Chicago Adventure

Spent the weekend in Chicago!  An amazing city with so much to see and do.  Highly recommend the GO Pass...attractions can be expensive and add up quickly.  With the pass we saved both money and time...no waiting in lines!  

Parking costs are high so park early for the best rate--$15 for the day, then take the public transport to your destinations. Wear comfortable walking shoes because you will need them!

The sky deck is a must see!  

Sailing on the Tall Ship Windy with pirate Dave.  There are many options for a boat tour but we went with  this old fashioned sailing ship and were treated to colorful pirate tales.  I love that the crew included children in the raising of the sails and firing of the canon!

Field Museum...wish we'd had more time there!

Planetarium!  We spent the day visiting as many  places as we could fit in! 

We were in Chicago to put a family member on an international flight and managed to fit in a day touring.  I would definitely go back just to spend more leisurely time seeing everything.   I often see great airfares to Chicago and now I will pay a little more attention when I see those and look for an opportunity to go back!   

Mug Mats Galore

Love this small looms that can be used for weaving mug mats.  These are a great beginner project!  Fairly quick to make and a nice introduction to weaving.

A mug mat with a cup and some assorted teas makes a nice gift!

Weaving Myself Ragged

 

Have loved working on this red, white and black rug!  


 

Time for Tea

"Tea is the magic key to the vault where my brain is kept". 

                --Francis Hardinge

Morning tea with strips of toast...nothing better to start the day!

Ahhhh, lemon scones...just put a little yellow coloring in half of the icing to make them pretty.

This is a basic oatmeal scone recipe and I used confectionery sugar with a few tablespoons of coffee and a little cream to make the icing. 

Weaving a Chair Mat

My husband made this fantastic loom for me.  I used loops of tshirt material and the stretchy fabric makes a comfortable but durable pad for my folding chair.  

For some strange reason folding chairs have traditionally been an ugly brown color.  I wanted to use one to put at my sewing machine so I spray painted it white and added the woven chair mat.  I'm really pleased with how it came out!  

Mashed Potato Bar

A while ago I came across the idea for a mashed potato bar while watching a wedding  program.  They put out a roaster full of mashed potatoes and trays of favorite toppings.  Margarita glasses were supplied so people could fix their potatoes but be able to walk around and talk and eat rather than having to juggle a plate or find a place to sit.  

I loved this concept and started collecting the brightly colored plastic margarita glasses for this purpose.  Last week we decided to give it a test run with our family.  I peeled a bag of potatoes and after making our favorite mashed potato recipe, I put them in the crockpot to keep warm.

I am a vegetarian so I chose mostly vegetable toppings and some veggie cheese, but the possibilities are endless.  You could invite a group and ask people to bring their favorite toppings.  Fun!!

Florida in March

Flashback:  We made a quick trip to My hometown in Florida in March and it was cold!   There was a family picnic on the beach but we were all freezing!  I overheard my sister explaining that the people wearing shorts were the ones visiting from Nebraska.  Everyone else had blankets...lol.  My husband and daughter were determined to swim regardless of the weather and my family looked on horrified as they plunged into the icy water.  

We made it for sunrise on our last morning...nothing like it!

Method to the Madness

Here is a look at one angle of my cottage workshop.  The large loom on the left was one we built recently to make a t-shirt rug.  Now when I say we...I mean the "royal we" which basically means I had the idea and my husband  carried it out.

 

I love going to Home Depot for the shopping portion but I seldom use anything in there for it's expected purpose.  Like when I wanted PVC pipe for a soap mold, or plywood to build a timeline or stump remover to make a smoke bomb...but I digress.  Back to the giant loom.  I cut loops from the body and sleeves of t-shirts and saved the remaining fabric to piece together 

 

This particular  loom is about 4 x 6 and between the positioning of the screws and the  shrinkage of the stretchy fabric, I end up with a rug that is about 3 x 5.

I love that it makes a soft cushy feeling rug.  Because of the size and time it takes to get the loops the right size, I tend to work on this a bit here and there...between other projects.  

Rag Rug Bug Has Bitten

 
This rug was made with one fabric.  It was a black with bright colored skulls all over it.  Not something I would have chosen to quilt with but it was perfect for weaving!  After hours bending down to weave, I decided to try putting the loom on an easel and it worked wonderfully!  Initially I borrowed an old art easel from my daughter  and once I was sure it worked well, my husband built an easel for me.

 

He is not aware that I took this action shot of the building process!  I have been trying to get him to make a YouTube video showing how he did it since it was a combination of several ideas.  No luck with that but he did build another easel for my larger loom,

He likes to claim that I am craft obsessed, but he is definitely an enabler!

 

Summer of Weaving

This has been a summer of  weaving for me.  It all started  with a day on Pinterest looking for ideas on weaving an old fashioned rag rug.  The crochet rag rugs are absolutely beautiful but I found that crocheting with fabric strips is hard on the hands...at least for me!  So I began looking at other options.

One of the great things about having been in the military is that you have friends living all over!  On a recent trip to visit family in Florida, I stopped in for some time with a close friend in Tennessee.  I had mentioned the weaving interest to her and by the time I got there she had tracked down some looms for me.  Turns out the very loom I had been looking at was made by a gentleman in Dell, Ar which was close by!  Take a look at their website...I have enjoyed reading through all of it!  http://ouroldcountrystore.blogspot.com/p/rag-rug-looms.html

I came home with a set of 3 looms that you can actually combine and get 2 more sizes.  One of them is a mug mat size which is a great one to start with!  Friends and family would tell you I am very crafty and  while I do love to make things...learning a new skill takes time.

I found a few videos where people were whipping right thru their weaving.  That is great but I think it is easy to forget what it is like to be new.  I finally found very helpful tips and video here: http://simplyresourceful.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-rag-rug.html

 

With much help from my corgi Poppy, I managed to get my rags ready.  I tried both 2 and 3 inch strips and both worked great.  I found that I prefer using a rotary cutter rather than just ripping...fewer strings and just looked neater over all.

Really enjoying making these rugs and will be posting pictures of several I have worked on the last few months.  They are time consuming and I like to have more than one going at a time.

I have been frequenting charity shops and yard sales to pick up sheets in a bunch of colors.  Cleaned out my own closet and all old sets of sheets went in a basket to be cut into strips.  It doesnt matter if they have a stain...all can be used for rugs.  Put the word out to friends to save old sheets for you too!

More weaving to come!!

Wild West Graduation

Flashback:

May was a busy month gearing up for graduation!  Because of the fact that we have moved around a lot as a military family we don't actually live near any blood relatives.  We have loved every minute of this nomadic life and have found adopted family in each place we have lived.   This particular graduation is for my adopted niece, Madeleine, who graduated from high school this year.  

Last year during the flurry of graduation open houses that go on, Madeleine decided that when her time came she would like to have a western theme.  I love a good theme!  My youngest graduated 2 years ago and we had a big graduation luau out at the lake and loved every minute of it!  I was happy to hear that the next graduate in our family also wanted something a little different!

Because her mom and I are planners we had no less than four meetings to make lists and bounce ideas off of our girl.  During this period we succumbed to something I like to call the DOG (Delusions of Grandeur) syndrome so needless to say, many lofty ideas did not come to pass.  All in all though, I think we pulled off a great day complete with western theme and for me the process was actually more fun than the party!

my first attempt at burlap roses and I was thrilled to find that burlap now comes in many vibrant colors!  we had collected little glass boots to use for vases and filled them with coffee beans to hold our flowers in place.

The candy graduation caps are one of my favorite things to make and take for a grad open house.  Miniature Reese's peanut butter cups on the bottom with an after 8 dinner mint on the top with an m&m and yellow icing for the tassel.  glued together with icing.

The message jar below was made from a pickle jar...just spray painted the lid red and added some rafia.

The picture horseshoe was my husbands contribution.  Poor guy has been the victim of many a crazy plan from me.  He always says I use the "royally we" when volunteering to take on some mad project.  We used plywood for the base and attached cork.  The our graduate put all her pictures on to make it her own!

The graduation was held at a beautiful country home and we roped off the driveway to make an area for tables and fellowship.  Her colors were red and silver and I was able to find a chicken feeder in red and fill it with skittles to make a people feeder.

A sweet picture of grad and grandma at the cute little picture booth complete with hats and bandanas and picture frame

I am notorious for decorating everything I can so even the pickle jars didn't escape! 

Candy mold are easy and can be made ahead of time for any event!  love these little  boots and hats.  The light brown ones are peanut butter and they were especially tasty!

Found some inexpensive glass plates at wal-mart and decoupaged them with turquoise and red bandanas to make plates for this stand.     The candles are simple votives I had inherited a box of and a little ribbon and burlap made them perfect for the occasion!