I was out and about and came across large white acorns fallen from a tree in a parking lot. I picked up a few and brought them home to the squirrels. It didn’t take long before the nuts were discovered and carried off. I love the enthusiasm the squirrels have when I give them white acorns. We have post oak in the yard and the white oak acorns are ten times the size of the post oak acorns.
My poor spider plant has been neglected for a while, and left to its own devices for everything but water (I do water it twice weekly). I got a bee in my bonnet and finally gave it a good clean up, including trimming dead leaves and separating out the babies.
When the spider plant babies root out, I’ll plant them in another hanging pot. I did select the longest leaves from the pile of discards and are letting them dry so I can attempt to make some twine from them eventually.
Of the original planting of my tea jar terrarium, I had three varieties survive. It was looking rather sparse, so I added succulents from another pot we had hanging in a window.
I’ve increased the artificial light from 9 hours to 12 to see if that makes the cactus happier.
I changed almost everything on the last felt cat for my Bucilla kit. I took felt from my stash, cut new parts, cut different pieces from the pattern, altered the angle of the head and feet slightly, and mixed up the sequins so that I could have a black, orange, and white calico cat.
I have had two calico cats with one orange leg and one black leg, Shadows and Izzy. Izzy was born after Shadows passed and we joke about reincarnation.
I have a few more things to finish on the wreath: a large bow and some bells. I don’t think there will be much more deviation in the sewing.
I wanted to add labels to my handmade items, so used the laser cutter to make some from thin leather. I added pairs of holes to the edges so they could be sewn on, my signature mark, and the primary material used for the item.
I’m really pleased with how these came out. I’m getting better at estimating laser cutter and engraving settings; I had only one test cut before dialing in to settings that gave me my desired result. For the cut I had a speed and power of 100, and the fill engrave was power 30, speed 100, line density 100. The labels are 1cm by 5cm, which is just about as small as I can go and still sew them into a circle.
Critters and Craft 