing just fine!  😜

With Auntie Ashley's tree and his festive shirt [pj's?] 

He likes to un-decorate.  Yup, doing fine, that boy. 

the tree.

But he is not alone...his cousin, Griffyn, #6, is collecting candy canes! 

She is 2.9 months. Her development is right on to.

Change of subject.  Dan hasn't been able to bring home a free calendar from the bank or the gas station!  So I pulled out old ones, and am collage-ing pix together. They are messy, but they should be fun to look at when sitting.

[I keep the calendar in the bathroom, to view from the throne]

Since the back side of the pages are an even bigger mess, and not easy to see with all the other months poking out the sides.....

I decided to back them with kraft paper, from box stuffings. 

When I ran out of plain, I went with granddaughter-painted-drop-cloth paper.

Then I noticed the "months" and "weekdays" from yet another calendar, so I cut those out. Not sure if I will print out the grid, or just use a ruler and pen and do that part myself too. 

That is one calendar from 4, with pictures I like!

Another bone boo-boo. At the base-ish of the right thumb, so she has learned to use her left hand, even for ceramic activities. This is #4, Avery.

Have made more journals. Going to get brave enough to try to sell them. 

Monthly Report, Ha

Making journals is like sewing....has a whole bunch of terms pertaining to the subject....like 'belly bands' [for holding stuff to a page, like the red/yellow/black one above] and 'tuck spots' [like the pink and purple on edge of pages] and and...well, I don't know what to call the 'fabric/paper/place-holder' I made [the 'tie' looking thing] The groups of pages themselves are called 'signatures.'

These journals have one each, made up of 20+ pages.  I used liquid watercolor paint to spray papers, and though the colors don't look that great here, they are very happy in person.  I am hoping to donate to a fundraiser, so I wanted these child friendly.  I even added a picture of my own, to a page. No worry about copyrights that way!  The [sprayed] envelopes are for putting stuff in, and I glued them to the page so they have top  'pockets', which is another journal term.  [also a sewing term]

I found word search puzzles  on Etsy and thought that would be perfect for these. I know 'vintage' may not interest a child, but I didn't want to mess with the way the  print set up is.  I printed them on my 'watercolor' paper.  [they come 2 to a page, and since the paper is folded in half, the puzzles are separated]

I also found a great storage idea for all the digi downloads I am getting, and when searching office supplies, I found these pocket-page things. [the orange thing in the pix] Of course I had to make a collage for the front of the binder.

Thought you might want to be able to enlarge this on it's own.

And now for some family news.....This little smiling fellow, Max, also known as #7, is going to be ONE tomorrow.  A whole year old, oh my. 

#7 with #3, his cousin

The party was last Sat. and my husband loves to take pix of our girls eating.  I went around and got autographs in the 'guest book' I made for Max.

I used brown packing paper for the ABC pages, which I sprayed on via large stencils I came across in a drawer [which caused a light-bulb moment], with ink spray from Ranger. I sewed, on the machine, across the tops and bottoms of paper since I doubled it to make it stronger. I added coffee-dyed binder paper between each Letter.  I made up 'cards' of art work by my mom, the dog, me, the 'giraffe lady', and daughter Steph, the bugs.  I also looked for "M" things and found a color sample, 'mixed' berry-something, and a Monopoly game card. Turns out, Mediterranean Ave. is the first property, so very fitting for a 'first' birthday....besides being an 'm' thing.  The 2 'signatures' are held in by elastic, so the 'photo' pages can be rearranged, or added to or...or...The ABC pages and their binder page additives, are all sewn together!  My machine was not super happy, but it had no choice. The hardest part was getting all the correct letters sprayed to the correct side of the page!  The A and Z letters are on the same piece of paper. Other pages have 4 letters on them. And yes, they are all in the correct order!!

Here Be July, What???

So I will begin with quilt #4 for GD #2 of the 7 for 7 Grandchildren adventure.

This one is complete!!!!!!!!!   

The next one has a back made, not sure if big enough though, and the other 2 have fabrics picked out for their backs, but not assembled.

Girl Scouts sure have changed since my days.  GD #3 got to design her own  sneakers!  She was the top seller of cookies in her troop? 

When I heard about the Tiny Prick Project, I knew I needed to join in! 

I picked this quote because of my asthma.

click to enlarge, should work for all the pix

People like to show their favorite craft storage ideas. This is mine. 

A dishwasher utensil caddy.  I hoard these things. I put cardboard in the bottom so the pens don't fall out.

So my adventure into journal making has me coffee dying paper, above, and RIT dying, below.

Because I am not sure if the RIT is colorfast on the paper, I am hesitant to use them in any I give to the grandchildren.  BUT look at that yellow!!!!!   I was getting no where with the yellow watercolor paint, so when this idea jumped on board, yeehaw!

The coffee versions above....Roxy Creations  mentioned it in one of her recent You Tube videos....so I went, via her link to  Medieval Mirage and her YT video of how to coffee dye paper in a limited space. 

I couldn't get the water boiling fast enough to try this.  

Jarf's instructions===Use instant coffee in a spray bottle, spray each paper as you add it to your tub. 

Vicky's version==== I have some instant, but I also have used grounds.  

~~~I put the hot water in a bowl with the grounds, stirred the mess around, then poured the coffee through a strainer, all 10 days or so worth that I had on hand.  It was very very dark...more like dirt.

~~~Then I just poured the coffee onto 200 sheets of binder paper, that I sort of spread out in the Costco sheet-cake-plastic-lid that I have been using for dying paper. I didn't bother rinsing out the past color experiment residues, either.

The paper sucked up the first cup of muddy coffee very quickly.

I added more mud....then I had to add just water!

The blue lines of the binder paper started to bleed almost immediately.

The BEST part is....the paper separates as it dries. Even stacks of 50 sheets!

I only tore one piece of paper...ONE!  As the stacks dried, out in the sun, I was able to split them up into smaller stacks. It took almost 24 hours to get them all dry, or mostly at least, so there won't be any mold issues.

Are the papers attractive? Not really.  But they are grungy, they crackle, they are still usable. AND I can always try again with the same paper, and maybe even spray it on as directed!

Though I haven't been posting much, I have been having fun!!

Projects for Family

Three GD's got multi-tools for multi reasons. They took a 'Survive a Zombie' type activity/class in Girl Scouts. So of course they wanted to continue what they learned there. The tiny pouch the tools came in was not very sturdy, so Gup to the rescue. Considering the whole family goes on walks, day hikes, etc. I figured a multi-pouch was something they could use.  So 13 inches of their dad's raggy jeans legs, 3 of them,  some thoughtful creativity on my side, and a broken tape measure. The tape measure, number side facing in, makes the bags snap shut. The bags can be put on belts, hooked to purse like straps, or to belt loops. They each got a tiny bag out of the scraps.

Early this month, I made junk type journals for the same GD's. But no pix. !

Anyway, the older 2 GD's want journals too....and then my SIL said HE wanted one too!  ??  Wow.  I had used lousy story books for the first ones, but needed another idea for these.  I just happened to have saved these sturdy envelopes from a sticker order I had made several years ago.  Slip 2 of them together via the flap, and you have a cover with pockets! I am covering them with kraft paper that comes in some mail orders. They will take regular 8 x 11 paper for pages, which I haven't figured out how to add yet. [but i have been watching plenty of you tubes for ideas]  I 'dyed' some papers with green RIT, that is the greenish one. I did take pix of that project....

PatchBook is in top center of this picture

This one I made for myself in 2015, and have added some to it this year too. This has Grandparent saves in it, and I have another one I am working on. Besides the PatchBook I have been using daily. 

The ants have been bad for the feeders this year, so I am having to resort to creative solutions. Dan suggested I put it in a 'moat', thus the bird bath on the table.  I have been able to count 8 birds at one time, on both feeders and in mid flight. Two have flown inside, one I was able to catch and video. 

The net bag is protecting the lone cherry on the tree, from the Robin. I had to chase the bird out of the tree, since there weren't enough fruits for both of us. This is the tree the deer ate the early buds off. I share the strawberries and blueberries with Robin, so I didn't feel bad.

Texture and Happy Mail

cell phone pic won't enlarge, so i will take with camera.

Aurora. Storm. Quake. 

I didn't think the stitching would show up much yet. 

I am happy I stand corrected.

Even the small amount of purple stitching I have added so far, is showing the up/down that happens when you stitch horizontally. 

Happy Mail!  A swap with another patch pal. The patch is on velveteen? I love it.

Laurie also sent extras, as most of us do!  Thank you Laurie!

Not sure I can put it on the front of the PatchBook, with the first 2. 

I will figure something out.

Aurora.Storm.Quake

"Above us, Aurora. Upon us, Storm. Below us, Quake."

click to enlarge

One scrap of commercial dyed had three areas of interest.

I layered and layered to give some heft for stitching.

The final back piece is a slightly heavier weight than most cotton prints.

[a Valori Wells print]

Foot Prints In Mud Etc.

Goose, Hummingbird nest, deer print [here], Robin's
egg [here], Ashley's food color test.

Dan tools!  He likes wheels too. He added them to the sander, he just got, free. Table he made for it got the wheels from our old BBQ. Table saw was free too. He is happy!

And below, the 3rd of the 7for7Grandchildren Quilts. So far I love them all!

front and back

Patches 

unfinished

Click to enlarge this one, above...Look at the original threads still holding it 

 together!  I tore from either end, leaving the center.  This is now part of the one below, Wind Chimes. I want to hang it high, inside. I completed this on the 17th, which would have been, or still is, mom's birthday. Pieces of this were taken off the 'magic cloth' I made long ago.

click to enlarge

The Green Thing is now stitched up. Quite a bit of FrankenStitch, listed on side bar, was added to this one. FS was a class taken from Arlee Barr, using embroidery to really have fun. And different from the Sumptuous Embroidery class, I believe it was called.  I think I want to add more of both to more patches.

Red, Blue With White, below, 

is done also, though not made up into a wallie yet.

Patchy Fun For Mother's Day

We are having open doors and windows weather!

There is a robin at the birdbath, drinking the water.

Bring you a little closer...

Ahh....there she is!  The bath is among the flower pots, on top of a flower pot, because the bath is a bit short.  I guess they never liked my DIY bathes from the last few years. I had to go buy a 'real' one!  It wasn't costly. Just really short.

Moving on to the Patches.  Gah these are soooo fun!

These 3 are for swappers who wanted to play. They were mailed yesterday, but I don't think any come to my blog, so....

Am taking another 'class' from Jude Hill, and the 'prompt' is "green."

I wasn't going to 'play' until I was reordering the chaos in my bucket. 

My there were a lot of green scraps!  I stacked them as I came to them, chose this ''30's print" for it's greenyness, and started at the bottom/selvage.  I didn't really do much tweaking, just picked off the stack and lay it down, working my way up the fabric. It's nearly 2 couch cushions long. 

Other works turning up.  Not much stitching on them yet, except for the middle one.  It suddenly reminded me of mom, of her red, blue, and lots of white, wardrobe.  Then I dug out the black thread, which I don't really like using, hard to see. But mom had bought it for a needlework she did over a decade ago, probably a lot longer than that even.  

Happy Mother's Day Mom!  

I picture you and dad having the retirement you never had together.

And Happy Mother's Day to those women I know, who are still with us.

Stuff

Patches still going strong. On the 'wander' patch, I satin stitched all around the edge of the words part/scrap. Like a regular patch you would see on...well anything you put a patch on.

Seems like triangles need to pair up with squares lately. 

Except for this next one...

This one is really basic, for now. I stitched the 2 triangles together, [before I could match them to a square]  wrong sides together, seam allowance to the right side. Maybe that flower needs to become a roof on the square??

Below....came across this in the search for something else. This was started before Ashley had children! [almost 10 years now!]

I cut apart a works I had made while taking one of Jude's classes. There is part of a soda can, a lid to bottle, labels from clothes, an accidental dinosaur that appeared when I was trying out stitches....Oh, and the ribbon I pressed and melted when I was giving it a bit of flattening.

For all the years the deers have been coming heres, 

they haven't ventured into the veggie garden....until now....

This deer is standing in a planter box, the blue thing, nibbling strawberry plants in another box.

Guess we won't have cherries from those blossoms. I will worry about what they are getting onto when and if the time comes.