clothesline dish towel

I thought this was the sweetest thing when I saw it, but far too expensive for something so easy to make. I used fabric glue for a lot of the stitching (I was in a rush) but a running stitch instead would look really sweet (and would be even sturdier). Click on tutorial to save/enlarge.

monsieur jambon

Our healthy pig here is modeling his tasty loins. Mmm he looks good enough to eat for Easter dinner. In all seriousness, he's made from only one sock, and there is very little wasted. So now you can feel good when the dryer eats your socks!

growing food

Last year when I had more money than time, I spent $30 on two tomato plants. Yes they were lovely tomato plants, purchased at the local farmer's market, and the tomatoes themselves were lovely. However this year I decided to grow my own. Partially because my situation is reversed, and partially since I've been following my friend's blog "100 Mile Mel". Now you may think this is part of a healthy competition we started in grade five, but sadly there is no way I can compete with 35 acres of land! Here I am with 19 tomato plants (one succumbed to too much love/ watering) and 8 dill weeds. Still to do are the green onions. I just hope the weather gets warm soon so I can save on my electrical bill (I wonder what the neighbors think I'm doing in my basement).
I'm actually looking forward to next fall, this is when Miss Melly promised me she would do a tutorial on canning. Until then you can enjoy her adventures in growing and eating locally produced food.

enamel flower pins

I purposely choose a simple safety pin- I think it looks fresh, but you can group a few of these flowers together for more impact. They also would look great on a barrette. For this craft you will need:

• pine cones
• wood glue
• nail polish
• glue gun
• safety pin
• optional are: scissors and a wet wipe
  

apron pattern

Simple apron pattern. Click on the images to enlarge/save. Because this is hand written, please let me know in the comments if you have a hard time interpreting my scratches.

Pauline Pattern

Since I've been doing a lot of cooking and crafting I finally treated myself to making an apron. I decided I wanted a large pocket in the front, onto which I would embroider my drawing of Pauline from Der Struwwelpeter. I'm a novice embroiderer so it took me a couple of hours- I just would remind myself that all of her ribbons is what makes the image so horribly funny. I will post the rough pattern for the actual apron (hopefully) soon.

To transfer the (or any) pattern from paper to fabric, I found two methods online. The first, was to get an embroidery transfer pencil, available at fine fabric and craft stores everywhere except where I live. The second, more painful, but doable, way is to trace the pattern on to tracing paper (tissue paper would work just as well). Pin the paper to the fabric, place the paper and fabric combo in the embroidery hoop and start sewing through both the paper and the fabric. When you are completely done embroidering the design , gently tear away the paper and carefully remove any little bits that are stuck with a needle- as soon as this goes through the wash any last remaining bits would be removed anyways.

faux porcelain bird

Another basement find was a leftover spray can of "Killz" - it's paint you use to cover water damage on walls. Since it was years since the last dishwasher accident, I used the rest of the spray (it comes in spray can and regular paint can at home depot) on some Styrofoam birds. Normally painting these styrofoam birds doesn't work with acrylic paint, but with the killz it sure does- not only that the killz is gooey, so the resulting bird looks like porcelain. After the spray dries you can apply any paint colour you like- I left mine white and hot glued the fellow to the top of a shadow box.