Let's see if I remember how to do this.....

Well, well, well.....look who finally has a blog post!  What a sabbatical!!  I don't seem to have lost any followers, although I wouldn't blame you if you left!!

When last we spoke, I was doing a lot of crocheting, but I had also started the NY Cardigan . It hibernated all summer and I've been pecking away at it this Fall.   I'm proud to report that it's finished and I wore it today!!

 

 

 

It turned out much longer than I'd expected, but I still like it.  I used Knit Picks DK Gloss and the color is called fedora.

As I was working on my cardigan, I also made a cardi for my little nephew....

 

It's called Young Einstein .  I used the DK Gloss on this one, too.  The color is called Doe.  The pattern was really nice and simple and well written.  In fact, I've already got the yarn lined up to knit two more of these for my girls!

I also squeezed in a little sewing.  My stepmother has been wanting me to sew her a purse for YEARS!  I finally found a pattern I liked and I wound up making two.  It's called the Wasp Bag.

And there you have it!  A brief look at what I've been up to.  I can't promise I'll be back more frequently.  Quite frankly I love just creating without thinking about taking pictures and sitting in front of the computer.  But, I really don't mind sitting down like this and showing you a bunch of stuff at once.

It is the day and age of quick glimpses at ones iPhone throughout the day....and if that's your bag, too, you can find me on Instagram as swandiva.  And of course on Pinterest!  As Beth Plummer.

Sabbatical

Evidently I need a sabbatical. Evidently I've already been on one for 2 weeks now! I'm just not feeling the blogging lately. Maybe it's because there's been just too much going on. I don't want it to feel like a chore. I'm just going to ease off on the Fibers on Friday for a while. Maybe for the summer?? I'll still post noteworthy projects, I just can't commit to posting FoF every week. Sorry :-( But we all know when fall rolls around we'll be itching to share our cold weather endeavors!!

Fibers on Friday. Grannies!

I've been pecking away at Granny Squares this week. They are so awesome and quick and happy!



I've had this pinned on Pinterest for quite some time and I'm finally getting around to making it.

Source: blairpeter.typepad.com via Beth on Pinterest

Sit-Upons for Girl Scouts

I'm a Girl Scout Leader for my girls' Daisy Troop. They are in their 2nd year, so this year they were old enough to experience a little of what camp would be like. I didn't think they were ready for an overnight trip, but we went out to the site for the day and visited older scouts.

Along with exploring nature, learning about camp life, and participating in a scavenger hunt, I wanted a couple other projects pertaining to camping. Since this is also my first experience with Scout camping, I spoke with a few other leaders and learned about sit-upons. Evidently, it's a universal rule that no scout ever sit in an adult's chair or seat. It all boils down to fairness and equality....if one girls steals her mom seat and the other girls are left sitting on the ground, it's just not fair and could show favoritism. So.....the creation of sit-upons!

I chose to make them out of vinyl table cloths. I bought new ones (all matching to avoid fighting over certain designs), but finding gently used ones at thrift stores would be a great option, too).

I folded them in half, just eye-balling how big they'd need to be for tiny little butts to sit upon. I left a little over hang because I intended to sew strips into carrying straps, but later decided against it.

I then cut them width-wise just equally dividing the table cloth.

Here's a shot with the strap portion detatched

So, now we're left with square(ish) fabric that is folded along the bottom (so no sewing required there), that needs to be sewn up 2 sides, stuffed, and then sewn along the top.

I opted to sew the two sides ahead of time at home and then have the girls stuff their own sit-upon with news paper and sew along the top with yarn at our meeting. Real simple, I just turned them inside out and sewed up the two sides.

For the remaining top side, we used a hole punch to punch holes for the girls to sew yarn into. This was a little hard....not sure I'd recommend it. I think having the girls use duct tape or taking them home to sew after stuffing, would have been better.

Speaking of the stuffing. We just used newspaper. I let the girls choose whether they wanted just a couple layers of flat papers (to protect against the cold ground) or if they'd like to crumple them up for a more cushioned affect. I was leaning more towards just flat layers, so the sit-upon would be easier to just fold up and carry in their back packs.

Then I let the girls apply scrapbooking letters to spell their name. I went over the names with a layer of modge podge to help it stay. Time will tell if they hold up!

A Thneed's a Fine Something that Everyone Needs

I showed you some of my creations for the Lorax Themed Birthday Party here.

I wanted to show you the Thneeds I made! I wanted to play on the "sack race" game at kids' parties, but in keeping with the Lorax, I came up with Thneed Races! It was so much fun!

I bought 4 yards of CHEAP knit fabric, folded it in half and laid a tight fitting outfit my kids wear to use as a pattern on top.

You'll recall from the story, Thneeds are pretty wonky and haphazard, so I cut mine out with 4 arms and just left the bottom as a tight fitting skirt kind of.

I simply sewed all around the Thneed, leaving the head and bottom open, but not intended for the arms to really be used as sleeves since the kids would just be squeezed into it without the use of their arms (more on this later....)

I made two thneeds so we could have races in pairs. It was quite fun, but a tad dangerous!! The kids had quite a few episodes of falling right on their face! You see, with sack races, at least they're holding on to the top of the sack, and if they fall, they can at least let go and catch themselves. With this.....design....ummm....yeah, they couldn't break their fall. So, perhaps there would be a safer way....or perhaps these kids were just crazy competitive and should have slowed down.

You be the judge :-)

Fibers on Friday: Freezer Paper Stencil Method

I needed to make a special new baby and special little onsie to honor his special big brother :-) I knew nothing store bought would cut it, so I looked around at how people do stenciling with freezer paper onto fabric. Here goes:

You'll need freezer paper. Not waxed paper and not parchment paper. you'll need some fabric paint and a sponge brush.

I used my Cricut to cut out the words and little stars. This required the LOWEST speed and the LOWEST pressure.

Then you iron the images onto the fabric, tacky side down (make sure you've cut the images with the tacky side down).

Then paint! As you can see I was using a dark fabric and I wanted the red to be bright and vibrant. So, I needed to apply 3 coats all together, letting them dry in between.


And that did the trick. It turned out just as I had hoped....even better!

Fibers on Friday: Seeing Stars

And more on the potholderpalooza front!! I made these two pot holders this week. Along with finishing up the turtle I showed you last week. But, I still need to finish the hat, so I'll show you the whole thing entirely next week!

Little Star Dish Cloth

Not sure if I mentioned here or not that I'm moving. Again. 9 months after moving here in the first place. It's crazy!! Our landlord sold our house, so we gotz to go. Fortunately we found another rental a few doors down, so we're gradually shifting our stuff up the road.

There are many pros and cons to this move. Not the least of which is my anguish over having to leave my newly planted garden! but, I'll try to work out a co-op situation with the new owners!! that would be a TRIP@!

But, one good thing is a huge wall in the kitchen that is screaming for a potholder collection!! So, I'm going to be good to go with this little artistic display of potholders!!