Craft Fair Projects

 The weeks after Thanksgiving seems to trigger a craftiness in our household. Maybe it's the cold and snow that force us to become house bound, yet there is still a lot of energy to figure out what to do with. After a successful day selling our goat's milk soap at the Women's Expo earlier this Fall, Alexis and I were excited to try a local craft fair. She was anxious to get ahead on raising funds for her upcoming missions trip, so she spent a day baking cookies and putting together cookies in a jar.

 

Using our favorite cookie recipe, she layered the ingredients into quart jars and adorned them with ribbons and material.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup soft butter

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1- 3 oz. pkg. instant vanilla pudding

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

Chocolate chips

****

Bake at 375* for 8- 10 minutes

 



 

Wreaths, dolls and other odds and ends of sewing projects.

Of course we also brought lots of goat's milk soap and laundry detergent, too. The common consensus of the day from the "regulars" was that it was a slow craft fair. We did alright~ Alexis earned nearly enough to pay for her passport, I got to sell and give away several books, and we sold enough soap to ensure keeping the goats on the farm for a few more months.

We made some yummy scents: Lemon Swirl, Sugar and Spice, Sweet Pea, Cucumber Melon, Moonlight Pomegranate, Lilac, and the ever popular Almond.

Winter Equals Sewing

For several years around our house the annual ushering in of a long, cold winter means hauling out the sewing machine. I grew up as one of five girls in a home where my Mom sewed for enjoyment. As she worked on her quilts she would let me have all the left over scraps that I wanted. From these I would sew to my hearts content doll clothes and doll quilts, and eventually graduated to larger quilts.

But I never really outgrew sewing the doll clothes. Luckily, two of my own little girls have loved dolls and doll clothes over the years, too, which gives me a good excuse to keep creating them. Many a happy day has been spent looking through the American Girl magazines for new designs, digging through the scrap boxes for just the right pattern, and then the girls waiting patiently while their new doll clothes appear out of the odd-shaped pattern pieces. I don't actually use patterns, I just guess and cut and sew and hope they fit, adjusting sizes as we go.

Alexis has outgrown these sewing parties, but since Grace received a new doll for Christmas her first thought was that she needed some clothes. When cousin Morgan came to stay this week it turned into a sewing party for both of their dolls. They choose a winter outfit, complete with mittens, boots and a vest. The final result was two matching outfits and two happy girls; wait, three happy girls!

Quilts for Christmas

The quilting bug has hit around here. What started out as a simple idea to have a homemade Christmas has turned into a labor of love and creativity to bless those around us, plus several long nights of sewing as we are all procrastinators at heart. We are now on quilt #8 between 4 of us, and if Christmas would wait another week I might have finished 2 more. Granted, 3 of those quilts were in the works and just needed some finishing touches (like batting, stippling, and binding) but the others were from scratch. The favorite quilt of the season being the jean quilt. I have been collecting and stashing jeans over the summer in anticipation of making more of these. They are so nice and heavy, besides cute when you wash them and dry them so the ends are ragged. I cut my squares 5x5" and sewed them wrong sides together in no particular order and made a cute lap sized quilt for our good neighbor Russell who is always there for us to offer advice, help deliver a critter or two, borrow some sugar, or share a cup of coffee. I had some plaid flannel in my stash for the back that was just perfect. In a true homemade Christmas spirit I was able to use everything we already had and didn't spend any money on it {yippee}. To finish it off I tied it with some black string and some buttons. He loved it!

Hannah got to spend a few days and work on a project last week~ but I am sworn to secrecy on that one. The boys have also been quilting (all by themselves, other than me constantly reloading the bobbin and helping with the stretching). I find it very interesting that the girls don't care too much about quilting, but the boys are fascinated by it. Trent decided to make 2 jean quilts for some good friends of his whom admire his jean quilt (that he also made by himself last year) every time they come over. Good job Trent!

And because Cole was actually done with all of his homemade Christmas presents for the family (unlike some of us, ahem) he decided to start a jean quilt for himself. The true chicken man that he is he stitched the words "Cole's Silkies" on the top. Good job Cole!

A Homemade Christmas

After reading one too many Little House books (the current book being The Long Winter..... hmmmm....) the kids and I decided it would be fun to have a homemade Christmas this year. After pondering the gifts from last year, and most of us couldn't even remember what we received (or what I spent those few hundred dollars on), we all thought the season might have more meaning if we put our efforts into hand crafting the gifts this year. Our focus on the holiday is on the birth of Christ so we don't go too crazy with all of the extras anyway. The logic was that homemade gifts would grow in each of us the attitude to think of what others would want more-so than what we would want along with loosening the grip of our material wants. It has sort of morphed into a quest to not spend any money on these gifts as well and just use (mostly) what we already have. It has been a slightly painful process for some of us here, not mentioning any names of the certain male gender in the household, but it has also brought out the best in us, if not the procrastinater in each of us as well. There are a couple of presents that I have been let in on (and am sworn to secrecy until Christmas Eve) that are pretty amazing. We did break down last week and let the kids draw names for each other and will give them $5 each to buy gifts (as they wanted to go Christmas shopping something fierce) and Rob and I will still buy some stocking gifts for them to open on Christmas morning. So in all my spare time I have been working on gifts for everybody. For Micah I decided to make a two sided puzzle out of some scrap wood and an old calendar. I cut some blocks about 2 3/4", then sanded them all down. He loves monster trucks so I picked out 2 pictures and cut them to size with my quilting rotary cutter. Next I glued them onto the blocks. Then cut the next picture and glued it onto the other side of the blocks. Then I found some heavy books to set on top until the glue is dried. I will ransack the basement shelves to find some clear polyurethane to seal them with tomorrow. I also made a cute little Bob the Builder bag for him to keep them all in.

For Trent the mighty hunter I dug through my boxes and boxes of material stash. I found a deer print curtain that somebody had given me a while back, some left over batting and some orange material from mom. For Trent's birthday in the spring we had given him a new scope for his deer rifle but the scope made it too big to fit into his gun case. So I started cutting and quilting and made him a new gun case for the rifle. I still have (at least) 4 quilts left on my agenda to finish, plus finish some gifts for the girls and Rob has wanted a cover for his ice auger for the past year. And then there's Micah's presents to help make and if I can find some helpers I would like to make Christmas cookies for the neighbors and wrap up soap for all those wonderful library ladies. Poor Rob is at his whit's end wondering what to make. I told him some kitchen trim would be great, or a finished bathroom, or a nice big sunroom with a writing loft and a woodstove and a couple of patio doors and a covered porch and a grande piano would be just fine. Or maybe just breakfast in bed.

And the Winner is....

A big sigh of relief~ the Fair is officially over! Yay! I always look forward to the Fair but I am always glad when it's over, too. Everyone had a fun time watching the horse showdeo and riding rides and checking out all their ribbons. But now that it's all packed up we can relax a little bit around here once again. You see we go just a bit overboard when it comes to fair entries and even though we say we're not going to go so nuts this time around there are just so many fun things to enter. I am the guiltiest of the bunch but I enjoy creating so many things. At last guesstimate we had over 200 entries between us all which makes for lot's of work tagging, hauling and retrieving projects. We had everything from drawings and photographs to cakes and cookies and jerky, to eggs and cheese and butter, to quilts and dolls, and woodworking and sewing projects. The kids worked hard on lots of informational posters, cards and stories as well.

Our goats milk soap received 1st in several departments.

Our woodworking bridle holders did well.

And our drawings did good also. I have had a renewed interest in drawing the past year and just may have to add some good drawing books to our school curriculum wish list.

My checkerboard placed first again.

There wasn't too much to enter as far as veggies went but we did manage to find enough plums, crab apples and green tomatoes to fill our entry forms.

We also entered our slim pickin's alfalfa and received good marks. And drum roll please..... I entered 3 kinds of goats milk cheese and my Garlic Pepper with Parsley Hard Cheese won a Grand Champion! I am still smiling from ear to ear and will have to place my ribbon right next to all of Rob's cheese trophies!

I entered 2 little quilts. Micah's frog quilt received first place which tickled me pink because it's hard to get a first in the quilting department. My tear-my-hair-out crazy quilt received third place. They always get me on my binding corners and I realized too late that I sewed the corners wrong on the binding and just did not have the heart to tear it all out by the time I noticed. So I was content to take third.

I think she's just too cute!

I saw this pattern quite some time ago in a quilting book and have wanted to make it ever since. The Fair is a good reason to challenge yourself into making a quilt with 1" finished squares and a gazillion triangles.

It was worth it.

Take My Advice

Here's a little advice from me to you friends~ Never, never, never, never, never try to make a cute little quilt that you saw a picture of in a fancy spancy quilt book with 1" finished squares without a real pattern because you'll just get frustrated and have to re-cut and then re-sew and then rip out several seams and those pesky little squares still won't line up just right and if you ever do figure out how to get those pesky little 1" squares lined up you know the next step is to make lots of pesky little triangles. Especially at 10:00 at night. Okay??

Summer Quilting

The quilting bug has hit hard again. Mostly because of the fair, but mainly because I love to quilt and I love to have any variety of projects going at all times, and because my husband has been nicely bugging me about finally finishing a quilt, or two, for our bed before winter, and because I still hadn't finished Micah's quilt being he has been home for over 2 years. So I delved in both feet first and have 4 projects going at the same time, not to mention a little table runner I finished in time for the fair. I pulled out the star top that I worked on over the winter, finished the border, and then decided to try to stipple it in a small meandering pattern. Try is the key word here. My old machine actually has been doing nice quilting being I figured out to change to a smaller (size 9) needle when I stipple. It was looking beautiful, and I was oh-so-proud of what a good quilter I was becoming. Even though I have quilted since I could first hold a needle in my hands I have only been learning how to machine stitch for a year or so. But then I turned it over after a little bit and the back is horrible and bunchy. Grrr..... All you quilt ladies, I need help! Help! My little quilts are fine, but these big monsters are another story for my little machine. How do I keep them nice and tight while working on them ? I stretch and pin and pin, but still bunchy. It will definitely be a keeper for me, maybe a one day cabin quilt. Then I finished a top for Cole as he wanted a "Mom" quilt, too. It was fun to work on it together. He picked the design and helped lay it all out. It's all sandwiched and in the pile to finish. Then there's the split-pea-green-monstrosity that has sort of morphed into it's own crazy creation. The green/brown/tan colors looked so good together on the store shelf, but it has kind of become, well, quite shocking. It will probably end up as a middle quilt on our bed. That's enough to make me hurry up and finish a top quilt. And, last but not least, Micah's quilt is finished! Hurray! It turned out beautiful! He picked out this cute little frog pattern flannel to go on the back of it. It made for one happy boy! Love you little beaner-biener-squash!

Fair Time

It's that time of year again~ Fair Time. Everybody around here is busy, busy finishing lots of fun projects to enter into the Fair next week. There is drawing, and writing, and paper mache and sewing going on in full force. Not that I needed another project or anything, but being I really do need another quilt for our bed, I started another quilt with the hopes of finishing it in time for next week. All those pesky little triangles are sewed so the rest should go quickly~ right? Nothing like a deadline to keep you up until that quiet still hour of midnight when it's only you and the friendly little mouse under your computer desk to keep you company. Add a mouse trap to the list please honey!

Micah's Frog Quilt

A nearly-30-hour-ER-weekend-shift-schedule equals a little nervous energy for me, so I decided to put it to good use yesterday and besides transplanting lilacs and oak trees, cleaning and reorganizing my room and sorting my clothes pile, I made this cute little quilt top for Micah. A neighbor lady had cleaned out her quilting stash a couple of months ago and this frog material was from some curtains she had in there. I have not made Micah a quilt just for him since he has been home. Grandma Lee made him one to bring with to India, and with the thoughts of limiting his attachment items I decided not to make one too quick. Now 2 1/2 years later I was feeling a bit guilty and finally had the gumption to start this one. It was the perfect theme as we had just been catching frogs together in the pond today.

It looks tricky, but it is actually a beginners pattern from the April 2010 Quilters World magazine that I received a free sample copy of. I just may be ordering myself a subscription as there are others in this one issue that I have marked to start to add to my stash of other half done projects. The little frogs peeking out are so cute!

And I love the prairie points!

There's one little boy who is excited for his mommy to get some blue flannel for the back, and there is another big boy who wants a frog quilt now too, as well as a certain little girl who has dug out her special India quilt again, and not to mention a dad who says he would really, really like a new quilt for his bed. Maybe this mom needs to go to another quilting retreat.