Farmgirl Winter Mug Rug Swap

I recently participated in a very enjoyable swap on the MaryJanesFarm Farmgirl Connection. Our task was to make a winter themed mug rug for a partner and send it away in the mail. It was an excellent challenge, because it was my first quilting project. The mug rug concept kept the project manageable and fun. I feel very accomplished at having completed it.
Here are a couple of pictures of the mug rug that I quilted:

Here's the back of the mug rug, where my lifelong struggle with sewing straight lines is evident. At least it adds character.

The front of the mug rug.

The front of the mug rug in a different light.

I also included a winter themed bookmark that I crocheted:

The bookmark is on the right side of the mug rug.

I had a wonderful swap partner who made a beautiful mug rug that felt perfect for me right out of the box. She also cross stitched a little bib for my expected daughter. Here are a couple of pictures of the mug rug package that I received from my partner:

Jak enjoying a photo op in the top right corner.

As you can see, we love including goodies in our swap packages.

New Mantra

I have been reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. One task in week 7 uses the mantra, "Treating myself like a precious object will make me strong." The object of the task is to creatively post the mantra in a prominent location. I neatly wrote the mantra on a small, wet-on-wet watercolor I painted when teaching the fifth grade at a Waldorf School. Then, I gathered fallen twigs from our yard, scraped off the bark, sanded them, cut them to size, and conditioned them with a beeswax oil I had made specifically for wood. I used hemp string to tie them together and fashioned a small easel for the watercolor. It now sits on my bedside table along with the rocks I found for a task in week 5.

Amigurumi Jack-O-Lantern

Embracing the season, my second amigurumi project was a pumpkin. I used three colors of yarn, so I could make a jack-o-lantern face and a stem. I made it up and stuffed it as I went along. Like I wrote in my previous amigurumi post, pattern schmattern! It's much more fun to make it up as I go along. I think it allows the project to take on a life of its own and be what it is meant to be.

Amigurumi Owl

As you may have guessed from reading this blog, my favorite "craft form" is crochet. This past Beltaine, two of my dear friends asked me to teach them to crochet, because they wanted to make their own cute little amigurumi creatures. With all of my interest in crochet, I had, of course, run across amigurumi. However, I've never pursued it. Armed with my friends' request, I started researching online and at the library. Turns out, amigurumi embraces my favorite form of crochet: start out with a general idea and go from there. In other words, pattern schmattern! "We don't need no stinking pattern!" As you can also guess from this blog, structure is not my strength. I am at my best when flying by the seat of my pants. So, crocheting cute little creatures with no pattern and no two being the same is right up my crafty little alley.
I was inspired to make a snowy owl as my first amigurumi project. First stop, craft store for some simple white cotton yarn. Next, the Internet to look at dozens of pictures of white owls. Then, it was just me, my hook, and some yarn. I played around with single crocheting in the round making flat, circular, and tubular structures until my owl began to take shape. I cut up some old, clean, white socks to use as stuffing. The body and head are one, continuous piece. So, I stuffed as I crocheted to make sure the dimensions felt right, and so I could easily close the form when I reached the top.
Once the main form was done, it was time for the fun little embellishments. Using more white, cotton yarn, I crocheted wings, a tail, and legs. I added stitches to resemble feathers to these forms going for realistically thick plumage. For the eyes, I used cotton crochet thread and single crocheted in the round. While researching snowy owls, I noticed their eyes tended to be yellow, but a few had uniquely blue eyes. An interesting color that I just happened to have in crochet thread. I wanted to crochet all of the embellishments, but all of my prototypes for talons came out like malformed X's. Going with the idea of "easy does it," I went to my stash of pipe cleaners and constructed talons and a beak. After sewing or twisting on the embellishments: viola! The final product!

The Rise and Fall of the Cheese Wax Gnome

            One lazy April day, I was eating a mini Babybel cheese wheel, and a hat was born from the yellow cheese wax that covered it. I’ve developed the habit of saving the cheese wax, because, as a teacher, it was always handy to have on hand (so punny!) to give restless students something to do in a pinch, especially on field trips when our supply of modeling beeswax was not available. 

            Needless to say, I had enough cheese wax to finish sculpting the gnome that day. Even better, I had two colors of cheese wax, so he was able to rise above your average monochrome red cheese wax gnome.

            That evening, my husband and I left the house briefly for some ice cream. When we returned, the gnome was nowhere to be found. It reminded me very much of when Pirpon the Gnome went missing from Babbette’s garden. However, the ending was not as tidy.

            I was petting Benny, my dog, and noticed some red cheese wax had become tangled in his beard. Shortly thereafter, my husband found the gnome in pieces. I was able to mend him a little. Sadly, I don’t expect a full recovery.

"I don't know anything about gnome"

"My stomach is feeling funny"

"Too...much...cheese...wax..."

poor gnome

Holiday Bookmarks

I designed and crocheted bookmarks to give as Yuletide gifts. I used Bedspread Weight Thread and a size 1 steel hook to crochet bookmarks that fit nicely between pages. The tags I printed and stamped for them include a the background story:

On Tuesday, December 21^st, 2010, we experienced the first full Lunar Eclipse on the Winter Solstice since the year, 1638. I designed and crocheted this bookmark as a gift to commemorate this rare event, which is indicated in the bookmark by images of the sun and moon at either end of the bookmark.

Fir Wreath

We had a beautiful Fraser Fir tree for the 2010 Holiday Season, as I discussed in my other blog. I used the boughs cut from the bottom of the tree, a wire wreath form, some floral wire, and hemp cord to fashion a beautiful, gigantic wreath that we displayed on our door through February. The cuttings stayed fresh and green with no maintenance from me, though I’m sure they appreciated the cool outdoor air. I did keep the cuttings in vases and glass jars full of fresh water until I was ready to use them on the wreath. The wreath outside extended the heavenly smell of our holiday tree inside.