sheep fleece

What is it??

A dirty dirty sheep fleece. Word of warning, if you're going to buy a sheep fleece, open it up first. man oh man. But for 10 bucks, I couldn't resist. silly me.

Here's what 2 soaks in the washer did...


Not bad. I cut out a bunch of the matted tips. hopefully it is mud? Not sure what to do with this now. It's not really clean. I hardly had enough time at home to do this. I'm going to use it for stuffing, so I'm not worried about the length of it for spinning.

Is it just me or is the last month of school crazy? We haven't been home enough to clean up. Which leads me to another mystery, if you're never home, how can the house be so messy? And where are all those little cleaning fairies? Send one my way will ya? lol

I've been making some little things, nothing you haven't seen before. Got my order of wool blend felt from Felt-o-rama. Great service and I didn't get dinged at customs. My order was only about $30 with taxes and shipping, so I don't know if that made a difference. I'd recommend it if you are from canada. Still looking for a Canadian supplier though. Gnomes, I'm making gnomes. and the leaf pocket.

Oh, i made 2 gnomes from roving yesterday. Gave them away. Gonna make more to show you.

So, that's it from here. enjoying the sunshine and shade with the kids. Hopefully will have something crafty to share with you soon.

thanks for looking,
Amanda

bit of this and a clutch

I noticed my readership was up over the weekend. it's usually quiet here. So I'm blaming my followers and people who've dropped by from the giveaway. So thank you, welcome back.

It's been HOOOOOTTTTTT here. Kids in the sprinkler, going to the sailing club (it's always cooler by the lake) and lots of fruit. My sewing room is a sauna now. It's in the attic. I use any excuse to come downstairs to get things. Time to put in the A/C.

My weekend sewing consisted of a few wardrobe things for Neve. Nothing spectacular, just a making some tank tops smaller and adding a skirt on the bottom. Next up is to make some biker shorts to go underneath.


here's another ruffle clutch with key holder.


Here it is opened. oooh,

I have another in mind with some buttons.

And I have a sheep fleece on the lawn. yep, I bought a sheep fleece. A dirty, smelly, what am i gonna do with it sheep fleece straight of the sheep's back. Yep. What was I thinking? I have to read up a bit on how to wash it. I want to use it for stuffing when I start making more softies. anybody know how to wash a fleece without getting too close to it? har har

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Mushroom house

I'm so excited that this worked out. It's still not done. Just a little door to go in. But it worked.


now I can make a bigger one. I don't know how these things are supposed to be done, so I fiddled my own way. Did I say, yeah it worked?!~!! lol

I told DS that it's not big enough for his gnomes. He called me to tell me that little blue did fit. When I got home, he had it stuffed in the stem. Yep, don't limit a child's imagination!

you will see this again. When I get the door finished. And I have to make one for DD and make a bigger one. oh and one that is white with red dots, and one for yellow and red and oh, could you make me a ........

love that they love that I make them things.

thanks for looking,
Amanda

Friday's Nature Table and WIP

Once again,
thanks to all who visited during Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway. Winner is in post below.

FOr the past few weeks, I've been taking part in Friday's Nature Tableat the Magic Onions
Have it look. It's inspiring.
Here's my pic for today. I finally found a wooden flat dish to display our nature things. We don't have room for a table here so the dish is just right. It's pine cone season here now, so everyday we come home with cones. Big, little, squished, dirty. Have to control the keeping of the cones. But the kids are in tune with it and are excited when we find something for our nature dish.


I've also snuck in a few minutes for some needle felting. What is it????


Stay tuned,
have a great long weekend!
thanks for looking,
Amanda

WINNER!!!

WOW! Never did I think I would receive so many great comments. I'm feelin' the love people! Thanks so much.
Umm, I said in my original post that we would choose a number out of a hat. Well, with 405 comments, I wasn't about to write out all the numbers. So Random.org it was.


Trish said...
"Cute giveaway!
I'm from Elvis country, Memphis, TN."

Trish, I'm sending you an email to get your snail mail. Give me till Tuesday to get your parcel in the mail. It's a long weekend here.

Thanks so much to everyone who commented. I have a few projects in the works. Just need photos. So come back and see what I've been up to. To some of you, see you on the next giveaway!
cheers and thanks for looking,
Amanda

May Giveaway!!!

Well hellooo!

If you've come from Sew Mama Sew, welcome to my little piece of the world. If you're a regular reader, you are in for some fun! Because it's Sew Mama Sew May Giveaway day!!!


EDIT: I'm blown away by your positive responses! Thanks so much for commenting and stopping by.

So on to the giveaway....
I'll call this the "girlie" giveaway. (sorry for those with boys, I'm sure some you can find some willing little girl to accept it, should you win!)

You get to pick a colour of pom pom skirt for your wee one.


It has adjustable waistbands so they can grow into it.

2nd prize is a "Princess and the Pea" playset that includes 7 mattresses, 1 sleeping bag, 1 wool felted pea and 1 princess doll.


Your child can use the playset to retell the story or make up their own happy ending.....


All you have to do to win is tell me where you're from.. yep, that's it. Oh, if you want to be a follower, you're welcomed to do that too. Just send off another comment and you'll have 2 chances. I'll be choosing by number out of a hat so the kids can play along. I'll leave the comments open until Thursday evening and announce the winner on Friday morning. Please leave some way for me to contact you through your email or website.
EDIT: You get both prizes. You only have to choose a skirt colour! And I do ship internationally.

One last thing, if you are knowledgeable and have experience about wool felt and where to order it, I would appreciate a comment. If you have a Canadian supplier, even better, I'm a little scared about cross border shipping and duty fees.

Thanks for looking and go look some more.
HAPPY BLOG HOPPING
Amanda

Mulberries and aprons

I about fell off my chair when I cruised Ikea website and found coated cotton! Yep, they have it. In all it's large polka-dotted glory! in red, bright green, yellow, navy, bright blue, maybe something else......
So I went. it was different than I thought it might be. not plastic-y at all. I was thinking tough like oil cloth. nope. So I bought only half a meter of the red. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Do you think it's food grade? Like to make a lunch bag or sandwich wrap? It says it's 100% cotton and acrylic. dunno. do you?

I also brought home some other cotton, the navy and bright blue poka dots and made this apron from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing. Even though it was an easy sew, it still took me about 3 hours. DD wasn't tired and tried several times to go to sleep. Finally, I just told her to lie down in the guest bedroom (across from my sewing room) she finally fell asleep there at 10:30pm. Then I had DH working on my serger. for 3 hours! Don't give an engineer a puzzle and think they won't finish it. They will sit until it is done! :} My little space was gettting full. But mission was accomplished for a prezzie.



Today, I hit a yard sale by a woman who was a buyer for mulberry papers made in Thailand. She was practically giving it away.
I bought a few things, then came home and thought of things to make for the school fun fair. I landed on the committee somehow and thought these would make great prizes for the games. Just a little sit down to try some ideas...


I decorated the frames and made some book marks and sewed a little book. I think the girlies will enjoy these things. I'm going to see what boy die cuts I have for the bookmarks also. What fun to be had.


Don't forget to stop by on Monday for the May Day giveaway hosted by Sew Mama Sew.

thanks for looking,
Amanda

May Giveaway Day

I'm on the list for the huge blog hop giveaway hosted by Sew Mama Sew

I'm so excited to read all the other blogs and bookmark inspirations from so many great people.
Now, what to make, what to make....?????
Check back on Monday, May 17 for the details. Hoping to have a post before then if I can get my model to wear the dress.
Did you notice I finally put a follower button on the side, go on over and follow me!

thanks for looking,
Amanda

mini house

Be your house big,
or be your house small,
a merry mother's day to you,
one and all

the gnomes are coming, the gnomes are coming!

Remember this long forgotten house? ( from One Yard Wonder)

that's as much as it's going to be finished. It was dragging me down too much as I had too many grand ideas for it.

But I am happy to report that there are some little people to live inside now...


They are the seasonal gnomes. Pink=summer, orange=summer, blue=winter, green=autumn. The colours and hair were chosen by the kids. Another magical crafting session where they would stop by, take a peek, offer a suggestion, then happily go off and play the new game they concocted. What ever that was...


They like to hang out here when they come out of the trees.


And sometimes, they like to hang in the trees.


Thanks for looking,
Amanda

sheep stuff part deux

After the sheep were shorn, they were shepherded by the border collie. They had different ages of dogs to show the various stages of training. Some of the younger dogs were way too excited. Fun to watch.


Neve was drawn to the carding mat. She was very intense in her work.


The next thing was to make some yarn on the drop spindle. This spindle was made by a friend of the demonstrator and she sold it to me for $3!! awesome. The kids gave it another go when we got home.


Rafael decided to try his hand at the spinning wheel. The demonstrator was very patient with him. It's harder than it looks.

And finally, here is their end product. They carried that piece of yarn around all day and then again today.

Makes me proud that they have an interest in this. Next fall, once Missy is in school, I'm hoping to join the group that meets there in the afternoon. You can use their equipment, but have to bring your own projects. No problem. It will be fun to learn.

I hope I get hit by the " I wanna sew" bug soon. I haven't made anything in days.....

thanks for looking,
Amanda

sheep shearing

Today, we attended the Riverdale Farm Rite of Spring for May Day celebrations. What a lovely time. It rained in the beginning, then the sun came out. It was one of those days you are appreciating as you go along.
We got to see the sheep being shorn. It was a sight to behold with the shearer using hand cranked clippers. The kids were lining up to take a turn. And the sheep was most patient.

She's pretty dirty on the outside, but look how purdy it is on the inside....


A nice pile building. They did 3 sheep for the morning.


There she is.. a nekked baaaa



Then the shearer made some little bracelets from the fleece with a drop spindle. He made it look so easy. Another little note, the wool looks yellow from the lanolin, but he took a little piece and dipped it in a puddle. It turned white. the lanolin washed off so easily.


Blogger only lets me put 5 photos per post (which is why I haven't been doing any tutorials, I need more than 5 pictures) so come back tomorrow to see our time with the wool guild and the kids spinning and carding.

thanks for looking,
Amanda