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.

Wild Life

#7, The Boy, is getting his legs under himself!

From my chair.....

zooooomm in.....

look at that poor Crow being poured on!

This is usually about all I see, the Hummerzzz

This is Jane Doe, she survived the winter, but you can still see her ribs.

I actually didn't see them as well until I cropped the picture so you could see the heart on her side...

click to enlarge

This ABC quilt [made from a fabric panel] needed 4 names added, since the family has grown since I made this, 2013. [i think]

I left the pen marks to show the girls that even with all that Grandma knows, she makes mistakes too. Ashley has it back up on the wall at home and is waiting to see if the girls notice the mistakes....haha

It wasn't until I was cropping this picture, that I noticed that even though I wrote "Malory" backwards, I had stitched the letters forwards....except for the Y. 

I stitched it bassakwards.

And this is the second of the 7for7 Grandchildren quilts, sent home and snuggled under already!

Here is the first one. Can't find my copy of the quilt-covered-kid, so you get the 'covered in laundry' version.

14 Years Ago

"Anything with positivity. She’s on a mission to be as positive and spread as much positivity as possible!”

This is how Megan's mom describe's her daughter.

As her grandmother, I am overjoyed to hear this!

Pic taken on Auntie Steph's bday

Back on my daughters bday, this was still a WIP. A work in progress.  

A colorful fabric collage of scraps from quilty friends and some of my own. 

I wasn't sure, then, who would be getting this one. Until I read that quote. 

Meggie Mac is grandchild #1. The child who added "grandmother" to my list of nomenclature.  She is 14 this year. 

Into sunshine and yellow and strawberries.

I knew just which 'card' to send her!  

I added X's and O's, 2 'strawberries' and my signature and date.  

I didn't add a hanging 'sleeve' to the back. 

Instead I left it alone for her to choose how to use it.  

A backpack patch?    A wallie? [wall hanging] 

A book cover?  On a T-shirt?

Though I have 6 other children who call me Grandma, Vicky grandma, Gup, Megan will always be #One to me, us.

<----- b="">Love you this much Megan!!

The Women's March

Last Thursday, 2 of MY women went to our state capital, Olympia, on a class field trip. They got to meet 2 Women Elected last Nov., 

who represent the local areas.

This is my daughter, her daughter, and Senator Emily Randall. She heard there were some Kitsap Kids in the house, so she went out to greet them!

The other representative they met was Michelle Caldier, the Republican member of the house, but no picture with her, darn it, because we can be bi-partisan too!

I figure this is a good day to update my Women's March 2017 WIP 

[work-in-progress]  I am not done, but the Marches March on today!!

I crocheted teeny tiny PussyHats! 

Working with the 'yarn-strips-cut-from-leggin's' was so much fun!!  They aren't stitched down yet, just basted. But I am sooooo glad I took this pic, because I can now see my M is not quite right.

The 'bird's eye view of the Marching Women.

The whole piece. And yes it is wobbly, and will probably not lose that charming feature. The round blueish part?  Why that's our Big Blue Marble.

And because this little guy could not have been born without a Woman, my other daughter Steph.  He is really here to show him playing with the toy his Other Mother made for him. 

Other Mother?  All the eggs a woman has are made while in the womb of HER mother, so in essence, we are carrying our future grandchildren.

Another Completion, a Start, a Middle, a Puzzle

MonkeySquirrel click to enlarge

This. 

Well...it started out like the Bear I made for #6, something to teeth/chew/slobber on, and washable! Along the way I changed my mind and tried for a squirrel. Near the finish, it looked more like a monkey. 

This one is for Max, #7. His mama likes squirrels. 

His dad is into elephants, but I already made him one of those.

So who is into monkeys?

  I started this 'scene' in Nov. or Dec. 2018.

I have been adding bits to it as they came along. 

I just started stitching, so I consider it a 'start'.

The "Women's March 2017" needs working on. 

This is the "middle" part of this post. I think.

[Click on the label on the right side to see all the posts with this work in them.]

As I looked at the whole cloth, I figured it's time to add the words to it. Which led to an idea to try couching yarn to shape the letters. No pink yarn, but this pair of girls leggins' has pink in it. Since I had been given permission to 'do what you want with these, mom,' I cut them up!

As you can see, knit fabric, when pulled, curls up into nice tubes. 

Rather yarn looking, right?

Now to try it out.

Dan decided to finish the puzzle I had started. I sat in that chair in the background and crocheted. He used his phone to enlarge the picture, so he could find things, without taking a photo of it. No magnifying glass around here. Need to change that for sure.

I got puzzles for the families. This one is now done!

[we don't have children to interrupt, mess with, lose bits]