It is probably strange that when I found a fallen branch with lovely fall colors in the meadow my first thought was to make a crown for my masked ghost. Ah well, the ghost looks pleased with her adornment, and although the others seem to gaze on with envy, there can only be one queen.
This is the coolest thing! I read about sewing capsules in an edition of “Piecework” magazine; they have a thimble for a lid, and two spools of thread and a needle holder tucked into the body. I had to have one. I usually carry a knife, so needle and thread is all my sewing kit really needs, and I can never find my thimble. I searched ebay and found one that was a nice green color. Businesses used to hand these out as promotional items, so there are many with old business information. Mine is from a funeral home in Wabash, IN, and the phone number is two digits. Two. From some internet research, it was probably manufactured and distributed around 1930. It is 10 years from being antique. Can I really load the spools up with new thread and throw it in my purse? Maybe I’ll use it as a model and make one, and this one can live in my sewing box in a nice little compartment. It is such a clever design.
I’ve been testing mask styles to find masks my kids will be OK wearing. When we found a good style, I then made a week’s worth for each kid. I realized that I was still scrounging around for clean prototypes when I had to wear a mask! I finally carved out some time to make my favorite style, which happens to be the original pattern I made from a local hospital. I like this one because the pleats allow me to talk without the mask slipping down (the fitted styles do a hokey pokey down my chin when I talk). It has a nose wire (I prefer the lighter gauge wire because it is easier to reshape after the wash), and is the easiest style to iron or steam after washing. They also store flat nicely. Now I just need to come up with a mask rack system to free up the hooks for winter coats!
Because it is 2020, of course the ghost decorations need to have masks. These were fast and dirty chicken wire sculptures, draped with nylon tulle, and masked up with cotton squares held on with white chenille sticks. I was able to get all three put together in one morning (really rough sculpture)!
With virtual learning and a puppy to watch it has been hard to find the time and energy to do any needle craft, but I did find some space to get back to a nålbinding project now that my youngest is F2F (it probably dates me that I am using this abbreviation for the first time). Not only did I get to stitch, I did so outside in beautiful weather. Bliss.
This is drop spindle spun undyed alpaca and the plan is to make many small spirals and stitch them together to make … something. The plan is in flux, but if the technique works, I will probably make many things using the method. I like spirals, and I dislike making large boring blocks that never end. Somehow a large stack is different than a big rectangle.
Critters and Craft 