Knit One Quilt Too

Happy Easter!

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon was spent making Pysanky today.  These are Ukranian Easter Eggs and they are certainly challenging!  Our kit came from the Ukranian Gift Shop and included lots of great dyes, three kistky and a block of beeswax.  The really nice thing is the dyes last up to a year, so we are saving these and will be doing it again sometime.  We actually only made up 5 dyes and there are about 7 more in the kit.

I started off by lightly drawing a design on my egg (blown out and the holes covered over with beeswax).  Chloe did hers on a fresh egg which it says is possible.  I'll believe it when I see it!  It might look like I have a cracked egg, but those are the lines I drew.

I heated the kistka in the candle flame to melt the beeswax and started drawing over my lines with the wax.  One thing we discovered is how difficult it is to make the designs come out even on the egg.  Luckily, I don't worry about that too much and just got down to business.

With Pysanky the dyes are built up one on top of the next, so you go from light to dark. Yellow is the first color.  The wax lines are left on the egg until the very end.  Between each color more lines or shapes of wax are added.

The final step is amazing when you heat the egg next to the candle flame to melt the wax and wipe it off.  The design is slowly revealed (wavy lines and all).

Here's Chloe's egg.

I made two more quick and dirty eggs with a couple of blown eggs that had large holes.  These went very fast whereas the first one took about 1.5 hours.

Chloe did one more as well.  This was such a fun activity that I can see doing one or two every year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've already had a very full day and Mark and I haven't even gone out for our Valentine's dinner yet!  Today the kids and I went up to Mt. Bachelor for a snowshoe tour and snow tubing.  What a blast!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had a great time.  In this photo, to the left is South Sister and to the right is Broken Top. 

We had some fun last night making our Valentines.  I was so glad to have a few hours to work on them as it's become a tradition.  Earlier in the week I thought we might not have time.  By the way, on Tuesday I went with my mom to see a showing of the documentary, The Breast Cancer Diaries. It was really great and I'm glad we went.  I highly recommend it if it is ever showing in your neck of the woods.  Anyway, we made Valentines and Ryan did so great!  He is showing more of an inclination for arts and crafts lately.  I wrote out the names of those he wanted to make them for and he copied the names.  Actually his hand writing has improved tremendously.  I think he made about three Valentines for his favorite puppy!

Chloe made a beautiful pop-up Valentine for her grandparents.

I made bookmarks for everyone.

I had a little trip to the Stitchin' Post last weekend for a free workshop on using Shiva Paintstiks.  I've had the supplies at home for a while, but just hadn't gotten around to using them.  Now that I've tried it out I can't wait to do it again.  Anyway, while there I couldn't help but pick out some gorgeous fat quarters and I while I was at it, why not get 13, since when you buy a dozen the 13th is free!  Some of these are from the new Kaffe Fassett line and they are gorgeous!  The lucky thing is that tomorrow and Saturday I'm taking a class with Jean Wells, the owner of the Stitchin' Post, and I get to take another look at the fabrics while I'm there.  The class is called "Intuitive Quilting" and I'm really looking forward to it.

It's been such a hectic week, but I did have a couple of hours the other morning to work on Better Not Pout.  Tonya sent out a motivation post over at the Lazy Gal Winter Class blog and I felt like I ought to get going on it.  I decided to use the Christmas tree picture that Ryan did on the left.  The Santa on the right will be appliqued and embroidered onto the circle of white fabric.  I think I'll probably use buttons for the baubles on the tree.  In the center, if you look closely, is a green truck (I think) and I might see if I can find a truck button for it.  I also have some other ideas about how to do the truck, but that can wait until the quilting is done.

I still have to do the sleeve and beading on Chloe's birthday quilt.  I hope to have Sunday as a totally free crafting day!  Oh, that would be so nice! 

Lastly, here are some dragon eggs made by Chloe's Campfire group.  Aren't they cool!  They blew out the eggs and hot glued them onto the skewers.  Then some of them applied the hot glue in swirls on the eggs and lastly they were spray painted.  I think they are gorgeous.  This would be so much fun to do for Easter eggs.

More Santas

It's been a very relaxing week here.  We spent the days after Christmas lolling around, reading, sledding and just generally taking it easy.  We are getting ready to pack Christmas away, but I have some last few Santas to show you before we do.  My favorite gift this Christmas is this Santa made by Chloe!  She carved it out of maple with a simple pen knife.  She got the piece of wood from the garage and was carving in secret.  If we'd known I would have recommended a softer wood.  Anyway, it's just marvelous and I was so surprised!  He fits right in with the other Santas.

This Santa is a gift from my sister-in-law and is wonderful for the quilt imagery.  He looks great with the collection.

We picked up this tall Santa at a craft fair this fall.  We met the artist and found out that these are made from huge cedar logs that wash up on the beach along Puget Sound.  The husband carves them and the wife does the painting. 

This is my favorite stocking of all the ones we have.  I started this for Ryan when I was pregnant, but finished it just in time for his first Christmas.  I have many cross stitch Santa and Tomten patterns, but this is the only one I've done.  Maybe I ought to make another one.

This is another one of my favorite gifts this year.  This is a hand painted cheese server that my sister sent me.  She didn't make it, but she bought it at a tiny shop in the San Bernardino Mountains.  My sister went back to the shop after the fires there in October and this shop was still standing while the lumber store next door had burned down!

Isn't this guy's beard marvelous?  I love it!

Tomorrow's a big day for me.  I'm having my lumpectomy surgery.  I hope to be back here within a few days.  Happy New Year!

A Handmade Christmas- Part 2

A Very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Macaroni Angel made by my mom.  These have suffered from attrition over the years.  I think this is the only one we have left.

Needlepoint snowman I made several years ago.  I finally got all the rest of them finished up this Christmas.  Several people have gotten these as gift tags this year and Chloe and Ryan will get one too. This one is mine to keep!

I made this orange and clove pomander at a homeschool gathering this month.

My sister made one of these for each of us last Christmas.  These are some of my favorite ornaments.  They sparkle so prettily in the sun.

One down, one to go

Here's a little twist on the envelope style gift bag.  This time the gift bag is the gift.  I've used some more of this adorable hedgehog fabric to make a pencil and book pouch for one of my neices.  I'll be making another one for her sister too.

See that extra pocket in there?  Behind the pocket is a little selection of handmade books, just right for a little girl who loves to draw.

 

In front of the pocket I added a set of these lovely Lyra Ferby pencils and a pencil sharpener just the right size.

This little book is a special one called a star book.  I had lots of fun yesterday teaching kids in our homeschool group how to make these and then came home and spent the evening making more!  Isn't that button just the cutest!

Here's the star book in action.

My Dad's Surprise

A couple of times over the past few days we've seen my parents for dinner and my Dad kept saying he didn't have my birthday present ready yet.  I couldn't imagine what he was making, but thought it might have something to do with a poem.  So, imagine my surprise when he brought over my present last night and it was something I'd told him he ought to learn to do a couple of years ago.

I've collected Santas for many years and have recently concentrated on hand carved wooden Santas.  I don't have a whole lot of them because they are harder to find every year.  A lot of them are now carved and then cast in resin- not my cup of tea.  I just love this Skiing Santa!  He's absolutely perfect and will look great with the rest of the collection.  I'll post a photo of them when they come out of the boxes.  This Santa is even more fitting because my Dad is in a Christmas play this year where his character plays the part of Santa. 

By the way, that little tree was made by Chloe.  She's got a red and white Christmas theme going this year.  The birthday card is from Mark and the candle is from my Mom.

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes, they really mean a lot to me.  And thanks for joining in the birthday contest.  We're having tons of fun reading about all your ideas!  If you haven't read it yet, check out the Nov. 26th post for a chance to win a little something from me!

43 and a little contest!

Well, I've lived to the ripe old age of 43 (ha!) and been treated for two cancers (so far)- yuck!  My doctors tell me that, of course, I'm not immune to getting others as I age which is rather a bummer.  This one really makes me thank my lucky stars for each and every day I have to spend with my friends and loved ones.  When you face your mortality it really makes you appreciate the little things.

For one, I have the adorable little Santa that Chloe made for my birthday. She made him at one of the camps she went to this summer.  It's unglazed and was fired right in a fire pit.  Most of the other items that were fired broke during or after, but this Santa survived and is so solid that I'm sure he'll be treasured for many, many years.  Chloe knows how much I love Christmas, Santas and all things handmade! 

I love how the colors of the books on the table looked so nice with the little Christmas table topper.  Anyone recognize the Sanna book above?  It's by one of my readers and favorite bloggers, Roxie at Sanna's Bag.  This is the first Sanna book which we just received and haven't started yet.  Roxie just told us the second one is available now as well.  Sanna's story involves a lot of knitting, so be sure to check it out!

Here's my other present and no it's not a small one!  I just love my new Bernina.  There are still many things I need to learn to do with it, but I've been using it for lots of things.  I have yet to use the Stitch Regulator, but it's the main reason for buying this machine.  My dear husband finally talked me into getting it for my birthday.  I stalled when he suggested it for Mother's Day, but now I'm glad he persisted.  Isn't he great!

Now, onto the contest.  My favorite holiday has always been Christmas.  The lights, the songs, the chill and possibility of snow (I grew up in Massachusetts) and of course the presents. Though as I've gotten older it's much more about the giving than the receiving.  It's been important enough that both my kids have middle names that reflect a love of Christmas.  Now, I'll tell you right now that they are pretty normal American names, not something like Jingle Bells!

So, here's the contest.  Guess Chloe and Ryan's middle names by commenting on this post.  I'll award prizes to two lucky winners.  One will be for a randomly selected person among those (if any) who guess both names correctly.  The other will be randomly selected from all the guesses.  If no one guesses correctly at all, then I'll pick two from all the guesses.  Now, anyone who knows us closely is exempt from the guessing, so don't even try!  The prizes will be whatever I come up with in the next few weeks.  I'm thinking something handmade by me and perhaps some other little goodies, but you can guarantee that they will have a Christmas theme!  Deadline for entry is Sunday, December 2nd at midnight.  Good luck and Merry Christmas!

PS:  The last three photos are from the Sisters Christmas Parade on Saturday.  It's a very small home town parade- my favorite kind!  There are always llamas and alpacas.  Scrabble got a lot of comments in his little striped shirt! 

Goodies in the Mail

I've gotten a few goodies in the mail lately, plus something I picked up in person.  My bookshelf is groaning a bit more nowadays with the addition of these treasures.  I finally ordered Jane's book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity, from Amazon UK because all the reviews about it were so amazing.  I just love it so far, though I'm only part way through.  It's one that you can pick up for just a moment and savor over a cup of tea.  Lovely!

I ordered the Selbuvotter book after an ongoing discussion with Jan about her gorgeous Latvian mittens.  I am also working on some stranded mittens and was glad for Jan's experience in this matter.  The Selbuvotter book is really well done and has some gorgeous patterns.

I had a pre-order for Kristin Knits going for a while- how could I not get that one!  I am a fan of Kristin Nicholas' blog, Getting Stitched on the Farm, and knew when this book was mentioned that I'd be getting it too.  The patterns and discussions about color are really glorious.  Kristin even signed it for me!  When we were in Portland I also picked up Colorful Stitchery and have found it to be quite inspiring too.

Last, but not least, is this pretty little pouch by Glittergoods.  I'm not sure how I came across her blog, but I did and found that she has some lovely items in her Etsy shop.  I ordered this to keep in my purse for all the little things that roll around.  She also sold some nice hand dyed twill tape that I got in my favorite chartreuse color.  I'm a happy camper and now I have plenty of reading material for a while! 

I hope your Thanksgiving was a good one.  Today we are getting the house ready for Christmas.   The elves are busy setting out the Christmas lights!

 

Pay it Forward

I'm excited to participate in the Pay it Forward exchange! I found out about this on Linda's blog and I think it's a great idea! If you hurry, you might be able to get on Linda's list.  Linda is one of the Dixie Chicks from Camp Cockamamie and she just started selling hand-dyed sock yarn!  She's got a lovely way with color, as you'll see.

The idea of the exchange is I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this blog post requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Coming from me, your gift could be almost anything handmade!  I so look forward to coming up with something just for you.  So play along and post a comment!  It makes no difference what part of the world you live in either.  I'll contact the winners by email and then get their addresses then.

PS:  The knitted votive above just might be a possible gift!  I've got more supplies for these and I think they are so pretty.

Empty Bowls

Our community has what is known as an Empty Bowls fundraiser each November to raise money for the homeless.  We hadn't gone to it before, but managed to squeeze it in last Saturday between the Veteran's Day Parade and a swim party.

It's a pretty cool concept.  Local potters and students make the bowls and donate them to the coordinating group.  Then the group charges $18 a ticket.  For your ticket you get to pick a beautiful bowl to take home and they fill it with soup.  You also get delicious bakery breads, dessert and beverages.  I got the most amazing Vietnamese Noodle Soup with Chicken.  I can still taste it now and I really need to find a recipe for it.  Chloe picked out the bowl above, while I got the hand built one below.  It was a treat and I think we'll do it again!