Spread the word: Throw a craft party!

OHMYGOSH!!!

This sounds amazing! Gather yourself a group of like-minded crafty friends for a day or evening of crafty fun! Isn't it a great excuse just to throw a party?

I'm thinking about asking my work friends to do a Monday afternoon picnic. After all, we all get our Mondays off. I'm thinking along the lines of a potluck picnic, with lots of paper, markers, colour pencils for doodling and drawing; working on our half-finished projects under the afternoon sun; taking pretty photos; collecting leaf/tree rubbings. Oh the possibilities!

Go on, throw yourselves a craft party on June 10, or any day, as often as you wish. All in the spirit of creation and crafting!

Day trip: Carolina Raptor Center

J and I made an impromptu trip to the Carolina Raptor Center yesterday. The Raptor Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned birds of prey. I felt so bad for the birds because most of them had some form of permanent injuries like damaged wings or loss of sight and so have to be kept housed.

The Raptor Center is not a huge place. You can complete the trail in about an hour, unless you stop to talk to the birdies like we did. The one bird that captured my heart was the little Barn Owl, Emma.



Emma arrived at the Raptor Center in June 2004. As a result of a car collision, both her wings were broken, and she cannot fly well enough to be released back into the wild.


When I first looked into her cage, Emma was hiding behind the post. I called out to her, hoping she would respond to her name. Sure enough, after several calls, she came out of hiding and flew onto the grilles of her cage to get as close to us as possible. I touched her claw and she made a noise that sounded more like white noise over the radio than the regular "whoo-whoo" you'd expect.

Later, we walked into a wooded area and saw a black snake. *gasp* J tried to catch it by its tail but it slipped away. That prompted something else to make a sudden movement. This little guy hopped away. Then it dawned on us that the snake was actually about to snag a meal before we interfered.


Erm, so we saved him?




Before we left the center, J bought two pellets of owl poop so we can dissect them later. We also picked up volunteer forms. Hopefully when J gets his new school schedule we can work something out!

Crafting on a Monday: Beach dress Reconstruction

My MIL got a stash of clothes from her friend but as usual, everything was a few sizes too big. So as we sifted through the pile, imagine my excitement when I found this! I knew immediately what I could do to it!



And so I begin my rogue adventure to making my very first SKIRT!



I cut off the top bit of the dress and used the rest of it.

I didn't really bother with measurements, as I said, I'm a rogue (or maybe lazy) crafter.


First I turned the dress inside out, then I folded the cut end in about 2", and pinned it down.



Then I proceeded to make the casing for the elastic band. I machine sewed two lines of stitching about half an inch from either end of the casing. Because the fabric was fraying at the edges from the initial cut away from the dress, I used a zigzag stitch to keep the frays in check.

I left a gap of about 2" at the lower running stitch so I can slip the elastic band into the casing. The length of the waistband to use would depend on how tight you want your skirt to be. Generally, it is about 1 to 4 inches smaller than your waistline. I took the measurement for my natural waist, because it would be further shortened when I joined the two ends together.

Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic band and slip that end into the casing. Run the elastic band all around the skirt, but hold on to the other end at all times. I searched high and low and couldn't find a safety pin in the house (!!) and had to resort to tying a knot at one end. As a result, it took me twice as long to thread the elastic band all the way through. It was definitely the most painful part of the whole skirt-making process.

When the elastic band is threaded through, stitch the two ends together, overlapping the ends generously.

The result:


ONE NEW SKIRT in the closet! I'm loving the final length of it!

P.S. what would you do with the top bit of the dress? I feel like it's such a waste to throw it away! I love the crocheted middle!

All the talented people out there!

Found this via Feeling Stitchy



Isn't it neat? Love the pop of red on the muted linen.



And just as I was about to post this, my dear friend and fellow crafter sent me this in my mail. Early morning yumminess!







Via MaricoMaricar

I aspire to be a better embroiderer!!

The day she nearly drowned

I came home yesterday to devastating news. Our 12 year old Boston terrier, Boops, fell into the pond behind the house and nearly drowned. Fortunately, she managed to swim back to shore all by herself. But when she came ashore, she collapsed in exhaustion.

The J-man was fishing at the pond when this happened but hadn't noticed the whole fiasco until he saw Boops lay unmoving on the ground. He carried her back home, gave her a bath before putting her to bed, all covered up.

In the middle of the night, Boops' breathing sounded horribly laboured. She took heavy short breaths and refused to respond to food or water! We knew something was terribly wrong when she refused a big chunk of chicken in her face.

We called the 24hr vet service, but the lady on call couldn't really tell us anything because no one knew the exact details of what had happened. We feared she had water in her lungs, which could lead to pneumonia. We read about cases of dogs that died a few days after near-drowning incidents because they had caught pneumonia after. We couldn't do anything for her that night, except to keep her warmly wrapped up, and waited to see what would happen in the morning. I cried my eyes out trying to fall asleep.

This morning, Boops looked a million times better. I guess she overexerted herself trying to get out of the water, her arthritic legs not helping. She's not 100% back to her old self, but at least she's up and about. I'm so afraid that her days are numbered, her being so old and weak.

Here is a little dedication to our dear Boops. Get well soon! We love you!!!





Made one for the Etsy too, for all the dog lovers out there.