All silk laceweight for something special...

All silk. thrifted. What is the world coming to? (in a good way)

Thrifted labelmaker

Neat-o

Vintage Button Bracelets

October's Bright Blue Weather

October's Bright Blue Weather

O suns and skies and flowers of June,

Count all your boasts together,

Love loveth best of all the year

October's bright blue weather.

Helen Jackson

(excerpted) The Home Book of Verse for Young Folks

The Creative Zone

A couple of years ago I made a book about outer space & robots. I included this photo flip mechanism, which I made using Michael Jacobs' book Cards That Pop Up, Flip & Slide. It was fun to make! Michael now has two You Tube videos that give instructions for some of his cards & techniques. His blog includes all sorts of interesting things to look at, including his recent wire sculpture.

The Creative Zone

Free instructions for making a flip photo card.

Kid Art 'Drooling Frog'

Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire

Leif the Lucky (1941)

I think I've gotten just as much pleasure from children's literature as I have from adult reading. As my children have gotten older I've decided to keep quite a bit of what we collected when they were young. I get some kind of satisfaction from collecting and reading through a series of good books. Not series like Nancy Drew (formulaic & predictable), but series written on topic the author was passionate or at least enthusiastic about. Many of my favorite children's authors wrote a group or series of stories on a theme; one example I mentioned in an earlier post; Sybil Deutscher & Opal Wheeler's biographies about the composers.

My very favorite books of this type were written by Ingri & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire. Among their many wonderful books are a group of picture book biographies written about early American heroes. The text is very simple, but filled with authentic details; as many as one thousand hours spent researching their subject in museums, libraries, & universities might be compressed into one book. In addition, the authors took extended camping trips to see & feel the locations where their subjects lived & worked.

The illustrations are, in my opinion the great distinguishing feature of these books, the primary reason they are still so popular today. The books have been reprinted, but in order to enjoy the spectacular depth & richness of color, obtaining an original copy is worthwhile. The D'Aulaire's employed the lithographic process of early craftsmen who without cameras worked carefully by hand. The process requires that each picture be completely drawn (no erasing is possible) on a large stone, with separate drawings made for each color. Their large, colorful illustrations were designed to appeal especially to children.

The Star Spangled Banner (1942)

Traveling Crafts

to England...

To Spain...


It's fun.

Vintage Hippo Pincushion

Ceramic hippopotamus planter, now pincushion. With special beaded hatpin.

From my fevered brain.

Irish Pirate Elf Boots - men's. We've been chuckling over these at our house. Cuff may be worn up or down ~

Paint-by-Number elf slippers

New in my shop ~

Pithy instructions for felted potholders.

Materials: Worsted & Aran weight yarn scraps

Needles: size 11 US

Directions: Using yarn doubled cast on 25 stitches. Knit every row (garter stitch) until potholder is square. Bind off.

Felt in washing machine on hot/cold setting. Dry in dryer on high heat. I put these through the washer & dryer two times.

Care instructions: Wash in washer on warm or cold cycle, air dry.

Going Places

On its way to France

On its way to Germany

also going to live in Germany

I like to imagine these things in their various places. I've sent things to most continents; not Africa or Antarctica YET.

Touch Me! - for the Etsy Fiber Arts Street Team

Potholders in progress -

I have five potholders ready for felting today; haven't begun the mitts. This doesn't even make a dent in my tapestry wool, but how many potholders can one household use?

COLOR

colorful good times -

Vintage S & P

I don't really collect Salt & Pepper shakers, I only bring home the ones I have to.

Best ever. Mid-Century elegance. I bought these at a rummage sale where all shoppers were contained behind a barrier until opening time. Most participants wore trainers & a camel pack. These were passed by; the pewter was so tarnished & the walnut was so gummy...no one saw how fantastic they could be. 5 inches.

We use these all the time. Made in Denmark, 5 inches.

Picnic dome shaped S & P - shake gently to avoid having the bottom fly off. 1 1/2 inches.

Pewter atomic - style S & P. Not as favorite as the pair above, but still favorite. 4 1/4 inches.

My appreciation for these is all about the shape - I'm undecided as to whether they were made of table legs. 6 1/2 inches.

From Howard Johnson's - 1 inch tall, 1/2 inch diameter.

Walnut Pears - the second stem was lost somewhere between the thrift store & home. 2 1/2 inches

Flying Saucer salt shaker. This is in rough shape, but I own this only because it's weird. 3 inches.

Spun Aluminum, wooden base with cork. 1 1/4 inches.

Early American style peppermill. Los Angeles, CA. 3 3/4 inches

New season, new potholders.

Recently my blog has become the Treasury away from the Treasury. It's fun to choose the items & create an Etsy Treasury, a bit like crafting itself, & so I became carried away...

I promise to focus on other things for a while. I have all sorts of other topics to blog about!

Today, I am like a squirrel storing nuts for Winter - I have a drawer full of tired & motley looking pot holders & oven mitts. I plan to discard them all, & begin again. I have the additional goal of spending zero to replace them, which won't be a problem with my extensive stash.

I'm going to break into this thrifted wool tapestry yarn - a rainbow selection of great 70s colors. It looked beautiful arranged in its own special box, but life is too short to save it any longer. Combined with some Briggs & Little natural aran wool, I should be able to turn out some good-looking felted pot holders & oven mitts for my kitchen drawer.

Just the type of knitting I'm in the mood for.