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What Craft/Hobby Thing are you doing this week? week 2

PrincessMommy

By PrincessMommy,
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PrincessMommy

PrincessMommy

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Are you a crafter or artist?  Do you quilt, knit, paint, soap, do paper craft, or re-purpose furniture?   All kinds of artistic and craft type outlets are welcome!

 

This is not necessarily showing completed items... maybe you bought a pattern, yarn, or fabric.  Did you go yard-saleing this week and found a bookshelf you want to paint?  Show any of those (if  you have a photo - that's even extra great).   Maybe you finally pulled out your sewing machine and dusted it off... include that.  Any little bit towards your goal throughout the week is great!!

 

Also, if you have a website or tutorial that inspires you, please share it with us.  Perhaps one of us will pick up a new hobby.  ;)

 

Let's inspire each other!

 

-----------------------------------------

 

Question:  How do you keep your ideas and inspirations organized?

 

Inspired by a video by Anita Luvera Mayer I watched a few weeks ago, and Chris in VA 's Smashbook idea I'm going to try and work on having a inspiration book.  I've already bought a spiral bound book.   I do already have planning guides I use for weaving projects I'm currently working on, but I wonder about a "to do" type of thing.  Color ideas, inspirations photos, projects you want to get to someday... that kind of thing.  Do you have a place for your inspirations, or is it here, there, and everywhere like me?

 

Here's a video preview of Ms. Mayer... she's very inspirational fiber artist.

 

 

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HS Mom in NC

HS Mom in NC

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I'm a crafter. I prefer to use fabric and paper in my projects.

 

School Projects

 

History:

 

SOTW 2 Christianity Comes to Britain. AG for SOTW 2: Quill pen and ink  (ink will be made with walnut shells.)
 

For handwriting this week my 8 year old will  copy John 1: 1-5 in capitol letters using the quill pen and walnut ink.  (If it's just incredibly difficult I'll let her use a calligraphy pen after she's given it a good solid try.)

 

As we do read alouds (including Augustine Came to Kent and some picture books about St. Patrick) she'll color at least 2 of the smaller, simpler pictures of her choosing from the Book of Kells Coloring Book (available from Dover publications.)   The Scripture passage will be done on lightly lined in pencil cardstock cut to the same size as the pictures from the coloring book.

 

Then we'll make a book cover with a couple of shades of brown papers and large plastic gem stones based on  the image of The Book of Iona from the movie, The Secret of Kells, which is a fantasy about The Book Kells (TBK)  being copied and made. My 8 year old has already seen the movie and loves it.  We'll focus on connecting the content of TBK, which is the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John from the New Testament. Since the movie mentions several times that it's a book that brings light into the darkness, I chose the passage from Matthew listed above. We read about Columcill (I believe our Catholic and possibly Greek Orthodox friends call him St. Columba) last week, who was also mentioned in the movie. We'll watch the movie again this week, I'm sure.

All of those pages will be made into a book and saved to go into a lapbook at the end of the unit.

 

 

Science:

 

We're doing Earth Science, so this week is Seasons.  I printed a beautiful image of a tree trunk and branches on four sheets of watercolor paper.  I scaled them down to be 7 inches square when finished.  She'll use watercolors to paint the same tree in the 4 seasons from a temperate zone.

*Note* I found the image on line.  It's intended to be used as an alternative to a guest book for a wedding.  It's printed out on a larger scale and set up on stand or table.  The guests are given the choice of ink pads in various colors with which they ink a finger and press it to the tree to make a "leaf" in memory of their attendance.  It's a lovely idea and a beautifully done image.

 

I also printed out leaf templates on watercolor paper and simple field guides for identifying leaves from various trees in North America.  She'll paint those in watercolors and then label them.

 

We'll also do a Venn diagram comparing the 4 seasons of a temperate zone (like back east and in S. Korea where she was born) to the 4 seasons here in the Desert SW where we live.  That will be based on the living books we read for Science this week.

 

All of those will be saved for a lapbook at the end of this Earth Science study which includes Earth in space and Earth's weather as they relate to different biomes/climate zones this semester.

 

 

 

On going personal projects:

 

Scrap quilt and redwork embroidery Christmas tree ornaments mentioned in week 1. Likely to be ongoing and mentioned for months.

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KungFuPanda

KungFuPanda

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I won't have a concrete product to show for it, but this week I need to choreograph a beginning bellydance number that uses zils (finger cymbals). I have a new crop of beginners coming in and I need to teach them to use finger cymbals. I have a song picked out, and a few 8-counts swimming in my head, but that's as far as I got.

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Occasionally

Occasionally

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That was an interesting video. I like her uniform concept. JoAnn Fabric's is having a fleece sale right now, so I bought a few yards for my family's annual Christmas lounge pants.

 

That's brilliant. Do you have an easy pattern you use for the pants? I always want the kids' pajamas to match for pictures, but never thought of making fleece pants for them myself. 

 

These threads are not going to improve my finished:in progress ratio.

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Delirium

Delirium

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That's brilliant. Do you have an easy pattern you use for the pants? I always want the kids' pajamas to match for pictures, but never thought of making fleece pants for them myself. 

 

These threads are not going to improve my finished:in progress ratio.

 

http://mycottoncreations.blogspot.com/2010/07/christmas-eve-pajama-pants-tutorial.html I even make the adult's with this pattern.

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Cinder

Cinder

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I'm still knitting dd's shawlette. And I've started ankle socks with the yarn I overdyed last week.

 

 

ETA: I tried to attach a photo of the yarn but I can't seem to do it no matter how small I make it. It's down to 56k and still won't upload, even when I tried shrinkpictures.com. :(

 

 

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KatieJ

KatieJ

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That's brilliant. Do you have an easy pattern you use for the pants? I always want the kids' pajamas to match for pictures, but never thought of making fleece pants for them myself. 

 

These threads are not going to improve my finished:in progress ratio.

 

 

I have sewn hundreds of shorts/pj's over the years.   Not bragging, just saying I have worked out a few things.

 

MY tip is on elastic.

If you have a serger, use it to attach the elastic to the waist. It works best with knit kind of fabrics.  My favorite elastic for this purpose is a tan colored elastic used in swim wear. 

http://www.fieldsfabricsonline.com/Cotton-Swimwear-Elastic-38X2-Yards-Natural-9338-N_p_16926.html

 

I buy it in 10 yard chunks of 3/4 inch wide and keep it on hand at all times.

Match up the ends of the elastic and sew together.  Divide the elastic into quarters and mark with chalk, pen, whatever you have.  Divide the pants into fourths and them match up your marks.  Sew in place.  Turn it down and top stitch.

 

If you don't have a serger or you are sewing with flannel or cotton... sew your elastic into a circle by matching ends..(I use non roll elastic or whatever I have on hand at the time for this.)

  Turn down your waistband allowance and iron in place.  Pull the elastic down over and the pants.  As you sew the waistband allowance in place, tuck the elastic into the fold .. You skip the step of threading the elastic thru with a pin.

I usually go back and do a stitch in the ditch in front, back and side seam areas ( even if there isn't a side seam) to keep the elastic from shifting and rolling.

 

My 18 month grandaughter was sitting on my lap as I typed most of that, so if you need further clarifying , please ask.

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PrincessMommy

PrincessMommy

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I'm a little more than 1/2 way through one bamboo shawl.  Boy! That yarn is slippery. 

 

Here's a photo... it's in natural so it's not quite that white looking.

 

9514280287_823c8867a9.jpg

 

I really want to get this done before tomorrow. I'm heading up to PA for a little trip and it's supposed to be chilly.

 

 

 

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Cinder

Cinder

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I'm a little more than 1/2 way through one bamboo shawl.  Boy! That yarn is slippery.

 

That is lovely! Weaving has been at the back of my mind for many years now. Ever since I first went to dh's house and saw his mom's loom--she used to weave wool blankets and scarves. Your pictures are bringing those thoughts to the front of my mind again. . .

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PrincessMommy

PrincessMommy

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That is lovely! Weaving has been at the back of my mind for many years now. Ever since I first went to dh's house and saw his mom's loom--she used to weave wool blankets and scarves. Your pictures are bringing those thoughts to the front of my mind again. . .

 

I don't know where you live, but there are classes available in many parts of the US.  Also, if you join a weaving guild you can rent a loom for next to nothing! (our guild rents looms for $30-50 a month).   That way you can try before you buy, since it is an expensive investment.

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plath

plath

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My goal this week is to finish sewing 2 newborn t-shirts and finish knitting the pair of longies I have started from yarn I spun.

 

I finished the longies!  I'll try to get a picture soon.  Now to hopefully work on the t-shirts today. 

I also printed a hat pattern to knit and cast on the waistband for a new pair of longies last night.

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Cinder

Cinder

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I don't know where you live, but there are classes available in many parts of the US.  Also, if you join a weaving guild you can rent a loom for next to nothing! (our guild rents looms for $30-50 a month).   That way you can try before you buy, since it is an expensive investment.

 

Thanks for the info. I just looked up the local guild and it's an hour away--assuming no traffic. But this is Atlanta so you know it will probably take longer. The beginner class is 8 weeks on Weds for 2.5 hours each. Gah! I guess I'll have to keep keeping that in the *back* of my mind for now.

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Down_the_Rabbit_Hole

Down_the_Rabbit_Hole

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Have 2 more inches to knit on my shrug. Can not wait to have this thing finished. Also started looking at hat pattern. Time to get those started so my family will have warm heads when winter comes. Ds will be the hard one to knit for. He is extremely picky. He felt all my yarn stash (over 30 different yarns) and they were either too itchy, scratchy, not soft, too fuzzy, or something. Dh is picky about color, this is a man who will pick anything brown so he does not have to think about it, but ask him about a hat and he has many opinions about color. DD is too easy, she wants many hats in all sorts of colors, trying to pick just one is the problem.

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Jenn121

Jenn121

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I need to start my third quilt by the end of the weekend. The pattern is queen sized and I need to take it down to a twin. The quilting math is going to make my head explode! 

 There is an app for that! I have and android and found it in the  playstore but I am sure that it would be in Itunes as well. I have it onmy phone and tablet. 

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Occasionally

Occasionally

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Ok, thanks to nestof3's thread about not being able to post a picture I deleted all my old attachments and am ready to try again to post a picture of my koolaid dyed yarn.

 

ETA: yippee--it worked!

 

I love that color! What "flavor" did you use? When my felted bag is done, I'm going to try to Kool-Aid dye it.

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Down_the_Rabbit_Hole

Down_the_Rabbit_Hole

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Inspired by a video by Anita Luvera Mayer I watched a few weeks ago, and Chris in VA 's Smashbook idea I'm going to try and work on having a inspiration book.  I've already bought a spiral bound book.   I do already have planning guides I use for weaving projects I'm currently working on, but I wonder about a "to do" type of thing.  Color ideas, inspirations photos, projects you want to get to someday... that kind of thing.  Do you have a place for your inspirations, or is it here, there, and everywhere like me?

 

 

I started a SMASH book. I am having fun with it. It is recording all we do or celebrate this year. I put everything in it, wrapping paper scraps, movie tickets, feather from a walk, paper menu from a date night, I even put a power bar wrapper in it since it is my favorite snack. And of course I journal about it all, add kid quotes, book quotes, everything I want to remember. My plan is to start another one with inspirational ideas for crafts I want to make and all the adjustments, color, material I want to use.

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Cinder

Cinder

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I love that color! What "flavor" did you use? When my felted bag is done, I'm going to try to Kool-Aid dye it.

 

Orange for orange, watermelon cherry with a little bit of cherry for the red. I tried for a "cake dyeing" effect--I don't have a ball winder so I just left it in the skein. This was with just the orange. But there wasn't enough color in the middle. I then tried to put small koolaid ice cubes into the middle of the skein but of course all the color sank to the bottom as the ice cube melted and the inside top was undyed.So later I ended up pulling the middle out--like yarn barf--and placing the red koolaid (frozen in a small bowl) on top so it would soak up the red. That worked better. I was able to dry most of it in the sun and then had to wind it into a hank to finish drying. Thankfully it wasn't as tangled a mess as it could have been.

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PrincessMommy

PrincessMommy

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Thanks for the info. I just looked up the local guild and it's an hour away--assuming no traffic. But this is Atlanta so you know it will probably take longer. The beginner class is 8 weeks on Weds for 2.5 hours each. Gah! I guess I'll have to keep keeping that in the *back* of my mind for now.

 

Check this website:

 

http://www.interweave.com/weaving/resources/classes.asp

 

scroll down to Georgia and you'll see there are several other class options besides the guild.  Perhaps one will be closer to you.

 

Have 2 more inches to knit on my shrug. Can not wait to have this thing finished. Also started looking at hat pattern. Time to get those started so my family will have warm heads when winter comes. Ds will be the hard one to knit for. He is extremely picky. He felt all my yarn stash (over 30 different yarns) and they were either too itchy, scratchy, not soft, too fuzzy, or something. Dh is picky about color, this is a man who will pick anything brown so he does not have to think about it, but ask him about a hat and he has many opinions about color. DD is too easy, she wants many hats in all sorts of colors, trying to pick just one is the problem.

 

Of course!  You have a large stash but still there's nothing to suit dh. ;

 

I started a SMASH book. I am having fun with it. It is recording all we do or celebrate this year. I put everything in it, wrapping paper scraps, movie tickets, feather from a walk, paper menu from a date night, I even put a power bar wrapper in it since it is my favorite snack. And of course I journal about it all, add kid quotes, book quotes, everything I want to remember. My plan is to start another one with inspirational ideas for crafts I want to make and all the adjustments, color, material I want to use.

 

cool!!   I've not done much with my inspiration book.  I think I'm challenged in this area.  :laugh:

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jenn-

jenn-

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DD has a 3D project to do for her science class.  I really tried to get her to do a germ cell or an eyeball, but she wanted to do the alpine tundra ecosystem.  We are in the mist of diorama mess.  I say we, because of course having never done something like this ever, it is a steep learning curve.  After I help her get it covered with the plaster part, I am going to leave her to her own devices for painting and stuff. 

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