Can I Take Your Temperature?

'Cause you're lookin' HOT today!

I don't know about you guys, but my Summer got off to a rocky start, miraculously however, the temperature blanket is still in full swing.  I think I've been clutching it like a life-ring; as if getting each day's color on it will bring some semblance of order to chaos, and do a minor task like hold the entire universe together ... Or something.

In this moment it feels pretty marvelous to be able to come up for air after losing the larger portion of both April and May flattened by back-to-back viruses (or a cold + relapse, or some damn thing) which unceremoniously rolled into a month-long Facebook fast (that actually feels a m a z i n g, to be honest), with a good old fashioned tech flub thrown in for good measure.  Incidentally, did you know that when you upgrade your iPhone, you have to flip the little "messages" toggle to the "off" position in settings so that your new iMessages aren't sent to your old phone that's lying dead in a desk drawer for a month?  Oh, it's just me who had to Google that?  Super.  I'm now officially time-to-have-kids-so-they-can-explain-your-own-tech-to-you years old.

What's so irritating is that I thought I had everything all set up, but when I signed into a streaming app to try out a little adapter (the third one that didn't work because it didn't have audio capabilities like the description SAID it would!) for my clock-radio that keeps my office-space full of fresh tunes ... The one I refuse to junk simply because newer models are available--

Do you remember when people would keep their stereos, and all sorts of sound equipment for, like, decades?  Or even when parents would give their kids an old set, and all you had to do was upgrade the speakers if you wanted it to bump with a little more bass than the Perry Como records used to in your living room?  I miss that.  I also only buy things I really like, and refuse to throw them out by virtue of companies that make billions of dollars per year telling me I should buy the next new thing.  It doubly grinds my gears when they stop selling the parts, and adapters that let you fiddle with your gadgets, and make them work with newer components - there was an entire industry, and chains of stores dedicated to this very thing for the majority of my life, and now we're all just supposed to let our perfectly functioning small appliances wash up on some beach kids are trying to play on because Some Company decided to change the shape of the ports on their devices?  That's a negative, Ghost Rider.

End. Of. Digression.

Anyway, when you log into an app from an old device (and you haven't toggled your messages to "off") you run the risk of having all of your iMessages moving forward, rerouted back to that phone.  Allegedly, there was a notice that was supposed to accompany this switch-a-roo, but I don't remember such a thing ... Which means, I either swatted it away (because who just reads EVERY notice on their smartphone anyway?) or this all happened during a fever-dream, and I never noticed it.  These are both equally likely to have happened.

At any rate, if it's possible to simultaneously exist in a state of refreshed + flustered I think that's my current location.  And really, my mellow is only being harshed because I don't want folks to be thinking I'm out here just giving them the cold shoulder ... I mean, I'm pretty aloof as it is, but that's a new level (even for me)!

The good news is, with me finally mending up, and things being so quiet around here, I've been able to explore some ideas, and finish some old projects.  So, if that's the sort of thing you're into, and hanging around here for, look for some new to-do's, how-to's, and diy's coming a little later.  Also, if you haven't heard from your people in a while, charge up, and check any devices rattling around an old junk drawer just in case! 

xoxo

It's a Wrap! -- Winter Craft Project

I thought with schools about to press pause for winter break, that's a lot of days with a lot of hands with nothing to do until Christmas morning in some households (you can only bake, and decorate so many batches of cookies).  Also, with a lot of families looking for ways to minimize screen time, it can be fun to sit down together, and make some ornaments for your tree, or tabletop decorations.  I first learned about yarn wrapped sheep from The Inadvertent Farmer, during my search for a craft my niece could tackle ... Leave it to little folks to ask, "What else could we make?"

This is my answer to that. 

It's a Wrap!

I'll be rolling out a new DIY project this December for anyone looking for something to do with youngsters over winter break, or hoping to make a dent in their leftover yarn stash!

Here's what you'll need:

Card stock, or snack / cereal boxes

Clothespins 

Craft paint & brushes

Glue-stick, and tacky glue (or Aleene's Stop Fraying)

Scissors

Yarn

*Optional*

Bamboo skewers

Blunt yarn needle

Knitting needles 3.25mm (US: 3, UK: 10)
Confetti, sequins, beads, faux gems, ghungroo bells

Don't let the stampede pass you by!

Dikya D.I.Y.

I've loved the sea, and nearly everything in it, my entire life, but there are a few tentacle-having friends that hold a special place in my heart; one being the Jellyfish.  Apparently, if Jellyfish show up in your life they are there to teach avoidance of danger, mistakes, and pain ... Possibly by stinging the hell out of you until you finally get it?

So, around eight years ago after seeing something in the background of a photograph of a woman's studio space I decided I needed to create a bloom of jellyfish for my nephew's sea-themed bedroom.  Years passed, and after seeing several people's creations (especially Sayuri Sasaki Hemann) but few attempts at any DIY tutorials, I'm coming at you with my straightforward method for low-cost, high-impact fiber art jellyfish.

(re)Purposely Playful

After eight years (and much nudging from my mother), I'm finally releasing my patterns + instructions for d.i.y. repurposed sweater-sleeve stuffed animals to the public!  So if you're keen to get your upcycle on, or work through your scrap-fabric stash, I'm pleased to introduce:

The (re)Purposely Playful—Woodland Pals collection

The seven page downloadable PDF includes a materials list, instructions, and the pattern pieces you need in order to create your own adult, and baby sized stuffed friends in three animal versions: Faryl Fox, Rikki Raccoon, and Willie Wolf.

*Note: You are purchasing a downloadable PDF pattern only.  Adobe Reader is required to view, and print this pattern from your home computer.

Don't forget!  Grab your free knitting-crib-sheet, below, so your (re)Purposely Playful Woodland Pals are the best accessorized critters in the forest...

Click to embiggen, right click & save image as!

Take heed: The critters, and accessories created through the (re)Purposely Playful collection are keepsake toys, and intended for supervised playtime, or for youngsters who are not tempted to chew off, or swallow buttons and other small pieces.  Please use your judgement when making (and especially gifting) your Woodland Pals toys.  Thank you!

xoxo

Let's Learn Something Today!

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

- Mark Twain

The rain has been pouring non-stop all night, and it sounds magnificent!  I love a good rainy day, not a misty-can't-make-up-my-mind-if-it's-actually-gonna-rain type of day, but a true rainy day -- the kind with the drops big enough to soak you with just a couple of their friends.  The rain has brought with it the beginning of another school season for many little children this week, and with that I thought I'd play teacher for a minute, and lay out some instructions for a little project that results in flirty, fluttery, and fabulous flowers (too much?).  Apparently I'll be teaching a side lesson on alliteration, and the abuse of it too!

Ok, so here's where we're going with this.  Once they're finished you can decide to make them into
hair pins, lapel pins, gift decorations, whatever!  You can sew buttons, beads, or a series of french knots in the centers for little spots of pollen, or think of something wild I haven't come up with, there's really no messing these up -- and even if you think you have, just start over!  They're so easy, and quick to make you won't even care.

So, where do we begin?  What you need is a good (cheap) synthetic fabric.  Synthetics melt, and curl when heat is applied, and that's what you're after for this project.  I used some organza scraps I've been lugging around for ages that I really dislike sewing with.  It ravels, and slips under my sewing machine's presser foot, and wrinkles like nobody's business, so while this isn't the first time I've considered burning it, at least this time I could burn it AND make something out of it at the same time! 

I Rock Rough and Stuff with My Suffolk Puffs

We can thank Lady of Rage and her obscure early 90s song Afro Puffs for my title today, oh and a little place called Suffolk, and its patchwork technique used by its peasants a long, long time ago ... and this is pretty much where the history lesson ends.

There are some theories as to how the name came about ... I'm thinking, where's the secret? They're puffy, and apparently popular in Suffolk (once upon a time) enough for them to absorb the name. They made a come back in the 1930s and 1940s thanks to a little something we call a depression, and the convenience of these stylish little puffs being created out of rather small pieces, and scraps of fabric. We may be seeing them make another come back if the economy keeps it up (Dow up a hundred points? Heh, we'll see). Ok, enough mini-rant. Anyway, somewhere along the way they picked up the name Yo-yo ... which I found confusing the first time I heard it, I guess I'm too literal. I mean, sure they're round like the two outside pieces of a yo-yo, but lots of things are round, and there's no middle thingy, and where's the string?

As you can see I only got so far with my research on the origins of Suffolk Puffs. Really, I should be satisfied, but I somehow want more. But that's not important, what is important is the fact that I need about 974 more puffs for the future quilt I plan to make (at the rate I'm going, I may have that done by the time I'm 60. Perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, ok, I'll only be 59 by the time I'm finished). I'm kind of excited about this undertaking, even though I'm approaching it with the vigor of a garden slug, I like the idea of taking something traditional but doing it in unexpected materials, or more lively colors to get a different result. I hate to say it, but I find a lot of crafts, or projects extremely doubty, and tired looking, and completely uninspired. So that's why I've decided to rock some Suffolk Puffs ... my way!

She's Here, She's Here, She's Finally Here!!!

Spring that is. I just hope she's really ready to come out and play, and give poor PMSing March a break. Her nerves must be shot by now, with what her mood swings have been doing to my internal clock, surely my little bi-polar bear of a month needs a rest! Snowing one minute, 50* the next, a Pacific Northwest version of a monsoon the moment after that ... girl, I need a break, and frankly you do too.

So here's the deal. I'll stop talking about you behind your back, if you just promise to tone it down a little with the weather. I'm not asking you to move mountains here, just pick a season already. Truce?

I'm sorry, I don't have an olive branch, will these do?

Heather Bailey™ Bitty Booties™ Pattern: Here

*Edit: I don't exactly know which part of the truce thunder, hail, and sunshine is, but I do admire your sense of humor.

Rainy Day Project

Well it didn't start out as a "project" sort of day, it was more of a rainy day - cleaning & organizing day, my kitchen being the perfect target. When right there in the middle of my raid I came across old packets of abandoned Crystal Light. My first thought being, how did this utter poison make it into my house? My second thought being *DYE PROJECT*!!!
I ransacked, and put back together my kitchen just in time to turn around and make it my laboratory where it looked like a Tupperware party collided with a VW bus full of hippies. It was worth it though, I swear I'm the last to jump on the dye your own yarn / thread wagon, and there were loads of different recipes and techniques that I wanted to try. So I put them to the test on sectioned out crochet thread that I haven't done anything with since a college project about a thousand years ago.

I think just having candy colored threads at my reach on whimsical spools would surely be inspiration enough for future projects relating to the materials or not! As you can see I had a few misses, but I think I've got some hits in there as well. I have no idea what I'll be doing with them now, but even if they're just used to tie up packages, or staking helpless flowers at least it'll be a little more exciting than using plain white. I think for now, though, I need to start making some of Thanks to these from this delicious blog post!

I can't wait to find out what kind of uses I have for this thread now. And I really can't wait to get started on a set of those spools for myself!

xoxo