Merry Christmas one and all

We woke up to snow this morning, not a lot but enough to make it really feel really Christmasy.

The gnomes weren't too impressed though!

Just a few Christmas makes for my wonderful neighbours.  There were a couple of other things hand made too but I forgot to take pictures.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year

The cards are all done.....

I finished off the cards not long after my last post, now they are all written and now I just have to get them all mailed off. No two are exactly the same and they all say Merry Christmas either on the front or inside.

Wasted three days when Windows did an update and changed the drivers on my the video card to something that was incompatible and the resolution changed.  I thought it had changed my settings and tried correcting them but couldn't get it to work. Had to watch a lot of you tube videos to find what was wrong. I had to revert to a previous driver and then go back and change all the setting s back. It was a very trying few days.

Hospital appointments for us both.  My husband had to have another chemo infusion as the auto immune disease had kicked back in and weakened him.  Not much improvement yet but hopefully soon.  I had more xrays on my neck and the surgeon signed me off as everything has almost fused completely and he is happy.

Made pineapple upside down cake yesterday. We don't eat dessert often so this will be it until Christmas.

Concentrating efforts on Christmas. ⛄❄Put up outside lights. Tree will be next weekend.🎅🎄

Enough of the emoji silliness lady!

Oh! and one last thing, Sizzix had a great sale again with free shipping with over $25 of purchases so I have over $100 worth of new dies and stuff coming for only $26.  So excited for next years cards already.

Yay! Production is underway

All the cards have been embossed, all the fabric trees and Santa's are cut out, all the Merry Christmases are pressed out and all the recycled pictures and words are done.

And nary a Happy Holidays in sight!!!!! 

And the first batch of completed cards

I am still here!

It has been a couple of weeks since I posted.  I have been busy making things as well as the usual day to day busying.

I made a couple of hats on the looms I got from the Thrift shop.  The first one, which I used the dusty blue yarn that was with it and was just experimenting with, turned out big enough to make a hat and that is for me and the red one is a Christmas gift for my neighbour's grand daughter who helps me out with dog sitting and housework from time to time. It was actually made on a bigger loom but the yarn was different and although it looks narrower it actually stretches better than the blue one.

I also made some more appliance covers, one for the food mixer, one for the breadmaker and one for the coffee machine which just gets used when we have visitors as my husband has an espresso machine and I use instant coffee (old English habit).

Only putting up one photo because they are all made of same fabric and only differ in size and shape.  Yep! custom made appliance covers. Another reason is I made a mistake on the bread machine one and the fabric is upside down!  I didn't notice until I had cut the fabric to shape the corners and then it was too late to change.  You can just see q corner of it on the right of the photo.  Deer standing on their heads!

The rest of my making things time has been taken up with making Christmas cards.  I think I am sorry I ventured into this because it is really time consuming as I am making 50 cards.

I have recycled old cards and cut out images and words to glue onto the blank ones.  I am also embossing one side of every card and cutting out fabric shapes with Santa and Christmas trees on to glue on. Every card has to be embossed individually and every tree and Santa has to be cut out with pinking shears so it doesn't fray.  The hardest thing though has been the 'Merry Christmas' that I press out on my Sizzix machine.  It is very fiddly to take out the  logo and each one takes a fair bit of time to do.

Pictures in the next post when I have taken it all upstairs to my sewing room to work on them as I have been trying to do it downstairs on the dining table and what a mess I am making!

Just some ramblings.....

I know we live in the middle of nowhere and are pretty much hermits but we have TV with a million channels and high speed Internet so why hadn't I heard of air fryers until a couple of weeks ago?

Anyway, I did come across them and did my due diligence as to their usefulness and decided we would benefit from one.  We virtually gave up eating home made chips (french fries) because of the high usage of cooking oil and wastage of said oil. 

In my research I downloaded an air fryer cook book and in it was directions to make Scotch eggs.  That was the decider!  I love them and had never been successful in making them before.  Plus my husband loves chips so the thought of being able to serve them not dripping in oil or fat was another decider.

Next thing was to find one at a reasonable cost so I spent a lot of time looking on the Internet and checking reviews etc.  I found one for $69.99 from Avalon Bay on Amazon which had great reviews and was on sale.  So I ordered it and it arrived just over a week ago.

Yep, the first thing I made was Scotch eggs.  Totally delicious and perfect, no splitting of the sausage meat and cooked to perfection and again not dripping in oil.

I wanted to make a cover for it so I went through my fabric stash and found some fabric suitable for our home and surroundings and made one.  Now I plan to make more for some of my other appliances, first being the food mixer which is not used on a day to day basis and gets dusty.

Next ramble is about the weaved squares mentioned in my previous post , I have made 20 or so now.  I purchased some of the same yarn but with different colours.  I am enjoying making them a lot.

Next on the agenda is the mowers and the mowing.  I couldn't mow after my surgery for a couple of months as the discs they put in my neck need to fuse.  Finally the surgeon gave me the all clear to mow but my mower was playing up.  We both have riding mowers as we mow about 6 acres or so and my husband's mower fritzed also.  Fortunately, it was at the time the grass started slowing down because of the heat.  They went to the mower guy but he was going on vacation for two weeks, after one thing and another we eventually got them back.  My husband got his first but he ran over a wasps nest and was attacked by the swarm and suffered multiple wasp stings and ended up in the hospital.  It made him a bit leery to mow again while it was warm.  I got mine back just over a week ago. Then there was a week of hospital appointments and things to be done so we didn't get mowing again till Friday and today and I have to say it was a pleasure to mow after so long and the weather was perfect for it. He wouldn't let me mow the very long grass though so he did that I did the shorter stuff.

Finally, on one of our trips out this past week we went looking for a wheelchair for my husband for in his hunting blind as the nice new leather office chair he got for it squeaks.  Oh darn!, I will have to use it for my computer desk. Ha ha!  Anyway, I digress, when in the Thrift Store, which didn't have any wheelchairs, I found these knitting rings and yarn in a bag for $2.  What can I say? I am still a kid at heart and love toys to play with.

So I am making a tube lol, have no idea what I will do with it but it is fun to do.

That was a lot of rambling wasn't it, bet you are glad I don't blog every day eh?

It took a lot of failures but finally I can use the loom successfully

Who would have thought that the pin loom would prove to be so difficult to use?  I know I struggled with it many years ago but back then I didn't have the time to persevere.  This time I was bound and determined to succeed.

Armed with yarn and instructions last week I sat down to give it a go.  I failed........

Next day I tried again, and the next and the next. This pattern of failure was repeated for two more days.

The edges were all out of wack and this was after I had tried to fix them

Three edges were OK but the 4th went awry

Oh no, incorrect weaving and ratty edges, total failure!

A bit better but some mis weaving

Then yesterday it all fell into place and I made a good square.

Finally, a success!

Then I made some more

Phew! Thank goodness.

I am working on a baby blanket for the next baby that that comes along.  My youngest son is in a serious relationship with his girlfriend, also one of my grand daughters is too with her boyfriend so with the Universe's blessing and not so long into the future, there might be a new baby. Hopefully a marriage or two first though!

I will get some blue variegated yarn too to make squares and some white to crochet them all together and put an edge all around.  Maybe even back it too with some nice soft baby fleece.  Got plenty of time!

Well wouldn't you blooming well know it

The loom has been on my mind.  When I did my last blog post, at the end I mentioned I thought that maybe I had taken the loom to her as I had found it too fiddly.  When thinking about finding the completed squares in her stuff from the nursing home it became apparent that is what I must have done. Vague memories of it were floating around in my head.

Prior to all this thinking and having spent days and days looking for it in our house I had assumed that it was lost never to be found again and ordered one off ebay, (see previous post).

It has been our first cool day for a few weeks today so I ventured into the workshop to look through some of my MIL's totes. As I said, it somehow feels invasive but the darn loom wouldn't get out of my head.

Wouldn't you know it, there it was sitting proud in the top of the first tote I opened.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh because my thinking had been correct or cry because I had spent $14 to buy another one.

Oh well, such is life.  Now I have two, so no excuses for not trying again.

I did find the instructions online and printed them up, that way I can keep the original instructions which are in the one I purchased which is also in the original box and from the pictures on ebay looks to be in pristine condition.

Now here is a thought! I can put one of the needles I have purchased with the one from ebay and it will be a complete set in excellent condition.  Maybe I will put it on ebay myself and make a little money.

I do so enjoy my blogging, it gets the old brain cells working! Better leave it for a couple of weeks though, don't want the seller thinking I was trying to make money off him by knocking the price down because that wasn't the case at the time.

I hate it when I can't find something I think I know I have somewhere!

Recently, we were out in the workshop where we still have some of my MIL's stuff stored.  She died in 2010 and it still seems invasive to go through it.  I know that at some point it will have to be done. Somehow one of the totes got knocked over and the contents scattered on the floor.  So we set about picking them up and I came across some squares that she had weaved on a mini loom and started to sew together.

They were not big enough to be anything useful but clearly she had something Autumnal (Fall) in mind.  I remember having the mini loom that she used, I tried it, it must have been ten years or so ago (it was before she died even) and it was fiddly so I didn't do any more.

Well, I have searched the house high and low for it, to no avail.  I have literally spent hours and hours searching for it.  I went through all my craft stuff and all our cupboards but couldn't find it.

So next progression was to go searching for one to buy.  I discovered they were called 'Weave It'.

I found many on ebay and they were not cheap considering they were all old and used.  They ranged from $20 to $40+.  There were a couple on auction but they had bids on them with days to go. The above pictured one is a buy it now for $30

Finally I found one for a buy it now price of $20 but even though it seemed in excellent condition it was missing the 6" needle. I put in an offer of $14 for it and it was accepted so I bought it and found some needles on Amazon for $5.75, so still a complete set for less than $20 with extra needles also.

I eagerly await their arrival.

In hindsight I may have taken the original one to her in the nursing home after I had tried it and wasn't too successful with it, so it may yet turn up in her stuff when I eventually get around to going through it but meanwhile I will be able to continue on with the replacement one and add to her original squares to make something useful.  It is something I can sit and do at night now the nights are drawing in.

On a separate note, in my searching I did find some 'cool towels' I had purchased the year before last and put away for safe keeping.  They are those towels you dampen and put around your neck to keep cool.  A bit late for this year though!!!

A Thank you, a health update and a made thing

First of all, I want to thank all my blogging friends for updating their blogs on a regular basis, (much more regular than me, that's for sure!).  If your blog is in the list on the right hand side of my blog under 'Blogs I follow' then you can know for sure that I have read your posts.  I check every day and read all the new postings.  I really enjoying following your activities. If you have a blog that is not listed, leave me a message and I will add you.

Secondly, I had an appointment with my surgeon this week and he is really pleased with my progress. I am feeling tons better than I was before and for the first five or six weeks after the surgery.  (It is nearly nine weeks now).  My arms no longer hurt and they do not go numb at night anymore.  The vertebrae are fusing to the new bone discs he put in and I can move my neck a lot more than I have for years.

He also cleared me for mowing and wouldn't you know it? Sods law, the mower broke this week!  We already have my husband's one at the repair shop, when we collect it next week we will take mine in. I have been driving too for a month or so now.  I had to get off the prescription pain killers for that privilege.

And thirdly, I made something this week.  A stand for some of my leather stamps.  I have some heavy duty stamps with thick stems that needed to put in a stand.

As we have lots of wood offcuts I took a couple of pieces of 2 x 4,  cut them to size, glued them together, then screwed them together for good measure.  I marked where I wanted the holes and I drilled them out on my drill press.

Finally I sanded it and gave it a couple coats of woodstain and voila!

As you can see the holes needed to be a lot larger than in the one I had purchased a couple of years ago so it is custom made for these particular stamps.  I doubt that I could have bought one like this plus they are really quite pricey.  If I remember correctly I paid about $40 for the original one.  I didn't have the drill press then though to make one.

I am hoping for some time later this month to get into my sewing and knitting room.  I have been helping my husband get prepared for hunting this year.  Last year we spent all summer gutting and converting an old camper into a hunting blind for him but it left him so weakened from doing all that work that he wasn't able to hunt much.  He has an auto immune disease that attacks his muscles and nerves and working too much does more harm than good. This year he is hoping to get up there much more and that frees me up to spend time in my hobbies room.

Maggie's collar is made and now just waiting for some leather conditioner to be delivered on Friday.

The collar for Maggie is finished.  My husband did the coloring on Tuesday and I gum tragged it and attached the billets then today I put a couple of rivets in it.

We couldn't find the leather conditioner which is a bummer because that stuff isn't cheap.  It either meant a trip to Springfield to pick some up (a whole days outing) or order online.  Well Tandy doesn't stock it which is too bad because we get a good discount with them and our other leather shop charges a lot for mailing.

So I checked out Amazon and low and behold they had it and with free two day shipping too so it will be here on Friday.

The conditioner softens and waterproofs the leather.  We don't want it to be uncomfortable for her so I am happy to buy it.

Maggie will have her new collar by the weekend.

I can tell you that not all Tandy letter stamps are created equal!

For all the time I have been doing leatherwork, about four + years now, I have struggled to get the letters lined up straight when doing a name or initials..

I put it down to me being not careful enough when doing it.

For Christmas, my husband got me a tool that Tandy had bought out which is a stamp guide.  This means you can set the letters/stamps up and fit the guide around it and tighten it to keep them all straight.  A perfect solution......or so I hoped.

Today, I got to spend some time in the workshop working on Maggie's new collar.  Everything went wonderfully well except the lettering.

I used the stamp guide but it seems that all of the letters are not placed centrally on their individual stamps so even if you have the stamps all lined up in the guide (as I did) the letters are still not straight.......Arrgghh!!!!!

The 'A' and the 'I' are out of alignment.  At least it wasn't all my fault this time.  Had I realised this I could have at least got the 'I' more in line by turning it around. You have to get the stamps placed correctly for the letters to be correct but the 'I' is the same either way.  They are individually marked on the back so you can tell which way to put them, I will have to remember about the 'I' in future. Also I pressed too hard on the 'I' and got the shape of the stamp imprinted.  That was entirely my fault.

I am happy with the rest of the stamping especially since it has been a while since I did any.  My husband will now work his magic and stain it, then I will attach the billet set and it will be done.

A few days late for her 2nd birthday but she did also get a new throwing toy on the day so she wasn't a deprived puppy.

Yeah, I think my mojo is coming back!

It is now four and a half weeks since I had the neck surgery.  I have been off the painkillers for 11 days now and was cleared to drive by the doctor.  Did my first drive yesterday, just a 70 mile all round trip to our shopping town. I am still getting a bit of pain and will be restricted from lifting anything heavy for months but I am feeling a lot better.

My husband has been working outside and he had to fell a pretty large oak tree that had died and was close to his hunting blind.  It had already dropped a large limb that came dangerously close to the blind so there was a serious risk that the tree would fall down too onto it.

He really isn't well enough to do these things but he is a stubborn cuss at times and went ahead.  I had to be nearby just in case anything went wrong and I could call for help.  Fortunately, it all went to plan and the tree was cut down, cut up and the wood brought up to the wood pile for winter.

I don't know if it was being outside a lot or what but the desire to make something came back.

I have got some leather ready to make Maggie a new collar. I am using a belt billet set I had purchased some time ago when our local hardware had a clear out sale of leather items.  I actually bought a half dozen of these as they were on 25c each! The two top pieces are the set and you attach them each end of the collar.  The holes are pre cut and snaps are already on them so it makes it a lot easier.  The piece of leather has to be cut to size yet and the stamping of her name and some patterning and colouring done.  I will add a rivet also just in case the snaps should come undone.  Not likely but best be safe than sorry.

Also, I got my old computer set up again up in my sewing room to make a pattern on the Knitware program for a sweater for myself.  I had had to move it when I put the treadle sewing machine up in my room. This I will start on when my husband starts going up to the blind in September to hunt with his bow.

Now considering it is only Thursday and we spent all yesterday afternoon shopping and the rest of the days dealing with the tree, I think I have made some giant steps to getting my making things mojo going again.

If it is cool tomorrow morning I will work in the workshop on the collar.

Yeah for the returning mojo!