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Felt, it's what's for dinner

Biscuit would only eat cottage cheese for dinner so we switched to crafting. After an excellent session of coloring using a great colored pencil roll from Sarah P Dot, we moved on to...felting!

I had never tried felting and on a whim bought a felt ball kit from WoolandHandcrafts.etsy.com. I've since learned from fellow Sac Craft Mafia member Kaytea that there is a great, local source for wool at a shop in Sacramento but I can't recall the name. That was useful, eh? If you're local it's next to Fox and Goose.

Anyway, since playing in bubbles is one of Biscuit's favorite things to do, felting seemed the perfect craft.

I wanted a candy cane ball so I wrapped red roving around the white innards.

Then, as instructed, we put the ball in a pair of sacrificed pantyhose and started to "gently" massage it in hot, soapy water.  Oh wait, toddlers don't do "gentle."

This was interesting for about 5 minutes.

Then she got much more interested in the bubbles and putting them in her hair.

Yeah, really into the bubbles--note the increasing collection of wet tea towels. Meanwhile, mom was busy felting the wool in between photos.

Once the balls were sufficiently felted, we rinsed them in non-soapy water (aka the bath).

I'm not sure if these will be ornaments or pin cushions but they sure are fun to throw at each other around the house. Also, instead of candy canes, they kind of look like bloodshot eyeballs so I wouldn't suggest the red on white combo.

This was a very fun project. If I were doing it again with Biscuit I would have done the "gentle" part in the pantyhose without her and used her 5 minute attention span on the more vigorous felting after removing from the pantyhose. We have some lumpy balls here (ha, ha, ha)

In unrelated news, I created a clothespin doll tutorial over at Instructables.

The makings of a really excellent demolition derby

Decided to go with some new products for the show tomorrow.

And if they don't sell I'm all set for Christmas for all the little boys (and girls) I know. These are some pretty cool race cars. Unfinished and ready for paint or just ready to race.

I'm still in a bit of a funk about selling craft items after the bust at the last show (do I really want to sell stuff?).  My complete and total lack of preparation for tomorrow's show means the funk is likely to continue. But if you need some sturdy little race cars (or trucks) hope to see you tomorrow!

Happy, happy three day weekend to ya!

Feeling sleepy?

I made three more doll beds and their little mattresses and pillows. Sorry for the awful photos but I am very excited about these and couldn't wait.

The brown one is cherry and the others are pine painted with milk paint. One white (the double wide) and one pink.  The double wide was sort of a measuring error so I had to make a wider quilt for it.

It was a good chance to get the turquoise and red thing out of my head and use up the scraps of a linen blazer I bought at the thrift store. It should be done by Saturday.

Handmade Parade is only a few days away. If you live in the Sacramento area definitely come by.  There will be several amazing crafters there.

Finally, my applique tutorial was featured on Whip Up in the recent tutorial list so if you came by from that, welcome :)

Off to sew binding!

Mommy's car and Daddy's truck--in wood!

I found this old wood toy at a garage sale several weeks ago. Paid a whole dollar (because it was handmade).

And then I created versions of my own.  The car is basically a copy of the original (and not very much like my Accord). The truck is a Tundra (can't you tell)?  Biscuit is obsessed with pointing out mommy's car and daddy's truck whenever she sees similar vehicles on the road and alerting me to such breaking news as, "mommy's car wet!" or "daddy's car geen! (green)"  Everything is green by the way, she doesn't know her colors.

My second favorite part of the project was that I finally got to use the 2x4's I made Mr. H save from the kitchen demolition. They were a gorgeous, old fir that was too pretty to throw away but they've been sitting outside for months awaiting a project. You can see some of the blemishes on the wood (from the demolition) but I think it adds to the character of the toys.

My most favorite part of this project was when Biscuit spotted the toys on the coffee table this morning and insisted on trying them out and then bringing them to daycare with her. Well, along with dinosaur and a plastic ear of corn. But still :)

I had been planning to sell these toys but Biscuit's interest ensured they'd be part of her birthday gift. Luckily I have some more 2x4s to make a few for Etsy or upcoming shows.

A few random notes:
1. Fellow Sacramento Craft Mafia member Melody has organized a team for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk this weekend. Type 1 diabetes is a cause close to our heart so our family will be walking. If you'd like to donate, you can buy from the Sugar Cube Society on Etsy (all money goes to the cause) or you can link here to donate to the team directly.

2. Sacramento Craft Mafia will be on local tv this Wednesday morning.  GoodDay Sacramento on KOVR 13 at 7:45 and 8:15. Watch for it (but not me, I can't go :(

The thing I've been far too obsessed with this month

The doll bed I was working on here. With the quilt seen here. I finished the mattress and pillow today.

The bed also fits a doll (it's 18x9" interior dimensions)

The bed itself is pine, scraps from Mr. H's project. It's finished with a thin coat of milk paint and a bit of green acrylic for accent.

The mattress and pillow are made from a thrifted pillowcase and stuffed with leftover batting from the sleeping bag my dad made. I told you he's the one who taught me to sew, right? He's picked it up again as a retirement hobby.

The doll bed is part of my set of "cozy" items for Handmade Parade. I am also working on other little doll quilts including this wool one.

It's made from felted sweaters and isn't especially pretty colors but I really like the rustic look and the scratchy/soft feel of it. I hand sewed the squares together with green embroidery floss. I imagine it's the kind of blanket they would have had in Little House on the Prarie to tuck in their dolls.

I also worked on Biscuit's new coat today (I should mention I took a half day at work so I had lots of sewing time). It's done except the buttons but when I asked her to try it on she SCREAMED. 

NO COAT. NOOOOOOO

See if I sew for her again! ;) You may see a 3T coat with wood buttons for sale on Etsy soon!

Wood buttons

It pays to have a hubby who's a woodworker

When you've got a hankering to make wood buttons, a saw, sander and drill press are sure to be close at hand.

The darker ones are from the cherry tree (source of the blocks). The lighter ones are from a branch of unknown heritage that I found in the yard. Maybe the katalpa? I have a few more sticks saved up in the shop. I want to make Biscuit a(nother) coat. This time with wood buttons.

Hope your weekend was spectacular.

Collaborating

Tonight Mr. H and I spent the evening together working in the shop.  He's finishing building someone else's kitchen cabinets (ours are basically done). And I was working on another "cozy" project. One that I'm very excited about.

I must say I've become a bit of a weanie in the shop ever since I tried to remove my own fingers. But I got up my bravery and used all the tools except the offending miter saw. Cutting pine with the band saw took me right back to seventh grade shop class. I love the smell of fresh sawn pine boards.

::

In other news, the postcards I created arrived today. Biscuit (sans clothes) promptly absconded with two of them (thus the picture).

In getting these printed, I have sort of forced myself into working on another big project (I mention the project on the back of the cards.) More about that tomorrow.

In the meantime, if you want a postcard with 5 super quick ideas for baby (gifts or your own baby), send your address to mdhaworth at gmail dot com and I'll put one in the mail to you. If nothing else it'll be fun to get mail!  If you want to send a friend's address I'll send them a postcard too (and I swear I won't sign anyone up for weird mailing lists!!)

Tomorrow is Friday--hooray!

Blocks, compliments of our cherry tree

Last year we had to cut a few limbs off our cherry tree and one day it occurred to me that the branches were the perfect diameter for children's blocks.

The blocks have been done (cut, sanded, oiled) for ages but I finally made the bag today.  Canvas, lined in green cotton, with a tree applique and cinching ribbon closure.

I should warn you that if you're making blocks, use EXTREME caution cutting an irregular branch on a miter saw (or you could easily cut the wrong kind of limb). I came darn close to some serious bloodshed but escaped with bruising and a broken saw safety guard.

Much safer to just play with them. (it was REALLY hot here today so Biscuit was keeping the clothing to a minimum. I swear, I usually dress her)

Despite the near loss of limb*, I'm enjoying branching* out of the sewing room and into the woodshop. I've got a few more wood projects up my sleeve. Stay tuned.

*Two puns in one sentence!

Not quite a year behind

I think scrapbooking is one craft that has to be done with friends. The only time I get inspired to work on Biscuit's album is when my friend Sactownkid invites me over for a "crop."  It's basically like going to a scrapbooking store with free access to all the supplies because that gal has some cool stuff (like Halloween stamps when you mention you're doing a Halloween page).

Saturday night I got two pages done from last fall.  Sorry for the awful photos.

Luckily, since I'm WAY behind and not a very good scrapper, it's convenient that she's scrappin' for Biscuit too. Check out this digital layout she did in her online class.  Thanks again, Sactownkid!!

Good clean fun

If you had asked me two months ago to rate my interest in the craft of soap making on a scale of 1 to 10 I would have said zero.  But then I listened, somewhat reluctantly, to the Craftsanity podcast with Dee Bellini and got totally excited about making soap.

I made several trips to several stores and got all the supplies for the free recipe provided* (note-this link will download a pdf file) and then I roped in my friend who is always up for this sort of silliness (and who already owned a stick blender). Lo and behold our soap came out great (despite the lavender buds looking weird and the lavender scent smelling really off).

I thought our bars of soap were so lovely I decided to go all craft bloggy and try to pose a gorgeous product shot (a la Posie or Heather) with sprigs of fresh lavender. It looked really good in my mind.

My first mistake was having a day job and a toddler preventing me from capturing the elusive natural light so praised by the craft blogging community.  By 7:30 the sun was well behind the trees but I found a reasonably well lit patch of my front walkway and laid out my vignette.

At which point my new neighbor came over to tell me about how his cat has been in our yard and he hopes that's okay.  I tried to be nonchalant about the fact that I was hunkered down in my front yard photographing a shoebox full of soap on one of my bathroom towels. In the crafty blogoshere it seems so perfectly normal to pose vignettes of soap (and why does hers look so damn good?).  In my neighborhood, not so much.

New neighbor either didn't notice (or didn't comment) on my strange little project and went home. And I moved to the driveway on the other side of the house. When the family walking their dog started down the street just after a bunch of kids on bikes I threw in the towel (literally!) and decided ya'll would just have to live with my poorly lit, fuzzy photos of my slightly weird smelling but oh so moisturizing soap.

With real lavender sprigs!!

* if you try this recipe, two things. The oils are apparently by weight (not volume) so use your scale.  It took us just over 20 minutes to be certain we'd reached "trace" with our stick blender--lots longer than we expected.