Tottie Talks Crafts Blog

June 11, 2018 · 3:55 pm

How to Make a Niddy Noddy from Cardboard to Wind Skeins

My friend, Teresa gave me a bag of gorgeous Alpaca fiber – bliss!

I started spinning it up, but realized that I had misplaced my Niddy Noddy.

So, I thought… I can make one from cardboard.

One thing lead to another, and I soon ended up with 2 charming little characters who do acrobatics to help me wind a skein of yarn.

They are sturdy, work perfectly and are easy to store.

A totally successful upcycle of re-using cardboard. Yay!

Here’s the pattern that I finally settled on… after a LOT of tweaking and twiddling:

Print it full page: I couldn’t get the thumbnail to open to a larger version, so I have added a larger version at the end of the post that I hope will work for you!

And here’s a video that shows how to use it, as well as the inspiration for Niddy and Noddy’s faces:

Happy Spinning, Happy Weaving, Happy Upcycling!

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Filed under eco crafts & green projects, tutorial & how to, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as alpacas, hack a skein winding tool, hand spun alpaca, how to make a Niddy Noddy with cardboard, Niddy Noddy, spinning hacks, upcycle cardboard, upcycled cardboard

April 28, 2018 · 7:27 pm

How to make buttons from twigs and branches

I love making one of a kind wooden buttons from twigs and branches that I find on the ground.

It’s a great eco-friendly project that is upcycling at its best.

They are a great way of embellishing hand woven, knitted, or crocheted fabric, or to make a sewn garment or accessory even more special.

You don’t have to have a woodworking shop full of power tools to make lovely wooden buttons- a few simple hand tools are all that are necessary.

Here is the video that I made, showing how to make 3 different kinds of buttons from the same twig.

I hope that you will have a wonderful time making your own unique buttons:

4 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, tutorial & how to, video tutorial

Tagged as buttons, how to make wooden buttons, twig buttons, upcycle, upcycling, wood buttons, woodworking, woodworking hack

March 13, 2018 · 11:31 am

Butterfly Woman Spreads Her Wings Tapestry

In 2012, I wove a tapestry that was quietly part of a series of tapestries that I have been working on for many years:

In the last few weeks, she has let me know that she wanted to really spread her wings….

So, I wove her a face on my hexagon loom from Dewberry Ridge looms: LINK

I built a little loom to weave hands for her, and stitched on butterflies that I had designed and crocheted many years ago.

I used really thick wire to make and armature for one of the larger butterflies.

And, then, she had wings!

I am so pleased with her, and she is very pleased with me, too!

She’s about 39 inches/100 cm tall and her wingspan is about 22 inches (55 cm).

Here’s a little video that I made about her:

My book, Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks LINK shows you how to weave tapestries on the peg loom.

If you’d like to know how to weave tapestries on the hexagon loom, here’s a how to video:

After a very long, very cold and very snowy and icy winter, I do believe that Spring and Butterflies on their way!

Fabula Figure Tapestries

Last year, I wove a series of tapestries that I call, ‘The Fabula Figures’.

Fabula means ‘story’ in Latin… and each of the Fabula Figures is about the power of story.

The one in the photo below is called ‘Fabula Figure: The Storyteller’ and is about 44 inches tall.

She’s one of the later figures in the series.

I had woven a few prototypes for the series before January of 2017, but I really committed to the series on January 1 of 2017, and I haven’t stopped weaving them.

10 of the Fabula Figure tapestries are part of the ‘Faconner’ show that I wrote about in the previous blog post.

Here’s a little video of the Fabula Figures that I wove from January 1 – September 30, 2017:

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as 'Faconner. Alberta Branded, Fabula Figures, hand weaving, hand woven, tapestries, tapestry

March 7, 2018 · 12:41 pm

Catching up- Group show with my tapestries

Oops… I have been working so hard on a whole bunch of things that I kept getting to the end of my day without having taken time to play catch up on my blog.

So, I am going to do that now.

I am so happy that 15 of my tapestries are part of a one year long show at the gorgeous Legislative Assembly of Alberta gallery that is part of the gift shop, ‘Alberta Branded’ in the Edmonton Federal Building, across the plaza from the Legislature building in Edmonton AB.

Here’s the link:

http://www.assembly.ab.ca/visitorcentre/abBranded.html

The show, ‘Faconner’ is up until the end of January 2019.

10 artists from Alberta, Canada, were chosen to have their work be part of the show, and I am hugely honoured to have been chosen to be one of them.

The gallery space is small, but beautifully curated, so not all 15 tapestries will be up for viewing at the same time.

They’ll rotate throughout the year.

Happy dancing!

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Filed under tapestry

Tagged as Alberta Branded Gallery, Faconner show at Alberta Legislative Assembly, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry show

December 11, 2017 · 10:11 pm

Cutting garments into fabric strips to weave and knit

Recently, I made a video about cutting up garments to upcycle them by weaving or knitting with the fabric strips.

In early October of 2017, my son in law’s step-dad passed away.

This was, of course, very hard on our grandson.

I talked with him about what it meant to him to have his ‘other’ grampa (not my husband) pass away.

I asked him if he needed something of his grampa’s to hold onto, and he said yes.

So, I asked for a couple of Bill’s shirts so I could make comfort critters with them.

I cut them up and wove them into kittys, as that was what my grandson asked for, so he has one, and other family members have them too. (I didn’t photograph all of them).

I also knitted a teddy bear for one of our relatives, as he is definitely a teddy bear guy 🙂

The bear and kittys have been well received and they do carry the love that went into every stitch of making them.

I’ve done this before, and have found that ‘compassion critters’ made from upcycled clothing of a dear one is very comforting for people in grief.

Every little thing helps….

Here’s the video:

The woven kitties and knitted bear are made from the following patterns:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/88710…

and https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/27430…

5 Comments

Filed under blessing bear, charity knitting, crafting for charity, eco crafts & green projects, Findlay Bear and Flora Panda, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, knitting, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, personal stuff, potholder loom, teddy bear, tutorial & how to, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as blessing bear, compassion bear, compassion critters, grief, how to make fabric strips for weaving and knitting, knitted teddy bear, Memory Bear, upcycling, woven kitty

September 6, 2017 · 2:58 pm

Projects in Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks- Part 3- Baskets

Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks are great for weaving baskets.

Because I had already designed a collection of weaving stick baskets for my etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/111292892/pdf-pattern-for-all-kinds-of-baskets?ref=shop_home_active_4)

I wanted to do something completely different for the book.

I was really happy about figuring out how to weave squares on the peg loom and weaving sticks, so it was natural to weave baskets using squares.

I also thought that it made sense to make round baskets for the book, as well, so I came up with a very simple little round basket that I call the Blessing Bowls.

The size of the baskets is determined by the thickness of yarn, cord, t shirt yarn, string or what ever you decide to use, as well as the thickness of the weaving sticks or peg looms.

Baskets are such a useful thing, and they are so much fun to weave. I hope that you will enjoy weaving them on peg looms and weaving sticks!

The book can be ordered from your local bookstore, or from any of the usual online sellers or from the National Book Depository, (new to me!).
Here’s the link for it:
https://www.bookdepository.com/Peg-Looms-and-Weaving-Sticks/9780811716123

Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks -An error on page 29

Oh my word.

My editors and I poured over every word of the manuscript of ‘Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks’, over and over and over, and yet a typo slipped by us!

For the Cowl on Page 29, #2- It should say ‘Weave 30 inches” NOT 36 inches.

Apologies!!!!!

I really hope that this is the only typo to have sneaked past us!

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Peg and Stick Loom weaving, peg looms and weaving sticks, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as errata for Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks; Peg Looms & Weaving Sticks by Noreen Crone-Findlay; weaving; weaving sticks; peg loom weaving; weaves; hand woven; hand weaving; woven cowl; Noreen Crone-F

August 25, 2017 · 8:45 pm

Projects in Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks Book- Part 2- Wearables

I was very surprised the other day, when a friend in England sent me a photo of herself, holding ‘Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks’!

I haven’t received my copy yet, so I was amazed to see that it has made it’s way to England before it’s official release date.

It was neat to see what the final version of the front cover looks like.

I still don’t know what the back cover looks like 🙂

So, this video, which I had planned to be a ‘Sneak Peek’ at the book, isn’t really a sneak peek since some people already have it (even if I don’t!)

In this video, I am focusing on the wearables in the book.

The book can be ordered from the Book Depository- I’d never heard of them until my editor told me about them, but I think it’s great that they ship worldwide, free. LINK

Happy weaving!

4 Comments

Filed under book review/book/books, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Peg and Stick Loom weaving, peg looms and weaving sticks, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as hand woven jewelry, Noreen Crone-Findlay, peg loom book, peg loom projects, peg loom weaving, Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks by Noreen Crone-Findlay, weave a hat on peg looms, weaving garments on peg looms, weaving sticks book, woven hat, woven jewelry, woven vest