Chalkboard Quote Of The Week

Back in action!! Here is the chalkboard quote of the week!!

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." -Scott Adams

My mother has always told me and my sister that there are no mistakes in creating only character! I always remember this when I am creating something and then make a "mistake." I then just look at it and see the character that has built around the piece, she is right. Character is what makes creativity!


Cheers!

Grandmother's Closet

I spent the weekend with my Grandparents. It was a nice little retreat in their beautiful home. My Grandmother had all her vintage linens laid out and let me go through them and pick what I wanted. It was so much fun to look through everything and imagine the possibilities of how each piece may have been used. Needless to say...I walked away with a bag full!! I am very pleased with my new linens! Here is a just a little bitty, teeny tiny peek, there will be more to come later!

This is what I have put to use so far.

A pair of white vintage pillow cases...and...a"pineapple" doily. I learned that pineapple is a particular design and when you look closely, it really does look like a pineapple!

A beautiful embroidered linen hand towel.

And a pair of pot holders made out of yarn!

More to come!

Cheers!

Fiber Clubs

My second batch of roving arrived in the mail today!

Did you know you can enroll in a fiber club and get several ounces of roving every month? Well, I am tempted, very very tempted! Check out a few of the fiber clubs on Etsy:

Loop's
Katrina's Wool World
Veda Bliss
Hobbledehoy Batt Club

Cheers!

Oil Cloth And A Bit More Spinning....Go Figure!!

Hello there. I thought I would take this moment to complain about the heat even though I said I wasn't going to anymore. Ha! Well, really the only reason why I brought it up was to go for round 2 of: what do you do when it is blazing hot outside?? So here goes. When it is blazing hot outside, I like to stay inside and work on crafty stuff! But I think you probably have already gotten the gist of that. So, I got a few projects completed this weekend. I worked on sewing some oil cloth and made coasters and a zipper bag for the shop.

I lined the zipper bag with red checkered oil cloth. I think I may wait and post it tomorrow. I need more oil cloth because I would like to post some oil cloth place mats in the shop too! Oh, and of course I want some for my own too!

I also practiced my spinning. I worked on 2-ply...

2-ply is so fun! I am still getting the technique down. I think the trick is to spin your single strands tighter than usual so when you ply them together, the twist will be perfect, not to loose and not too tight. So, I will go for that next time.

I also learned how prepare beads (just ignore the jingle bells, those got mixed up in there around Christmas time crafting last year)......

.....to spin into yarn by watching this video.

Those jingle bells do give me an idea. How annoying would it be to have a hand spun/hand knitted jingle bell scarf!

I learned quite a bit today from exploring on the Spin-Off website. I wish there were one more day left in the weekend so I could have fun again tomorrow. But, unfortunately it is back to the old grindstone. Don't get me wrong, I do love my job, I would just love to stay home and spin more!

Cheers and have a good week. Harry Potter time very soon, I can't wait!

New Addition

So, I realize I have been complaining about the heat a lot so, I thought I would take the time to not complain anymore and share the new addition to our best friend's household.

Her name is Lilly...and she is freakin' cute!

She is part Husky and part German Shepherd.


I am going to have to share some of those dog bones I made with her! It also gives me an excuse to make more.


Cheers!

When It Is Blazing Hot....What Do You Do??

It is 104 degrees outside and it is 5:15pm. You would think that the temperature would be dropping but, not. It is just maintaining at that blazing hot level. It is so hot my citron candle sitting outside is melting. So, what do you do when it is blazing hot??? Well, I change the A/C filter and spin some yarn!

I did a little roving shopping the other day and happened across this Etsy seller. I was impressed with her roving and with her prices. So, in keeping with the Sangria theme I have going on this summer, I purchased "Sangria on the Huron". It is 6 oz of Merino wool. The colors are so pretty and this picture just really does not do it justice.

This may sound weird and possibly something only another spinner could understand but, I love the way roving smells. Every time I get new roving I take a big whiff. It smells just like a little sheep that has been playing in a field. I can't explain it really but, it makes me happy to sniff roving! Ha!


O.k., back on track here. I am feeling a bit crafty this weekend...as usual. So, I think I am going to do a bit of sewing and spinning (surprise surprise). I may even post a few new things to My Etsy!

I hope everyone is able to kick back, sit in front of the fan, and sip on a bit of Sangria this weekend!

Cheers!

Dog Days Of Summer

It is hot here in Texas and I think this explains the heat very well....

It is hard to do anything but lay around!

I have the day off today for the 4th. So, I got inspired to make dog bones and use my new dog bone cookie cutter that I picked up in Santa Fe from Teca Tu. I surfed the net and perused various dog bone recipes, fused a few together, and came up with my own. My pooches love peanut butter so I decided to make peanut butter dog bones. Dogs and sugar don't mix well so it is important to use all natural peanut butter without granular sugar added.

Want to make your own? Here is the recipe I came up with. I am going to work on refining it to make it even more organically dog healthy friendly. I will update when I do.

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits:

1/2 cup of cornmeal
2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
6 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of 1% milk
1 cup of natural peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. In another bowl mix together the peanut butter, olive oil, and milk. Combine. Roll out on a lightly flowered surface. Cut your biscuits. Place them on a non stick cookie sheet. Bake for about 35-40 minutes. Cool them on a cookie rack. Feed to your doggies!

I made some for Luna and Millie.

And of course some for their best bud Max.

Luna scarfed hers down and Millie savored on it a bit. I guess they were good!

That is Millie savoring....

Cheers!


R.I.P Chica. You lived a full and very long life. You will be missed! You would have eaten the dog bones with the best of them.