Our dog Griffin really likes his egg crate foam bed, so I made him another for his “place” (dog kennel). Since I am limiting my brick-and-mortar shopping, I bought a twin sized egg crate foam mattress topper online, cut it to size, and sewed a cover out of an old sheet.
The foam cuts easily with kitchen shearsI doubled up the foamThe good part of the fabric from a worn out set of sheets, with a zipper at one end to make it easy to washI think he likes it! The new foam mat is under his regular blankets
This is the first sewing project that I have made time to do in weeks. But now that the CDC is recommending cloth masks for grocery shopping (yes, I’m a little behind the news, it is healthier for my sanity), I will try to make some masks.
What to do with those feathers that the kids collect outside? Or in this case, the feathers that my eldest decided to keep because our inside cat managed to snag some off a bird from INSIDE her catio. Rather a badge of honor, that. How about laminating them and making a book mark? Any potential pathogens are sealed in, and frankly, we can never have too many book marks. I think this one came out nice; the small feathers arranged and cut out to be part of a larger feather shape. The natural caught in the unnatural. I placed the feathers between the two layers of plastic, gently fed it through the laminator, then cut out the shape. I have a hot laminator, but I think this method would work with cold lamination, or even clear sticky tape.
Laminated feather bookmark
We also did this with the feathers from our chicken’s first molt.
I’ve seen great posts about people putting out bears, so kids walking the neighborhood can go on a bear hunt while social distancing. What a neat idea! We have some scrap corrugated metal, so I thought I would try a cut out bear (that would stand up to the elements).
Bear shape cut from corrugated metal
First, this stuff is sharp. If you do try this, wear gloves. Thick ones. Preferably leather. I used metal shears to cut the shape and made the bear as big as possible to make cutting easier. After I cut, I hand sanded the edges and removed as many sharp bits as I could. This is definitely something better seen than touched! I painted the back with black spray paint, but I kind of liked the look of the shiny wavy metal, so left the other side as is.
Back of the bear(?)
Although my family all identified the shape as a bear, I feel it looks a little bear/hog cross. Maybe the kids in the neighborhood can go on a guess-the-creature hunt.
Carded rolags made with Aimee and Donabella’s fleece (alpaca)
I’ve moved on to my next color blend: fawn mixed with dark brown. I loaded the fawn color on my carder first, then added the dark brown so the fawn wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the brown. This worked much better. When all the rolags were prepared (I used a large box to hold them this time), I sorted them by shade in three groups. The idea is that if I spin each group, then ply them together, I will still get a gradual color fade in the final yarn. We’ll see.
Folding the sorted rolags in dish towels
To keep my colors sorted, I gently folded each group in a dish towel so they stay neat and in order. There is still a fair amount of vegetative matter (VM) in the fiber, even after carding, but I have found that when I spin it is easy to remove most of it by plucking the yarn before I wrap it on the spindle. Some stubborn bits needs to be pulled out, but it is easy to feel and see where they are in the twist.
You would think that with the pandemic I would have more time to spin, but the opposite has been true. The time is being well spent: I’m baking with the kids, we are painting rocks and doing art, playing games, learning states and capitals, reading, and are starting into home schooling. All good things, just different from pre-pandemic. I think being flexible and able to roll with changes is important and I hope I‘m instilling that in my children. “Make hay while the sun shines.”
Here is a nice social distancing but still connecting activity: rock painting. The idea is that you paint a rock and leave it for others to find, in hopes that it brightens their day. The finder can keep the rock or hide it for someone else to find. There are groups all over participating, but if you don’t have one in your area, The Kindess Rocks Project has tips and instructions.
Washed rocks laying out to dry
We paint in flurries. I’ll wash a bunch of rocks (I usually buy a bag of decorative rock at the hardware store), let them dry, and my eldest and I will paint one or two, and my youngest will paint 10. I’ll then go back and on the rocks that she painted a near solid color, I’ll add some inspirational (hopefully) words. Doing our part to reach out, but not touch anyone!
Rocks painted with acrylic, one on right sealed with Helmsman Spar Urethane
I like painting eyes on rocks, especially using the color of the rock as the skin tone. I’m not sure why I seem to only paint left eyes. Default setting maybe. Hmm. Maybe as the social distancing continues I will use my time to paint more right eyes.
Critters and Craft 