Freezer Paper Stenciling: New Tees for the boys (and me)

One thing I took home from SAW was a burning desire to apply paint to fabric as soon as I unpacked my bags (which took me 5 days).  So this weekend, the boys (all three of them - Mike wanted to give it a try too) and I
sat down with our freezer paper and fabric paints and went to town.
So much fun.
Here's J's:

he used a stencil from his drawing supplies

Here's G's:

(I did the drawing and cutting for this one, G did the lovely paint job)

And here's mine - the sequence of drawings was Mike's fine idea.

So thanks again to Maya for introducing me to this easy/fun/addictive craft, and if you haven't tried it - here's what you need:

freezer paper, fabric paints, an exacto-knife and self-healing mat, a pencil, some paint brushes, and some fabric to paint on.

and here's how:

1.  draw an image you like, or let your kids draw a simple image or trace a stenciled image onto the papery side of your freezer paper (or find one and print it out - I hear you can feed freezer paper into the printer if you cut it 8.5 by 11".

2.  cut it out (use your exacto knife and a self-healing mat underneath)

3.  iron your cut-out image onto the fabric you intend to print on, shiny side down.  We used 100% tees for this project, but I've tried on muslin, and linen, and 100% cotton totebags too.   Make sure all of the edges of your cut-out stencil are securely ironed onto the fabric so paint doesn't bleed through.

4.  paint it (this is the part the kids can do).  As far as fabric paints go, I've now used both the Tulip and Jacquard brand fabric paints, and I liked the colors and the quality of the Jacquard far more!!

5.  Let it dry (this is the hard part - we all got very antsy waiting for the paint to dry, and I eventually had to pull out the hair dryer to speed it along)

6.  Pull off the stencil and admire your fine work!  You're amazing!  (Heat-set your paint with an iron again, before wearing or washing your fabric)

7.  Don your super-cool sunglasses (even if it's totally cloudy and raining) and dance around in your house.

 Tschuss!

Squam Art Workshop

I returned from Squam Art Workshop last Sunday, and I am finally going to sit down now and write about it.

First of all -


A             W             E               S              O            M             E.



I have never experienced four days of such positive, creative energy in my life!  The people I met were amazing, and talented, and friendly, and I learned so much from all of the teachers and classes, and also just from my fellow cabin mates and workshop attendees, that by Saturday I really needed to take a breather and just sit on the dock and let my brain relax.  It's still all sinking in in little bits and pieces...   I learned the process of preparing and using silk directly from the bombyx cocoon.   The silk hankies are super delicate and wispy and you pull or draft your "yarn" directly from the stretched cocoon.  In class we learned to stretch the cocoon over these frames with nails, and then you layer and layer and layer them (kind of like phyllo dough, but with silk) and from there - you can dye them any way you please (which is a craft I intend to try some day with my little guys), and then just pull and knit.  And the silk is wonderfully soft and beautifully shiny.  It was a great class.    (oh yeah - and also - it was taught by the Yarn Harlot herself.   So there's that)

I also took classes on drop spindling (had never done this before.  it's fun!  but I'm going to need a lot of practice)  and crochet with Denny McMillan (loved her!!), and a class called Botanical Printing, with Maya of Maya*Made (Go to her blog post to see more about that class.  What a great class!  She was so warm and sweet!  and I had so much fun learning how to make prints on fabric with freezer paper  (more on that tomorrow).

When we weren't in class, the nights were filled with music (Jonatha Brooke played guitar and sang for us the first night), and interesting speakers, and then there was the Squam Art Fair on Saturday night to wrap up the weekend. Ysolda Teague was there, selling and signing copies of her new book Little Red in the City, (which you should get if you knit, for the sizing and technique info alone, never mind all of the beautiful patterns in it as well.)

and even if there had been NO art workshop, I was in heaven the minute I pulled up to my lakeside cabin, Cragsmere (it was huge - there were 14 of us there!), and made myself at home.  Knitting by the wood fire every evening, sitting by the water on the dock (it was sunny on Saturday)
and walking through the woods on beautiful trails to each class.    *sigh*     I'm a lucky girl.

( try not to be too impressed with how tidy my room is...)

 I finihsed my "branching out" scarf while I was there, and

 a little embroidered piece as well.

 (art fair)

 my lovely Roomie Ramona

 funny housemates Andrea and Mary re-telling a story by the fire

 housemates

And finally - there was a daily Waffle and Ice Cream Sundae Bar.

I think I've said enough.

:: This Moment ::

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. inspired by SouleMama.

A single photo  – capturing a moment from the week.   

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I had trouble choosing the "moment" for this week.  So I'm cheating.

 here's the runner-up. 

A Wedding Quilt

About a month ago, I promised to show you pictures of my super secret project today (well - yesterday actually) if you came back, and so - here they are!!   I am hoping to get some better pictures still (will have to ask Cori about that) as I never really achieved the "perfect finished product picture" that I was aiming for.

This project began - oh - about 12 months ago.  Wait.  Is that right?  Well - it began about 3 hours after my sister told me she was engaged to be married this May.  *** Cori - jump in if you're reading and tell us when you got engaged because I can't remember now.

Anyway - it started a while ago.

And I needed that long to finish this puppy up, because for some reason I decided that, this being my first ever quilt, I should just jump RIGHT into the fire and make a QUEEN size.

Looking back, I realize that this was far more than ambitious, and just not even bordering on pure lunacy, but was actually full-fledged, unequivocal MADNESS on my part.

The lady at the quilt shop who let out a snort (yes, a snort) when I told her I was making a queen-size quilt for my sister, and no, I had never made a quilt before... and did she have any patterns to suggest?  MAY have known this for the sheer madness that it was.  But she didn't tell me.  She just sold me the pattern and I went on my merry (blissfully ignorant) way.

Because my way is not to think self thoughts like "how will this be done?" or "what is the smartest way to begin this project?"

but to say simply - "THIS,dear Crystal, is a FABULOUS idea, and you should definitely begin it right AWAY!"

And so I did, and I spent the next year cutting and cutting and cutting, and piecing, and ripping back seams, and piecing, and again - ripping back seams...and watching Youtube video after Youtube video for every step along the quilted path... and then

one day...

Wha-la.

It was done!

 (mike calls this the "porcupine" hair bun... he gets a kick out of this hairdo I think)

here's the finished quilt top before I made the quilt "sandwich" with batting and back...

 sewing on the binding... I actually enjoyed this part quite a bit, because I could sit in the living room and have the nice warm quilt on my lap as I worked.

 all done!

Rhama and I are test-driving the quilt on the floor.  yep!  It's comfy!

And now it is living in it's new home.  And I hope my sister and my new brother-in-law like it.  And I hope they know that all through the steps I was thinking how much I love them both, and about how happy I know they'll be together as man and wife, and I was putting all of these lovely thoughts, and hopes, and dreams for their future into each stitch as I sewed it.  Yes I was.

A finished Shalom and I'm off to Squam!

Popping in (hello!) to show you my finished Shalom which I cast-on for a couple of weeks ago, as part of Linda's Shalom Knit Along.  It came off my needles during a mini-marathon of the Dick Van Dyke show (love that show!) on Saturday night.  Something about the simpleness and slower pace of the old black and white TV shows really soothes me in the evenings.

*** Sidenote - today happens to be the LAST day of our cable TV service, so it will be strictly Netflix for us from here on.  And I think I speak for all four of us when I say that we will do just FINE without TV in our life.  I am looking forward to it, and I am also looking forward to the $40 extra dollars in our account each month. 

Anyway - back to the knitting.

I think I am in love with my Shalom, although I will have to reblock soon because of those wrinkles on the front  (darn it! - I was rushing the blocking because I wanted to wear the thing!)  The color is brighter than my normal choices (to say the least).  I never knit in pink.  Never mind this yarn, which you might call "hot" pink, but I can pull it off I think (I hope).  I modified the original to add sleeves, and 4 more buttons, and a repeat of the pillar motive further down along the bottom hem.  I didn't do any waist shaping, because meh... I didn't want to.

When it was all finished, I decided I really wanted orange buttons for this one (don't know why - but my mind was made up.  That happens occasionally.)  But I couldn't find any orange buttons (of course) so I made them instead.  With some scrap fabric and a button kit.

I can't tell you whether my version is short-sleeved because I truly wanted a short-sleeved cardigan, or because I just became really lazy about this sweater at the end, or because I just really wanted to WEAR it and I was impatient to knit all the way down to my wrists (!!!)

But either way - I am super happy with the end result, and will be packing this sweater into my suitcase for my getaway to Squam Lake and the Art Workshop I will be (blissfully) attending for the remainder of this week.  If you are in NH, the Saturday night Art Fair will be open to the public, and sounds like an awesome fair!

I will be back here on Monday, however, I do have some posts scheduled (I did after all, promise to reveal a secret project here on June 1st, and I fully intend to hold to that promise, except that I got my dates a bit mixed up and I have that post scheduled for tomorrow instead.  Please come back!   But having said that, my "scheduled" posts on blogger never seem to show up when I schedule them for some reason.  So check back tomorrow if you like, but if it's this same old post - well - I won't know about it, because I'm going to go "unplugged" during Squam, and just relax and breathe for 5 WHOLE days.

If you're nearby and you know us, you can check in on my boys at home if you like (all three of them) but I know they will do just FINE without mama, and I also know that they have a bunch of fun things planned to do together while I'm gone.