Santa Cookie Plate and Christmas Ornaments

 I decided this morning that I've put off posting long enough.  Things happen and I just can't get in the mood to post... what kind of nonsense is that???  lol  Anyway, I got up this morning at 5:15am and decided I needed to do something besides sit in my chair.

I found this cute dough roller at the Dollar Store the other day for $1.59...lol  I knew it was not going to be "professionally finished"... more like raw wood.  But I love it anyway.  And...a sweet friend of mine brought me some air dry clay a few days ago...sooo ... this morning turned out to be "the" morning.  

I'm sure that if I make a few dozen more Santa Cookie Plates and Christmas ornaments I may get good at keeping the thickness uniform,  but that's definitely not the case today.

I have about 5 pounds of Air Dry Clay around here somewhere..put away where I can "always" find it..just can't find it today..sigh  Or last week or the week before .. or any time I've spent hours looking for it. 

But I am truly enjoying this idea. Last year at Christmas, I dehydrated oranges to hang on my tree.  I will do the same thing this year because I truly loved the stained glass look of them glistening on the tree.  

What I didn't realize when this bright idea struck was...those beautiful little flowers...get clay stuck in them.  Then you spend 1/2 hour with a toothpick and a good light to clean them out! However, I find that it's worth the time.  And.. if you spray it with your Pam cooking spray it doesn't stick.  But.. I'll have to tell you later whether the oily spray caused problems in the drying process...fingers crossed here. 

Now comes the hard part...waiting for them to dry.  I'm sure I'll wait at least 2 days before I start painting them.  I used the screw on lid from my canning jars for the circles.  I just cut the pear (that was supposed to be a bell until I realized I liked the pear) using a sharp paring knife.  And that little bitty thing on the right center is just a blob of clay with my thumbprint in it.  

(Have you ever thought about the fact that we have no idea what our grandparents hands looked like except in memory?)

I'm considering making a set of these for each of our children.  I would like to think that all my grandchildren would have at least one thing that is personal to me...whether it be something hand written, a Christmas ornament, a thumbprint, a book mark, a painting..whatever. 

It's been wonderfully cool here in SW Oklahoma for the past few days.  However...we are still waiting for appreciable rain.  If it doesn't rain soon, I'll have to water the mint and get the rest of it harvested and dried so I'll have winter tea.  I'm not sure how to shut down the sage for winter...harvest it all but a few or just cut the stem down and water it good for the winter... hmm.. must ask Barbara. 

Have a good day today.  Keep your loved ones close and try to spend at least a few minutes today doing exactly what you WANT to do instead of all those things we HAVE to do each day.  Hugs...

September 2006... Crocheted Slipper Patterns

I was wandering back through my old Fabric Follies blog from September of 2006 and came across a pattern that I have used several times over the years. It bears re-posting since it's coming soon...ta da... the Holiday Season!

These easy and quick house slippers are a great stocking stuffer.  They are called Abi's Slippers and the crocheted pattern for them is on her website.. Crotiques.com .  Hers do not show a tie, but I found that with the kind of yarn that I used the slippers were a little too stretchy and required a little help to stay on my feet. (Never let it be said that I would just crochet them a little big...;o)

I found another pattern in my look back to 2006.  It's one that I came up with in an effort to re-do some slippers that I had years ago.  I'm not sure it's exactly the same, but I liked them anyway.  Here's the original blog post from September 2006.  And here's the pattern.  (This pair is truly ugly, but I got that Homespun yarn at the thrift store...tons of it for about $2.00 and I thought I would never get it all used up. ;o)

Well...that's my "Blast from the Past" for today.. ;o)  I think I'll start doing this more often just to see what's been happening over the years..

Have a wonderful day.  They say our 100° days will be back soon, so I'm going to enjoy these cooler days while I can.. ;o)

Kitchen Towel Holder Pattern

I was wandering the web the other day looking at some of my favorite craft sites and came across a pattern for something almost like this.  For the life of me I cannot remember where it was.. sigh  If any of you know where to find that pattern, please let me know and I will give the author of that post the credit she deserves.

I did make one change to the pattern, but this one is almost completely the same...

What I needed:

1 metal clothes hanger
Cotton yarn ... I used Sugar and Cream Cotton  Yarn by Lily but this pattern would work with acrylic or wool in either sport or worsted weight
Crochet Hook  size I

The first thing I did was have my DH cut a metal clothes hanger to a length of approx. 10 inches.  Then we curled the 10 inch length into a circle with the ends overlapping about 1 inch.  I used tape to hold the ends together.

Row 1:  Starting anywhere on the circle, attach the yarn.  SC as many stitches around  the metal circle as it takes to hide the metal circle. Join with a slip stitch to first sc.

Row 2:  Ch 1, sc in same stitch and in each sc around the circle.  Join last sc with a sl st to first sc of round.  Ch 1, turn,

Row 3: sc in same stitch, sc in next 11sc,  ch 1, turn.

Row 4 thru 14: , sc in same stitch, sc in next 11 sc,  ch1, turn,

Row 15: sc in same stitch,  sc in next 4 sc, ch 2, skip next 2 sc, sc in next 5 sc, ch 1, turn, (The skip 2 sc and the 2 ch stitches make your buttonhole.)

Row 15: sc in same st, sc in next 11 st, ch 1, turn,

Row 16:  sc in same st, sc in next 11 st. ch 1, but do not turn.
 Now sc in each stitch completely around the piece.  Fasten off.

I used a button about 1" across.  Fold the top of the piece down until it just touches the circle.  Find the button hole and use that as a guide to place your button.  Sew the button on using either the same yarn as what was used in the piece or any sewing thread that you like.

Now sit back and enjoy your Kitchen Towel Holder.. ;o)

This is a really quick project.  This was crocheted in about an hour last night while watching tv.  I hope you enjoy it.  It would make great quick gifts for Christmas... throw in a couple of kitchen towels, a few hand knitted dish cloths and there ya' go.. ;o)

The summer sun is still hanging in there giving up 100+ temps every day.  Even the birds get all their running around done in the morning or evening..

Have much to do today... Hope your day is good and that you are staying cool.. ;o)

Saturday Craft Day at the Museum

Today was Craft Saturday at the Red River Historical Museum. This was my second time to go and it's fun each time. Today we painted these precious Christmas spoons that can be hung on the tree or used in any decorations you want. Aren't they adorable! I am terrible with names or I would tell you who the instructor was..lol I know her first name was Debbie and she was great.

County Fair Time

This weekend was the County Fair. We went on Sunday thinking the crowd would be a little less. If this is the crowd on Sunday, I'm certainly glad we waited...lol And this is within 30 minutes of opening time. By the time we left about 45 minutes later the parking area was completely full and this open space in the front of the pic was no longer there. And people still coming..lol

The Arts and Crafts entries were the complete reason we went...well...the reason I went..lol DH went because I wanted to go...you know how it is...

I loved this quilt. The color selections alone made it one of my favorites, but the workmanship was wonderful. This quilt won Best of Show.

This Sunbonnet Sue with the Irish Chain was the one I really would have stuffed in my purse to take home with me...lol Something inherently innocent about this quilt that just makes me love it....

As a hanky lover, this immediately caught my eye. What a creative way to showcase antique hankies! And what lovely embroidery work!

There were many quilts shown. So many quilts and not enough wall room. There's one thing about it... we have some very talented quilters in the area. The blue quilt in the center was, of course, DH's favorite. I liked the brightly colored Christmas quilt on the left. These are the ones we voted for for People's Choice. But the fact is...there were so many wonderful quilts that just being there and seeing them all was inspiration personified....

Crayola Cows...

My DH handed me an article that he copied from our online newspaper the other day. It seems that the Red River Museum has monthly Craft Days and of course I had to go.

This one was about using Crayolas to color and then heat set pictures on a fabric ... It is not a new thing to me since I have known about it since grade school, but most of the women in the class with me had never heard of it. I think it is a wonderful way to come up with personalized and unique quilts and pillows.... even designs on clothing. Once heat set, the colors do not fade and do not come out.

The class was warm and fun. The ladies were welcoming and gracious and I will be doing this again. ;o) As for the museum, it is well worth spending some time browsing their displays.