Festive Favors

 

 Hosting an intimate dinner tomorrow night, 

and looking ahead to Thanksgiving dinner

I felt inspired to make little tipis as favors or place settings. 

Here's the lo-down on how I made them in case 

you and your tribe of smalls need a simple, rustic adornment 

for your holiday table:  

 Materials Round Up:

Scraps of paper

Plastic lid (anything to make a large circle)

Coin (anything to make a small circle)

Medium to fine String

Scissors

Hole Punch, or Needle & Thread

Sturdy but narrow Sticks, 3 per Tipi

 On the back of your paper, trace around the plastic lid.

Center the coin and trace around it.

Draw a line from the inner to the outer circle.

 Cut the outer circle, 

then cut the straight line, 

then cut the inner circle.

 With the right side of the paper now facing you, 

spiral one of the straight edges of the paper toward the inside 

and gently keep pulling it around. It will eventually look like this.

 Using the hole punch or a sewing needle 

punch two holes, catch two layers of paper each time 

and place the holes about where shown above.

By hand or with needle & thread, bring a 3" length of string

up through both holes from the inside, 

and tie a square knot on the outside, as shown above. 

Trim string ends to desired length. 

I used dried lily stalks but any sticks about this size will do.

I used three sticks per tipi, and cut the sticks 

a little longer than the final length.

 Tie another 3" length of string around your three sticks 

about an inch from the top, wrapping the string 

one or two times around the sticks before tying a square knot.

Trim string ends so they're not visible at the top of the tipi.

Trim the bottom of the three sticks so the tipi 

sits nicely on the table.

Once you make the first tipi it won't be long before 

an entire village spreads across your table!

While I'm not using these as place cards,

printing each guest's name beneath the tipi's tie closure

would be fun. However you use your village, have a great time

making the tipis. I'd love to see pictures of your village.

Happy Thanksgiving!! 

I remain grateful for my many blessings, 

and am looking forward to my daughter 

cooking her first Thanksgiving dinner! 

How will you spend your Thanksgiving,

 and have you ever slept in a tipi?

Many Hands

Amyla on Flick'r

 For ages, human hands have been drawn to felt.

I Pinned the above picture on my Handmade Board because 

my hands, too, are drawn to felt. 

Ginny's festive felted brooch made earlier today

So, when my dear friend Tracy reached out to our 

local knit group to make felted brooches to 

benefit a local charity, I couldn't resist! 

Earlier today, a few of us met at Tracy's and set to work. 

See Ginny's gorgeous example above.

Tracy's Dining Room table was piled high with beads, 

buttons, felt, glitz & other assorted shiny bits, and we had FUN!  

The brooches will be sold at Thanksgiving time 

at our local yarn store, SpunRightRound.  

100% of the proceeds will benefit our local Library.

Melissa's stack of jewel-tone felt circles destined 

to brighten lapels every where!

As our afternoon progressed, so did our brooches. 

We all agreed that once we made a few 

our confidence grew.

                            

Worker bees, from left to right: 

Ginny, Tracy, Melissa and Kimberly. 

(Colleen and I prefer to be off stage.)

                            

Many hands make light work....Melissa's hands in this case!

One of Tracy's masterpieces!

More of Tracy's creativity: festive Poinsettias.

As brooches began to pile up, we realized 
we definitely worked up an appetite. 
Thankfully Colleen's hands had been busy earlier, 
making these delicious lattice-top cherry pies!

Once the felted brooches are put on display for sale, 
I will follow up with pictures of the whole lot!
Each one is unique, handmade and beautifully detailed. 
They will look perfect on lapels, headbands, tote bags, 
scarves, topping gifts and anything else in need of 
a little something special this winter!

I'd love to hear what other individuals or groups do 
for charitable giving. Hey, the more ideas the merrier!  

Human Rhythms

A big fan of Taproot Magazine,

I savor each issue from cover to cover.

Filled with thoughtful, uplifting articles, 

personal and enriching stories,

practical recipes and projects,

the magazine's contributors are a varied 
and talented bunch.

Pictured above is Taproot's third issue 
which includes a knitting pattern called 
"Family Mittens" by Carrie Bostick Hoge.
  
My dear friends Mary, Vickie  & I thought 
these squooshy mittens looked fun to knit.
Mary continues to teach me about the potential 
of hand spun yarn, color and texture. 
Vickie encourages me to learn 
all that I can about fleece and fibers, 
knitting & spinning techniques, 
and pairing just the right yarn and project
(a skill that still eludes me.)

No longer able to resist whipping up a pair of these 
cozy mitts, I reached into my handspun stash and found 
enough Into The Whirled merino-silk blend 
to knit a pair of the Child-Toddler size for my niece. 
I think they turned out pretty well. 
I hope my dear friends agree.

Oh! Here's my big find this week - 
The Lumineers.
Debut album released in April 2012.
On the David Letterman Show last Wednesday night.
Somehow they've slipped by my radar...until now!
Enjoy!

Wild Skies

 Wild skies put the joy in yesterday's 

spontaneous joy ride around Cayuga Lake!

 Here I was standing with my camera facing west, 

and I literally spun around facing east and took the top photo.

 

I snapped this photo a few steps away from the previous two,  

and you can see the rain burst is no where in sight. 

I saw thee full rainbows at various times traveling down Rt. 89.

One was a double rainbow, and I chose to simply 

enjoy the moment rather than try to capture it with my camera.

A glorious fall day in upstate NY, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

 During the wee morning hours before work, I knit. 

Over the course of this past week, I managed to knit up

this huggable, lovable bunny rabbit

for my one and only niece. She's almost two, 

and while she will surely have many friends in her lifetime, 

I'm hoping this little long-ear will be counted among them.

For anyone interested in whipping one up: 

Small Rabbit with Sweater 

by Debbie Bliss, "Toy Knits" 

Korean Tea

Catherine's 2008 blog post positively transformed 

my cold-weather beverage of choice  

from the classic wedge of lemon, 

slices of peeled ginger, 

cinnamon and honey 

into this one-scoop jar of gold. 

Catherine has clear (simple) instructions, 

just click on the link above.

I like using organic lemons and local honey.

With cold season already upon us, give this a try 

and let me know what you think!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

I don't want to ruin the surprise, but...

I just can't keep this secret from you until December 25th!

 This is my Christmas gift-in-the-making for my niece,

a wonderful (advanced) kit from GoingGnome.com.

Being my first dry felting and sculptural project, 

it's only right that I should load up my shoulders with 

all kinds of pressure to make something truly special, fun 

and imaginative that my niece will surely enjoy for years. Right.

 Despite my performance anxiety, I think it's turning out great! 

The kit includes all of the needles, colorful fiber and beads 

you could need, complete instructions, encouragement for 

your own creativity, and all for a very reasonable price.  

Amidst squeals of delight and a very happy heart, 

more gnomes and woodland animals are fast on their way.

After all, when it comes to gnomes "one is the loneliest number."

Did some one say, "Photo shoot!?"

Late Summer Splendor

 For me, no other quilt block says "Summer" 

like Grandmother's Garden.

 The talented hands of Darlene Aspinwall 

pieced and pressed every one of these charming blocks. 

I can't imagine the number of hours or stitches.

When I was first presented with the stack of blocks, 

I was mesmerized, speechless, and completely smitten 

with Darlene's collection of fabrics as well as her generosity. 

 The way I understand it, Darlene recently decided she wasn't 

going to do any thing more with the blocks, 

so she walked in to SpunRightRound and handed them all to Renee. 

Renee then shared them with Colleen and Tracy, 

who then passed them along to lucky me. 

We each have a piece of Darlene's magic, 

and while their original intention remains a mystery, 

I surely can't wait to see what my hands do with 

the blocks I've been gifted,

as well as what Tracy, Renee and Colleen do with theirs.

Late summer harvest pickled and put up for winter.

Click below for these 3 favorites of mine:

Pickled Green & Yellow Beans

(I substituted green beans for asparagus.)

Bread and Butter Pickles

Pickled Green Tomatoes

What Makes You Beautiful?

Creative Freedoms

(Does any one have insight about this stained glass window?)

At this time of celebrating our country's freedom, 

I felt inspired to celebrate creative freedom.
I chose three artists known for pushing the limits 
of their respective crafts, and therefore 
are leaders inspiring us to push, too.
Please click on their individual links for more 
powerful examples of their work and 
to read their exquisite stories:

Kevin Olusola

(Master Mixer) Musician

Isabelle de Borchgrave 
(Genius) Paper Artist

Dale Chihuly

(No Boundaries) Glass Artist.


While I've been away from the blog, 
I've started some exciting new work:
 hand sewn lovelies 
sandblasting
a new quilt technique  
all of which you'll spy in upcoming posts. 


Until then,
I'd love to hear about the creative freedoms 
you're expressing this summer!