Felting 101

After seeing a gorgeous pair of felted slippers, I thought I should attempt to make a pair for my grandmother for the holidays.

9 oz of Merino Wool Roving

I first bought the required supplies:

8 oz Merino Wool Roving (found on Etsy)

Small Washboard

Bubble Wrap

Dish Soap

Spray Bottle for Water

First trace the size of the foot you would like to fit giving about an inch extra when cut making a bootie shaped pattern.

This is then transferred to bubble wrap, connecting the two booties at the top so there is no separation between the two, making a square horseshoe shape. Also cut two large sheets of bubble wrap larger than the horseshoe shape.

Lay the horseshoe shape down, and start pulling a light tuft of wool from the roving bundle. Grab the end of the roving and gently tug, this will pull off a small piece each time.

Do this until the entire horseshoe is covered. This will act as the liner of the slippers, so it doesn't matter the color or design of the wool. Once covered, wet with water from the spray bottle, this will flatten the wool and help adhere the wool to itself. Put the large sheet of bubble wrap over the wet wool.

Horseshoe pattern covered with wool

Covered with layer of bubble wrap

When done with one side, flip over and add a layer to the other side, folding the excess over the edge as close to the pattern to keep shape.  Once liner is done, continue with the color wool you would like to make the slipper following the same technique of pulling tufts and placing them on the pattern.  Wet down each layer before flipping or adding more wool.

When the final top layer (brown layer for photos) is complete, you can add your own blending of colors or accents. I chose to add light blue against the brown starting at what would be the ankle of the slipper. 

Wet down again and drizzle the dish soap onto the felt and cover with bubble wrap sheet bubble side down. Start to rub gently in a circular and perpendicular motion agitating the wool.  Do this to each side for at least ten minutes. This firms the felt and solidifies the felted bootie.

Cut down the center through all layers.  Take each soapy bootie to the sink and gently rub on the washing board until the felt is one solid fiber, rinse and continue to rub on the board.  Once the bootie takes the shape you would like be sure to fit it to the foot. 

Put each bootie near a warm vent or fan for drying.  I used plastic grocery bags to keep the shape of the slippers while they dried.

Slippers after rinsing and Washboard rub

The Final Slipper formed and drying.

Dinosaur Cakes

A coworker asked in a panic if I could create a dinosaur cake for her 5 year old son's birthday.  
I couldn't pass up the challenge so here it is, step-by-step:


You will need to make two double layer Dino cakes:
two nine inch cake pans
frosting spatula (this will change your life)
4 cake mixes and listed ingredients from box
6 cans of frosting
neon food coloring
whoppers, chocolate disks, gummy eyes 


1. Bake the cakes. Each mix works for two pans.

2. Cool, wrap and freeze
3. Carve each cake into a body, tail, and head. The first round needs to be cut three inches off the bottom and cut into a horseshoe to create body. The 2nd round can be trimmed into a tail and head to the shape of your liking.

4. Glue to display board with frosting
5. Layer cakes with frosting, use skewers to "dowel" weak areas (trust me, otherwise Dino-decapitation can occur)

6. Crumb layer with frosting (put a thin layer to keep the crumbs from interfering with the final frosting), freeze for 30 minutes
7. Complete Frosting keeping it as smooth as possible

8. Place three Whoppers at feet for toes, chocolate disks for spots, Hershey kisses for spikes, and gummy eyes


Tada!  Inexpensive, super-cute and perfect for those little kiddos who love Dinosaurs!

My Favorite Dish

This Salad Costs less than $7.00 to make and is perfect for a BBQ side dish.

Ingredients:

Can of Sweet Kernel Corn

Can of White Kidney Beans

Can of Red Kidney Beans

1 Medium Lime

Bundle 'o' Cilantro

Rinse all ingredients in cool water

 

Chop Cilantro

  Mix together in a big bowl

Cut lime in half, and squeeze juice over salad

 

Mix, Refrigerate and enjoy.

Adventures in Home Ownership

Our deck was considered completely unsafe; dry rot, rusted nails, and no bolting to the house.  It had to be replaced.  So when we were getting married last summer we requested in lieu of a registry, that people help us fund for our home projects-mainly the deck.  So after the wedding madness, the typical Northwest weather came in and we couldn't build.

Kevin and I took our tools out this month and took down the old rickety deck and had a work party made up of friends and family to help us.  This all happened in one week from destruction of the old deck, to the final railing on the new deck.

Before: (no railings as they were taken down over a year ago) 

Destruction- We managed to save all of the old wood (except for the most dry rotted) It will most certainly be reused in other "old west" dog houses, planter boxes and general woodworking my husband thinks up. 

Lots of Nails, lots of wiggling. 

Here is the dry rot....so dangerous. Your foot would step right through.

We then disconnected the whole structure from the house, which was relatively easy- it was only nailed to the siding (no bolts).  We simply wrapped the deck with a utility rope and pulled, hoping it wouldn't crash into our sliding glass door.

 

No more deck poorly connected to the house....

Only one major injury... hammering your own hand results in a lot of swelling and a big fat bruise....

To my surprise, no injuries with this part, had to bust out some concrete to set our pillars.

There was staining....a of staining. I spent every day after work staining all of the wood so it would be gorgeous when it went  up. It paid off.

Then the troop came out... there was some man talk, some beer drank and the deck went together piece by piece.

Then the beautiful railing was put up.  It is my favorite part.  It is safe, functional, and looks so nice. 

 The final product is exactly what we wanted.  We spend as much of our time out there already.

Screen Printing should be one word...

I still find myself blending the two words into one verb of fantastical possibilities..... Anywho....


I have started back up with the Yudu today due to a needed day off and some killer joint pain in my feet....no work, just screenprinting.... see one word......


I first needed a new screen since the two I have are already burned and have great designs on them that I intend to keep for a while. Kevin was sweet enough to pick up a new screen for me.


First step is to wet the screen. I have found that a wet (but not dripping) paper towel works best. The thicker the better. When the screen is wet, put the dull side (shiny side is the plastic covering) of the emulsion sheet down onto the flat side of the screen (or the side that is flush on all corners, trust me, I've screwed this up before.... make sure there are no airbubbles, or light green spots, these are enemies....

Then comes the drying. One push of the button simply does not do it. Three times and a hairdryer on low cool heat works best. Be sure that it is dried completely. If there are any tacky parts to the emulsion its just not dry...DO NOT PEEL the plastic back if it is tacky...



While drying- print off or draw your design on the the transparencies... silhouettes made of paper are also cool...the TimberDog design that is on the blog earlier was simply paper.This activity kills time while the emulsion dries... To make ink-jet printed images more defined, I rely on a good ol' Sharpie to hand fill the design. This allows for the light to be properly blocked when exposed.

Once the emulsion is dry place the designs print side up on the glass, then the flat side of the screen down.... EXPOSE.... not yourself.....the screen....


The green emulsion sheet will turn blue. Where the designs lay, it should be green....wash gently. I usually put the whole screen into the shower, and use the hand-held shower head on lukewarm spray and my hands... this works easily without scratching the screen fibers...






Once the designs are no longer green, and the green is down the drain...dry... again.... three times and a hairdryer.



Then comes the fun part, tape off the design you want to print (or just the sides if you went with a full page design).... Make sure everything is centered.


It can prove difficult when doing centered graphics from small designs like these.... flashlights and a partner help to shine the light directly down to really be able to center the graphic onto the fabric. Also putting a dark colored piece of tape in the center underneath the fabric helps...



Slightly lift the screen and put a stream of ink directly above the design, pull ink lightly downward first.










Lower the screen and pull with more pressure to press ink onto the fabric. Hold the fabric in place when lifting the screen up again.

Blind Quilting

I am a self-taught seamstress of sorts. I followed the advice of Whit a few years ago and purchased a $50.00 Brother Sewing Machine and some good scissors... What has blossomed are many adorable custom fit shirts, christmas stockings, three sets of curtains still in use, original purses by Oertli Original (thanks Katie) and one finished photo quilt. Now today I am going back to the Brother to whip up a family photo quilt for Kevin's Grandma for Mother's day. She is the ultimate Super Mom.

Here is the first I made for my own Grandma at Christmas....

I have no idea why this photo is sooo small...


Anyway, I have started from scratch again with 9 photos printed in sepia onto printable fabric sheets 8x11 (found at JoAnn for 5 bucks for 4 sheets) Most are group photos from over the years...










I Then bought a bundle of 5 fat quarters and a couple extra stray colorschemed quarters (about 10 bucks from JoAnn) and cut them into the following: 2- 3"x16" strips for the sides of the photos, and 2-3"x12" stips for the top and bottom of the pictures to creat the "frame" of the photo.

My tools of use and luxury-


rotary cutter and mat

measuring guide

fabric/thread

pins

and of course the brother

iron with ironing board

PATIENCE...


Of course this quilt is a work in progress, will update once complete...

...well the day has come and the quilt is finished. This took about 6 hours to complete, but stretched out over a week or so, it goes pretty easy.

The Finished product....