Girl on the Rocks

Crewel for christmas January 12, 2009

I haven’t yet posted about my christmas break craftiness because there is so much to report that it is a bit overwhelming. But i figure I’ll break it up into a few pieces and it’ll be okay. Let’s see… where to start… “Start a vintage Crewel project” was the big loser in my poll, gathering only 1 vote. Let’s start there because not only did I start a project, I finished it! Take that voters!

As a wee crafter, I spent many a holiday working on little holiday needlepoint and cross-stitch patterns that my mom hoarded during after-christmas sales. The first step (and the one that drove me INSANE when I was young) is to baste the edges of the canvas to prevent fraying. I dreaded doing it, but it was not nearly as tedious as I remember (can I possibly be more patient than when I was 8?). The next step was always to take of the thread from the project and attach to a yarn organizer. Miner were always butterfly shaped. Did anyone ever have one that WASN”T a butterfly? Anyway, i realized that this would be the step to stop adult-me in my tracks. I didn’t have a yarn organizer. With nothing to do all day but craft, and an awesome idea from Carmen, i decided to make my own.

i whipped out a sheet of Brown shrinky-dink plastic and threw together a retro-fabulous sketch of an owl. I planned out where to place holes that I could punch with my circular craft punches.

I made it the size of the entire sheet of plastic, and then cut it out (note pen for scale)

Then I popped it into the toaster oven at 300 until it shrank up (i used chopsticks to pull apart any areas that got stuck during shrinking).

I am really pleased with the holes of varying size – it is very satisfying to put the fat wads of yarn in the bigger holes, and the thread in the tiny holes. I added a rare earth magnet (with E6000 glue) to the center to hold on to needles, and then I got busy!

So busy, in fact, that I completed the whole thing!

The project was a new in package 1972 Caron Crewel 5 x 7 (#6306). The yarn was all wool (in some of the older projects the included yarn is acrylic) and the instructions were thorough. Highly recommended!

Even recipes can be cute May 11, 2007

I signed up for a recipe swap over at swapbot. I debated typing my recipes, but I like it when things have a handmade touch, so I thought I would write them all up. I ventured over to my little recipe box and discovered that I am totally out of the ancient (1970’s) recipe cards I stole from my mom, and had only plain 3 x 5 cards. yuck. I decided to design my own, and this is what I came up with:

They are 6 x 5 inches, folding in half to 3 x 5 inches and feature hedgehogs and mushrooms.

I still have some more designs in the works (and I am still longing for some cards bordered with avocado green and little vegetables). In the mean time, feel free to download my design and print them out for free* for your own use. The link below is to a .pdf that will allow you to print out two cards on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper (I recommend cardstock for durability).

*if you use them, and you really like them, you can send me a recipe as a thank you