I Made Fish But Not For Dinner

These lovely batik fish are from a pattern Shaz of Odd Sox sent me along with a Christmas order after I told her I loved, loved, loved, her fish stuffies but couldn't afford them because I had so very many ideas for using the finished products.  You can see here what I mean.   (Sadly for rest of you, she's not selling the pattern in her Folksy shop.  Maybe with some encouragement...)

Red Fish

Purple Fish

Schools of Fish!

 And I'm just getting started here.  The red ones are in a basket for my dining room.

 The purple set below will be hanging from a picture frame by fishing line that will have this quote printed on a lovely piece of card stock:

Give a man a fish

and he has food for a day;

teach him how to fish

and you can get rid of him

for the entire weekend.

                                                                                                 from Zenna Shaffer

Can't you just picture these hanging from the frame with the quote above?

 I also want to make a mobile for my sun room from some bright multicolor prints--polka dots and stripes.  Those are going to be flat--using thin batting in the center so that they will float in the breeze.  Then there is the baby mobile in black and white prints.

New idea:  Forgot to mention the idea of using these for one of those magnetic fishing games for kids. Yet another use for those large long-handled paint brushes that I used to make the sewing room button and needle plaque.    My husband will be thrilled to find that he now needs to drill holes into small magnets so I can attach them to the "fishing poles" with a line AND holes in the small end of the wood handle.  I think a set of these would be a great gift idea. 

Can you see why I really needed a pattern?  If you don't have my obsession  need for an excessive amount  many of these amazing little creatures, you can contact Shaz to get some.  If you are lucky enough to live in her area of Britain, her blog will let you know where her craft booth will be set up next.  Lucky you.  Should I ever get a chance to visit Britain, I'll be working that trip around those craft shows.

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New Toy For the Sewing Room

Look what I found at B. J.'s Wholesale Club today! 

Oh, no!  It is not just an ironing board.  It's a wider, shorter, STABLE ironing board that doesn't constantly threaten to send my iron tumbling to the floor.  After losing my faithful (and expensive) Rowenta iron due to a shaky ironing board last year, I've been hunting for a decent board.

The new board is almost 19 inches wide.  While it's shorter than usual by about five inches, it has a sturdy pull-out section for the iron that makes up for the length.  My last board had a skimpy metal piece to hold the iron that broke off within a month.  Note the lovely ripply hanging bars on each side for ironed things.  Also, you can see there is a shelf underneath in the top photo.  The padding is nice and thick, too.

 

The metal piece for hold the iron cord actually works, too.   I've never had one of those before.

Price of the new toy:  $49.  Considering that the last board cost around $30 and needed extra padding immediately, this seems like a bargain.

I ironed a couple of shirts to see if the extra width would make smaller areas more difficult but didn't notice any difference.  Well, actually I noticed that I could move the shirts around without the iron shimmying even when I left it upright on the board.  Those extra inches of width should also make ironing large pieces of fabric easier, too. 

(As I was writing this, I was thinking that getting this excited over an ironing board may mean that I need to get out more.  That was quickly followed by the thought that I could go to the fabric store!  You know you're addicted to fabric when...)

Have You Made Yarn Dryer Balls?

 Update: Making these with more expensive yarn that supposedly had longer fibers did not eliminate the pilling at all.  I tried removing the pills as they formed on the balls, but they came back quickly.  I tried not taking the pills off which worked for a time.  At about the nine-month mark, however, the pills started coming off and sticking to my clothes.   What a pain having to pick these off a load of laundry!  Had I not been doing the "de-pilling" early on, that would probably have happened sooner. I don't think these are work the expense, time, and effort in the long run. 

You know the ones that you make from rolling a ball of wool yarn and felting it in the washer and dryer? I did and I like them because they:

•  Really do eliminate static cling--unless you really over-dry the clothing
•  Keep the wrinkling down
•  Save money.  (There is the initial cost of the yarn, but these have got to last a really long time.  What can happen to them?  With dryer sheets you have the ongoing expense and contribute to the "we are making too much garbage" problem.)
• Make less noise than the rubber balls.  The rubber dryer balls you find in the detergent section made too much noise for me.  Five minutes and they hit the garbage can. These yarn balls make some noise, but it's well within my range of acceptable.

The one downside for me can be seen in this photo.  They pilled. 

I was expecting to have this gorgeous bowl of felted yarn balls on my dryer--decorative AND useful.  These stay in the dryer instead.  It could be the yarn I used which was the only fully wool one available at Joann's.  After this happened, I read up on wool yarn and found that some wool yarns are made from shorter fibers.  Shorter fiber wool yarn may pill. Supposedly this stops after a while.  I've been picking the pilled material off these balls for a month, but they continue to form new ones.  All things considered, this is a small downside.

Some people said the balls decreased their drying time.  I have not found this to be true for me at all. I found no change at all for anything from lightweight items to towels.

After seeing another blog post with this bowl of pristine felted yarn balls, though, I have dryer ball envy.  I'm going to try this again.  I LOVED that bowl of beautiful felted yarn balls in muted matching hues!  I've been looking online for wool with longer fibers that doesn't cost a fortune.  Turns out wool yarn is not cheap!  I'm also going to try rolling the yarn more loosely.  I didn't roll my yarn tight, but it was definitely not loose at all.  Now I'm wondering if the looser rolling might increase felting and cause the balls to be even less noisy.     I'll let you know.

Better Nursing Home Bibs

Have you seen the bibs used in nursing homes?  All the ones I've seen are giant imitations of baby bibs of white terry cloth.  Serviceable?  Yes, but many people find them demeaning.  It's hard enough to be ill or disabled (or ill AND disabled) without being made to feel a bit foolish three times a day.  I made these for my mother as an alternative. 

Actually I made quite a few of these so there would be enough for at least 3 meals a day for a week.  If you're lucky enough to have your relative at home, you would not need so many.  Rather than looking like bibs, they look like aprons.  I used a basic apron design with slight modifications.  There is no need for waist ties which would be a pain to tie anyway.  It just needs to fit the neck area, wide enough to cover the chest and lap area, and long enough to cover the lap when seated. 

The neck area is adjustable with D-rings on mine so that can easily be slipped over the head and tightened up to fit when needed.

I put up a hook so that all the aprons could hung by this neck strap--easy way to keep them together and handy. 

These pics are to give an idea of how they fit.  (Since I'm the model and the photographer, I finally have an excuse for my amateur quality shots.)

You get the idea, right?

This is a pic of the basic design I used.

I cut out a pattern from the purple paper.  I used cotton early on but think that synthetics are more effective for easy washing and no ironing.  (Yes, I still use an iron for things other than sewing.  Am I alone in that?)  I have napkins from a synthetic blend I've been using for at least three years now that I love.  While they may not be quite as absorbent as cotton or terry, they work more than well enough, don't hold stains, and come out of the dryer wrinkle free.

I made mine from two pieces of fabric sewn right sides together leaving an opening for turning.  Don't forget to pin the straps in place!  If spilling liquids are a bigger issue, you might want to use a terry on one side or as a lining down the center. 

Some things I learned along the way:

• Use busy prints so that possible stains are not as much of an issue.
• Use two different fabrics on each side.  It's reversible!
• In addition to top stitching about a quarter of an inch in all the way around the edge once it's turned right side out, sew in a design or two in the center, or just straight lines to hold the fabrics together.  I used a heart design on this one.

I also embroidered my mother's name on hers because things have a way of getting lost in nursing homes.  I feel like I'm dealing with school-aged kids again!

She got a kick out of having her name embroidered, too.

No need to leave the guys out.  Just use some fabrics such as these.

It's so often difficult to adjust to being in a  nursing home.  This may be one small way to make it a bit more tolerable.

The relatives are arrive in less than an hour!  Must get to work.

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Can A Television Ever Be Too Big?

I'm been whining about the television in my bedroom for a long time.  Too small!  I couldn't do foreign films because I couldn't read the subtitles.  Most annoying.  My lovely husband was listening.  Merry Christmas to me!

It's hard to see here, but this 55-inch screen takes up practically the entire top of my dresser.  Overkill?  Maybe.  Does it look ridiculous?  Even I think it look a bit silly.  However, when I watch Morning Joe now, I feel like I'm sitting right there at the table with them.  I find myself talking right along with Mika and Joe.  (I never said I was normal.)  I can definitely see the subtitles now.  I'm going with no on the "can a television every be too big" question.

Hi You All! Want to See a Rather Eerie Pillow?

So I stopped back because I dearly miss blogging and found that me last post about stopping the blog is missing.  I can't find it anywhere!  Kind of weird, yet fitting.

Two things have happened here.  First, life is calming down considerably with my mother's nursing home issues.  This have given me more time for the second thing, getting back to crafting.  Every time I finish something, I really want to share it with other crafty people.  Hence, my absolute need return to blogging.  I missed you guys!

While everyone was making cute Christmas stuff, I was playing with eyeballs to make this guy. 

I saw the idea for making the eyes on one blog (wish I could remember which one) and traveled among countless others trying to figure out just how someone with zero artistic ability could pull this off.

Set #1--quite happy with this set

Set #2--not so happy with this set

The center, where the iris is located, is concave.  After painting, I poured jewelry resin in this area.  It was supposed to stay in that area.  The rest of the eye would have varnish to get that shiny look. My resin overflowed covering the whole thing.  That works, too, though, and eliminates the need for varnish.  Here's a pic that kind of shows the reservoir of resin (I think or hope it does anyway). 

That shine gives a great glassy-eye stare.

After finishing this project, I saw that someone else photocopies irises and then cuts and pastes them on the baked polymer.  I just might give that a try next.

So the creature is presently guarding my house and creeping out visitors who suddenly notice that the pillow is staring at them.

Hope you all had a great Hanukkah (or Chanukah  if you prefer that spelling) or Christmas! 

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Look Who I Met in The Hundred Acre Wood

The Hundred Acre Wood Brian and I were hiking through is in Malta, New York.  No chance of meeting a bear, let alone Pooh Bear, there!  We did meet this guy.

 I only had my lowly 2 megapixel phone camera, but his coloring is so unusual for around here that I wanted to show him off!   I've never seen one this with so much yellow before.

There were a couple of feisty dogs racing around, so I moved him off the path

This is the only photo of the toadstools that came out well enough to share.  I love how it is practically turning into petals.  There were more different kinds of toadstools and tree fungus there than I've ever seen in one place before.  I am SO looking forward to getting back up there later this week with a better camera.  Maybe I'll even see that turtle again.  Probably not, but one can hope!