After the break...

I will be back on. Just taking some time to refuel myself and family before 2008 begins. Have some projects I hope to share, but they will have to wait till after the New year.
Be back on soon,
~Tammie

Recycled skirt into 2 piece dog bed- "mini " tutorial

After bringing Grizzle home, I knew she would need her own bed.

From experience I knew we would need something durable, inexpensive, pleasing to the human eye, Washable, & comfortable enough to keep a growing black lab mix happy for at least 1 year.

This is what I used and how i did it. A mini style tutorial.

First look through the closet or the local thrift store for one of those floor length A-line skirts. Be sure it has a zipper on one side and the fabric is thick like a wool skirt or some other thick fabric. This zipper is very important which you will see in a few steps. You will also need around 1/2 yard of corduroy fabric for the beds base bottom.(must be a durable fabric)

First- the skirt. A size (US)10 in womens clothing bought at the local thrift store for $3. I really liked the fabric and thought it perfect for the need I had.

~You will need to cut the skirt in half as you see here. The bottom portion you will need to rip the seem out on one side- see the corner flipped up in the above pic.

~Be sure to also rip the seam of the waist band from the top of the skirt. You can cut the zipper attatched to the waist band off and just sew over the top to secure it for easier handling, as you can see in picture 2:

~*Be sure you cut the zipper ABOVE where the zip handle is. Best just to unzip it before cutting just to be safe.*

~The top half of the skirt will be the pillow portion. Now if your smart and learn from my mistake, you will cut the skirt with straight lines and be sure to cut the top waist area into a flat line instead of the curve you see in the above picture.

~Unzip the zipper half way and continue to sew all open sides, being sure to go over that zipper area again. Now you get to use that zipper you rememebered to unzip.

~Turn the pillow right side out like this:

~Time to stuff that pillow with fiber filling, scrap fleece, cedar shavings, or which ever it is your heart dsires for your dog to sleep on. This is where that zipper you left on will come in handy. You can change the bed filling or throw the pillow and base in the wash when needed.

~Now it is time to assemble the base.

~The bottom half of the skirt needs to be laid out in one layer, then fold over to make a very long 2 layer rectangle- right sides together.

~Cut the side ends to make them straight.

~Sew the side ends but do NOT sew the long side.Turn the right side out and you will have the long side open. Iron the ends flat.

~Now sew the long side. **Whatever the outside of the fabric will be showing, that is how you need for it to lay for the next step.**

Click on the base picture above. You will notice how I sewed up the seam. This leaves an allowance on the outside which you will need to attatch the corduroy to the tube.

~ Leave a 2 inch gape towards the end for stuffing. Stuff it full- do not skimp or it will be floppy. Once you have the tube sewn& stuffed, you will need to cut out a "D" outline shape for the base. You will be attatching the above tube to it.

~Best way to determine your shape and size is to bend the tube on the fabric top /or newspaper and mark it with tailors chalk or a marker. Do not over think it. Simply bend the tube into a "C" to give the right portion of curve to your "D".

~Now cut out your "D" and attatch the "C" curve of the tube to the curve on your "D". Do not forget to pin it in place. Plus the fabric side of the D touching the C will be the bottom. Just trust me ont that.

This will cause alot of man handling and cursing under your breath at a wad of fabric. But you can do it. Just smash that stuffed tube down and feed it through the sewing machine. I do not have pictures to show of that step since both hands had to stay on the tube at all times.

~Flip and turn the base so the sewing seam is on the inside of the C. The pillow will hide this once in place.

~Now your base is done so put that pillow on the base!

Congratulations~ You my dear, have just made your very own dog's bed PLUS repurposed an old skirt. How very green of you!

Sweet dreams,

~Tammie

Handmade holiday ideas & look what the snow blew in...

So what has kept me away for so long? Well these are just a few:

Links for all the creativity sources are below- but here is the big explanation of what they are and who for~

A cloth covered binder for my oldest "neice"- which will have inside a B&W copy of Panda's new guitar teaching books- they can learn together and have a "practice jam" each week when they get to visit. Panda and her cousin are both getting child sized guitars for the holiday- I have the adult Acoustic.(having the same work book will also serve purpose for me to help her on my visits since the three of us will be learning together.)

The cloth lined bag is the tote to hang her new binder book in and have it hung up on the door back- preventing damage and loss. That is her Initial E which I hand embroidered along with a few music notes coming from the bottom. A first for me.

The fun Felt monster in a certain child's (my "nephew") favorite colors which go with a pair of blue flannel PJ pants-not shown- and an under shirt soon to follow, which will have the same face as the felt monster to make it all a set.
I have a Duro style shirt for the youngest niece along with a few of these headbands for her gift.
I have been told I MUST make Lil' Man one of those felt monsters , so he can have one to sleep with too. Of course Panda requested a green one on a key chain... And would you like fries with that?... But seriously, I have a tall order for these and the one above was not even an hour old before they came in.

I have a pact with my cousin's wife- "Tuesday", that we are to only exchange gifts crafted with our own or family hands. It may seem hard to some, but have you really looked at the great craft making sites out there? Here is one forum I lurk at often*. So many talented bloggers willing to share tutorials and sites that really spark the creativity into you- or in my case with the felt monster, A total copy Kat... What can I say? I admire the work but the rule is Made By MY hand or our family.I saw it and the child popped into my head. I knew he had to have one and I sketched up the pattern in under 5 minutes. He stands around 13 inches tall and about 10 inches wide. I must say, he is quite the dashing monster.

So I have been sewing away like an elf in the night and working the day away like a true stay home mom, winter cleaning & de-germing~ (everyone has been sick the past 2 weeks).

But of course you may be bored with my blabbing about crafts, and gifts, and me, me, me...
So I thought i would share what the new snow blew in....

Well, more like I drove 1 hour to the Carrolton county dog pound to adopt this little girl just 1 hour before the cut off time on Thursday. (they put all dogs left in the pound to sleep on Friday mornings.)

As with all our animals of which we do not eat, she needed a name.
So we threw some ideas out. A day goes by. We Pondered some more... Days went by and not one had really smacked us in the head. But then today I found myself calling out to her with the first name demanded by Little man. (Instead of the usual "wo wo" frog calls her, or "hey puppy" that The captain throws out.)

Introducing Grizzled- or as I call her "Grizzle".

lil Man on first sight exclaimed her name will be "Grizzled", which I thought was a bit too far out there. Even for us.

But the Lil' Man won in the end. Plus she comes to me when I call her that. Who'd have thought....

Snow will continue to fall through Monday and I have yet to find a face template for Lil' brother Army's classic 80g ipod. I am making cookies tonight and had hoped to make him an Ipod cover like this one to send out on Monday along with his tin of baked goods. Just cant find the face dimensions anywhere....

I can see a frustrating weekend waiting for the snow to lighten for my mad dash to Best Buy...

** Found it!** edited 1:14 am

Sweet dreams,

~Tammie

The weather outside is frightful...

But the fire is so delightful...And since we've no place to go........ Let It Snow let it snow let it snow....Time for hot cocoa and oven S'mores.....
picture above is located at this flickr link. So very sweet!
The Snow is finally here! Time to borrow the sleds from our chickens and ducks (see post about animal drinking water) to slide down the big hill! It will be gone by Sunday, so one last run tomorrow and they can have their the sleds back.
Snowy dreams,
~Tammie

Winter fire's sweet smell

The wood burner is here! As I type this, I can smell the wonderful scent of wood burning just below the space I am sitting. Images of childhood fireplaces filled my mind before I realized they had lit the fire. Our dear friend "farm guy" (the son of our farmer friend and best bud to the Captain since 3rd grade) has very generously lent one to us. It came with his home when he bought it at auction years ago. Never used it, so it sat. And sat. Rusted some and sat some more....

Now it is in it's very appreciative home in our basement. It heat's up to 2500 sq ft and am told it is a higher end model, despite it's age.Not very pretty but I really do not mind it's appearance. i care for it's purpose. Our entire home (walk out basement and actual living area upstairs) total close to 2400 sq ft. That means we an use our basement all year long and I can meddle around working with hand tools and building with wood year round. Yippee!

In preparation of the wood burner's arrival, we had to clean out the chimney, which has sat for at least 7 years. When the metal disc was removed, the space behind it was filled with top soil! I have tried to rationalize why someone would fill the bottom portion with a bag of soil and have an idea. Maybe it was to prevent air/water from coming through the chimney and seeping the basement. Also serving the purpose of protecting the inside from chipping/damage. Hey I never said it is the reason or even a normal rational decision. But being the odd things we have encountered with this place, I would not dismiss it.Little Man helped his daddy clean the soil out by using a hand rake taped to a broom handle. Of course, I would have used the broom but it was the Captain's chore and he can do it any ay he wants- without destroying my tools.

I can not decide if I am more giddy about the immense amount of money to be saved, or how we are depriving a gas company of our hard earned cash for their high prices. We still have water heated by gas, but that is it for gas use. Now if we could just afford Solar panels to "Stick it to the electric man".....

Sweet winter dreams,

~Tammie