Monday, December 7, 2009
Some of you may have noticed that I am no longer on twitter. I deleted my account on there last week. I also deleted a lot of applications on my facebook page. I did this so that I would spend less time online and more time being productive.
Raffle basket & Angler fish
It has been a while since I last made a blog post. I basically crashed in the creativity department. It happens every so often where I don't want to make anything for at least a week. I did make things for deadlines, but nothing for myself or for presents. Then as I was starting to get the creative itch, I became sick. I couldn't do anything for a few days.
I made this juice pouch tote bag last week. It was a part of some items that I was donating to my church's holiday fair for the green comity's raffle basket.
Here are the items that I donated for the raffle table. The two baskets were used to hold money and tickets for one of the two raffles. The other items went into the green comity's raffle basket. There were a lot of Earth friendly products in that basket. I worked at the raffle basket table from 9 am - 3 p.m. on Saturday. The green comity's basket got a lot of tickets, which was great.
My 10 year old had to make a brochure report on the angler fish. You might remember the angler fish from Finding Nemo. He also had to make a model to go with the brochure. He made his out of clay. I told him that I would knit him one as well. I stayed up until 3 am on Sunday to finish it in time for him to take to school this morning. The pattern also has how to make the parasitic male. I might make that one tomorrow. I used a recycled bendy juice box straw to support the light. This was not an easy thing to knit. My fingers hurt. I learned a few new techniques. The instructions were very easy. The pattern came from a book on amigurumi knits.
Tonight I am sewing in the ends of the knitted dishcloths that I made.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Quilt Guild Projects
Here are the birthday themed fabric postcards that I made yesterday for my quilt guild. I've never made one before. One goes into the guild's shop to sell and raise money for the guild. The other is for swapping. I cut out some cupcakes from printed fabric. The rest are cut from die-cuts.
I'm apart of the box exchange this year. You are to come up with a block, give directions, and you can only include one fabric to use. Then your box gets passed around to other guild members anonymously, and they make one or two of your blocks and place them in the box. In April you get back your box full of scrappy blocks ready to piece and turn into a quilt. This is the 1st box that I have received this season. The off white fabric was included and the orange and brown fabric is from my stash. It's funny that I got this block to make. I've had maple leaves on my mind. I even bought a blue cloud printed fabric to use as a background for when I make these blocks for myself.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Crafty News
It feels like there is a never ending list of things to do and to make these days. Not a bad thing, but it can be overwhelming. I just have to follow the order that things need to be done by.
Last Friday was a big night for me. We taped 2 tv shows that night. Getting ready for them, both with supplies and with performance, is a lot. It is totally worth it though. The shows went really well. I need to loose some weight, but thats a different matter.
Then last Tuesday I was in a performers' showcase at an elementary school's library. The theme was going green. It was to showcase different performers in the area to librarians in the area so that hopefully we might get hired to preform at their libraries in the summer. In my case it would mean teaching classes. Last year I was able to teach 2 library classes in my town. It was a lot of fun. A friend of mine joined my toddler and I on the hour and half drive there. We had a great time. The other performers were wonderful. There was a storyteller, a magician, a balloon guy, and an animal guy. I had never even heard of some of the animals that he had brought with him before. I think that my eco-craft demo went really well. There were 2 classrooms of kids there during it. I walked away feeling really good about it, and feeling like I passed on some eco-crafty goodness.
Wednesday I met with one person from my raffle quilt comity to talk about designs and such. This person has worked on several raffle quilts in the past and is a wealth of knowledge. I really view her as a great adviser. She has helped with both the designing of the quilt and with my personal designing confidence a great deal.
Wednesday night I had another meeting. It was a green comity meeting for my church. I now have some homework / craft work to do to help put together a green themed raffle basket for the holiday fair in December. I am also signed up to talk in front of the church in December.
Tonight I met with 3 of the other 5 raffle quilt comity members. They really liked a quilt sketch that I made this week. Its the design that we are going with. I have a new burst of confidence in myself now. Different original designs that I have come up with (from the heart / gut) have been the ones that people really like. I'm also very excited because this is a very bold and modern feeling quilt. It will stand out among other quilts at a show. We are trying to get people to buy tickets to win the quilt so that we can raise money for our guild. That means making a quilt that draws people in and stands out from the other quilts. I'm also very excited to have picked out a basic design that we can now tweak and work with before having the guild vote on it. We will be presenting 3 different versions of this design to the guild for them to vote on. Then the winning one will be the one that will be made for the show in 2 years from now. I have some homework to do now for it. I'm just so happy that a design was chosen.
Monday night is the quilt guild meeting. I need to make the box exchange blocks and 2 quilt postcards this weekend. I'll also be able to announce that the raffle comity has made some great progress, and we most likely will have some designs ready to show and to vote on at the December meeting.
I also need to get on the ball this weekend with helping my son make a game for a school project. I love making game boards. Its a fun craft project that will give years of enjoyment for the whole family.
Thanksgiving is coming up as well as Christmas. Two birthdays just pasted and one more is approaching. I need to finish making some presents and get others started. However the ones that need to be started with be easy. I can't do hard things this late in the game.
I can relax on December 26th for a while. Then later the craziness of April - June can come at me. The Earth Day Fair, other events like that that I am helping with, and then the constant birthdays and birthday parties. Right now I just need to concentrate on what needs to be done by Monday.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Eco Friendly Crafty Links - Part 1
The following is a list of some fun eco craft links.
You can really get some great ideas on what you can make for the holiday season.
Artist Turns Fast Food Trash into Delicate Paper Trees
Danny Seo's website. He writes eco-craft how to books.
heppiehaakstersdumpplaats - blogger who crafts with recycled items
"Its Easy Being Green" Episode 9: Chelmsford Recycling Comity
Last night we taped 2 new episodes of "Its Easy Being Green." The first taping was with 4 members of the Chelmsford Recycling Comity. They were nice enough to come on the show and talk about recycling in Chelmsford. We had a live studio audience there as well. In the beginning of the show the winners of the K-4th grade recycling poster and essay contest were announced. They were awarded a juice pouch item of their choice (made by me). Two of them picked a large 40 page juice pouch notebook, and two of them picked a small juice pouch purse. All of the audience members received a ticket when they walked through the door. At the end of the show 2 tickets were drawn, and 2 lucky people won a larger juice pouch purse.
The show went well. Jenifer, who works at the recycling office, talked about the recycling system in the town. She also talked about different types of events, like fall brush drop off. Mark talked about recycling champions, rain barrels, and composting. Marc and Norman chimed in as well. Mark also talked about the website and how to use. The Chelmsford recycling website is http://www.chelmsfordrecycles.org/. The website has all of the information that you need for recycling in our town. You can click on the link on the right hand side of my blog to go to my you tube page. In one week I will have 3 videos of this show posted on there.
Recently pizza boxes are no longer recycled. This is because of the oil and grease on the box. You can tear up the box and put it in your compost bin instead.
A question at the end of the show, which was cut off, was "where do you keep your food scraps in the kitchen before taking them to the compost bin?" I bought a $5 plastic tub with a lid and a handle from the town. The town was not able to buy any this past year though. I also will keep a large bowl on my counter for the food scraps. Then I take them to the compost in the morning. You can also put them in a paper bag. Since the paper bag is compostable, you can throw the whole thing into the compost bin. Jennifer uses a small stainless steel trash can with a lid for her kitchen scraps. I have seen these for sale at Bed Bath & Beyond before. My parents were able to buy a set of 3 (in 3 different sizes) before.
Another audience member brought up how you can also compost your paper napkins and paper towels. These are other items that can't go in the recycle bin, but they don't need to go in the trash.
If you live in an apartment and don't have the space for a large compost bin, try a small one with red wiggler worms. I have done this before. They don't take up much room.
You can purchase a rain barrel and a compost bin from the town, via the town office or the recycling office. Both are under $100. Others can be more expensive, but may work better for your household. I look at it as a good investment. You will be saving money in the long run, and you will be helping the town to save money as well. The town gets charged for the weight of the trash that gets disposed of. The less you throw away, the more the town can save. The more the town can save, the more money there is to go towards things like schools, libraries, the police and fire department, etc.
Please remember the 3 Rs, reduce, reuse, and recycle. Try to think about them when you are shopping. How much packaging is in the product that you are buying? How much of that can be recycled? Is it a useful product? Is it a disposable or a reusable product? Also think about what you are putting in the trash. Can it go in the recycle bin? Can it be composted? Is there a place or a person who can recycle it (like cell phones, ink cartridges, plastic bags, ect.)?
I highly recommend that everyone watched a 20 minute video called "The Story of Stuff."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
