It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, here it is, a week before Christmas and the Christmas cards are finally out, and the tree and stockings are up.

Here are a few pictures of the cards I made this year. These in addition to some I made last year, but didn't send and some store bought cards are what I sent out this year.

I've done these cross stitch cards before. The idea came from the Better Homes and Gardens Country Crafts Christmas Edition magazine from 1990. The pattern was for a sampler, but they also had the idea to do some of the motifs on perforated paper, cut them out and use them on cards. I had a great time using some scrapbook paper for the backgrounds (something that wasn't around in 1990).

I was short a couple of cards and decided to make a couple cheery looking cards using the Iris Folding technique. I like the look of it and even though it looks complicated, it's really simple.

And, because I know my friend Aimee reads this blog and I love her's. here are a few interior Christmas shots.

I only pick ornaments that mean something to my family. Perhaps an interest or a hobby, but there is a connection between each one and us.

My mom and dad cross stitched us these Christmas stockings back in 1998 after Jarod was born. Yes, BOTH of my parents cross stitch. I love them and these stockings too. I believe they've done one for every member of their family and even some friends too. Lots of work and love went into these.

This is the is the coffee/tea service table in my dining room. I'm not sure where the table came from originally. I believe it was my husband's grandmother's table. My mother in law was using it as a laundry room table for her detergent (horrors), so after much begging, he bought her a shelf and took this home. It needed a lot of work and refinishing, but it looks great here. It is a drop leaf table. We went to a Bed & Breakfast that had one of these electric kettles and I really wanted one after that. So, now I have my own set up and use it often.

Now, I'm off to build a "yarn swift" so that I can be ready to start the Sky Scarf for 2012. Merry Christmas to all!

Sky Scarf, Holland, MI

You know, sometimes I come across things online that I want to do, but I can't remember how I came across them in the first place. This is just such a thing.

It's called a Sky Scarf and is the brain child of Lea Redmond AKA Leafcutter on Ravelry. She calls this a "Conceptual Knitting" project.

Basically, you look at the sky every day and knit two rows on a scarf in colors that represent what the sky is doing.

Above are my color choices. I'm using Cascade 220 Fingering in white, robin egg blue, sapphire, silver and charcoal.

This scarf is knit on size 4 needles over the course of a year and will measure approximately five feet when finished.

I will be starting on January 1, 2012. Lea recommends keeping everything together in the open so that it is easy to remember to do your rows each day. I found (YES, FOUND!) this beautiful Longaberger basket last year, bought a new liner, and I think will be the perfect place to keep this scarf for a year.

Check back to see my progress. Since I live in Michigan, I'm sensing there will be a lot of white and gray to start with.

Interested in making your own? Click HERE.

Interested in the yarn I'm using? Click HERE.

Interested in joining the Ravelry group for this scarf? Click HERE.

Definitely a TREAT!!!

Well, my yarn arrived and I consider it a TREAT. I'm sure this photo doesn't do this yarn justice. This is what I received for the "Trick or Treat" from The Buffalo Wool Company. It has no label, so I have no idea which of their yarns this is. No big deal though since they said that these were all random skeins and some wouldn't be labeled. I assume this is made from Bison fleece and it looks to be close to a worsted weight. The color looks black in this photo, but upon closer examination it looks like a combination of dark brown, green and black. I immediately thought this would be a great stocking cap for the hubby. Stay tuned as this may be going on the needles sooner than later.

Trick or Treat

Mystery Yarn! I can't wait!

http://store.thebuffalowoolco.com/trick-or-treat/

I'll be posting what I get AND photos of what I've made. Stay tuned!

Dipping my toes back in the water...

A NEW blog post by yours truly!

I just realized, embarassingly enough, that it has almost been a year since I posted anything on this blog. Can't imagine that anyone would want to visit here if there is nothing new to see. So, here is a brief posting of one of the new Birthday cards I just finished. My card box was decimated following all the May birthdays on the Riemersma side of the family, so it was time to get to card making. I made a few Anniversary cards too. Next post will be devoted to card making, I think. Then again, it might be sailing since the boat will be put away sometime in the next couple of weeks. My, how the time has flown. Stay tuned and if you have seen this posting, come back and invite your friends too. Thanks for visiting.

Cute Zombie Bag

I found this cute bag pattern on a website called, "The Happy Zombie". Not sure how I came across this. I just click on links from other sites I like and find cool stuff.

Anyway, this bag is made from three "fat quarters". I'm too lazy at the moment to research exactly what a "fat quarter" is. Suffice it to say that my local fabric store sells them and I think quilters by them. The size is about 18x22. I had bought a few to make something else and then when I found this pattern, I decided to make this instead. These three fabrics wouldn't have been my first choice and they don't go together as well as I would've liked. When I make another one, I'll choose my fabrics a lot more carefully.

This bag is fully lined and you have a choice of whether or not to make boxed corners. The pattern is easy to understand and follow and doesn't take too long to make. My only complaint is that the bag is quite a bit smaller than I thought it would be. That isn't the pattern's fault, it's mine, since I didn't read the final size before starting. I'm certain it would be easy enough to make this pattern larger. Then, of course, you would need more than a "fat quarter".

This would be a great bag for a child. It has one large pocket and two small side pockets. I'm going to use it for a pool bag on our trip to Key West, FL later this year. The side pockets are perfect for keys, sunglasses or suntan lotion and the large compartment in the center is good for a book or two. I'm sure I will be making another one.

The Unfinished Christmas.

This Christmas I had TONS of ideas for handmade gifts to make. I also had tons of projects started and materials bought to start projects. I made a list of unfinished projects. Scary. So, I decided it was time to finish up some of these ideas.

Some years I've made my own Christmas cards and I thought about doing it again, but with all the ideas for other projects in my head, I had made eight cards by Thanksgiving. My original idea was to handknit washcloths and send those out as Christmas cards. I think I made two. Hardly what I needed. I'll get back to the unfinished washcloth idea later.

So, I found this cute sailboat image on the "Life Is Good" website that they were posting as a coloring page and used it for our Christmas card. Bob and I sat on the floor in the living room one wintery Sunday afternoon with a fire in the fireplace, coloring all the cards while watching "The Walking Dead" marathon on AMC. Yeah, I know, hardly a Christmas-y show, but we had so much fun. Yay! Christmas cards DONE!

In addition to the Christmas washcloths, another project started more than a year was making "Morsbags". Morsbags is an English website. You make fabric bags and then give them out to people to use instead of plastic bags at the grocery store. They have a free pattern, not that you really need one. They also have labels you can buy or print to call attention to their site. Not a new concept, but I thought I would make them for the women in my family for last Christmas. I got fabric from a second hand store and some donated. Again, I got two done.

This brings us back to the Christmas washcloths. Three of the five are shown above. Since, I had finished the "Morsbags", I decided to finish the washcloths too and give those to the women in my family. These washcloth patterns are wonderful and really easy to knit. The designer is Kris Knits and I have seven of her washcloth pattern sets.

So, to make a long story short. This was the season to finish some unfinished Christmas projects. Now, I didn't finish them all and I did start some new ones, but I feel like I made progress and you can too.

Christmas Card makin'

Yesterday, I made my first two Christmas cards. I checked the closet and the card box to be sure there weren't any left overs from previous years that I had forgotten or boxes I had purchased on sale after Christmas. So, I pulled out the Christmas papers and the Stampin' Up idea books and went to town. Well, maybe not "to town", but I did make two cards and was happy with both. Here they are. I liked the idea of repeating a small stamp several times in a row. I used a green pencil to add color to the one on the right. Two down, many more to go.

The Day After Halloween

I've been wanting to make pennants for a long time, but have never come up with a good theme.

Well, all that changed yesterday when it came to me to take all the cards that our son has gotten for Halloween and make a pennant decoration out of them.

This morning I went to work. Since all the cards were different sizes, I just cut out triangles from the front in whatever size they came out to be. Then I used spray mount to attach them to some plain black paper and hot glued some orange yarn across the top of the backs and voila, a Halloween themed pennant string!

I think it turned out very cute and it will be fun to hang up next Halloween.

Kool Aid + Crock Pot = Colorful yarn

These are my first hand dyed yarn attempts. Awhile back I had come across this tutorial for dyeing yarn in a crockpot with kool-aid. So this past weekend, I decided to gather my supplies and give it a try. If you want to try it yourself, here is the link. I'm not sure what the red/purple mini skein of chunky yarn is going to be, but the green/blue larger skein is going to be mittens.

Fast forward a few weeks...

Here are the completed mittens... I really like how they turned out, but shortly into the first mitten, I realized they were not going to fit me, so I put out a plea on Facebook for anyone with smaller hands who would like a pair of mittens to please let me know. My Facebook friend Jamie answered and she is the recipient of these hand dyed, hand knit wool pair of mittens.

I can't wait to try this again. I have a colorway I'm aiming for with this yarn, but don't think I'm going to be able to get there with Kool-Aid. I may have to try some other dyes and of course, I'll keep you posted.

Welcome to the Cloth Paper Scissors Studios Virtual Tour!

Dear fans, followers, friends, etc.,

(Ya know, BOTH of you!)

I am participating in the Cloth Paper Scissors Studios Virtual Tour,

October 15-17 here on my blog.

Welcome to my studio!

Click here for the CPSS Virtual Tour!

This wonderful heavy wood table came from a local restaurant that had a fire, probably 16 years ago. It stunk from smoke, but after it was cleaned up, it made a perfect work surface for the shop.

I love to collect rocks, thinking I'll polish them or whatever in the future. I just started crocheting around them. I've got a very small collection of Gwen Frostic prints too.

Here is a small piece of cork board stuck on one of my cabinet doors. Attached is my first piece of freeform knitting, a wristband from the release party for the seventh Harry Potter book, my first try at knitting a peace sign and my favorite... my "Mind Mush" pin that my friend Jean made back when we were both working retail.

Since I live in an area that has many office furniture manufacturers; I was able to get this portion of a work cubical and turn it into a designated sewing area. The cabinet has some patterns and fabric in it and I use the keyboard drawer for thread and bobbins. The upper cabinets do have doors that close, but they are open in this photo.

Here is another wonderful table that my wonderful husband made for me. It weighs a TON and is perfect for watercolor painting on. My latest work is in the foreground.

When my church tore down it's parsonage, I was able to get these kitchen cabinets. My husband put up a partial wall and installed these. I won't get into the blood, sweat and tears part of this story. Yes, that's some dry erase board on the walls. My studio is not quite a quarter of the basement in our house. The other half of the basement is semi-finished and the other quarter opposite my studio is my husband's shop.

Our old stereo.

One of these old drafting chairs belonged to my father in law, the other was purchased in a secondhand shop quite a few years ago.

The old file cabinet was from my brother in law who was a builder/developer. He didn't need it anymore, so he gifted it to me. We put it up on wood blocks to raise it up off the floor. I use it for watercolor paper, drawing pads, other papers and artwork. I love it!


Who doesn't need shelving? These are some of my artbooks, magazines, photos, and other reference materials. It also holds tote bags and some frames.

These cabinets hold my stash of yarn (though you can see the overflow in the plastic bins), patterns, art supplies, and lots of other things.

Now, if you made it all the way to the end...

Thank you so much for coming to visit my virtual studio!

and...

If you would like to leave a comment just to let me know where you are visiting from,

I would LOVE that!

Libby

Connecting with my past.

I've been thinking and thinking about knitting lace. So, after some research and recommendations, I bought myself some thread and lace needles. I have a couple of different options in mind.

I stopped by my folk's house and mentioned this to my mom and she said, "Oh, I remember my grandmother knitting lace." and she digs through a cabinet and pulls out a whole bag of knitted lace from my great-grandmother. She thinks she might be able to come up with the pattern too. Anyway, above is a photo of the lace and below is a page from my baby book.

My great-grandmother was Fora Bolier and she was born on August 17, 1860 in Scherpenisse, Netherlands. She married Adriaan Kaashoek when she was 25 and he was 42 on November 6, 1885. At some point she had children and immigrated to the states. She died in September, 1948 at the age of 88.

I googled her name this morning and came across these dates on a distant relatives website. He put me in touch with another distant relative who I have yet to connect with. Interesting stuff this geneology, but even more so is the possibility of knitting the same lace that my great-grandmother knitted.

Shhhhh, these are a gift.

I finished these fingerless mitts before I went on vacation. They are based on an old classic mitten pattern, omitting the end of the thumb and the fingers. I've made a pair in camoflage yarn for my son and these are for our Christian Education director at church who is always freezing. :) I hope she likes them. They are pretty soft and were knitted with Plymouth Encore in grey and pink stripes. I love them and will definitely be making more.

The tags were made with the new Handknit set of stamps from Stampin Up that I just got. I used grey, pink and white paper and navy ink; I couldn't tell you the color names. I love these new stamps and I just know they will be used a lot.

Origami Drawstring Bag

I found this pattern on the most adorable blog from a woman in Japan awhile back and have been wanting to make this cute little drawstring bag ever since. Last night, I finally did. She sews everything on her blog by hand, but I used my machine. I started with a 19 inch square and the finished size is 7.5 x 8. There is one large pocket closed by the drawstrings and two side pockets under the flaps. It was really easy and if you want to make your own, the link is below. These would make great bags for any small sewing or crafting projects; but this one is going to Miss Olivia F. from church. Check out Mai's blog for a lot more cute sewing projects, ideas, and culture from Japan.

http://mairuru.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-make-origami-drawstring-bag.html

Knitting Caddy remake.

Just thought I'd share this awesome remake. I've been wanting one of these yarn caddies for quite some time. My mom had one and I thought it was great. I have lots of tote bags (ask Bob), but nothing that would stay open, hold my yarn from rolling away while working with it, and look nice enough to leave out in the living room. Oh and I didn't want to spend $36 to buy a new one.

I found this caddy at Bibles for Mexico and the poor thing was filthy, the material was old, worn and stained, and it had some of it's decorative nails replaced with eye hooks. It was only 50 cents and had plenty of potential, so after purchasing some new fabric, something that would go with the living room decor and a light fabric for the lining (so you can see what's inside), and some new decorative nails, this is what it looks like now.

I think I only spent about $5.00 and I can still take my knitting along and the caddy looks awesome.

Sundays I go to church and pray...

Hankies, originally uploaded by KayakChickee.

This isn't so much a post about church as it is about hankies.

I had been thinking about digging out my collection of hankies for awhile. Now, I don't think I would use hankies for a full blown cold, that's just a little too gross for me, but the sniffles, well, that might be OK.

Anyway, I only have these five hankies, but I have stories for at least three of them. I may have to take some close up photos later.

The first one has a crochetted lace edge with my first name in it and It was made by my Grandma Kool.

The second one I got at a birthday party over on Felch Street. They had put some candy in it and tied it up like a little hobo bag with a pencil. I thought that was so cool.

The third one has the little saying on it from the title.

"Sundays I go to church and pray that I'll be a good girl every day."

The other two I'm not sure where they came from. They might have been a gift from an aunt.

I washed them this morning and hung them up on the clothesline. I mentioned last night if I dried my hankies that way, I could carry that smell with me all day.