Placemats

One of the things that I have been wanting to make for resale was placemats. In the past I have woven with hemp cord an corn husk. Well I wanted to try something a little different. So I picked up some chopsticks at the restraint supply store. An I'm using them as the weft along with the paper sleeve for the mats them selves. The warp is 10/2 pearl cotton set at 8 epi, I didn't want a real close set. The only other thing I didn't realize is I'm going to have to twine the ends to clean them up. That won't be a hard thing at all, since the chopsticks are 9" long I decided to go with a 12" wide mat. I was originally going to go 15" but I felt that was to long. This way they can be used as lunch place mats instead of dinner. Let me know what you think.

Origami 1/25/16

This weeks origami is a two piece elephant, a tamper proof letter (the twist). A duck, house and another way to fold a letter. The house was actually a presser for today's piece. So you will have to wait until Monday to find out what it is. See you all then if not before.

Origami 1/18/16

This week there is only five pieces. Saturday and Sunday their wasn't anything to make. So this week we have a heart, elephant, basketball hoop, catapult and a duck. The cool think about the calendar is you start off easy. You get a base of skills and as you learn they get harder. We'll see what this new week brings with designs.

Bookmarks

One of the things that I want to have for sale are bookmarks. Last week I setup the inkle loom and the card for just this reason. Last November when I setup to sell for Bacon fest I was unprepared. I only had very expensive items and key chains. There was no middle ground I went from 10 or 12 dollars to a couple of hundred. One of my goals is to have things in al sorts of price ranges. The bookmark them selves are on the low end of the spectrum. Yet they add verity to the mix so I thing that they will work.

The inkle ones are just a strait forward design. With a green and hot pink checker board border and the center is done on the purple end of the spectrum.

The card ones I decided to do the Star of David or also known as the Star of Salomon. The star is done in black with background variegated and the inside points being lavender. I think the colors on both of them work really well. Let me know what you think.

Oragami

I had mentioned in an earlier post that Santa had gotten me a daily calendar. A origami calendar to be exact, So since News Years Day I have been make a different origami piece. So every week I plan on posting my origami pieces. I had planed on doing this on Monday But I got sidetracked. So this is the first through the eighth, the weekends are combined and sometimes there isn't a project. So here is the first instalment of my origami pieces.

Farm Show 2016

Guess what we did yesterday? Farm Show he he. We actually had a good time and made a lot of contacts this year. The but is they changed everything around. You know when you go someplace several times and the next time you go. Bam nothing is where it is and you become lost.  Except the butter sculpture of course. So there was no poultry of any kind do to Avian Flue. So they moved the bunnies and alpacas to the poultry barn. At the entrance of the main hall used to hold Turkey Hill and some really elaborate displays. Not this year it was pretty empty, the nuts stayed in there room. The 4H section was moved and smaller, they moved an animal learning into the hallway. The one section was turned into a musiem which was actually cool. That was it for that section that used to be filled with fun stuff.

Turkey hill was moved to equipment barn and there display was shrunk to less then half of what they usually have. The line was so long that we didn't even attempt to get a sample of gelato. We had met some people that in the future we may sell there products. We have to wait and see how that all works out. I did see some old friends and I did not stay for the fleece auction this year. I have a lot of fleece to work with first before I get any more.

The Sheep to shawl competition was a huge success as always. For the 5th year in a row Time Warp to home the Grand Prize. There shawl brought in $2900, I was hoping it would go to $3000 but it didn't. This was the Shows 100th Anniversary and despite the upsets it was a good show and we look forward to next year. An next year will probable be all back to normal.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!

The new year is here and for the first time in quite a while I slept in. We usually get up between six and seven to go for a walk. We skipped the walk today and I enjoyed some extra rest time. Ed and I have been enjoying the New Year quiet at home for the last couple of years. We just prefer not to be out with drunkards driving.  Our evening was spent watching the ball drop at home.

 

This year instead of resolutions I have decided to make goals for myself. This feels more positive to me, then a resolution that can be more like a punishment. Plus if to much is going on then I can cut down on my list. I got a origami calendar the other day, one of those some thing different a day calendars. This one teaches you how to make a different origami each day. Let me start there.

• Make and learn a new origami piece a day.
• Meditate each day.
• Getting the farm back into having more animals.
• Organize my time better.
• Blog More.
• Get a large amount of stock made to sell.
• Make the garden work.
• Eat healthier.
• Be healthier.

There not in any particular order but I think those are some achievable goals. As I'm sure you have guessed it I'm tired of the way last year panned out. So now I take back what is mine and take re-control of my life and my life with Ed. Having others knowing or unknowing influence us in a negative fashion needs to stop. That is what the above goals are for, life always gets in the way, yes. That doesn't mean we can't work on our selves and lives to better handle those situations. So again a Happy New Year To Everyone, may all you desire come to you with ease in this year of 2016.