Smocked dress-Crafting 365, Day 213

Smocked dress-Crafting 365, Day 213, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

This is a little treasure my Mother left behind...a hand smocked dress. It appears that she made this and never finished it because there weren't any buttons or snaps to close the back neck and the bottom of the dress wasn't hemmed.(though on closer inspection it appears as if it was hemmed at one time, very long though). That's remedied now because I spent the morning putting 5 little snaps on the back and shortening/hemming the dress. Here's a photo of the back of the dress. The smocking is just incredible.

I'm visiting my son and daughter in law in California, so this little gem is being left behind for my expected granddaughter. I drove about 950 miles over two days to arrive here with the bassinet and a collection of baby gifts. The baby is due in early August and I'll be back shortly after (by air this time) to visit the new arrival.

Diaper Bag #2, Tutorial promised-Crafting 365/ Day 208

Fabric for Diaper bag-Crafting 365/ Day 208, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

In July, I made my first diaper bag and gave it as a shower gift. It was immensely popular with all in attendance and the recipient. I've decided to make a "new imrpoved" version for my daughter in law. This time I promise to write down how I am making the bag so you can make one too, if desired.

So far, I have all (or most, depending on if I make changes as I go) of the pieces cut out. The main bag is light blue denim with a yellow pocket and sides and a Hawaiian floral lining. I'll post progress and when I'm finished, the instructions so check back.

PS I posted a new "quotable quote" on the right hand side of my blog. According to my web research, Jane Wagner (born on February 2, 1935) is an American writer, director and producer. Wagner is best known as Lily Tomlin's comedy writer, and collaborator. She is the author of The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and The Incredible Shrinking Woman.

PS 8/17/08, I am sorry I never got my tutorial together for the diaper bag.  I just didn't get the good photos that I needed. Perhaps when I get around to making another one. 

A New Use for Your Thumb-Crafting 365/Day 207

Bag with flap-Crafting 365/Day 207, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

I felted my newest bag and was a bit surprised at how much it shrunk from the original size. Compare to the photos below pre-felting.


I may have left it in the washer a wee bit too long. It was made from Patton's Wool which seems to felt almost too easily. I'm contemplating whether to embellish this purse by embroidering something on the dark brown portion. Any opinions?

My most exciting discovery of the day came when I was contemplating buying a ball winder for winding center pull balls of yarn. I saw one on Ebay that I almost bid on. I'd love to have an old wooden one though I've also checked out the new plastic ones which run about $40-$50 which I am sure are functional, but ugly.
Anyway, as I was Googling "ball winder" I found instructions for making a center pull ball using only your thumb! And it worked....here is my first attempt. So, I can no longer say I need one of those contraptions. (though if I find a cool old wooden one, I may still have to buy it). Here is a link to the instructions for using your thumb. Thanks, Ariadne!
http://www.ariadneknits.com/blog/?p=62

Tutorial: making simple items using recycled sweaters

This week's theme for the Etsy Bloggers carnival is tutorials. I thought I would write up instructions for making some simple little items from fulled (felted) wool sweaters. Check out all the other Etsy Bloggers tutorial posts starting Monday, May 26. (There is a link in the widget on the right side of my blog which takes you to the weekly Blogger's carnival).

1. Selecting the materials to use: Start with a wool sweater that you accidentally shrunk in the washing machine. Doesn't everyone have at least one of these? if you already gave your shrunken sweaters away, go to the thrift store or your closet and find an old 100% wool sweater that has a design you like (or several...I have a closet full of them!) and you want to use for this project.

2. Felting in Your Washing Machine: If your sweater is already felted (you can't see individual stitches/holes), you can skip this step. Place your sweater in a zippered pillowcase or zippered washing bag (this will save your washer and make mess less).Use the lowest water setting on your washer and add the hottest water and a small amount (1/8 cup or so) of detergent. Add a pair of old jeans or tennis balls (I add 12 tennis balls and one pair of jeans usually) and run the washer, checking every 5 minutes or so to check for felting. It can take as long as a couple of washing cycles or as little as 5 minutes until "done". I like to take the item(s) out before the spin cycle is finished (just get a majority of the water out) because that tends to create wrinkles.

3. Drying your felted sweater: Hang you felted sweater on a hanger and put outside to dry--or inside if it's still cold and rainy like it is in Idaho (it will just take longer). You can also lay it flat on a towel, but it will take even longer to dry and I am not a patient person.

I suggest you resist the urge to put your sweater in the dryer as this can cause wrinkles and shrink the sweater more than you would like, but if you are really impatient you can do this and cross your fingers.

4. Make your item(s): Once your sweater is dry, use a rotary cutter or scissors to cut it in shapes to make the objects you want.

PINCUSHION: A couple of 1 1/2"strips rolled up can make a cute pincushion. I roll it really right and use a needle and thread to sew the end securely onto
the roll.

BUSINESS CARD OR CREDIT CARD CASE: Cut two rectangles about 2 1/4" by 4 1/4". Place wrong sides together and use blanket stitch and a matching (or contrasting) yarn to stitch around 3 sides and you have a card holder. Embellish with a button, embroidery, or whatever you like.

GADGET CASE: Cut two rectangles just a little larger than any gadget you want to make a cozy for. Place wrong sides together and use blanket stitch or running stitch and a matching (or contrasting) yarn to stitch around 3 sides and you have a case for your Nano,IPOD, cell phone, or what have you. The Nano case pictured above is 4 1/2" by 2 1/2" in size and I've attached a clip to the back with another small rectangle of felted wool.

Soon you will realize that you can make just about anything using a recycled wool sweater that you've felted. You can move from pincushions and card cases onto wristlets, laptop cases, and bags. If you still doubt this, check out my slide show of Crafting 365 projects on the right hand side of my blog or the items in my Etsy Shop.

Speaking of Etsy shops, I think I almost let the month go by without recognizing the Etsy Bloggers member of the month, Cozy, of a Cozy Life. I envy Cozy because she lives in Arizona, a warm place. She has a very intersting blog and a wondeful shop full of items like this beautiful scarf which is my favorite from her shop. Take the time to check this talented Etsyier out.

Bunny Sweater Completed Day 200

Bunny Sweater Completed Day 200, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

I'm in Sun Valley today for a conference. It's gorgeous here, I'm sitting overlooking the ice skating rink and watching the budding Olympic hopefuls practicing their spins and jumps. Some are as young as 6 or 8 and glide around the rink with incredible ease. I was able to take this photo outside in the sunshine with my cell phone, not the best resolution and a bit too bright, but it gives you a pretty good picture of how the sweater turned out. Someone at the conference already asked me about making one to give a new baby in brown with blue and white, so I am beginning to imagine that and I how I might improve on sweater #1.

PS May 20: I just had to replace the photo I posted with a better one now that I am home.

200 Days of Crafting 365

Wow, I made it 200 consecutive days of crafting. And I finished the Easy Bunny Pullover today. Unfortunately, I am traveling and forgot to bring my card reader so I can't download photos from my camera. I managed to take a post a poor quality photo from my cell phone to Flickr. You can check it out there, but I promise to post a better photo within a few days right here. I am doing a happy dance that I made it to day 200 of crafting. You can check out my slide show in the right margin of my blog to see all 200 photos of my crafting efforts.

Bye Bye Bunny -Crafting 365/198

Bunny sweater -Crafting 365/198, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

Here's my progress on the bunny sweater. The purple yarn is Dark Horse Fantasy and the contrasting yarns are Cotton Ease I had left over from the Moderne Baby Blanket. I am by no means an expert in using the intarsia method and I found I carried the yarn much too tight from section to section on the back of the bunny. In some places I had to cut the yarn and then weave in both ends, so it doesn't look nice and neat on the back. I'm sure there is a knack to this that I haven't yet discovered. Since it's a sweater for a 6 month old, though, I think I'll cover the back of the bunny with fabric or interfacing so there won't be loose ends to catch a baby's hand. I do think the sweater would turn out even better in the bigger sizes (the pattern is also for size 1, 2, and 4) because the bunny wouldn't be quite so prominent.

My knitting time tonight was limited as we went to see a local production of Bye Bye Birdie. The sweater will have to wait to get arms until tomorrow.

Bassinet with new ribbons-Crafting 365/196

Bassinet with new ribbons-Crafting 365/196, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

I couldn't leave well enough alone, felt like the ribbons were too short and a bit too narrow. So here is the new version. I also made two "fitted sheets" one from each fabric and I think I like the contrast of using the yellow sheet.

Now I'm done other than figuring out how I get it from Idaho to California before the grand baby arrives in August. I'm back to working on the next baby project, the Easy Bunny Pullover. I spent months looking for the right purple shade of yarn (as in the photo of the pattern) and finally settled on using some Dark Horse Fantasy. made a hat and fingerless mitts from it months ago and really love the feel of it (it's 50% acrylic and 50% nylon). I thought the white shade they hard at the LYS was "dingy/grey" looking so I'm using some leftover cream and green cotton ease for the bunny design. I love it so far. I will post a photo soon, though there are a few in progress photos in my Flickr and Ravelry if you want to go there.

Finally, I have to confess that I was NOT the winner (or even the runner up) to the knitting poetry contest that Knitty.com had. Here is my entry, since I promised to post it after the contest ended. If you didn't know about the contest, they provided a set of words from which you were to fashion a poem, and you couldn't use any of the words more than once. I must have imagined that the more words used the better the chance to win, because here is my entry:

And here are the winners:

I think I actually like the "runner up" the best, this one was chosen in part because of the clever presentation:

May is National Foster Care Month!
Every day, more than half a million children in the United States are in foster care. Isn't that number staggering?

National Foster Care Month in May provides an opportunity for people nationwide to get involved as foster parents, volunteers, mentors, employers, or in other ways. It's also an opportunity to show our appreciation for the dedication of the foster families who care for these children and youth, and the social workers who support them.

If you know a foster family, be sure and thank them or better yet offer a helping hand in some way to support what they are doing. If you've thought about fostering but haven't done it yet, contact your state or county agency that deals with foster care. If you're interested and don't know who to contact, contact me with your location and I will find out how to connect you.

Refurbished family heirloom--Finished

Preview of bassinet liner-Crafting 365/194, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

Isn't this cute fabric? I used it to make the liner for my family bassinet which I blogged about earlier. I've spent weeks researching and then repairing the wicker on this baby. I bought 2 yards each of this cute Pooh fabric...the yellow actually has little Pooh bears on it too. To constuct the cover, I took polyester crib sized batting and cut it to fit the inside of the bassinet (2 overlapping pieces) Then I cut the two fabrics to the same size and shape and with the batting on the back of one fabric, I put the two fabrics right side together and sewed all around the outside inserting a 1/2 yard length of ribbon (folded in half) every 12 inches or so. Of course I left a 6" or more section for turning it right side out. After clipping and pressing, I top stitched by machine around the edge and also from the center ribbons straight down to the bottom.

I also made a matching "fitted sheet" but cutting an oval about 5 or 6" bigger all around than the mattrress, hemming, and sewing a casing for elastic.

Successes: I love the fabric and the way it all goes together (see below for the finished product!)
Areas for improvement: I think I made the ribbons a bit too short to tie around the bassinet (I may have to fix that); and
I pulled the elastic for my "fitted sheet" a bit too tight, making it hard to get the sheet off and on.
Like with anything else, I have learned and if I were to make another bassinet set (most unlikely!) I would defintely make some adjustments.

Update on RME

A few people have contacted with me with questions about RME. So, I thought I'd add a few details. If you want to accept RME as a form of payment on Etsy, you need to put "other" as a form of payment for your shop and put a statement in your profile that alerts people that you will take RME. It's a bit like google checkout in that way.

There is a list of Etsy sellers who accept RME here.

Negative points from what I know: a little more complicated to invoice buyer and you don't get that automatic shipping link in Paypal that you can use. However, you can go here and ship without using paypal for payment, or use the USPS site to do so.

I'd love to tell you I've had a purchase with RME already, but I haven't. I actually see this as more of a plus for sellers (no Paypal fees) than it is for buyers. Although now through May 15, you get $25 for signing up. And you can spend your $25 in my or another Etsy shop...or you can ask it be transferred to your bank account and use it for something else. If it sounds too good to be true, I though so too, so I read lots of information about this new service before I decided to try it.

My referral link is just below if you would like to use it to get your $25 and also give me credit. Thanks.

Large zippered bag-Crafting 365/192

Large zippered bag-Crafting 365/192, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

My daughter is in graduate school in physical therapy and today she told me that she needed a bag to keep her tools. We looked around the house and didn't find anything suitable. So, I made a giant wristlet from lovely striped brown sweater I'd beeen saving for something special. It's 13" long, 7" wide and 2 1/2" deep. I lined it with beige cotton print and put a zipper in the top. I guess you could say it's my Mother's Day present to my daughter.

Do you RME?

A hot topic on Etsy the past few weeks is Revolution Money Exchange (RME). It is very similar to PayPal in that you can send and collect money for your handmade items. However, right now RME is offering a $25 sign-up bonus! Also, they do not have any fees, like you find with PayPal. I have checked it out pretty thoroughly and today I decided to jump in and try it. Anything to avoid paying those Paypal fees!

The $25 you get for signing up can be used in any Etsy shop that takes RME. See this list for some of the sellers...or visit my shop

Free to sign up. Quick and easy. Click on the button below to sign up and get your $25!

Spring Blooms

The EtsyBloggers Street Team Blog Carnival theme this week is "Spring Bloom". Click on the Etsy Bloggers "Featured" carnival in the Etsy bloggers widget on the right hand side of my blog check out all the bloggers on this subject.

Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


I will be the gladdest thing under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one. - Edna St. Vincent Millay

Finished objects--May 4

Cell phone and blue tooth case-Crafting 186/365, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

Mother's Gifts

Mother, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

I was pleased that this week’s theme for the Etsy Blogger’s Blog Carnival afforded me an opportunity to reflect a bit on my mother pictured above, the term “mother” and gifts to and from mothers. I’ve had a mother, been a mother, and am soon to be a first time grandmother. As I thought about this post and looked at some of the gifts I’ve received and given, a theme emerged.

Like most children do, I’m sure I gave my mother many hand-made treasures over the years, drawings and collages and projects that teachers planned for their students to give their Moms on Mother’s Day and at Christmas, items made from Popsicle sticks and cotton balls, oranges studded with cloves and tied with ribbon. I don’t believe any of mine have survived to the present but I do have a collection of things from my children that I treasure especially now that they are both “grown up” adults. Some were presents they gave me at the encouragement of their teachers and others were entirely their own creation. I have quite a collection in the family Christmas ornaments which are packed away until next December as well as creative projects retrieved from backpacks or at parent teacher conferences and back to school nights over the years.

I was perusing my children’s baby books today and found this story my son wrote in 2nd grade. It still makes me smile to read it, especially the ending. The story, titled “The Crow Who Hated His Color” is carefully stapled between two pieces of wallpaper and accompanied by a very good likeness of a crow for a second grader.

The wheat/bird cross stitch was a gift from me to my mother for Mother’s Day 1977. I was 27 years old and it was one of my first if not the first counted cross stitch I completed. Only six years later, my Mom was gone, taken by cancer. Her gifts to me include a love of creative pursuits (she did needlepoint and pettipoint, knitted, hooked rugs, did crewel embroidery, quilted, and was an expert seamstress and cook). I have her sewing machine, many of her knitting needles (in a basket made by my father), her spinning wheel, and many more reminders of her talents. Here is one of the hand made treasures from my mother:

What gifts does Mother’s Day bring to mind to you?

Happy May Day!

10: 00 am ..........................................

Happy May Day!, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

6:00 pm

Ok...so it's May 1st. I suspect many of you are outside, wearing shorts...mowing the lawn...planting flowers...and putting on your 30+ suntan lotion.

The top picture was taken this morning...May 1st!

Top right of picture will show you a splash of color...tulips that came up last week...when it was in the mid-60s. The second photo was taken at 6:00 pm today, a little closer view to show you the tulips survived.

Spring in Southeast Idaho. Bring your shorts and down parka.
(Photo and text courtesy of my friend JJ)