“Finish the rug,” my mom said, “It will build character.”

So I laced.  I grumbled.  I laced some more.  Two weeks passed.  I looked at my ball of braid and realized, “I’m almost finished.”

Rug making is much more satisfying once you figure out how to make it lay flat.  For me, that meant deciding to break the number one rule of braided rug making.  When you are lacing an oval rug, you lace every braid until you get to the end where you have to increase and skip a few braids.  You are NEVER supposed to skip braids on the inside only skip the outside braid.  This would work great if I had been more careful to make sure that my braids were always the same thickness and the same tightness.  The number 2 rule is that you NEVER skip on the flat sides of an oval.

With my braid size varying, I would stay consistent with my lacing only to find that my rug resembled a basket.  I broke the rule and started placing skips on the inside and outside braid as necessary.  Then I broke the #2 rule and placed skips on the flat sides of the oval.

The rug was still humpy and bumpy when I got done, so at my husbands suggestion, I turned the iron on hot and steam pressed my rug flat.  The fabric was mostly cotton and the lacing was 100% cotton.   I wasn’t convinced that ironing my rug would work, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.  I put the rug on the floor beside my bed.  Yep, that’s my crazy quilt thrown on top of the bed.  I actually wove the seat of the stool in the picture too.

As I was preparing my little corner for this picture, I realized I have a bedroom that is actually decorated, and I am not ashamed to show it to you.   This is my happy place.

I’ve never met a craft I didn’t like.  Yes, I am a craft junkie.   I love to gather all the supplies, plan out patterns, pick out colors.  The thought of starting a new project makes me feel a bit giddy.  At the end of the project, I love the satisfaction of knowing that I could do it again if I wanted.  I’ve never met a craft I didn’t like.

Until now.

In 7th grade I was looking through my mom’s fabric stash (See there is a genetic component to hoarding fabric).  The pink fabric in the center, my mom bought when I was a little girl.  She intended to make a blue and yellow and pink braided rug for me (I come by this craft addiction honestly).  She never even got started (procrastination–I come by that honestly too).  I took up her banner and started braiding.  For 14 years, I’ve carried this project, unfinished.

In the past 5 years, I have donated or threw away probably half of the stuff we owned (maybe more).  I actually got rid of a garbage bag full of fabric strips all wound up ready to braid for this rug.  I kept looking at this ball of braid that I had done through high school, carried with me to college, moved with us 5 times in the past 5 years, this rug is practically part of the family.

After finishing my crazy quilt, I picked up my ball of braid and began lacing…

and lacing…

and lacing…

I don’t get to savor the feel of the fabric or pick out a new color combination.  I don’t get to plan a new design.  I don’t even get to tear up strips of fabric or cut tiny scraps to leave all over the floor.  The ball of braid represents hours of mindless braiding, probably while watching TV.  The almost welcome mat-sized rug represents hours of mindless lacing.  There is no joy in this.

I know the rug is supposed to lay flat and lacing it brings out the worst in my perfectionism.  There is no joy in this. I’ve thought about wadding the whole thing up and chucking it in the garbage.  There is no joy in this. I have carried this thing around with me for too long, unfinished.  Mom says I should keep working, to build character.  There is no joy in this.  I’ve thought about rolling it up in a ball and carrying it around for another 14 years. Then I could feel guilty about not finishing it.  There is no joy in that.

Then I think about the joy of a finished project.  I keep on with the endless lacing, just to feel the satisfaction of knowing I could do it again…if I wanted.  I put rug making behind me and pick up another unfinished project.

Just when I am ready to give up rug braiding forever, I wonder if it could be more interesting with different fabrics or if I followed a pattern.   I hate to admit failure, and for a craft junkie, not falling in love feels like failure.

One of the tools in my weight loss tool box is a basket of quilting scraps.  I know it sounds crazy, but crafting is helping me stick to my diet.   Last week, I pulled out a crazy quilt that I had been playing with finishing for 5 years now.  I decided it was time to embroider, quilt, and bind the crazy thing and get it over with.

One of my eating triggers is boredom.  Last week was especially hard because I pulled back from exercising while I was recovering from a nasty cold.  By pulling out a craft project, I was able to keep my mind occupied and my hands busy doing something besides shoveling food into my mouth.  Even without being able to exercise, the scale showed a 2.7 pound loss!

I finished my quilt and I am once again under 150.  This is my danger zone.  In the past I have allowed myself to get comfortable whenever I break that 150 barrier.  I guess I had better pull out my rag rug and finish it up.  I’ve been carrying that project around since 7th grade.

When I was about 10 years old, my brothers bought me 2 milk crate boxes for Christmas.  He was only going to buy me one, but my dad said, “Get her 2, one isn’t useful, but she can do something with two of them.”  I remember him telling me that so many years ago.  When I look back, I think the message stuck.

Last week I went out to buy peaches to can.  The Elberta peaches are in and they are heavenly!  Each case is 24 pounds, minimum.  Last year I only got one case and it wasn’t enough to get us through the winter.  I didn’t want to make that mistake again, so I knew I wanted to buy more peaches.  Rather than buying one case last week and buying another case this week, I bought 3 cases all in one day.  Seventy-five pounds of peaches.

When the cherries came in on the trees, I actually took the smart approach.  I learned that I could fill and ice cream bucket with cherries twice and that was just the right amount to fill the canner.   Each morning while Wiggles was napping, I would climb up in the cherry tree and pick 2 buckets full of cherries.  I would pit, pack, and process them while he was taking his afternoon nap.  I managed to put up 10 quarts of pie cherries, and then they were all higher in the tree than I could reach while standing on the ladder.  The smart thing was that I was able to can the cherries and clean up the kitchen all in one day.

Last night at about midnight, I was wishing I had learned my lesson during cherry season.  However, peach flavored sunshine will be wonderful come Feburary.  Maybe next week I will go buy 3 cases of apricots…

For several weeks now (since about the time we got our last electricity and gas bill), I’ve been trying to figure out an easy, blanket free way to keep Wiggles’ hands warm at night.  We’ve been turning down the heater at night to save money, but the baby’s hands get so cold.  I knew there must be a simple solution to the problem, but my usual answer finder (Google) failed me this time around.  What I did find, was a lot of other people asking the same question, “How can I keep my baby’s hands warm at night?”  I put on my thinking cap and pulled out my sewing machine.

Right now, we put the baby to sleep in a long sleeve sleepsack similar to the Kiddopotamus Dreamsie Sleeper.  At first I planned on making a separate blanket to wear over the sleeper, but I think I found an even easier solution.  I simply added foldover mittens to the inside of the cuff on the sleepsack.

(pictures and directions follow)

1.  Find or make mittens.

For the first sleepsack, I used a pair of flannel baby scratch mittens.  If you don’t have any scratch mittens, you can make mittens out of some leftover fleece or flannel.

How to make the mittens (if you don’t have any scratch mittens handy):

• Cut a piece of fabric in a 4″ X 8″ strip.
• If you use fabric that will fray, finish the 4″ sides with hems.
• Fold the strip like a hamburger so you have a ~4″ X 4″ square.
• with right sides together, sew along the side seams, leaving the side opposite the fold open.

How to attatch the mittens:

• Turn sleeper inside out, and fold cuff into sleeve.
• Turn mitten right side out and slide inside cuff of sleeper (so right sides are together)

slide mitten inside cuff of sleeper

• Pin side seam of mitten with seam of sleeve, then match the other mitten seam with the other side of the sleeve (where the other seam would be if the sleeve were made of 2 pieces).  Pin mitten to sleeve along the side facing the back of the sleeper. (you will leave the front side open to make it easier to get the baby hand in and out of the sleeve/mitten)

• Use a zig-zag stitch to sew along the pinned edge.  You want to sew as close to the edge as you can.

sew a zig-zag seam along pinned edge

• Trim the thread and turn sleeper right side out.  Tonight your baby’s hands will stay toasty warm. (picture below is of a sleeper with my homemade mittens attached.  They are flannel on the inside and satin on the out–just some old fabric I had laying around.)

]]> http://dandelionsanddaydreams.com/blog/crafts/diy-keeping-babys-hands-warm-at-night/feed/ 0 http://dandelionsanddaydreams.com/blog/crafts/christmas-photos-you-wont-want-to-miss/ http://dandelionsanddaydreams.com/blog/crafts/christmas-photos-you-wont-want-to-miss/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:33:21 +0000 Sunny Daydreame http://dandelionsanddaydreams.com/2007/12/11/christmas-photos-you-wont-want-to-miss/

In the quiet days following Christmas, you look through your pictures and smile. As you look through the pictures again, you might think about the shots you didn’t capture. The best way to avoid missing those pictures you want is to make a list and check it twice. Today I am going to offer a list of 15 pictures you might want to catch this Christmas Day.

photo stu_spivack CC-BY-SA

1. Ornaments and Decorations–think inside and out (for tips on taking pictures of lights, see this article)
2. wrapping presents
3. Christmas baking (cookies, breads, etc)
4. Gifts under the tree
5. Packing the Car for the Christmas trip
6. food preparation
7. Setting the table
8. Christmas candles
9. Family groups
10. pictures with grandparents
11. kids dressed up in holiday clothes
12. that funky holiday sweater or earrings
13. opening presents
14. wrapping paper spread across the floor and kids playing with new toys
15. sunrise, or sunset Christmas day
16. kid sleeping with new toys

As I have said before, if you want to make sure you get great photos, take lots of pictures. Keep your camera with you wherever you go. My guide is that if I will regret not having the photo, then I need to take the picture no matter how silly I feel.

Christmas is three weeks away. Dust off your camera and get ready to take some great Holiday photos with the tips listed below.

1. Prepare your tools!

A year ago, Brenton and I took a trip to Glacier National Park to celebrate my birthday. The scenery in Glacier is awe-inspiring, to say the least.

I had recharged my camera batteries, but I didn’t bother to check if my memory sticks were empty. I had not used my camera in a few months, so I assumed all was well.

You can imagine my dismay when I found all three of my memory sticks full with pictures from our vacation. We spent one evening of our Glacier trip driving to the nearest Walmart to buy another memory stick.

A few days before you leave for your Christmas trip, recharge your camera batteries and make sure your camera’s memory stick has room to hold your photos.

2. Frame and Focus!

When you put the camera up to your eye, think about how you are framing your photo before you press the shutter button. What are you trying to say in this picture? What is the focus?

When you take a picture, leave no doubt what the photo is about.

Here are a few composition guidelines to achieve this:

One of the most basic rules in photography is the Rule of Thirds.

Divide the frame into thirds horizontally and vertically. When you frame a picture, try to put an important element on these lines (i.e. when taking a head and shoulders photography, put the subjects eyes on the top 1/3 line).

If you are taking a photo of some detail, such as an ornament, put the detail on the intersection of two lines (called hotspots) rather than right in the middle of the photo frame.

Fill the Frame.

One of my photo pet-peeves is when a picture is taken with the subjects face right in the middle of the photo and half the image is empty.  When you take a picture, fill the frame with the subject.

Take a look at this shot:

Because the faces are centered in the picture, there is a lot of visual clutter/discraction.

Now, compare this one:

This is kind of a sillypicture, but it illustrates the point.  By filling the frame with the subject (as in the second picture) most of the visual clutter is cut out and your eyes are drawn to the faces.

3.  Take more than you need!

That’s right, be greedy!

This is an old photographer’s secret.  If you want to get a good picture, take more shots than you think you need.  The more pictures you have the more likely you are to get one that turns out well.

As my mom says, “Pixels are cheap.”

4.  Play with the Flash!

Don’t always stick with the hard fast rule that a flash has to be used for all indoor pictures.  If you are taking indoor action shots, by all means, use a flash.  If you are taking group portraits, try a few without the flash.  If you need the flash, but want to soften the light, try taping a piece of  white toilet paper over your camera flash.  This will help diffuse the light and reduce some of the shine on people’s faces.

If you are photographing Christmas lights, you will want to do it without the flash.

5.  Enjoy the holiday!

Don’t get so caught up in taking the “perfect” Christmas photos that you forget to be a part of the holiday.  Get out from behind your camera and soak in all the memories.  Without the memories, your photos won’t be worth much, no matter how great they look.

Does anybody know how to make snowshoes? That’s right, just a week or two ago I was writing about keeping cool without air conditioner, but today my thoughts have changed and I am looking towards the long winter.

It started Sunday with rain…a sure sign that fall is coming.

Brenton and I have decided to take up snowshoeing this winter, but as part of the plan we are going to make our own snowshoes instead of buying them.

If you have a link on how to make snowshoes, post it in the comments. I would love that.

In the winter, we are all told to wear a hat because a lot of body heat can be lost through the head and neck. This principle can be applied in reverse during summer heat waves when you are trying to keep cool without air conditioner.

One product that can help you keep cool is the ThermalSoft Gel Hot/Cold Pack ( Standard Size – 11″ x 14″). These packs can be put in the freezer to cool down, but they maintain their pliability after being frozen. This works out for keeping cool when the air conditioner is broke because you can wrap the frozen gel pack around your neck or back.

If you are overheating in the office, I realize that you can’t wrap a 11 x 14″ medical looking gel pack around you neck. For a bit more hidden way to cool down, try ThermalSoft Gel Hot/Cold Pack – Neck Contour ( 23″ x 8″). The neck contour could be hidden under a scarf or collar while you are cooling down.

If you need an alternative to gel packs, you can dip a bandanna in ice water and tie it around your neck. The cooling effect will work, but won’t last as long and you might get your shirt soaked in the process.

Keeping your pulse points, such as wrists, cool really helps lower your core body temperature without much effort.

As always, when the heat wave comes, whether you have air conditioner or not, drink lots of water so you are hydrated and healthy.

Keeping cool in a heat wave is a bit of an art when your house doesn’t have an air conditioner. North Idahohas had it’s two weeks of summer now, we have been seeing temperatures close to, and even topping 100. That’s not all that bad compared to Texas heat and humidity combination, but very few people have air conditioning in Idaho. I’ve been working diligently to keep the house cool. In a way, I am lucky because I grew up in a house in Georgia that didn’t have air conditioner. I’ve always known how to keep a house cool even without A/C.

As the sun goes down and the temperature starts to drop a bit, I open ALL the windows in the house. I leave the doors to the rooms open and turn on a small fan in the door of the bedroom. This fan is pointed into the main part of the house so that it pulls air through the bedroom and cools the rest of the house.

In the morning, I try to go out running before 7 a.m. If I am not out by then, it is too hot to run. When I get back, I close all the windows in the house (this must be done by 8 a.m.). I keep the blinds closed on the side of the house where the sunshine would come in. For most of the day I keep the curtains and blinds closed on the Eastern and Southern facing windows of our house. In the late afternoon I open the blinds on the southern facing windows and close them on the western facing windows. Sometimes I leave them all closed all day. The fan faces wherever I am working at the time. I try to work in the western rooms in the morning and then move to the eastern rooms later in the day. All in all, this keeps the house pretty cool until about 5 p.m. By that time, I can open the windows again in anticipation of things cooling off in the night.

Following this procedure, I have actually had to put a jacket on in my house because I was cold even though the temperature outside was in the 90’s. This is good advice for anyone who is trying to stay cool in the summer without air conditioning, or who is trying to save on their cooling bills. It works for me in this great adventure.

Also Check out this related post:
Keep Cool without Air Conditioner: Use Gel Packs