Tottie Talks Crafts Blog

September 4, 2010 · 6:22 pm

The adventures of 2 travelling bears-1

One of our son’s closest friends, Paul, decided to move to another city to go to school.

So, our son and his wife and another of their dear friends, (Mike), decided to drive Paul to his new city.

They loaded up their van with Paul’s possesions and came out to the farm to spend the night before ‘take off’.

As I watched them preparing for the journey, I had the sudden impulse to ask Paul if he would like a travelling comfort bear to keep him company on his great adventure.

He said- Yes, please!

Luckily, I have a stash of them, crocheted from the designs in my book: Crocheted Teddy Bears (link)

Mike was also open to adopting a teddy, so he chose one, too….

Soon, the Intrepid Travellers were all packed and ready to head out down the road, over the mountains to the Coast…..

The van was loaded right to the gills, so the bears decided to check the air pressure on the tires….

They declared it to be acceptable.

All hatches battened… and the team prepared for a good night’s sleep and an early morning departure….

Further adventures of Team Paul and The Amazing Travelling Bears to be continued….

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Tagged as bears, crocheted teddy bear, friendship, teddies, teddy

August 20, 2010 · 11:36 am

Staycation in the studio

Oops… I guess I should have posted a note… people have asked if everything’s okay… yes, indeed!

We are not going to make our usual holiday jaunt this year, so I have declared that I am having a staycation in the studio.

I am taking a break from blogging.

Instead, I am spending that time at my looms, and with my hooks and needles and sketchbook, re-invigorating myself and re-charging my batteries.

Hope you’re enjoying August- I am! (except for the killer mosquitoes and heavy smoke from the forest fires- ugh)

See you in September!

Big hugs all round!

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Tagged as staycation

July 29, 2010 · 8:22 pm

Ms Kitty- leave that loom alone!

Ms Kitty, the feline Queen of the Studio is convinced that anything new in the studio is there for one reason.

To amuse her, of course.

So, last week, when a loom suddenly appeared in the studio, without her fore-knowledge (I forgot to warn Ms Kitty that I had indulged myself and adopted a rather large loom- oops) she assumed that I must have brought it home for her!

She took great delight in using the baby blanket that magically grew on the loom as her personal nest.

Ms Kitty refused to stay off the weaving…. so, I had to cover the baby blanket and the warp with cloths and hope for the best. Silly old cat!

I think that I will cut cardboard panels to try to protect the warp and the weaving from Ms Kitty’s explorations from now on. We shall see…..

In spite of Ms Kitty’s assistance, I have finished the first project from the new loom… a baby blanket for my niece’s almost here baby:

Old Bears quite like it for their tea parties, so if my niece doesn’t, then Old Bears will happily give it a home…. and perhaps they can convince Ms Kitty to leave the loom and join them in a cup of tea….

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Tagged as cats and looms, handwoven baby blanket

July 15, 2010 · 7:17 pm

Weaving with my grandson

The apple does not fall far from the tree. My daughter has been teaching workshops this week. (ahem… like mother, like daughter… yay!)

Yesterday, she taught 15 children how to weave- can you hear the happy dance I am doing? and can you feel the waves of delight pouring out of me? 😀

(Two of the little girls are so excited about weaving and so in love with it, that they are asking their moms to buy them looms!)

HURRAH!

While Chloë has been teaching other munchkins, I have been having a blissful time with her son…. and guess what we have been doing?

Yup. I’ve been weaving with my grandbaby.

I figure that it is never too early to start children weaving. When our kids were little, I had looms warped for them and set up so that they could weave whenever they wanted. And, weave they did.

And, even though my son weaves his art through film making nowadays, my daughter is still a weaver…. and now we have the next generation merrily enjoying time at the loom….

He’s helping me to weave some narrow warp face bands on my Saori floor loom. The bands will be embellishments for some other pieces that I am working on.

And, whenever I look at them, I will have such happy memories of weaving at the loom with our wee boy.

Pure delight!

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Tagged as narrow band weaving, Saori loom, weaving with children

June 23, 2010 · 10:15 pm

Handmade-chunky-bead-teething-necklace-part-2

In my previous post, LINK, I shared my mis-adventure when I sliced the top of my knuckle off with the edge of the belt sander. Ouch.

So, that posting was more of a ‘how NOT to’ than a ‘how to’…..

Luckily, my finger is growing back 🙂 and I have finished the chunky 3 bead necklace….

I left the beads to soak in a bowl of vegetable oil for a few days. Because grandbaby is going to be chewing them, I don’t want to use anything that could be dangerous to him on the beads.

And, that is why I am using organic cotton to spool knit the cords that hold the beads together. (Lion Brand Organic cotton).

I spool knitted 2 short cords and stitched them into the spaces between 2 of the beads, and one long one for the neck cord.

NOTE: The neck cord NEVER goes around the baby’s neck!!!

It goes around the neck of his grown ups, or is looped through the tie of the sling , so he can retrieve it when he drops it.

He only has access to it when he is being held and supervised, and not when he’s sitting in the car seat.

The big holes are great for chubby little fingers to hold onto…..

And those big beads are just so satisfying for a little guy to gum away on! (Well… to bite with his TWO new teeth!!!)

He absolutely loves the necklaces, and so do we.

14 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, jewelry, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, tutorial & how to

Tagged as baby teething necklace, handmade wooden beads, spool knitted cords, spool knitting, what to make with spool knitted cords

June 23, 2010 · 9:55 pm

Handmade chunky bead teething necklace part 1

Our gorgeous grandbaby is teething and is chomping everything in sight as he tries to ease the pain of those pesky teeth pushing on his gums.

My daughter asked me to make her a necklace with large wooden beads so our wee fella could play with it and use it for teething.

I made her one necklace that was a great success: Minoan Goddess of the Bees necklace

So, I decided to make her another one- this time with several big chunky beads to keep him interested.

I cut a length of my favorite wood: Arbutus (also known as Madrona) that my sister in law had trimmed from a tree in her yard. (She saves me all their arbutus twigs and branches, bless her heart!)

Then, I split my mini log into 2 sections on the bandsaw, and did some preliminary shaping with the saw.

Over to the drillpress to drill holes for the beads.

And, back to the bandsaw for more shaping…..

Then, over to the belt sander for more shaping…..

and then to the bathroom to staunch the flow of blood, when I sanded the first knuckle off, and sliced the top off the second one.

Well… that was a surprise! I have never done that before! And not something I would like to repeat! erg….

it’s been 3 weeks, and my knuckle is finally healing… wowsa that hurt!

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

Tagged as baby teething necklace, chunky beads, handmade wooden beads, nursing necklace, one of a kind jewelry

June 17, 2010 · 3:31 pm

Upcycled tunic new life for old clothes

Last summer, I bought a really frumpy skirt and a too small dress at the thrift shop.

Why on earth would anyone in their right mind do that?

Because I intended to ‘harvest’ the fabric

from both the garments and

upcycle them into something new and oh so much fun for myself.

The skirt was long enough,

and full enough

to be able to provide the body for this fun tunic.

And, the skimpy dress provided the pockets,

lower bands, and upper neck band-

and I just love it!

I wear it with leggings, and a t shirt

underneath, because my days of wearing

shortish dresses with bare legs are long gone.

As I was taking the pic of the tunic,

I remembered another upcycling

project that I did recently:

I took a favorite old dress and cut it up

and turned it into a fun and floatie

overshirt…..

it just hit me that they would work well together!!!

Hurrah!

So, think twice before you toss old clothes,

and don’t let the frumpiness or too smallish-ness

of a garment put you off…

cut them up and re-configure them into something

that you will enjoy!

Hurrah for re-purposing, reclaiming, recycling, re-fashioning, re-using, re-creating, restoring, renewing and upcycling!

11 Comments

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Tagged as re-creating, re-fashioning, re-purposing, re-using, reclaiming, recycling, renewing, restoring, sewing, upcycling

June 9, 2010 · 2:44 pm

My mother’s pincushion

My mother has unwillingly had to let go of her lifelong passion for needlework.

Because of health challenges, she is not able to handle independent living anymore. Reluctantly, she has moved out of her condo and into a different living situation where she gets the support and assistance that she now needs.

Most of her possessions are now being lovingly shared out among her kids and grandkids and nieces and other kith and kin.

There were a couple of things that I really really wanted to have…..

She was a spectacularly gifted embroiderer, and so I really wanted to have some of her threads.

The other thing that I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelly wanted was a pincushion doll that I had given her when I was a child.

When I was a little girl, I saw the most beautiful thing I could have ever imagined…. it was a pincushion of an Elizabethan Lady….

I would go into the shop, and visit the Lady, and stroke the velvet skirt, and be filled with longing.

I decided that I HAD to buy it for my mother to show her how much I loved her.

So, I asked the lady in the store if I could pay for the Lady in stages, and she agreed to that. I don’t know if she had ever had a child make such a request, but she was so kind about it!

Every week, for weeks, and weeks, I would take my allowance in, and give it to the shopkeeper. She would then bring ‘The Lady’ out, and I would cradle her in my hands… and then sigh, and hand her back….

Eventually… the little bits of allowance added up and up, and – ‘The Lady’ was mine!!!

She was swathed in tissue, and placed carefully in a box, and I secreted her away until Mother’s Day.

I don’t know if my mother knew how much effort went into buying her ‘The Lady’, but I think she felt the love and excitement that I had in presenting her with my treasure.

And now, ‘The Lady’ has come home to me…. and some day, she will be gifted to my daughter…. with love…. always with love….

20 Comments

Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents

Tagged as family treasure, pincushion

June 1, 2010 · 10:31 pm

Video tutorial on how to make tarn or t shirt yarn

I absolutely love working with tarn, which is yarn made by cutting t shirts into a continuous length of fabric strips. You then use the fabric strips as stretchie, wonderful yarn.

Tarn is a terrific way to upcycle, recycle, re-fashion, re-purpose, re-use and reclaim old t shirts that are no longer wearable. Perhaps they are stained or have little holes in them, or the neck has gone all wonky, or they have a logo on them that you just don’t want to wear anymore.

In that case, turning the t shirt into tarn is a fabulous option.

I showed how to make a ‘buttonhole join’ in tarn here:

How to do the buttonhole join link

and in this video, I showed how to weave it on the potholder loom:

Potholder loom weaving with tarn

Normally, I use a swift to hold the t shirt when I cut my tarn. I decided that that wouldn’t be the best choice for making a video, as most people don’t have swifts, so I used a little stepladder to stretch the t shirt.

It’s kind of clunky, so you have to forgive me for the fumbly bits.

Here’s the video on how to cut tarn: LINK

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Tagged as re-fashion, re-purpose, re-use, recycle, reduce, t shirt yarn, t shirts, Tarn, upcycle, video tutorial on how to make tarn

May 17, 2010 · 3:24 pm

Garage sale treasures

I have to admit, blush, that I am rather hooked on garage sales. ( I should amend that to make it clear that I am hooked on ~going to~ garage sales, not actually having one myself. :P)

Why?

Well… I love finding old things that are useful, and even better, if they feel like they have a story to tell.

On the weekend, we went to 2 garage sales that were just great.

At the first one, I found a shelf thingie that is perfect for holding my husband’s sheet music. He has been questing for this for ages, and I was convinced that one was out there for him.

And, hurrah…. I found it! Yay! (sorry… didn’t take a pic of it)

At the second garage sale, I was ecstatic to find the table top display manequin for jewelry and the wonderful ‘shabby chic’ vintage table that it is sitting on.

There is a circle in the base of the table that just invites baskets and bowls and boxes to perch on it. (Nope… the basket didn’t come with it…. that’s one of my designs)

And, it’s sturdy enough to support my swift, even when it is whirling madly.

I have been hoping to find a jewelry display mannequin to help with photographs. It was serious happy dancing time when this one was sitting in the sunshine waiting for me to bargain a wee bit and then to whisk it off home and start dressing it up.

The neck was hollow, which wasn’t good, as it showed off the frayed bits inside. It was a little too ‘Sweenie Todd’, so I cut some circles of grey foam and popped them in to fill that gap.

Ms Mannequin wasn’t wearing the amber necklace when I bought her…. that’s one of my pieces that I made a couple of years ago. It’s crocheted copper wire with a huge hunk of ambler. I’ll be putting the necklace up on etsy and was in need of a way of photographing it, so the timing on this was just poifeck!

Yay!

So, that’s why I can’t resist the siren call of the garage sale…. treasures await!

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Filed under jewelry

Tagged as garage sale treasures, jewelry display, shabby chic, vintage table