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fave crafts blog hop: land’s end squares

lands end charity blanket squares

My Land’s End Share the Warmth squares are due at the end of the week. I didn’t finish as many as I would have liked. My wrists are feeling better — thank you for all of the well wishes — but the past few weeks have been slow-going.

Before this project I had three squares finished. I completed six for this particular project. That leaves three more before the end of the year to make my goal of one a month for 2010.

Have you been working on any charity projects?

Check out other finished projects over at the Fave Crafts blog.

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my daughter’s nature collection

elk pioneers park

As I write this it is cold, rainy and a little snowy. It’s hard to believe that a few days ago we were visiting the bison and elk in 70 degree weather. We have had a beautiful Fall this year. The weather has been warm and the ragweed season was short thanks to an early frost. The leaves have been brilliant and the sun has been shining strong in bright blue skies.

nature collection

We have made the most of our weather with picnics after school and “nature walks” at the park. There are a lot of souvenirs from the season: pine cones from Densmore Park, acorns from Tierra Park, dried berries from Stransky Park, rocks from Pioneers Park. My daughter insists that the rocks are fossils, just like in Don’s nature collection.

playground tierra park

I’ll be honest. There have been afternoons where I would have preferred to be sewing or planning my next project. I might have missed a blog post here and there. Now that winter is in our neck of the woods, I am so grateful for our time outdoors. Pretty soon we’ll be dealing with negative wind chills, blizzard warnings and playing with Indoor Snow.

I’ll be saving the nature collection to remind us of the warmer days. Maybe I’ll even print out a few pictures, too. After I spend a little time with my sewing machine, though. I found lots of fun things at the thrift store today that need refashioning!

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my creative space

baseball amigurumi bookmark

In my creative space today, I’m slowly getting back into my crochet groove. These little circles are actually baseball bookmarks for party favors. I’m thinking they would make cute Christmas ornament bookmarks — something handmade to go along with a book as a gift. Pattern coming soon.

More creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog. Enjoy the crafty goodness!

recycle: Bookmarks made from last week’s sweater yarn.

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reuse: oatmeal containers for storing artwork

oatmeal container storage

I’ve been saving our empty oatmeal containers on the top shelf of the pantry for awhile. My plan is to use them for storing my daughter’s artwork. Right now, most of what we want to keep is stored flat in my office closet, which is pretty packed. I’d like to sort and move them to the top shelf of her closet, which is pretty empty.

oatmeal container storage

Of course, she has other ideas. After taking the photo for the blog, she informed me that, “No artwork should be stored in Puppy Dog’s rocket!” As you can see, she’s also in charge of decorating the containers.

reuse: How do you reuse oatmeal containers? I think they would be great for packaging holiday cookies.

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putting some apples by for winter

big canning apples

This weekend I canned apples. Before I moved to Nebraska, canning anything would have never crossed my mind. Going to an orchard to pick my own apples never crossed my mind, either. Unfortunately, vacation and being sick kept us from prime picking season, but when we went to this pumpkin patch, they had local, harvested apples we could buy. Cool!

I was really nervous about doing this. The word “botulism” comes up quite frequently in the canning books. Yikes! It was really easy, though. To prepare, I bought a stock pot, jar lifter and wide mouth funnel. (The funnel comes in handy on a daily basis around here, since we store lots of things in mason jars.) I got the pint jars from the grocery store and used the Ball Blue Book as my guide. One peck of apples filled six pints almost perfectly.

What I’d really like to do is can soups. I dream of opening up the pantry on a cold, snowy day and pulling out a hearty, homemade soup instead of a can of Campbell’s. Most of the things I’d really like to can need a pressure canner. I’m definitely not ready to make that commitment. I figure I’ll try jam and pickles next and see how things go. Maybe in the Spring I’ll be ready to join a CSA and take the next step.

What about you? Do you grow and can your own produce? Buy from local farms? Love the idea or think it’s crazy? I’m curious!

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size matters not…

big knitting needles large crochet hook

…judge me by my size, do you?*

I’ve always wanted to try knitting with a set of really big needles.

Do or do not… there is no try.*

Whenever I see them in the craft store I wind up passing them by because I’ve already got too many things on my to-do list.

The other day in the thrift store, when I was buying the black and white sweater, I happened upon this set and a big hook, too. At thrift store prices, I couldn’t pass them up. The needles are US size 35 and the hook is a size Q.

My wrists are starting to feel better. These might be the perfect way to ease back into things. I’m thinking Purl Bee’s Eleventh-Hour Scarf with some Manos del Uruguay from my stash might make a nice weekend project.

What crafty projects do you have planned for the weekend?

*Yoda

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my creative space

my creative space

My last flurry of crochet activity left me with very little black and white yarn in my stash. It also left me with tired wrists. I confess that I haven’t stitched a thing since last Saturday. I’m sure you know the feeling: one more stitch and you’ll be out of commission for way too long. Although, four days is an awfully long time for me. I think Sunday’s long stint in the kitchen chopping, peeling, stirring and dish washing didn’t help. Neither did all of that laundry folding. See where housework gets you?

Back to the yarn. I gave away most of my “amigurumi stash” of acrylic awhile ago because I wasn’t using it. I saved a few balls of neutral colors, but the Halloween critters used up most of that. I just happened to stumble across a black and white cotton/acrylic blend sweater at the thrift store yesterday. Crafty kismet! It was super easy to unravel and now I’m sitting her looking at my hook and trying to decide if I’m ready to start up again. Maybe I’ll just go to bed early tonight and start fresh tomorrow.

What’s in your creative space today? Check out the much more productive players over at Kirsty’s blog.

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wacky wednesday preschool snack

Today was my daughter’s snack day at school. On Monday at the grocery store she announced she wanted to take grapes and milk. I thought that was pretty easy. Then we got home and she informed me that her snack day is on Wacky Wednesday.

I don’t remember doing this in school, do you? You wear wacky clothes: socks that don’t match, shirts backwards, off season things. The whole day is weird with wacky crafts and games. I figured we needed to bring a wacky snack, but what to do with grapes? I finally came up with this little caterpillar kabob.

caterpillar grape kabob

I used bamboo skewers that we had on hand and cut them in half with heavy duty scissors. I also cut off the sharp points. Eyes were made out of little balls of (very cold) cream cheese frosting and mini chocolate chips. The teachers thought they were pretty cool. I hope the kids like them, too.

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hello november!

early morning frost

I don’t have any crafty pictures today, so I thought I’d share one that I took of the morning frost at the park. It’s got me thinking about the cold weather that’s almost upon us. (Here’s a larger size so you can see the ice crystals.)

My daughter goes on a hike at nature school, so we can’t simply run from the car to the door. Well, I can, but she’s got to dress for the weather. I have to pull out her hat and mittens and see if they still fit.

I’m mending one of my favorite sweaters that has worn elbows. I’m taking pictures and will share all of the steps with you this week.

I made a big pot of soup and an apple crisp this weekend. I also spent a lot of time under my one of my favorite blankets.

I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving and making holiday gift lists.

Today I voted. Tomorrow I will turn the phone ringer back on.

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putting a dent in that big spool of wool

more crochet vases

Believe it or not, I’m still crocheting little vases. In fact, I just received a wholesale order for three sets. I’ve finally worked through most of my tan and navy wool and can’t wait to start using some new color combinations.

Thank goodness it’s football season. If you need me, I’ll be on the couch surrounded by yarn.