Post #29: Dumpster Diving 101 [or 11,000 projects in one?]

Dumpster Diving 101

  You can do it,
yes,
it's
fun.

Don't have room?

It doesn't matter.

You'll fit in in,
whilst you natter.

OK, enough silliness...let me tell you about the masterpiece I discovered one day shortly after my DH and our little dog Alice and I  moved into our new digs, into what we affectionately now refer to as our “cozy little cottage on the water.” I was taking my dog for a walk one bright, sunny afternoon...no, that isn't entirely accurate...SHE was taking me for an exercise walk, when right next to the trash dumpster I spotted a painting.

Alice, my personal trainer on a string

As Alice and I approached through the parking lot to get a closer look, my mind did all those funny things it does, all those thoughts popping into my head in rapid-fire succession, all seemingly in a nanosecond...wow...I love the colors...I wonder who threw this away?...how sad that it has a gash in it...I wonder if that was accidental or not...was it thrown away by the artist or by someone else?...as I glanced around: I wonder if anyone is watching...who cares?...we just moved in, no one here knows us...should I take it home?...where will I put it?...I'm a freaking nut...what will DH say?...nah, that's not an issue, after 16 plus years of wedded bliss, he already knows I'm nuts...will they put me on hoarders?...wow...I can cut it down and salvage the good parts as a smaller painting...and use some of it to add color and texture to a gourd purse I'm working on...I can use other bits of it to...well, I shan't tell you folks ALL of my thoughts, now, huh? But I can tell you that I have plans, lots of plans, for this piece of one-man's-trash is truly this-woman's-treasure.

Now this is no small thing, this acrylic-painting-found-by-the-dumpster on a bright day, measuring 3 feet 4 inches tall and a full 5 feet wide. Did I mention that our cozy little cottage on the water is a teeny-tiny place? No worries, I can always make room for free and interesting crafting materials, so with Alice in tow I proudly carried that five-foot-long painting through the parking lot to our humble yet cozy little cottage on the water. I can always make room for more color. Someone else might have seen trash; I see raw material for a lot more UFO's. Smile.

Finding peace in creativity,

Meryl

Post #23: A dog, a tent and some pillows on Pinterest

     A while back a friend of mine turned me on to the sights, delights, and sometimes frights of Pinterest. Well, I sometimes hesitate to call her a friend, (just kidding), at least in those moments when it seems I can get nothing done because I've wasted half of a perfectly good afternoon doing absolutely nothing but perusing those very same sights, delights, and yes, even the frights, on whichever electronic doodad my hands and eyes seem to be attached to at that particular moment, provided, of course, that they are not full of fiber and beads and wire and whatnot.
     But a tirade about the ins and outs, woes and fros of the internet universe are not what I came here to share, so let me, albeit finally, get right to it. This is really about one of my 10ThousandProjects. What I stumbled upon on one of those afternoons was something that I subsequently did "Pin" to a board so I could reference it later. It was something that I am sure brought about one of those "V-8 smack-in-the-forehead moments" to many because it is soooooo simple I can hardly believe I've never thought of this myself.

     DH and I have no little ones running around, except four-legged little Alice, so the sleepover cushion idea shown in the picture was not my thing, but I could imagine how comfy they might be if you folded them to fit your needs,  to sit on the floor and lean back against the sofa, for instance. We could use these for extra floor seating while watching TV or sitting around with friends, knitting and relaxing.

     In case you are new to this blog, now's your chance to Meet Alice. 

Oh, did I mention that she likes to burrow? 

     Yes, she's in there. Under there. The truth is, we are one or two Ragg Quilts short for all the rooms in our house, so we have to keep moving them around to accommodate her. She's a riot, a regular riot, kind of like Alice Kramden from "The Honeymooners," although we're not too crazy about Ralph Kramden, because all he did was scream at everybody all the time, but that's a whole other subject; but my Alice, yes, she is a riot.  If her quilt is not on the couch at the appointed moment she will dig at the cushions to get underneath them. The only problem is the cushions are fully attached, so I am always alert and somehow manage to bring her a "blankie" right when she needs it. 

     Well, back to the pillows. So, a month or two or three go by, I really don't know how long since I saw the pillows-sewn-together-on-Pinterest. I'm still in my cleaning out phase which began in the forced winter fibernation of 2012, and I'm reaching into the back of the guest bedroom closet, waaaay in the back, all the way to the right, under and behind the clothes hanging there, faaaar out of sight, barely within reach of the pads of my fingertips, so much so that I have to go get a broom to assist or risk knocking all of the clothes off their hangers, and then, finally, (yes!), with a stretch, there, I've got it...it's a small black suitcase, and it is FULL and fully zipped up. 

     Wow! Just what was inside? This thing is pretty heavy for its size. Maybe there was something really special in here, some long-lost treasure I had forgotten about, or maybe just something small...like maybe a winning lottery ticket! Yeah, that's the ticket! (Well, a girl can dream, can't she)? Well, as it turned out, I had hit the jackpot, a HUGE jackpot, in fact! I had just hit the Pillowcase Bonanza! I must say it was really strange to find these at this time, after seeing the pillows-sewn-together-on-Pinterest so recently, since the pillowcases had been packed in that suitcase for a period of time that exceeded 6 years and had survived many moves during that time without ever once being opened. 

     So, I got out all of the pillowcases, washed and dried them, chose the ones I wanted to use, sewed them together (easiest project ever!), filled all five pillowcases with five pillows, respectively, and folded the whole thing up in the corner of the living room where it sat for a while.

   One day I was in the room designated as my "office" when Alice came in and couldn't find a place to park herself near her "mommy" so I got up to get her a quilt. Well, you know the rest...no sooner did I bring it into my office than she took permanent possession of what I now refer to as the "Pillow-Tent." This simple, silly little project turned out to be like the "Castro Convertible" of dog beds. As long as I leave it folded over itself, she now has a daybed if she lays on top, and for those times when she wants it a little darker to get a better nap, she climbs right in between the two layers of pillows. If Fido was Queen of the Pillows, then surely Alice does reign supreme as Queen of the Tents, don't you think? 

Alice is in there, comfy as can be. She's just happy to be near her mommy.

See, there she is.

The Convertible Pillow-Tent works double-duty.

Finding peace in creativity,

Meryl

Post #21: Holly Berries for St. Patty's Day & Me, NOT Stuck in the Middle

   Here is a preview of a project I've been working on for Holly Berry, who is the medium-sized dog companion of a very talented fiber friend. If you've read my earlier posts you've probably seen some of my dear Alice's embellished collars that I've made for her. One day while at one of the four fiber-art-related groups I attend regularly, I felt the impulse to ask this friend what size her dog's neck was and if she had any old collars lying around that she could spare...and would she mind if I either built a new collar on top of it or took it apart to reuse the hardware? Of course, she said yes, brought it the following week, and I've been working on it (on & off) ever since.
   I recently started on this new jaunt in this, the middle of my middle-ish decade, nearing the center of what some would term my double-nickle year, that time which struck fear and horror on the faces of some who have gone before me, but, not me..oh, no. For me, it only brings a sense of boldness, of testing the waters, and I find myself signing myself up to do things that I may have time or inclination to do...or not. But I sign up to do it anyway. I question myself. But I do it anyway. What I'm referring to is deliberately following my instincts...listening to the spirit within me...going with my gut...leading with my heart...call it what you will I try hard, well, that's not exactly right...I relax into not second-guessing myself. Maybe deliberately wasn't exactly the right word, but then again, maybe it was, given all my past conditioning to "go against my gut." Anyway, many times these days I don't quench what I feel led to do, and boy, it feels great! I simply go ahead and make the commitment, not really knowing the direction this will lead.
   That's quite a switch for a former manufacturing planner and scheduler who had to know every last detail ahead of time and have everything worked out in advance. All of my boxes had to line up, my numbers had to add up, my squares had to be filled in, the lines had to be straight, etc. Then, wouldn't you know it? I decided to try quilting some years ago, and I loved it. It was the late-90's and I was sewing quilt tops on a machine and doing some hand quilting and some machine quilting, but mostly on the machine. It was so anal-retentive and precise, all of the lines were so neat and the measurements were so like my old planner job. Really, I'm not kidding. But I honestly have loosened up (ever so slightly, but I feel the top is about to blow off the volcano any second), and I'm enjoying my newly found playtime. All of the tight rules of perfection have boxed me in too closely and it is time to color out of the lines a bit. I NEVER did that as a child. It's about time I did. However, I don't wish to abandon all the rules, for they do have their right and just place in our physical world, for what good would any collar be to Holly Berry if it was only 10" long, even if it was the prettiest collar in the land? I promise, Holly Berry's new collar is the specified 15-1/2" from buckle-tip to  buckle-tip.
   The only problem my freedom has created is that now I tend to have an even harder time making decisions, always changing my mind, auditioning different colors and materials, trying new techniques. It seems I've gone from one extreme to the other. But I am also learning to be more patient with myself in the process, and that ain't so bad either. Maybe my rubber band will bounce back toward the middle again. Haha, the middle, kind of like me!

In these first nine photos, the top collar was her original collar. Of the other items, only the blue leather, the cream leather braid, and some of the crochet made it into the final collar, which is now complete. I will post pictures very soon; I just don't feel I should post them here until after Holly Berry and her faithful fiber-lovin' companion have seen it first.

Finding peace in creativity,

Meryl

Post # 20: A Happy Bear Heads Off to California!

A bear bearing gifts: (that sounds redundant)!

This is the hand-knit and machine-felted bear that I recently completed as a gift for the soon-to-be-born recently born baby boy of my dear hubby's brother and his wife. I had lots of fun making it.

Now, Dear Hubby (DH) has a boatload of siblings (3 brothers and 3 sisters) and all but one live out on the west coast, and I'm not referring to our lovely gulf coast of Florida, but that far-far-away land of Cali-for-Ni-A. The distance makes it very difficult for us to see them too often, which is a real shame. Thank goodness for the advances in technology and the internet so we get to experience, at least through texts and emails and photographs some of the good things that happen all the way across the country, and also on the other side of the globe.

Brother #2 married a beautiful woman from Vietnam, and some time later when I heard they were expecting a little one, I knew I wanted to knit something for the baby. I am a huge fan of Cat Bordhi, who is a well-known knitting designer. On her website I found a pattern for Baby Life Ring Socks made with yarn that has some elastic in it. I had never knit with that type of yarn before, so I thought it might be interesting to try. I went out to a local yarn shop and was told they no longer carried that type of yarn, and I was quite disappointed, but then the person helping me said that there just might be some on the clearance rack. Well, I guess these socks were meant to be, and I bought the yarn, and started knitting them that very day. I loved making them. The pattern was so easy to follow. You can find it here if you'd like to make some:
http://catbordhi.com/patterns/baby-life-ring-socks-free-pattern/

I love the way they came out, even if they do look a little big, I'm sure the little guy will grow and be able to wear them at some point. The life ring style of the leg part of the sock can be scrunched together or pulled up like knee-highs, but that type of design along with the elastic in the yarn will help to keep them on the baby's feet. Now, Bro #2, cute as he is, thinks they make great ear-warmers!

 

I then wanted to knit something else for the lucky child to be born to these nice people. But what should that be? I started to go through all of my books and patterns and as soon as I saw this book on the shelf I knew I had found it. A few years ago my dear friend Linda gave me a book for my birthday, “Knit One, Felt Two” by Kathleen Taylor. You can see the author's version of the striped bear on the front cover picture below:

 I did not want to use traditional colors; I knew that the baby was to be a boy; I wanted good contrast between the colors as babies need visual stimulation, so I set about searching in my yarn stash to come up with a combination that I found pleasing. As I was knitting I kept going back and forth from liking my choice to questioning whether it was okay, but now I am really pleased with the result. I especially like that it is not in the traditional primary colors or baby colors.

It is knit in pure wool on large needles, (which is why it looks a little messy at this point) so that there is space between the stitches. This allows room for the fibers to rub against and grab onto each other during the felting process.

Below you see all of the pieces are knitted, ready to be machine-felted. I am fortunate to have an old-style top-loading agitator washing machine, which makes it very easy to felt these projects. I simply put the pieces in the washer with some towels, a little bit of soap, and using a hot wash and cool rinse, let her run.

 Being a top-loader, I can stop the machine every so often to pull out the pieces and check for the amount of  felting and shrinkage. Different types of natural fibers as well as yarn from different manufacturers can felt and/or shrink at varying rates, so it is a good idea to check frequently or you run the risk of having a very tiny bear when you may have only desired a slightly small bear. You'll notice that the piece for the ear on the right shrunk up smaller than the other ear. I ended up really having to stretch and pull and tug on it when I was shaping it to attach and sew the bear together to make it look right. In this case it wasn't a big problem, but on some other project it may be more important for everything to be just the right size. If you don't check your felting during the process you may end up having to make some parts over again. It's better to take the time to check along the way. Similar to Norm Abrams' old saying "Measure twice, cut once." In other words, better safe than sorry.

After the pieces are felted, they are rolled in a towel, blotted, reshaped, and then allowed to air dry completely. Then I stuffed it with fiberfill and sewed the pieces together. The finishing touches were to embroider the eyes, nose, and mouth, add a few french knots in lieu of buttons (for a baby I didn't want to add anything that could come off), and of course, he needed a nice ribbon around his neck.

Bro #2 and his lovely bride. They are so happy!

 

 Samuel came into this world healthy and happy just one week ago today.

What a beautiful baby (and mother, too)! So exciting. It's no wonder the little bear is smiling!

Finding peace in creativity,

Meryl

Post # 19: Fido's Ill-Fitting Furry Sweater and a Lumpy Bumpy Quilt

    
Sometimes it's good to be a hoarder. Really. Not the reality TV, over-the-top, jaw-dropping, eye-popping, gross-you-out sort of hoarding, not that kind, oh no! What I refer to instead is the good kind of hoarding, the kind where you have something you know you don't need, can't use, it simply doesn't work, yet for some unknown reason, you do not get rid of it, whatever the thing might happen to be.Then somehow, sometime later, it turns out there was a good reason to keep the item after all...a happy ending of sorts. That's what happened with these two things I made for our dog, Fido, a long time ago.

     When I first started knitting I went online and found this dog sweater pattern because Fido needed a new sweater. I chose this particular pattern because it seemed like the easiest and that was the scale by which I measured which project I should attempt, I was so new to knitting. It is a Lion Brand pattern and you can find it here: http://lionbrand.com/patterns/kff-dogSweater.html
This is the photo they provide, which shows up very nicely. It's a bit easier to see than in my photos with the black-on-black (not to mention my slow-to-improve photography skills). I used the Lion Brand Fun Fur and other Lion Brand yarn recommended in the pattern.

I have been unable to locate a picture of Fido in that darn sweater. It was huge on her. All I can tell you is she looked like a sad, soft, procupine or an overgrown hedgehog. Here's a picture of Fido in another outfit just to remind you of her sweet face. If I come across a pic of her in that sweater later I'll post it. That was one good dog. I surely do miss her.

Now, Fido was a much better model for the camera than Alice, but what do want for nothin' - your money back? It's almost as though she has stage fright, it's funny. I dug the sweater out of Fido's dog box, tried it on Alice, and it fit like it was custom-made for her. I'm so glad I didn't get rid of it. One time about a year ago I actually almost turned it into a purse, but then some life event came along or some other project or distraction, and it got stuck back in the dog box for, hmmmm, let me see, 5 or 6 more years.

 Alice seems to be saying, "Come on, mom, just take the picture already." What the pictures don't show is how excited she gets when I begin to put a sweater or a new collar on her. She really acts like she loves to wear the stuff, but she just isn't very cooperative about posing.

     The flannel "biscuit" quilt that I made especially for Fido was also a dud of a gift for her. I made it in a class and it took a lot of time and effort. It was one of those pain in the a-- type projects that you really like at the time but swear you'll never do another one when it is finished.

      Each little puffed up biscuit is stuffed individually and when it was new it was pretty lumpy and bumpy, much more so than it is now. Fido, who was nicknamed Queen of the Pillows, refused to lay on it, and she would normally lay on anything that had a little bit of cushion to it. I guess it was just a little too lumpy for her missy prissy ways. Kind of like the princess and the pea.

      Over the last ten years it has spent time as a bath mat, a bedside rug, and mostly as a decoration inside a box inside my closet. During my winter fibernation and cleaning out of the cobwebs from my craft supplies and my mind, I came across it and draped it across this ottoman. Alice has adopted it as her morning sunning blanket. Yes, I do believe...sometimes...it's okay to be a hoarder.

Finding peace in creativity,

Meryl

Post # 18: UFO City at the Craft Cafe, Books I Love, & A Confused Pear Gourd

 
My work table is not always the neatest thing in the world, but things are improving day by day. Since I started writing this blog I have gotten motivated to really dig in and get things organized. Today I am simply sharing some more UFO's (Un-finished Objects or works-in-progress) and a few completed projects as well.

 I think watching Downton Abbey and beadwork go very well together. That's what was on the TV in the picture from post #16 when I showed the start of rearranging my craft space. I have already changed parts of this area around three or more times since then and will continue until every puzzle piece fits perfectly into place. I'm enjoying the process and will share more pics along the way. Sometimes things seem much messier in the process of getting neater! (I hope).

There's always a vast assortment of things to be seen on my beading trays and boxes. These are some bead knitted pieces based on ideas from the book "Betsy Beads" which I may have mentioned earlier.

 

 It has provided another great, easy to carry, easy to pick up for a short time type of project that can be done in-between other things without too much concentration. Also, there are beads, of course, and stitch markers, yarn, shells, metallic thread, etc.

     The gourd on the left (with the red interior) is the first gourd I ever crafted. I started it in 2005 when we lived in Tennessee. It is still a UFO!!! DH grew it in his 3000 sq. ft. garden. (Which somehow grew to 5000 sq. ft. the next year, but that's a whole other story)! This gourd has lived in six places with us and as a result has an injury which must be repaired. Maybe now that I'm really getting settled into my craft space I'll be able to finally tackle this one!
     The pear-shaped gourd started out to be a gourd bird feeder, but first I couldn't decide whether to paint or stain it, whether to string the edges with beads, or leave it natural, since it was so pretty as is. When I can't decide, I simply wait. It isn't time. (This would drive some people crazy, but not me, no - probably 'cause I'm already there). I finally decided that I like it so well I would like to keep it inside. It does still need some embellishment of some sort, either paint or stain or fiber or beads or wood putty, etc., but- form following function, I need to wait. Now I am trying to decide if it should be a candy dish or possibly some sort of beading or crochet caddy. What do you folks think? Any opinions out there?

I still plan to wrap beads around the stem of the gourd on the left.

The fishbowl gourd is also a UFO. It is woodburned and colored and

now in limbo, but it seems fine and happy right where it is.

The smaller gourd, sitting in the fishbowl, is the beginning of

another gourd purse, but who knows what it will become?



 The Oil Lamp gourd on the left and the bowl on the right are

 wood-burned and stained with various inks and dyes.

The two in front are dyed with shoe polish, chip-carved by hand,

and a paste wax finish was applied and hand buffed.

The beadwork pieces are from a book by Diane Fitzgerald,

which is one of my favorite books, but one for which my

10ThousandProjects don't always allow me the time.

I plan on purchasing more prisms for my window.

This is definitely a case where "more is better."