Winter Whimsy Sale

Tuesday night I'm doing a fun craft show with my friend's neighborhood in Evanston, Illinois. This is a group of very talented women and the show is busy!


Usually it is held it at one of the neighbors houses, but the show has outgrown that space! This year Winter Whimsy is Tuesday, December 1 from 7-9pm at the Robert Gold Salon, 2942 Central Street, Evanston, Illinois.

I'll be selling my embroidered pouches:



Hand Dyed Crochet Flowers including red poinsettias



And a big selection of cute embroidered felt hairclips:


Come on by and say hello if you are in the area! I'm baking butterscotch brownies and there will be other refreshments too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's getting close to mealtime around here! We are just waiting for the rest of the family to arrive.



I resurrect my Grandma Nelson's favorite Bob White dishes for this special holiday. For years and years this was the holiday we spent in Iowa visiting our lovely relatives. Actually, for a long time as a child I thought only old people lived in Iowa and the kids I saw were just visiting like me.



Roasting the turkey in a bag is a great method as is having one of those thermometers you can read from the countertop. Our turkey is now resting peacefully in the kitchen awaiting the carving and gravy prep.



Enjoy this wonderful holiday!

Geekery with Quilters Interfacing

Check out my article at Craft Critique to see what I made with Quilters Interfacing. It's a really fun and easy product to use. The only hard part is trimming and ironing the seams on the back to reduce bulk.

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I also spent some time listing inventory at my Etsy shop. Click through to see some great gift ideas! I have lots of new pouches, felt hairclips, and hand dyed wool flowers.

Snowflake Crochet Pillow

I stitched this Snowflake Crochet Pillow this week. Fortunately, it isn't that cold here yet, but it's time to retire some old holiday pillows I have for some new winter decorations.



The pattern was in Crochet Today last winter, but I found the pattern online. Click HERE.



The snowflake was kind of hard. I kept getting mixed up and ripping it out until I started using the chart provided with the pattern. It took a long time to applique it onto the pillow!



Crochet Today is published by Coats so the projects are mostly using their inexpensive yarn like Red Heart acrylic or Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread. I'm coming around to the Red Heart Acrylic. It isn't nice for stuff next to your skin, but it is inexpensive, sturdy with no dye lots. It's nice for amigurumi, home dec., and scrubbers.

Sharpie Tie-Dye

You have to do this project. I saw this on Happy Things. She saw it on Steve Spangler Science.



You draw on fabric with Sharpies (I suppose you can also use other types of permanent markers. I happen to have a lot of Sharpies.) Draw a design that is at least an inch in diameter. More ink bleeds more. Drip rubbing alcohol into the center of the design and watch the ink bleed out to beautiful effect. More highly concentrated alcohol works better. Look for 70% or more concentrate at the drug store. This is probably what you already have in the cabinet.



I probably have a medicine dropper somewhere, but we just used a straw as a dropper for the rubbing alcohol. Let them dry completely. After a few minutes, we laid ours out on an old towel to dry. To set the color, they must be heat set, but be careful with the iron or the clothes dryer because alcohol is extremely flammable.



We were totally mesmerized by the process and could not stop. I had some white muslin that I cut up to use, but we used that up quick, so I also cut up an old sheet.



We had to quit when the alcohol smell got to us. My daughter already cut up some of our creations to make a card for her teacher. I think we might put some beads onto some of these and stitch them into pretty ornaments. We haven't decided. They would look great in a quilt too!



** Edit: How fun! I was contacted today by Sharpie and Steve Spangler about this project!

Gift Mascots

It was my birthday over the weekend. My daughter found a project in my felt mascot books and made this for me:

Cute! I love her running stitch in a contrasting thread! I'm wearing it on my jacket for fall. My mascot books are all in Japanese, but we aren't intimidated!

A few weeks ago I helped her make this elephant as a gift for a little sister of her close friend:

The little girl reports that she sleeps with her little blue elephant every night.

Here is the creator with her creation:

My husband and son got me some Gingher embroidery scissors and water soluble transfer pens. Husband has learned to go into JoAnns and just ask the ladies for help. He says he is totally unable to navigate the fabric, which I completely understand.

Gingher scissors are expensive, but they do seem like they are touched by a heavenly enchantment to cut fabric beautifully. I also have a nice spring green LeCrueset enamel stock pot! Yay for soup and stew!

Kawung Style Embroidery

I reviewed Dritz Mark-B-Gone Marking Pens for Craft Critique. Click HERE to read my article.

I also finished my last stitching for my Tea Towel Tour swap at Craftster. Click HERE to see our gallery. Find the "See Images Only" tab to edit out the chit-chat.

Kitten Wrangler indicated that she was interested in traditional Indonesian design so I did some research. I found mostly batik designs, but a motif I thought would translate to embroidery was this style of interlocking circles called "Kawung".



It is a beautiful loose weave linen cloth, so the circles came out very slightly wonky. Batik motifs are also imperfect, so I'm being authentic, right? I used DMC Color Variations embroidery floss for the circles. It is lovely floss! Note to family: Good Christmas gift for Susie is the multipack of Color Variations Floss.



Here is Kitten Wrangler's finished towel. Actually it is a napkin, but in this swap I call everything a towel regardless if it is an apron or something else. Click on the photo to go over to Flickr to see the labeled photo. I didn't do most of this lovely stitching!

Halloween: The Aftermath

It was cold here! My son has decided that he is too old to trick-or-treat, so he stayed in and handled the door while we watched a "scary" movie. (Poltergeist made him jump a couple times, but he declares he wasn't scared t all.)


Lots of people were out-of-town, and we live on the side of the street that gets less trick-or-treaters. I have never ever had an impolite kid come to the door. My husband took my daughter around and it seems she knows every kid in the neighborhood. She's our little extrovert in an introverted family! I let her design our doorway display. Her costume is a vampire bat styled after one of her stuffed toys. At the last minute I made the ears from some polar fleece so that she could have her chilly ears covered.
These are my stand-by costumes for my husband and me. One year my husband was a skeleton with our son. I am a candy corn, but some kids think I am a fried egg. People totally laugh at me, but I think it is fun! I got the most laughs when I went as a giant duck. That costume has deteriorated, unfortunately.

We are rationing our candy! Hope your Halloween was a fun one!