BlueWrenn's Folk Art & Crafting Blog

6:45pm: My doll from Carmen!
I got my doll from seven-year old farm girl Carmen today! (Carmen is the one who received the baby doll from me.) I'll post pictures sometime over the next week or so... She deserves a pretty outside setting and I want to wait until it dries up a bit around here to fully show her off!

The doll's name is Forsythia Root and she is a vivid garden girl! She has the cutest clothes made from fabric in hues of every color (like the flowers that she loves) and has dark blue, teal and purple long wavy hair pulled back with bright colored clips and stuffed under a gaily hued crochet beret made by Carmen herself.

She sports a flowery dress, lots of jewelry, rainbow-striped stockings, purple velvet boots, an eyebrow ring and the biggest, softest heart I have ever seen! She carries a small bright purse of orange and yellow, with a sculpey cell phone and even has her own lipstick! And the lipstick matches exactly the shade she is wearing! She also comes with her very own Indiana drivers license, complete with picture.

She came with a huge red bucket of goodies - a kit for making peanut butter birdseed pinecones, a bluebird whistle, lots and lots of duckie stationery, a farm themed puzzle book, and lots more. Carmen also included lots of treats for the kitties and a bone for my dog Brindi!

The box she arrived in is also the biggest brightest package I have ever received - I overheard the mail man say that it was the most impressive package he has ever seen! Anyhow, the box was decorated as a bright green colored flowery school bus, complete with orange butterflies and yellow flowers, and brightly colored tires.

This is so impressive! The care and detail is amazing, esp. for a seven year old! Carmen did not forget any detail and I am sure I will keep discovering more and more wonderful little details over time... Each time I look at her, I find something else! How much fun!!!

There was so much in this package that I know I won't remember everything, but it was totally wonderful! Thank you so much Carmen!!!

2:42pm: Recent Projects
Recent and current projects include: two dolls for a farm girl swap, handmade books, a Jiffy shawl, dishcloths, hackysacks for a charity and a soft fluffy turquoise  scarf. Upcoming projects include painted clothpins, farm stationery, pincushions, and a clothespin holder.


Here's some pics of the dolls... One wanted a gothic Annie, the other a baby doll...

  

12:31pm: Update...
Well, things have been really busy here. I've had lots and lots of client work and lots of work doing farm-related stuff...

We got two Angora goats which are currently being boarded at a friend's house. We've gotten a lot of stuff moved down and stored in the barns. We're starting to get some of the trees purchased for the orchard and berry patches. I've got all my seeds ready for the gardens.

On the creative front, I've gotten the two knit hats completed (finally! I had to redo them both.) Now, I just need to dig out the addresses and get them mailed.

I finished one of the two dolls I'm doing for the farm girl doll swap. I've gotten one of the birthday packages done.

Still left to do - the family's birthday gifts, the two other birthday packages for bday_packages, and one more doll. Plus some doll clothes.

Plus some hacky sacks for a mission group to take to Central America.

Good news - I've been haunting the local JoAnn's store that was closing and got a ton of different shelving units. Yesterday was their final day and we went down and finally got some fabric. I ended up with about 7 or 8 bolts of fabric (avg. length 6 yards) and some other items. We ended up spending about $45 for almost $900 worth of fabric!

NEW STORE CLOSING (DFW Area) - the Hancock's Fabrics at Marsh and Josey (or maybe Forest & Josey) is closing now. I haven't been over there to see it or verify the validity of this yet, but I was told that it is in the early days of the closing sale, so the discounts aren't that great yet.

12:08am: Happy Anniversary to ME!

Okay, technically we were married on Leap Day (February 29th) but on off years we celebrate it on the 28th. So "Happy Anniversary" to us! DH and I have been married for 11 years (if you count the non-leap years or 3.75 if you don't. DH doesn't. I do.)

Did you know that the 11th year anniversary gift is steel? How exciting. (NOT.) I think we are going to get each other watches because we both don't have a working one at the moment. How exciting. (NOT, but it's all we could think of.)

Unfortunately DH has meetings both tonight and tomorrow night. So I don't even know if I will get dinner out. What a crappy deal! And he is working a test (as a proctor) so he's not home at all during the day. *sigh*

 

12:04am: stuff to do...
Well, I'm trying to get motivated and get a bunch of client work done, plus some more knitting. I have three gift boxes to finish plus two hats to finish. Plus a cross stitch sampler for my sister and a crochet plant holder.

*sigh*

8:35pm: custom hat order
Here are shots of my latest custom hat order - a striped beanie in olive and sky blue. It looks a bit dark in the pics.

 

2:17pm: Custom Hat Order

I finished this hat today as a custom order. ($10 plus shipping for a small adult/kids' sized hat.) It's really soft and warm.

  

Other projects include: cotton crocheted dish cloths for my Farm Girl dishcloth swap, a cotton plant hanger or two for my sister, her birthday sampler (cross-stitch) and a few birthday packages I'm working on for my bday_packages group.

8:41pm: Finally... more hats!
Okay, first of all, let me apologize for how long it took to get these up! Here's the next batch of hats.

9:55am: More hats coming soon!
I have a meeting this morning but will try to get more of the hats unpacked, photographed and posted here this evening. I have a TON of adult hats that have not been shown yet, plus lots more kids' hats.

6:19pm: Misc Items for Sale
These items are also for sale... 

5:19pm: Adult and Kids' Hat SALE!!!!
These are only SOME of the hats I have available for sale. Please check back often for more listings in this post.

3:03pm: HAT SALE!!!
Here are the first batches of hats for the HAT SALE - Newborn and Baby Hats (more to come) 

10:58am: Happy Birthday to ME!
It's my birthday today and I want to thank everyone who sent me gifts and cards. I'm having a great birthday so far. I got two incubators, a pocket knife and a copy of Sims 2 Pets from DH, some fabric, yarn, trims and buttons from some of my internet buddies, some recipes and more from another internet friend, handmade soap from Ellen, a trip to Atlanta from my sister and her family, and money from my dad! Dad, the money is being saved to buy some ducks and chickens!

And I got myself a sweater and a pair of jeans. I also got a ton of cards from friends, family and internet buddies. Thanks!

In other news, I've been busy trying desperately to finish up some of the packages I promised in December and January. I have been making handmade books, scarves, hats, and more and am finishing up on a big batch of packages to go out. So, if I promised you something, hopefully it's one of the ones almost ready to mail.

I also have a package of sewing patterns for Liz, a very. very late package for my buddy Heather Layne, and a pile of Valentines for my farm girl friends at Mary Jane's Farm!!!

7:57pm: Thank you Nikki (catfever7) for the birthday card! It made my day!

12:23pm: Snow and Ice for the past week...
Okay, this past weekend and all this week so far, it's been rainy and icy and then last night, we got snow... Not a lot by most standards, but enough to screw up everyone's day. Roads are icy and most places have shut down for the day. This has been the sixth day in a row that the weather has sucked and it is supposed to be like this all the way through this next weekend. Cripes!

Here's a couple of pics -

9:30am: Pink goodness!

I'm working on a wonderfuly soft hat and fingerless glove set  for a friend of mine who recently had a birthday... 
(I won't say who cuz it's kind of a surprise!) 

Anyhow, I have one glove yet to go...

 

Got lots of stuff in the works - Valentines Day cards for my Farm Girls, birthday gifts for a whole bunch of folks, a romantic shawl for my sister for her birthday, some very late care packages for some overseas pals, etc. etc.

My birthday is January 25th and for the first time in a very LONG LONG time, I am planning on having a party!  Well, at least a small one with some of my old and new friends... probably the last time I'll see them in a party setting before I move to Hillsboro... 

And I am buying myself the BIGGEST birthday cake I can find...

11:20pm: Recent Projects
Finally finished the Dr. Who scarf late last night - will post pics later this week.

Here are some pics of recent projects: 

9:46pm: Merry Christmas!!!!!
This Christmas has been a very nice one so far and the fun isn't over yet! My presents consisted of mostly (but not all) tools or farm-related stuff for working on the ranch (see toomyvara on LJ...) and some kitchen items. Plus I get to travel to Atlanta for New Year's to see my nephews, sister, and BIL.

Thank you to everyone! Merry Christmas!!!

A big shout out goes to all my Mary Jane Farmgirl buddies - I hope that your Christmas has been a good one and that those of you who are stranded in bad weather are keeping warm and recovering from the cold.

11:38pm: Merry Christmas to Everyone!
This year has been an extremely busy one for me and I haven't been able to post much lately. But I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and warm wishes for the New Year.

3:39am: This is the llama that someone sent me for xmas! How cute is she????

1:22am: Last year I participated in a great community called holiday_wishes. It's back this year, better than ever and here is my wish list...



Happy Holidays!!!!

3:00pm: Update
Well, I have been doing lots of little stuff all week - I got some farm stationery done, a couple of felt farm animals sewn and I have almost finished Skip's Dr. Who/SMU scarf.

His scarf is crocheted (hdc) in big blocks of autumn red and blueberry Simply Soft. (His school colors are Harvard red and Yale blue.) It's wide (10 inches) and really long (almost 12 feet) and actually becoming hard to work with - yes, it's THAT LONG! I'll post pics just as soon as it's completely done!

I've scanned the stationery and will probably be trying to sell some of the cards on ETSY next week.

The felt animals are for some of my Farm Girl friends, and I think I'll present them as pin cushions.

Nothing else going on...

I got some new craft books (well, old ones from Half Price Books):

The Step by Step Art of Making Soft Toys by Alan Dart - lots of cute little commercial-looking cloth animals but it has some pretty awesome FOOD toys in it...veggies for you foodies!  (Hey Twinkie - I'll try to scan some of the pics and send them to you!)

Better Homes and Gardens American Christmas Crafts and Foods, 1984 ed. 
This book has the absolute BEST food recipes (the pics make you drool!) and tons of really cute rag doll and soft toy patterns. Plus lots of quilting and other stuff I'm not normally interested in. But the best part is that it has lots projects that my sisters and I did as kids, so it's definitely a  nostalgia trip.  I definitely recommend this book - it's my current favorite.

7:23am: Recycled Grocery Bags
Today I recycled some grocery bags into plastic strips for knitting. I made a mesh bag for hanging onions in my kitchen...

URLS for prepping the plastic:
http://www.nezumiworld.com/crochet_038.htm
http://www.marloscrochetcorner.com/bag%20cutting%20instructions.html

I used the loop method to make double thick strips and then knit them using the large yellow KK loom. I crocheted the cord for the drawstring with just a chain stitch.



TIPS:

Make your strips about 1 inch wide. Anything less than that tears too easily. when combining strips, go easy on them and go slowly. Don't pull hard at all or they tear.

Wal-mart bags tear REALLY easily so be careful with them. Thicker bags, like those from Target or Office Depot are better, but of course, we don't usually have access to as many of those.

Use an old hook for the looms when doing this as the tension may make your hook bend. It can be bent back into shape but may be weakened by doing so. 

LIft the loops over the hook, don't pull them out and up or they will tear and mid-project, this sucks. You'll have to try to tie the torn ends together and you'll end up with holes in the bag. It will still hold, but it looks ugly.

If you want to crochet the strips instead of using the knitting looms, use a Q hook. The looms give more of a mesh look - if you want something closer/a tighter weave, then crochet them instead of using the looms using the single stitch.

10:36pm: New project pics

Made some dollies from the Wee Wonderfuls site:
http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/

Her "freebies" page is here:
http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/store/downloads.html 

the .pdf file can be found here (for the dolls I made):
http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/downloads/weepattern.pdf

Anyhow, here are the dollies I made last night:

   

I did mine by hand, using embroidery thread and just a blanket stitch on the outside of the doll, 
instead of sewing seams with the sewing machine and turning the piece right side out, 
like the instructions say to do. But I think they are kind of cute!

The Pointy Kitty pattern is another one of my favorites but I haven't finished mine yet.

5:08am: Update
Well things have been crazy busy here. I thought I'd taken pics of the items I made recently for one of my swap partners, but I guess I didn't take any pics. I can't find them.

In any event, it was a Halloween swap and I sent a handmade book, some handmade Skull stationery, a few crocheted chokers, a very bright orange and black striped Halloweeny scarf and some other misc. stuff. I'd thought I'd taken a picture of the scarf but I guess not. (Darn! It was SWEET and so bright it almost glows.)

Been working on a scarf for Skip for xmas in his college/high school colors - harvard red and yale blue. He wants it super long (at least 9 feet long, more if I can do that...) and it's pretty wide for a scarf (about 10-12 inches wide) so it's taking a long time. But I'm more than half way done on it.

Tried out a slipper pattern (crocheted) that is all one piece and just folds. It's a very, very strange looking slipper but fits really nicely. SO far, I have made one slipper and need to finish the pair. But it's a quick slipper pattern and works up nicely in Simply Soft yarns.

Did an awesome 6 inch felt owl for one of the farm gals at Mary Jane's Farm (part of our RAOK swaps)... I wish I'd taken a pic of it since it was sweet, but I forgot. I'll do another one soon. It turned out really nice and I made up the pattern as I went. Very cool.

Started a soft fuzzy shawl in shades of blues and white...

Picked up a bunch more foam stamps from the craft store when I last went in and now I can do some fall and winter stationery sets too... Can't wait. Have to find time to do them though.

Michaels had its employee appreciation day or whatever it is called a week or two ago. It's the one day of the year that we get a 50% discount off of regularly priced items. I got a LOT of 100% wool yarn, so that I can make some felted stuff. Just can't decide what to make first...

Got some awesome new books from my craft book club - can't wait to use them... I recommend all three...

Feltmaking and Wool Magic, by Jorie Johnson
Toys to Sew by Claire Garland**
'Tis the Season to Crochet, Edited by BObbie Matela & Mary Ann Frits***

**This book has the most adorable sock dolls, felt teddy bears and even a hobby horse pattern! But my absolute favorite is the felt mice and kitty bowling set...

*** This book is a general holiday crochet book but has the most adorable crocheted penguin amigurumi on the cover! They were the primary reason I got the book and it's great!

Visited Lone Star Comics' store near the old house the other day and I want everything in there! How horrible is that? I did make a list of some of the stuff I want and found their website... I think it's called http://www.mycomicshop.com - check it out! It has the most awesome toys and collectibles and would make one hellava of a place to get stocking stuffers (for kids of all ages!) Don't let the front page fool you - it's so much more than just comics. Do a search on dolls or toys or skulls or whatever to find the other items. Has some pretty awesome keychains and games too.