A January Project

I'm always up for a new craft.  And since my granddaughter's first birthday was coming up, I thought it was a good time to try making a sock monkey or two.  I bought these two pairs of socks at Mark's Work Wearhouse, because it was such a good sale, and because they were incredibly soft.  Perfect for sock monkeys. 
I was amazed how easy they were to make.  And I couldn't stop with one pair.  Many crafts that I have attempted, such as the Quiet Books, could never be sold for the amount needed to actually make money.  This one could be different. 
So I picked up more socks, and, in my spare time, I sewed. 
I made the above two on Monday.  By Wednesday I had 4 more completed.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Each time I learned something.  The fuzzy socks are a pain to work with - they shed badly (everything in my house is sparkly now) and need resewing in many places after the first wash and dry.  They were a good price at Walmart, but I had to be careful when cutting them, that the heels were where they should be... otherwise the bum didn't end up at the bottom where it belonged!! I had to add an extra bum to one of them! But they are also very forgiving - stitches just don't show.  And they are very soft and cuddly. 

I just couldn't stop.  Which is a good thing because I bought a lot of socks.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

I think #7 is my favorite, even though that's the one with the wonky bum.  I really like #11, too, but it has some wool in it.  Will that be an issue for a children's soft toy?  The real socks for sock monkeys, I think, are the grey men's work socks. That's my #12... further down.  I'm thinking that if I do another craft sale this year, I want to have cards and sock monkeys BOTH.  I think that's an odd combination, but if those are what I do, that should be okay, right?  What would you pay for a sock monkey?  I'd like to price them at $15 each.  Is that a reasonable price?  At that price, it's worth my time to make them since I can do it in my spare time.  I would love feedback on this.

The first 11.

 

My granddaughter got these two yesterday.

12.

The 17% wool sock monkey.

The Glory of Winter

This was the site that greeted me this morning when I looked out. It was still somewhat dark outside, so I set up my tripod on the deck (just outside the door so I didn't have to go outside), and took this shot.  I love the sight of hoarfrost in winter!  The day just kept getting prettier.

I'm not sure how many times I cooled down my whole house because I had to get another shot... and didn't really want to go outside.  But the beauty of the morning finally won, and I put on some warm clothes and walked out into my yard.

It's just not possible to get these shots from inside.  And it was just in time -  the hoarfrost was beginning to fall off the trees.

 You can actually see it falling on this shot.

My Christmas tree is just lying in the snow right now, but with last night's light snow, and this morning's hoarfrost it is still useful for a nice winter shot.  

Quiet Books

As promised, here are the Quiet Books I made for the grandkids this Christmas. Many of the ideas came from others blogs, but any patterns I had seen were overwelming, so the book was done mostly freehand.  One of the blogs I checked out before I started was: http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2009/06/finished-quiet-book.html

This was one of the first pages I started and one of the last to be finished. All the little pieces are attached to the book with ribbon. I didn't want lost pieces wandering around everywhere. I discovered that stick-on velcro doesn't stick well to most felt, and that sewing through 'stick-on' stuff makes the sewing needle sticky and the sewing machine rebel.  So the ones that weren't sticking (particularly the red and blue felt in my case) got a slip of wide ribbon sewn on the back, to which the velcro sticks perfectly well.  Next time I would use ribbon for a backing for all of them and avoid the issues.

I went back to the web to find the blog that gave me this house idea with the child's picture inside when you open the door.  But I can't find that site!  If I find it, I will add it.  The plastic sleeve allows for the picture to be changed as the child grows.

A little girl with braids for Haley and a horse with a braid for Josiah. 

Matching shapes and colors for the snap fastener page.  This page also gave me grief because I first tried the heavy duty snap fasteners that you hammer on.  But when I couldn't open or close them without a lot of pushing, pulling and grunting, I realized the grandkids would never be able to operate those snaps.  So I revised and bought large sew-on snaps.  Much easier in the end.

I purchased these little closures, and thought I would have a page with a teddy bear and use them for a belt.  But my books are missing all the pockets than many have added to their books for pieces, because I attached all the little pieces that would have ended up in pockets.  So making the backpacks was a way of putting a pocket in the books.  They can put little treasures into these backpacks if they want to.

Since many of my supplies were from Thrift Shops, the zipper was also something that I realized needed to be kid-friendly.  Some of those nearly invisible zippers did not glide well.  Fortunately I had bought several kinds, and these seemed perfect.  I considered all kinds of secrets inside the tent, but ended up keeping it simple with just a bed and pillows. 

One of my favorites... the button page.  Flowers for Haley and a snowman for Josiah.

Shoes!  I needed a lace-up page, but had no idea how to do it without a pile of work and artistic ability that I don't have.  So I picked up a pair of second hand shoes at the Thrift Shop and cut them in a way that they would lie flat, and sewed them onto a felt sole.  It works.

The blue pages are a heavier fabric, so I didn't think they needed any backing.  The white cotton pages have iron-on interfacing, and then I've always sewn one white page to one blue page, so the weight is consistant.  I used a thin cotton quilt batting layer in each page.  I took the page pictures before adding the grommets, but every page also has three grommets.  I suspect two would have been sufficient.  This way pages can be taken out to be shared, or added as time goes on.  Originally I was making all my pages with extra space on the left side for the grommets.  It didn't occur to me until I was almost ready to put them together that half of them would have to change.  Poor planning!  So I had to add a piece to several of the pages to fix that. 

I would love to make another one.  Now that I've made every mistake in the book, and know how to fix it, I wonder how quickly I could do the next one. 

I may not be able to find my original inspiration, but this site had some great ideas, and even has a pattern to download.  http://modestmaven.blogspot.com/2009/05/sew-quiet-book.html

More good ideas: http://sewcando.blogspot.com/2009/09/quiet-time-it-can-be-done-part-1.html

Christmas at Sandlands

One of my son-in-laws asked me earlier this year, what we would do for Christmas this year.  What he meant, was, what are the rules for gift-giving.  Every year since he joined the family, they had been different. 

I admit, one of our traditions is to switch things around.  One year we might pull names, though with only 6 of us (adults), I found that one a bit difficult.  I want to wrap something (however small) for everyone.  So some years we added 'stockings' to that, with or without a monetary limit on the items.  I have found the limits helped to not go too overboard, but I regularly broke rules.  After all, I'm the mom.  I can. 

Some years we insisted that everything must be handmade.  It could be purchased at a craft fair, so you didn't have to be super-crafty.  One year when we were all tired of trying to stretch our dollars to fit the budget, we set a $20 limit per person.  The girls always insisted this was the funnest year of all - we got terribly creative, and shopped at second hand stores, etc, to get the most out of our money.  And there were no expectations... the gift opening was just fun... and when there was actually a gift someone liked a lot, that was a bonus.  Several times we have had the rule that the gifts had to be second hand, not new, unless we made them ourselves.  All in an attempt to decommercialize our Christmases and focus on the real reason for Christmas. 

So this year, when I said 'no rules' - I added that we weren't doing a lot this year.  Our big move was costly, I'm not working outside of the home, so we couldn't afford a lot.  It was perfect.  Our youngest daughter isn't usually the crafty one, but this year, she made a hand-painted sign for Haley's room, and watched a tutorial on 'Rosemaling' - a Norwegian form of art, in order to paint a birdhouse for me.  Both are just beautiful!  The others got books, which every member of our family loves.  Our other daughter and son-in-law bought us a game.  She knew we liked "Ticket to Ride" and found the Scandinavian version for us.  Again, a perfect gift. 

My big project this year was to sew Quiet Books for the grandkids.  I read up on several blogs for inspiration: http://craftychiclyric.blogspot.com/2009/07/girls-quiet-book.html and others I didn't bookmark.  Then I decided to do it on my own.  I'm sure I would do the next one a bit different.  I was going to add a way to close the book, and forgot when I sewed the cover together.  I think I would next time, and could still add that to my grandkids books.  I will add more details and pic's of the books in a future blog.

For our kids, I used Blurb.com to put together Coffee Table Wedding Albums for them.  Acid free pens were included so they can personalize them with names and details. You can see the by going to the links.  I would love to get into creating books like this for those who do not enjoy the process of putting these books together, but would love to have the finished product with their own photos.   http://www.blurb.com/books/1836642
http://www.blurb.com/books/1836808 

Although that may have been enough, I also had a few things I had bought throughout the years... sometimes specifically for one of them, but mostly just generic gifts that I was tired of having sitting around.  It wasn't even all new.   Some tupperware that I no longer need.  Among other things.  I wondered how much of it would stay here, but not much did.

I'm grateful that our kids put up with my quirky gift-giving ideas.  Once more we had a wonderful day of relaxing, playing games, eating good food, and being grateful for the people that God has placed in our family and in our lives.

What I learned today...

I seem to be terribly forgetful these days... so I have a habit that has saved me many times.  When I'm baking or cooking, I double-check the recipe to make sure I didn't forget anything.  I forgot to do that today... Oops!  If I had been thinking clearly, I would have realized that, when making bread, the liquid with the yeast isn't enough... you do need some oil-type product, maybe eggs, maybe even vinegar???  Left that all out!!  One batch of raisen bread to the dump!  What a waste.  It's such yummy bread, too!
Note to self:  double check ALL recipes before baking!!

Oh Christmas Tree

I decided I should post a picture of my poor Christmas tree.  I love it.  But my girls laughed at it.  They helped me pick it out, so I'm not offended.  In fact, I think THEY picked it out.  We didn't see the crooked trunk until it was too late.  I think I would have taken it anyway... it does have character.  If you look very carefully at the color photo, you may get a glimpse of the pretty sunrise beginning outside...

Little Things

The great thing about moving: getting rid of all the junk you accumulate.  The bad thing about moving: getting rid of all the junk you accumulate.  I needed 1 little elastic band.  I used to have a few in every bathroom drawer and probably in my kitchen junk drawer as well.  All gone.  Do I buy a whole bag for the one I need for the Quiet Books?  I guess I'll just have to sneak one out of my granddaughters bedroom... I'll give it back.  In her Quiet Book.