Category Archives: Personal

Tomorrow Begins a New Year!

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What a busy time it’s been.  I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.   The Christmas season was a busy one and it’s always a joy to have son John home for the holiday.  Today I will finish taking down all the Christmas things.  Tomorrow begins that frustrating thing of trying to remember to change the year as we write the checks.. ;o)

I must show you … I can hardly wait… My Sweet DH  found this online, picked it out himself and absolutely made me jump with joy when I opened  it on Christmas day!

A Viking Ship Golding Spindle… took my breath away!

That fiber I’m spinning is called Panda.. a blend of wool/silk/bamboo.  And does this spindle spin like a dream!

Now… that jacket that I said I would make… Well, I did make it that very day!  And here it is….

I love it… It’s just warm enough for all those “almost winter” days that we have here in North Texas.  I can wear this 90% of the time.  I love it!  Quite easy to make.  When I make another one… and I will make another one… I will do hand stitching around the inner edging since it’s difficult for me to “stitch in the ditch” and catch the bottom layer of fabric and make it look good… hmmm   Anyway.. I would definitely recommend this pattern for a quick and easy light jacket.. ;o)

After making this, the sewing machine bug grabbed hold of me, shook really hard and then refused to let go.   So I bought a pants pattern, some fabric and elastic and got with it!  Duh… phooey…bleehhhh…  Since I am truly pear-shaped and measured quite accurately…got the pattern that the measurements called for.. cut the pattern according to said measurements… I was truly disgusted when I found that the said pants looked like I had used Downey on a stovepipe and was trying to wear it… ;o(    So… not one to give up easily.. I cut up a pair of pants that I knew fit me well… drew the pieces off onto muslin with a pencil allowing for a 5/8″ hem and tried again..  Now this time was better but I was trying to use the same fabric from the previous pants… Let’s just say that it didn’t REALLY work…

I have given up… and ordered this book…  How to Make Sewing Patterns by Donald H. McGunn.  It should arrive sometime around the 6th of January.  I’ll let you know how this all turns out… ;o)

Would you like to do some small Block of the Month Quilts ?   I’m thinking this would be a good way for me to grow comfortable with some of the easier quilt block patterns.  What do you think?

Well.. must go.  I hope  your holidays have all been wonderful.  And that your endeavors throughout the coming New Year will all be successful!  ;o)

 

Tea Wallet .. Free Pattern at Is It Nap Time Yet?

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I have lost my tea wallet!!!   spfttt**##@fftt  smahsh splatt bang  shhhplt!!!

Yes, I’m having a tantrum..;o(

I really DO NOT like the coffee at our Golden Corral so I always take my tea wallet with me and just get a cup of hot water..

I made my tea wallet almost 3 years ago using the tutorial at Christie’s Creations.  She has since changed the name of her blog to Is it Naptime Yet?  but the wonderful tutorials she has are still there and still great.

 

I was in a bit of a panic.. Wonder if that tute is still there?  What if I can’t find it?   ( O Woe Is Me!!)  But it is still there.. ;o)  And it’s still called Tea Wallet Tutorial.  Now that I have ransomed my sewing machines from the shop where it cost $60.00 apiece to have them cleaned and oiled, this will be the first thing made.. today.. ;o)

I hope your preparations for the Christmas Holiday are going well.. This little easy project might just be great for a gift or stocking stuffer… hmmm.

Hugs… Linda    btw… these pics are of the one I made for my cousin back in 2009.. sigh

And The Winners Are….

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Thank you.  Most of you sent me emails and I appreciate them all.. ;o)   My sweet DH was otherwise taken today, so I finally did the drawing using an online random selector. If you will send me an email with you mailing address, I will get these directly in the mail to you.  ;o)

Please send your email to :  fabricfollies@hotmail.com   If I have an email addy, I send you an email.. And now..the winners, of course!

Blondell Lehocki of  LadyHawk of Heartland ,  Karen Prescher of Grasshopper Hill Miniature Donkeys, and zinaszanies…

Enjoy!  ;o)

 

 

The Free Gifts.. ;o)

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Tomorrow is November 29, 2011… And here are the gifts that we will be drawing for.. ;o)

Each gift will consist of:  1 hand-made card.  These cards are hand-made here in Sherman by a lovely lady who supplies them to my beauty shop.  I’m sorry I cannot tell you her name… but I will correct that .. ;o)

2. the healing garden… hand and body lotion.

3. face cloth.. hand knitted by me.. ;o)

4. Honey and Ginger glycerin soap

5. Rose Petal Guest Soaps.. hand dipped by me.

I feel that there is never enough of anything to say “Thank you”.. But I hope you enjoy these.

Make Your Own Olive Oil Lamp… Free Tutorial

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No.. it’s not a fabric lamp…lol   And I know this is a fabric/yarn/craft blog.  But… The temperatures are beginning to drop here in North Texas.  Real winter is popping up a little more frequently.  We’ve been having electricity flickers and outages more frequently lately… have no idea what’s happening.. ;o/   We keep flashlights handy, but the bad thing about a flashlight is the need for batteries.

When I saw this video by sockermidgit on YouTube… I had to do it.

I first gathered everything I would need.  Non-galvanized clothes hanger, needle nose pliers, 1/2 pint Mason jar, pure olive oil, hand spun flax and my triple twist fringe maker.  Please make sure that whatever wire you use is NOT GALVANIZED.   GALVANIZED WIRE WILL RELEASE TOXIC FUMES DURING THE BURNING PROCESS.  

Cut the wire at least 3 times the height of your container.   Now begin.  The pictures are clickable and download by right clicking the picture, scroll down and click  “save image as”  and then download to where ever you would like to save it.  The images have each step written on it and they  are each numbered.

The first step is gathering your supplies.  This is shown in Pic #1 to the left.

Picture #2 on the right shows how the wick holder is made.

 

Picture #3 shows the sizing of the wick  holder.

Picture #4 shows how I made the wick using hand spun flax (linen) by plying 2 threads together to make a thicker wick.  You can use almost any natural fiber to make a wick.. including a strip of denim or wool.

Picture #5 shows the placement of the wick in the wick holder.  It should be as close to center as you can make it.  This may mean bending your center coil to one side or the other so the flame itself is center.

Picture #6 shows the measurement of the wick.  There is no need for more wick than is shown.

Now that the wick is in place, fill to the bottom of the center coil with pure olive oil.

This pic just shows the handle I put on my wick holder.  I found that just having the holder lay flat at the top did not give enough to grip.  This is entirely optional.

Now we can light our candle.

And there it is… a lovely warm glow.  I can see several of these lined in a row down the center of the holiday table, surrounded by greenery and holly berries.

Now here is the absolute best part of this lamp.  Olive oil stays cool to the touch.  That is not say that the wick holder will stay cool.. but the olive oil will.  If it is knocked over and spilled, there will be NO FIRE.  Olive oil will suppress the flame.  The only part of the candle that can start a fire is the flame on the wick.. and that is enclosed in the container.   Also… NO SMOKE and NO ODOR…

I love everything about this candle.   It is safe to keep around all the time.  No fear of fire.  Very good emergency lighting or maybe a wonderful warm romantic glow on that anniversary table.. ;o)

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.  ;o)

One Million Hits.. How Can I Ever Thank You? !

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A SALUTE TO YOU!

Sometime this evening or late tonight, this blog will have its ONE MILLIONth hit.  I have to say that I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all of you who have visited over the nearly 5 years I have been blogging here.  You have made all of the early morning, bleary eyed typing worth every minute.. ;o)

December 16, 2006 was the very first post on Fabric Follies Two.  Make Your Own Miniature Trees … This post was the first one carried over from my original blog Fabric Follies .  That one   was also a delight for me.  At the time of the change, I was very close to the limit for pictures that WordPress allowed, hence the new Fabric Follies Two.

How to say “Thank You!”..??

I have decided to put the names of everyone who comments between now and Tuesday the 29th of November  into a hat, have my husband draw 3 names out and each will receive a Secret Surprise Gift… but just so it’s not too big a secret, I will post a picture or two in a few days.. ;o)

Thanksgiving is almost upon us.  And what a wonderful time to be thankful for the joy you have brought me.  Thank you.

From our house to your house, may your Thanksgiving be filled with warmth and comfort.

 

 

Guest Soaps… Rose Petals! … Tutorial

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Somewhere on the web, ages ago, I found this idea.  What I’m trying to say this early in the morning is this..  this wonderful idea is not mine!  I cannot remember where I saw it so if you have seen this idea before and know who came up with it.. please let me know and I will give credit to that creative person.. ;o)

I have company coming.  I’ve thought for a long time about  trying this, but with company coming I found this to be just the creative oomph I needed .  So here’s what I did…

I bought a package of meltable glycerin soap,  honey/almond fragrance and packages of red and green rose petals that were found over on the wedding aisle.  A strip of waxed paper was used to place the wet petals on to dry.

I melted one bar of the glycerin soap in a microwave safe bowl.  With my microwave it took about 30 seconds on high… checking every 10 seconds to make sure the soap melted but did not burn.   After the soap was completely melted, I dipped each petal in the clear soap to cover it, lifted it with tweezers for a second to let extra soap run off and placed the petal on the wax paper right side up.   The soap on the petal and in the bowl solidified quickly.  The bowl had to be placed back in the microwave every 4th or 5th petal to remelt the film that cooled across the top of the soap.  The soap that adhered to the  the ends of the tweezers was easily pulled off and placed a back in the bowl with each re-melt.  I found that one bar of  melted soap would produce around 25 petals of soap  with some cooled soap left in the bowl.

A couple of petals that did not come out well were used to test the soap.  I found that each petal could be used multiple times before the soap was exhausted.  It has a medium lather, but it left my hands feeling soft.  All in all… I give this project a 9 out of 10.. ;o)

The finished rose petals turned out lovely.  It took only a few minutes for them to dry, but I allowed about 15 minutes to be sure.  I placed mine in a new soap dish beside some hand knitted face cloths in the guest bath.  You could use an antique cup and saucer, a tiny basket, a few placed in plastic wrap and placed inside a coffee mug … Putting these in a basket with hand knit face towels and home made olive oil/sugar scrub would make a truly lovely and useful gift.  Many, many ways to use this lovely soap.

Well… the sun is up and it looks like it will be another warm day.  Cooler temps are expected tomorrow and for several days after that.  By cooler temps I mean in the 80s… ;o)  We did all our running around yesterday so I have this morning to myself (woo hoo) and this afternoon for the Red River Fiber Arts group.  Gonna be a good day.. ;o)  Hope yours is too..

Is Spinning, Dyeing and Hand Knitting Cost Effective?

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Back in July some of us got together and had a “dye” day.  It was great fun and during the processing I found a piece of wool roving (mystery wool since I have forgotten which bag it originally came out of.. ;o/  It was about 7 ft. long and rather thick roving.  If I were guessing it’s cost would be at the very most $1.00 since there was at least 20 pieces that long in the approx.  $18.00 bag of roving …  Add  to that the cost of 3 packages of Kool Aid  and you have spent ..at the most…$4.00. Now.. a person could say that you must add in the $350.00 cost of the spinning wheel…but not so.  If you have a spinning wheel that’s great, but the same thing can be done with a toy wheel spindle that would cost less than a dollar.

Now we have a cost of about $6.00.  The knitting needles can be made from two pieces of dowel rod cut to whatever length is the most comfortable for you with a point on one end of each needle made by a pencil sharpener…then the two needles are sanded until very smooth.  I’m not sure we should count the cost of equipment since it can be used for as many projects as you care to make, but just for the sake of this exercise we’ll add it.  That would cost less than another dollar.  We are now at $7.00.

That would make this set of scarf and wristlets cost less than $7.00 since I even had some yarn left over.. not much, but some.  What about my time!??  If I were making them as part of a plan to make money for the household I would count every minute of the time it took to make this set…including the time spent choosing the wool, the dyeing, the spinning, the knitting… But lets face it.. no one is going to get rich doing that.

Now, if a person is trying to save a little money on the expensive things that you buy….that’s a different story.  It takes less than 10 minutes to dye the roving.  About 3 hours was spent spinning the yarn.  The knitting was done in the evenings as we were watching television.  No big hurry.

Now.. the retail price for something like this.  Here’s a similar stitch scarf being sold for $55.00 on etsy.com .. Hand Knit Scarf Silk Mohair and Wool  (Shortly after this was posted, the scarf was sold.  Sorry.. ;o(

I have some Silk/Mohair/Wool roving and the difference in cost would be about $.75 to $1.00. The cost to buy  just the scarf would be $55.00.  Ours cost $8.00 to make both the scarf and the wristlets  (if using the mohair,silk and wool)  That is a savings of $47.00.  Not bad for playing around in your spare time.  ;o)  And this doesn’t even count the price for the wristlets!  The wristlets would sell for anywhere from $25.00 to $50.00 if sold on etsy.com.

Just a plain wool simple garter stitch hand spun and hand knit scarf sells for $15.00 to $20.00..  What nice gifts to give at a real savings!  ;o)

Hopefully Heather

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I knew the mystery roving of yesterday had felted a little… but when I started working with it last night it was not anywhere as bad as I thought it was going to be.   As it turns out, there was quite a bit more in that rather compacted  length of roving than it looked like!  The color is very close to the heather that I was looking for when we started this.  After it has been plied it will be easier to see.  I’m not sure what project this will turn into, but for now it has been enormous fun just exploring the possibilities.

The temperature here in North Texas has been “Augusty” for the last couple of weeks.  No daytime high under 100°F for the last several days and to continue for another few days.  Some as high as 106°-111°F.  This has been and will be a great time for indoor crafting… Not to mention the winds that remind me on a daily basis of Perryton, TX where the wind is non-stop hot in the summer and bone blasting cold in the winter.  Sure looking forward to a little rain…someday…

This flower is in my front flowerbed.  I love it.  I have no idea what the name of it is but will be looking it up as soon as I publish this  post.  I miss all of the lovely views from our old home, but must say I am truly loving our new home.  It will just take time to make it our own with trees and gardens. ;o)

Hope you’re having a great summer.. ♥

Red River Fiber Arts and Kool Aid Dyeing

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Yesterday a few of “us girls” from the RRFA  gathered at my house and we had a “Dye In”… ;o) I had some Blue Faced Leicester spun up and some mystery wool roving so we proceeded to dye it. What a fun day! Here’s pics…

I put some vinegar in about 4 gallons of warm water and put the yarn in to soak about 30 minutes before everyone arrived.  I found out later from Pat that I really didn’t need to do that since the Kool Aid has citric acid in it already… Good to know…

 

 

 

Pat B., Barbara and Sonia arrived and we got started.  I had a piece of mystery wool moorit roving that was about 7 feet long.  I decided to try my hand at dyeing roving only because Pat was here to bail me out if I tried something really dumb… ;o)  We had some lemon-lime Kool Aid and I really wanted to see if I could come up with a heather look roving.  So we tried it…

 

 

I thought it turned out fairly well.  I did find out that one should put some of the dye into the bottom of the microwaveable container before the roving is placed in it.  The bottom of the roving did not take up much of the dye.  As a result the colors are staggered throughout the roving.  I think it will be more of a tweed look when it is spun.  I think I will like it!

 

 

 

And this is the finished BFL yarn.  I was trying for a golden yellow and ended up with a lovely, lovely golden/orange.  Very nice… not brassy.

 

All in all a very lovely, productive day.  Nothing better than good  friends, warm brownies and large pot of Mandarin tea to make the day wonderful.  ♥

Have a wonderful day!  ♥