My inexpensive and almost maintenance-free water fountain

I am taken with water features.  On the other hand, I don't like having to spend a lot of time on them.  I've been playing with fountains since I first bought one of the little packaged models in the 80s.  All of those were either buzzingly annoying, obnoxiously loud, and/or require perpetual fiddling with the motor filter.  Their small size also required that they be filled constantly.   My own attempts at building one from scratch have been so-so.  They were still rather care intensive.  However, I finally did it!  I've waited to post about this to be sure it was a long-term success.  I've had this one going for over a year with almost little maintenance.

The porcelain pot,  about a foot high and wide, was one that was around the house.  I can put a ton of water in this so that I only need to top this off maybe once a month.  The sound changes with the level of water.  If it gets too loud and splishy (is that a word?), I toss some more water in.  I also put in a bit of bleach on occasion to keep the bowl from developing scum.  Just a splash or what amounts to several tablespoons does the job without getting the eau de swimming pool effect.

The pump is in the 100-155 gph range (about $25) so that it works at its lowest setting.    Although that is a high range for the size of the pot, working at the lowest setting means it is less noisy and not taxing the unit.  This low setting gives the sound of water throughout the downstairs but does not show water spurting up unless you look down into it.  I've learned that spurting water also means the possibility of over-spray which will result in water spots on the surrounding area. You can hear a bit of a pump buzz when you are next to it, but sitting in the room you just hear the water.

If you get a pump that overpowers the sound of the water, return it!  Try the next size down or a different brand.  IMHO, if the pump is too loud, it is defective--it gets returned.  Another suggestion, test the water pump outside if possible to get the setting you want.  You will be amazed at how far some of them can shoot water. 

My pump is covered with large washed rocks I've collected over time.  The cord is covered (well, almost--you can see a bit on the side) by the small potted plastic plant.  Yeah, I could drill a hole in the side of the pot, but I'm not willing to risk the pot.  The plant works fine for me.   Voila!  Finally, a fountain that can survive my neglect!

A Martha Stewart Napkin

It's from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts.  Martha "claimed" that this would produce a napkin with beautifully mitered corners.  I love nicely mitered corners but have always found them to be difficult.  Following the directions (for once), I ended up with this.

I love Martha.  This napkin is perfect.  Look at these beautiful corners!

It was so nice, I was afraid to embroider anything on it.  It took me weeks to decide whether or not to put something on it, more weeks to decide what design to put on it, and another week or two to get up the courage to actually do the embroidery.  I don't know why.  This napkin was so easy to make.  You iron it, sew on a few of those creased lines, and do some straight stitching around the edge.

I finally decided on a simple floral design for the embroidery because I'm a bit tired on initials right now--I overdosed on my towels.  I used a slightly off-white on the bright white cloth.  I'm not sure that the placement is conventional.  I folded the napkin the way I would use it and put the design on the top.  It is off-centered when the napkin is open--one of the reasons I chose white-on-white.

I used a fabric from Joann's that looks like linen.  It washes beautifully.  No ironing needed at all.  I've had linen napkins before.  They were lovely but HAD to be ironed.  I like ironing, but who has the time especially around the holidays when you will most likely be using them?  Now I just have to finish the other 17 I want.  I know better than to put down an exact date for them to be finished here.  Life has an annoying way of interfering with my well-made plans.

I really do love Martha.  I want to be in her audience.  I don't want to meet her, though.  For some reason, I find her completely intimidating.  Could it be her awe-inspiring talents and boundless energy?  Yes, I know she has a hoard of people coming up with lots of ideas, too.  Martha did, however, create the whole venture and keeps it going strong.  Great napkin, Martha!  I just know she reads my blog ;-}

Two new sock creatures are finished at last...

I've been having pretty good luck with my sock creatures, but these last two nearly did me in.  I haven't posted in a while because I just could not get them to be even remotely the way I wanted them.  I have worked, reworked, and reworked them again.  I have tried multiple ways of doing the mouths, ears, and limbs. I tried some new eyes.   And still, they are not what I wanted.

I worked with the baby socks that I used for the cute brown bunny in my last post on sock creatures.  These, though turned out just blah.  How can such cute little socks turn into such boring little creatures?  (I'm feeling intensely guilty saying this.  It's as though I'm a mother saying my kids are ugly.  Is this normal?)  So here they are.

They look sad, don't they?  Even they know they look bad.  I must admit, too, that the picture flatters them.

I tried doing the yarn straight across for a mouth like they do for the original sock monkey design.  It is my own ineptitude that caused the one with the red mouth to look as though it is frowning.  However, that piece of yarn pulled straight across just doesn't seem like a good idea for a kid's toy anyway.  There is nothing holding it firmly in place.  I tried to rectify that on the other one by tacking it down with yarn which is why there is a big black blob in the middle of the upper lip.

I wasted sooooo much time on these two that I just wanted them done!  Lessons learned:  If I do use the yarn mouth again, I will probably try doing really light tacking with matching thread to hold it in place.  Also, working with tiny socks is a royal pain in the butt!

So to name the little beasts--Sadlee and Dullci. These are numbers 26 and 27 of the 30.  I'm really, really almost there!

Hadley Mountain Near the Sacandaga Reservoir

My daughter, Keegan,  wanted to go hiking so we went up Hadley Mountain last weekend.  It's a nice little hike with an inspiring view.  There was a bit of a crowd at the top although the trail was not crowded.  It was a perfectly beautiful day!  The pictures came out well although there was a good bit of haze looking down on the water.   I love the rolling landscape in the distance. 

There is still a fire tower on top of Hadley.  You can't get into the room at the top, but you can still climb up to the entryway.  This is my lovely husband, Brian, in front of the tower. (I told you there was a crowd at the top!)   Both my parents grew up in the town of Long Lake in the Adirondacks.  One of the women in their group of friends spent a summer working in one of the fire towers and wrote a book about it.  Normally only guys would get that job, but it was during WWII.  I would have loved to do that!  It is a quaint little memoir that was not widely published, but I loved it. 

I did make it all the way up.  Here's proof. 

Here's Keegan sunning at the top.  How cool that the rocks make a lounge chair!

Although this next picture is hazy the view of the winding water is too nice to leave out.

See that--there is something more to New York State than the city. I climbed a bunch of these little ones but have only done one of the 46 High Peaks.  Mt. Marcy is off my list to becoming a 46er.  While it is the highest, it is not even near the top of the list for most difficult.  I'm not sure I even want to try doing them all.  I prefer taking my time, getting pictures, stopping for every little beast, rock, or plant that captures my attention.

Sock creatures 24 and 25 of the 30 are here!

I will apologize now for the quality of the pictures.  I am having the worst time with the new Cybershot camera.  I keep accidentally moving the top piece that changes the picture mode. (Does anyone want to buy a slightly used camera?)

In any case--here are the newest sock creatures.  This first one was to have been a smaller version of the pig I did the last time.  Being cheap, I was trying to save a small piece from the top of a sock.  Lessons learned:  1.  You can't change the length without changing the width if you want the shape to remain the same.  2.  You can work with your "accidents" by moving in another direction altogether. This one is, as the painting teacher used to say on the PBS channel, "a happy little accident."  My pig turned into a very nice head.

I like the simple X for the mouth.  Another happy accident was that I forgot to round off  what would have been the back of the pig.  The straight line left what I turned into ears.  (You can just see one on the side in the picture.)  The monkey would be hanging upside down on a vine on the socks, but it works this way, too, for a sweater.  She's also a gymnast--see that awesome split below.  A very small,  pig-headed gymnast had to be named  Petunia Retton. (Y'all do remember Porky's girlfriend was Petunia, right?)

The next creature came from the socks the size of the tiny striped ones here.

Who knew they made tiny, brown-striped, old man socks?  No wonder they were on sale at the sock outlet.
I had the carrot button left over from some long-ago project.  I don't know what I was thinking going with the traditional pink/red bunny eyes on a completely nontraditional striped bunny.  Things I make late in the day seldom make sense, though.  The mouth is kind of lost in the picture, but it is just an orange inverted V.  I had the WORST time getting it even. In any case, this is Fiver, named after the little rabbit in Watership Down.   If you've not read the book, you really, really should.  It is one of my all-time favorites.  Just thinking about it now makes me wish I had a little person to read it to. 

Five more to go!  I will get there yet.

Fun Candles at the Craft Fair in Vermont

I wasn't going post about the Manchester fair because I got so few pictures.  I know people get upset that others are going to copy their designs--understandably, so the camera stayed in my bag.  You have to buy at least one if you are going to attempt to copy it! At two, three, four hundred, and more this was definitely a "look at" trip for the most part. These kinds of craft fairs are far more art than craft. 

I did find Otter Creek Candles, though, and they are well worth sharing .  They have soy candles in a huge selection of fragrances.  My Otter Creek candle burns cleaner and much more slowly than most others I've had.    It was heaven to check out all the choices at their booth, but nearly impossible to decide which one to get. I finally went with one that would to be fun as well as scenty.  Are you ready for this?  Monkey Farts.  Yes, it is gross and juvenile.  I couldn't even  bring myself to smell it at first,  but the owner insisted it was a banana tropical scent that just was not selling under its original name. Its actually a beautiful soft scent--just a touch of banana.  Now, it's a top seller.  See--I'm not alone in having a sick sense of humor.  My kids enjoyed the joke and I got a great candle.  I'm happy.

Check out the Otter Creek website.  Mixed in with their large number of socially acceptable choices are just a few fun ones.  I'm going to have fun with those this Christmas. 

I did get a few pictures to show you what a lovely day we had. Not many craft fairs have this view all around.

 Even the weather was perfect.

Two New Sock Animals

These are sock animals rather than creatures.  I got both of them from Daniel's Stray Sock Sewing Book--the first one, not Stray Sock Sewing, Too. Here is the lovely white rabbit. 

I love the way the head came out and the frilly neck.  The body, though, is lacking something.  It's just misshapen and I cannot figure out what to do about it.  Next time, I'm going to cut it at the point where the legs go on and sew legs in separately.  Still, he has a beautiful face!  He gets to stay.  

I tried to find out the White Rabbit's name from Alice's Wonderland.  Apparently, it was White Rabbit.  That just won't do.  Someone thought it was Herald, but that, according to someone else, was his job not his name.  The spelling makes that kind of obvious.  I'm going to use it for my white rabbit's name anyway. I like the name and the spelling so this guy is Herald. 

This little pig was done almost exactly as Daniel's version.

I gave mine a curly tail.  I can't imagine why Daniel didn't.  A pig just has to have a curly tail!

Isn't that a great face!  You create a ball with the end of one sock and pull the top of another sock over.  (As I'm looking at the picture right now, I'm thinking those ears would make great horns.)    The idea of putting in balls of stuffing for the legs and sewing them in place was interesting.  It worked well, but I think I might try stacking circles of felt or fleece the next time.  It will be easier to create uniform shapes that way.

These are numbers 22 and 23 of the 30 I should have completed long ago!  I really want to try a few more of these pigs.  There are a variety of ways to do them in the book. There is also a fish made in much the same manner.  I want to try that too.  Now if I could just create a few extra hours in each day! It's nice to get a few things finished, though.

The new job is just sucking up my time.  Without a dedicated desk/phone/computer, I still have to do a lot of the work at home.  I'm not good at setting boundaries, though.  I tend to keep working way longer than I should.  Good news is that it is a year-long grant!  I'll be finished on June 10th!!!  (Lesson learned here is to be sure the place of employment actually has room and equipment for you before taking on the job.)