Sweater trees

With a few bags of sweater bits, I sat on the floor in the middle of it and cut circles. Then some more, 

 then some more,

  until I had a little collection of trees. 

 Sweater Trees. Not sure what to do with the top yet. But you know I'll show you when I figure it out.

 Last weekend, my table was in the middle of the aisle. It's the first time I had such, so had to rethink and set the table as a walk around.

Kiddie things and ornaments on one end...

 Sweater things on the other. Some heat sacks, water bottle covers, puppets and mittens.

 My wood bin was very colourful. Felt-ful! Hair clips, felted acorns, tooth fairy bags, 

Pirates and ballerinas

 Here is a shot of my mittens at the Whirligig Bookstore. Sadly, these mittens are all gone. And so endeth my wool mittens. However, I'm ready to start a new line for my next sale in Ingomar, Dec. 8. Cotton mittens with cashmere or merino lining. Coming soon.

Have a good one,

Amanda

Poms on Pine cones

Whew! The day after 2 craft show weekends in a row is a write off. This is the most I've done all day. 

I have 2 weeks before my last show. I'm going to clean my house tomorrow and not sew!!

But, I got to craft with my daughter today. Something easy.

 Mini Pom poms on pine cones. I got the idea from Dig This Chick. I used what we had on hand and the pine cones we got from the trees at the library. We love our library!

 We were wishing we had green and yellow. Or even red and white.

 But we're still happy with the results.

 We'll let you know when we figure out what to do with them.

 We had about 30 minutes of fluffy movie snow this morning. I love movie snow. It means it's warm outside.

 And makes a really nice backdrop for this fellow.

Off to do a little more nothing with Neve. 

Have a good one,

Amanda

all together now

Here they all are. 

Happy Friday!

Tomorrow, I'll be at the NSCCEntrepreneurship Craft Fair

1575 Lake Rd. 10-4 as a part of Christmas in Shelburne

See you there!

Amanda

sleddin' penguin

This little guy can't wait for the snow to fly!

 So he tried out the new sled on some moss. Poor Pengi.

 And a couple more gnomes. I wanted to show you the fabulous hot pink thread. Nice wha? These guys are hard to take a picture of. The wind blows in them thar trees.

Catch ya later.

Amanda

coal bucket

Another one to finish for next weekend.

What will you get in your bucket? Coal or sweets?

Amanda

Felted Snowman face

Just a quick post to let you know I'll be at 137 Water Street tomorrow for  Gifts Galore. 9-1.

 I'll be accompanied by 4 of these fellows.

 Hmm, the one on the end looks a little droopy. Well, at least his nose does. Maybe he has a cold?

See you tomorrow?

Amanda

a Little owly

Howdy,

I'm in full Christmas making mode. Sorry if it's too early for you. Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time focusing on doing this. As a crafter, I start thinking Christmas when the leaves change. I'm on the hunt for inspiration, ideas, projects. But I don't usually start making them until Nov. Oh wait, it already is Nov. How did that happen?

So I'll start gently.

Owls.

 In avoiding my sewing machine today, I played around with many ornament ideas. This was a last minute grab at the roving pile and an owl shaped cookie cutter. I think I like the white one better.

I took the same picture, but played with the white balance. One day, I'll figure out my camera.

There may be more playing around tomorrow. I can't find my glasses. I mean, really can't find them around the houseIthinkImayhavedroppedtheminapileoffabricorsomething. Where should I start to look?

It's really bothering me. I'm getting a headache.
Edit to add: I found my glasses. Under a pile of sweater bits. I have since bought me a fancy beaded string. Yes, I'm finally at that forgetful stage. I don't regret this string. I've known where my glasses have been all day. :}

And lookey there, I'm using a spruce tree for my pictures this year. I have a whole garden to choose from instead of the 2 small cedar trees I had off the end of my deck at the old house. tee hee.

have a good one,

Amanda

Olive bread

Wanting something a little different to serve our weekly Sunday dinner guests, I got this book from the library.

And lookng at what was in the cupboard/fridge, I made this bread...

 Olive bread. A regular white bread with chopped olives in there. Without the constraints of time, (we were going out) I would have put the olives in on the 2nd kneading and then maybe let it rise out of the bread maker to bake in the oven. But that's what bread makers are good for.. cooking when you're not there.

 Kinda cool how it marbled. I'm glad, I don't think I would feel as comfortable to serve a bleak, black bread.

When I saw this platter, I HAD to have it. You know I have an obsession with cardinals.

 And it's a shape I've been wanting to serve crackers and bread on.

In the studio, I've been sewing for a Gifts Galore sale this weekend. But I haven't been making enough. 

 At this point, I'll have what I have. I'll figure out what I can do in the next few days. The middle of the night insomnia has returned. I got up at 4:30am and sewed until 5:30am, when my machine started to act up. A few $&^%# and a read of the manual got the problem fixed for me to sew for another hour. Now there is another problem, I think i may have a solution, but I'm gonna have a nap first.

 I don't get up to sew int eh middle of the night due to stress or feeling pressure to get things done. I get up and do it because it is something to do. When I get busy, my mind works while I sleep. If I wake up for a few hours in the night, I may as well do something with it. 

But for now, I think I'll see if we have any more of this bread and then have a snooze.

Have a good one!

Amanda

there's more!

These are so addictive! Another teapot cozy. 

 It is a good stash buster for all those sweaters deemed too itchy, too thin, too scratchy, too, too

 Same goes for the hot water bottle covers. The red one is cotton with angora. Not so good for mittens, but perfect for a hot water bottle. I need to get me more sweaters!

 The end of a wet, rainy day brought a rainbow.

 A double arc!

Have a good one!

Amanda

Hot Water Bottle Covers

Boy, it's cold out there today. Wind chill and everything. Now we get to find all the little air leaks in our windows and doors. Brrrr. I guess the weather has inspired me to make these hot water bottle covers. They've been in my mind since last year. Now I can't stop making them.

 I googled and found All About You. What a great resource. I'm looking forward to coming back to that site and doing a little lookin'.

The stitching is done using the stretch stitch on my  machine. The thread is supposed to have a little shine to it also. I guess it's competing with the fuzziness of the cashmere. How decadent... Cashmere hot water bottle cover. Bring out the chocolates and rum!

 This sweater had the buttons on it already. And a little hole at the bottom. Enter: red heart applique. I still need to hand stitch the button facings shut so they don't gape. 

 This white one was the first I made and took inspiration from the tutorial.

 See the difference between the stretch stitch on the outline and the normal stitch in the middle of the petals?

 And a picture of the back. Note: the white one has the overlap with the bottom on the outside. It pooks open when you hold it, so I changed to have the over lap on the top. Much better.

I think with one of these wrapped around my neck and a hot water bottle on my toes, I'll be good to curl up with a book.

But tonight, I'm going to the library to make pillow cases for children with cancer. More details to follow.

Have a good one,

Amanda

New Bird?

Today, I looked outside and was startled by this big bird sitting on the bird feeder!

 Then he was found on the wood pile.

 Rafael was wanting something new. Restless, small town, I want something different, kinda new.

I had this idea since I made this chick and egg,

Pattern from Abby Glassenberg

A few minor adjustments and the Angry Bird was created.

 Instead of the egg...

I made the other side a PIG!

 It was really fun to make. But I did spend a fair bit of time hand sewing the eyes, beak and snout on. I'm sure I could do it faster next time. Should there ever be one.

 Thanks Abby for making great patterns.

In other bird news...

We were so happy when the drake came back to the pond with his mate.

 He sporadically visited our pond, swam, quacked up a storm and then left. A few days ago, he brought a friend. They stayed a few days and even got brave enough to eat from the bird feeder left overs. It was kind of cool to see the bully blue jays fly off because the ducks were coming.

And thus ends the bird sightings for today.

peace,

Amanda