Goodie Bags

Bags??? Did I say bags? Why yes, I did. I have decided to award not one, but two goodie bags from the challenge post. By the way, is goodie, spelled right??? Oh what do we care, huh?

On to the goodies! Here is a sampling of what I've put into the two goodie bags. Aside from a few color variances between the two bags, they basically have: paste papers, fabric-backed paper, sun printed fabrics, fabric faces, sequin waste, hand spun yarns, a knit/felted pouch, another small embellished felted pouch, a knit dishcloth, and a paper quilted postcard.



Enough with the suspense already! I've decided to choose two people to receive a goodie bag because one person was spot on with her definition of the photo. For me the meaning of the photo was...it's a piece of scrap denim that I cut from an old pair of jeans. I use it when I need to mend other jeans. And that day, my son had stopped by and needed a repair made on his jeans.

So, Rachael guessed correctly and she will receive a goodie bag. I also used a random number generator to choose another lucky person. The generator gave me #20 and that person is Deborah. Congrats to both of you. I will need you both to email me with your mailing information so that I can get these bags to you.

I want to thank everyone for playing along and I quite enjoyed all the descriptions everyone gave.

Last night I was spinning up another batch of yarn when Abby (one of my ever so helpful assistants (a.k.a. - cat)) decided that the big fluffy pile of wool roving that was next to me on the couch, was the perfect place to lay down for a nap. Well I will tell you...when the assistant lays down on your roving, it's break time.

More Spinning Tales

I hope you aren't getting tired of all the yarny posts. Just thought I'd share another yummy skein of goodness with you. I showed you this first picture a couple of posts back. This is what the wool roving looked like before I spun it.


Then I spun it. This is by far the most yardage I've spun. But, don't ask me how much yardage it actually is, because I neglected to measure it. So as I learn this new craft, I am learning new terms. This is now a single ply yarn.


So you've probably heard of two, three or more ply yarns and threads. Well I've made a two-ply here. I used a length of the yarn from above. But instead of plying with another length of wool, I used some rayon thread.


And then, using another length of the single ply yarn, I plied it with some eyelash yarn. Which do you like better? The one plied with the thread or the eyelash?


And here is a small paper quilt I'm working on. It's similar to one I did before but this one is postcard sized, 4" x 6".


Remember the challenge I gave in the August 12 post? Well if you are the chosen lucky person, don't be surprised if you see some of these yummy yarns and this postcard in your goody bag. By the way, if you missed the challenge go back a couple of posts and join the fun.

Looking for a fun and unique project? Sue B created a new freebie project on the Two Creative Studios site. It's called Candy Cones. Check it out here.

Fruits of my Spinning

Well I've got three small skeins of yarn spun so far. Two are shown here and the third is still drying. I spun the third skein last night and so far it is the longest and wowzie, were my arms and shoulders a bit tired after that one.

The blue-ish one shown below is about 10 yards and I don't remember what the orange-ish one came out to. But I think it was around 18 yards.

Thank you Diane for your comment in the last post on how to remove the yarn from the spindle and then set the twist. I also received great help from another spinner that I've been conversing with on etsy. Renae from Terra Bella Spun, has been very sharing with information with me. She's got some great fibers in her shop...go check it out.


I've been doing a little cleaning (hard to believe) and have come to realize that the magazines in the following photos are probably going to waste on my shelves. I don't really do any polymer clay or doll making anymore and I could really use the space that they are taking.

The magazines in the first photo are all Soft Dolls & Animals and date back starting with the Jan 2006 issue and go forward, without skipping any to Jul 2008. If you are interested in these, please email me, and make an offer. My email is listed in my profile.


The next grouping is Polymer Cafe. Shown are all issues starting with the premier, dated Fall/Winter 2002 and all the way through Spring 2008. If you are interested in these, please email me, and make an offer.


If there is no interest in these after about a week...I'll probably list them on ebay or etsy.

Have a great weekend!

News Flash

BREAKING NEWS!
Crazy girl (aka Terri Stegmiller) has done it again. She's gone insanely mad with yet another crafty pursuit. The concensus is that she's got a disease that some of you may have also. Please see your checkbook so you can have this verified.

It seems Terri's lastest craze is spinning. Yes, spinning! It may be that there are some brain cells that are loose and have found an empty space to float around with abandon. What is spinning, you ask? Well yarn, of course.

See this luscious, fluffy pile of goodness?


Well here is what it becomes:


Protect yourself if you can. Get plenty of rest, eat healthy, and avoid (at all costs) looking at yummy hand spun yarns.

Story at 11:00 (just kidding, but that sounded good huh?)

So yes, I got the spindle in yesterday's mail and have got my first round of roving spun onto it. But now I have a dilemma. I need to get the spun yarn off the spindle without it unraveling. Hmmm, sounds like more internet research time is in my future.

And then, yesterday while out running errands, I accidently walked past the magazine rack and picked up this:


While flipping through it I came across the cutest sweater:


And, YEP! You guessed it! Just had to buy it. Do you do that? Buy a magazine or book because of one pattern? I don't do it a whole bunch but occasionally do.

Here's my latest colorless face in progress.


And how about a challenge? Please tell me in the comments, what the following picture says/means/portrays. In one week, I'll pick, from the commenters, a person who will then be mailed a goody bag. There are no right or wrong answers as far as entering the challenge goes, I'm curious to know if any of you can identify the meaning of this picture. The answer and chosen name will be revealed on August 19.

Online Audio Interview with Sue

My good friend and business partner, Sue Bleiweiss, has had the pleasure of being interviewed by Alison Lee over at CraftCast.com. If you find yourself with 30-plus minutes of extra time, grab a cuppa joe and sit and listen. Sue did an incredible job in the interview and Alison is great to listen to as well. You'll find the interview here: http://www.craftcast.com/main/?p=293.

Paste Paper Part 2

Remember the paste papers I showed the other day? Well I have since added more color and design to them. I am having trouble seeing the initial design that I combed onto the wet paste paper with all the added stuff. So I think if I were to do this again, I'd either not comb any design in and stamp and stencil like crazy, or do the combed design and then add minimal design after so that you can still see the combed textures. Did you follow all that?

The second photo down is the fabric piece I painted along with the paste papers.


This morning I was outside doing my usual chores (feeding kitties and birds, changing water for the kitties and birdbaths, etc.)....and noticed that because the skies were overcast, it was a good day for some photography. Here is some design inspiration...my metal bench.


...and my flower pot/planter/container/whatever.


Oh, and then as I was walking out farther into the untamed areas of our property, I happened upon these wild flowers and thought they were sooooo darling. They are the tiniest things. I love how the unopened flower buds have a pink cast to them. Their foliage looks sort of like evergreen needles but very soft.

Thank you all for your visits to my little blip of cyberspace. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'm off now to the studio, which is in a total disorganized state as I haven't been very good about putting things away lately after completing a project.

Color My World

Color My World
14-3/4" High x 10-3/8" Wide

I created this art quilt today and just love it. I'm not sure where the idea came from to leave her uncolored, but I like the effect. Hope you do too. She is available for sale in my etsy shop.

I also played with paper today. I've been wanting to try paste paper for some time and finally got around to doing it. I followed a recipe I found on the web that uses liquid starch. I've also heard of a cornstarch version, but didn't feel like cooking it. I tried three different papers (pictures shown in order given), a 24 lb. basic printer paper, a heavier weight drawing paper, and a 90 lb. watercolor paper. I also used three different tools to create my marks.




I'm not done with these papers yet. They will be going back for more surface treatment. Stay tuned!

Oh, and while I was painting the papers, I just had to add some paint to fabric. I was unable to get the combed marks to appear on the fabric, however. But I still have a lovely, stiff piece of fabric to add further design to.

I would like to thank all of you also, for your wonderful comments about the paper quilt in the previous post. I'm so glad you like it. I have since created more of the background paper and hope to do some more with this soon.