What's Next On Your "to Create" List?

[Margret]

Margret, that's so cool! I just "discovered" what those were a few weeks ago, on Etsy.

I first encountered them in a mystery, of all places, many many years ago (and I've never been able to find the book again). Someone had stolen an antique temari from a museum and there were just enough details given to pique my interest, so when I was visiting my mother and ran into a small craft shop in Eugene, Oregon that had temari books I just had to buy them.

A couple of years ago I decided to try my hand at making a temari with a bell inside (you cut the Styrofoam in half and hollow it out, then you put the bell in and put the halves back together -- the wrapping threads hold them in place). Big mistake. Whoever came up with that idea didn't have a cat! I couldn't work on it at all at home; Jasmine was absolutely convinced it was a cat toy. She's a bit more reasonable about yarn.

Margret

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i'm creating a 'feature wall' in my living room. it's a very small section of wall, which has studs that are very oddly spaced, so i'm using 2x6's (horizontally, and will be using Minwax's Polyshades on them) to fix that problem -- and then will install some cat wall furniture into the 2x6's.

i've started working on this already, the planning and measuring part before i go buy the lumber. i'll have them cut the 2x6's to the right length (and width as needed) at lowe's, because (very) precise cutting of lumber is not one of my strong points. and my hope is to have the feature wall and the cat wall furniture installed by around mid-september.

 

[Winchester]

I'm not very creative. Used to do macrame and ceramics many moons ago.

One year I used Royal Icing to frost around little styrofoam balls, then added a hook and velvet ribbon for hanging on Christmas trees...like little snowballs. Well, believe it or not, those things were a hit! Mom talked me into taking them to a local craft show that she was going to and I made a serious small fortune....who knew? I also made little icing baskets with tiny little flowers. They sold out fast, too. I was amazed.

Right now, I'm working on the third printing of our family cookbook. People seem to really like it and they keep asking me when a new one is coming out.

 

[MeganLLB]

I have been dreaming about cheesecake. I want to create a gluten free one.

I saw somebody make a gluten free one on Diners Drive in and Dives. The texture and consistency was a little different but I guess it was still good.

 

[Margret]

Boy, what a day it's been!

I woke up at 4 a.m. with a backache, so I got up and took a couple of ibuprofen with some coffee (caffeine helps pain relievers along and doesn't tend to keep me from going back to sleep, because, well, I guess I'm just weird) and did a row of the afghan while waiting for the pain meds to cut in. Then I went back to bed, until the guy who's doing some work for Roger, at his office, called my cell phone because he'd lost Roger's cell phone number. I never use my cell phone without the headset, because for some odd reason I'm hypersensitive (i.e. paranoid) about things that may cause brain tumors -- once was more than enough for me. This makes it very difficult for me when people call my cell phone instead of our land line, so by the time I had dealt with this guy I was wide awake, a good deal too early. But I did finally get him in touch with Roger (my husband).

The work being done at the office was cutting some old trees and branches, and I wanted some of the branches for a cat tree. I had found this DIY cat tree book at a library sale last year, and every cat tree in it begins with real tree limbs. Twice in the past I've had exactly the branches I needed, and twice someone has been working around our place, come upon my stash, and "helped" me by cutting them up and disposing of them for me.

So I went to the office and picked out some nice long limbs with forks in them and such and got the guy to cut them at the right place, and then we loaded them in my little car by moving the passenger seat all the way forward and tipping it all the way forward, so that they could go catty-corner in the back seat, and I drove home very carefully. And, since the people who frequently do yard work for us mostly speak Spanish, I got Roger's office helper (who also speaks Spanish) to help me come up with a notice in Spanish to put on my branches before I put them on my back porch.

I've been doing all this in the heat, and boy do I feel beat! I'm also pretty sure my blood sugar is a bit low; it's time to fix that. And once I've recuperated a bit I need to unload the car and make notices to tack to my branches before putting them on my back porch to finish drying out. And if I can't find the right saw at a garage or estate sale before the branches are ready I think I'll either have to rent one from Sears or Home Depot or hire the guy who took the trees out to bring his tools over and help me build the cat tree. One way or another, I hope I can manage this project without spending more to do it myself than I would by simply buying a cat tree elsewhere.

Margret

 

[Mother Dragon]

I hope your back feels better.

Do share some photos of the completed tree.

 

[Margret]

Thanks. Yes, the combination of caffeine and ibuprofen seems to do it for me, which is fortunate since I can no longer use aspirin. I ought to be scheduling a trip to the chiropractor.

I'm really keeping my fingers crossed on this one. If it works, Jasmine should end up with a cat tree that's taller than me, which is, of course, exactly what the cat ordered. Then comes the question of where I'll put it, which I don't know the answer to yet... However, by definition I'll have a unique piece of cat furniture, since all branches are different.

Time will tell. First we let the branches dry; some of them still contain living wood (and I would never cut a tree down just for this -- these trees were coming down anyway, presumably for good reason, and some of them are just branches that needed trimming).

I think I'll get back to crocheting while we watch $100,000 Pyramid. Fun show. I'd be terrible at it.

Margret

 

[mokapi]

This thread makes me feel hungry AND lazy

Some weekends it seems like all I want to do is craft...others, I just want to sleep. This has been a very sleepy week so far (sun poisoning and not getting to bed on time has really done me in), and I doubt I'll get anything done this weekend.

I did decorate a basket for my bicycle recently...I thought I'd save money by making my own ribbon-banner thing, but ended up spending more on various fabrics than I would have if I'd just bought one from Etsy! Oh well.

 

[Margret]

Ah, but now you have something special, made by you for you. It is uniquely yours, and that wouldn't be true of something you bought on Etsy.

Margret

 

[mokapi]

Ah, but now you have something special, made by you for you. It is uniquely yours, and that wouldn't be true of something you bought on Etsy.

Margret

That's exactly right! I should post a pic if I can find one on my phone. I love my bicycle

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I did make the cheesecake this week. I used graham cracker crumbs that were gluten free.
We had a blueberry topping for it. Since it was our 39th wedding anniversary this week, we had a good reason to celebrate with a cheesecake.

 

[Mother Dragon]

I did make the cheesecake this week. I used graham cracker crumbs that were gluten free.
We had a blueberry topping for it. Since it was our 39th wedding anniversary this week, we had a good reason to celebrate with a cheesecake.

Congratulations! Here's 39 more!

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Congratulations! Here's 39 more!

Thank you very much

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.
While waiting for my toast this morning, I swept up some catnip leftovers in the dining room, which took a bit longer than expected. Back in the kitchen, the smell of burning toast was pervasive, thanks to Moo Shu, who'd pushed the bar down a second time and was watching the bread blacken thoroughly through the toaster over window. Next on my "to create" list? Take a guess.

 

[Mother Dragon]

.
While waiting for my toast this morning, I swept up some catnip leftovers in the dining room, which took a bit longer than expected. Back in the kitchen, the smell of burning toast was pervasive, thanks to Moo Shu, who'd pushed the bar down a second time and was watching the bread blacken thoroughly through the toaster over window. Next on my "to create" list? Take a guess.

View attachment 193202

I'd heard of "when pigs fly" but it looks like a cat will be first.

 

[mokapi]

LMAO...get him one of those Barbie toasters that they gift little kids...EasyBake Oven?

 

[Margret]

That's a catapult!

I have a bit of a problem, in a good way.

When I was searching the basement for laundry baskets because I was visiting the laundromat last week I found an old pair of, well, when I was a kid we called them "culottes," but I guess that today they're referred to as "skorts." Basically it's a pair of pants with so much fullness that it looks like a full-length skirt. It's a very expensive piece of clothing, from the same company that made my three really good dresses. The biggest problem with both the dresses and the pants is that they're made from a rayon/poly mix, which means dry clean only. I have dryer sheets made by Woolite so that I can stick them in the dryer with a sheet for half an hour and that's generally enough, but the sheets run to ~$1.50 each. Still better than taking them to a professional dry cleaner, but expensive enough that I don't wear them as often as I might like to.

However, I have a friend with a talent for making patterns from clothing without taking the clothes apart first, so I've paid her for a pattern of these pants, so that I can make some that don't have rayon in them, but now comes finding a good fabric that will hang properly.

The original fabric is light, just heavy enough not to be see-through, and almost looks like a twill weave, without the heaviness and stiffness that I associate with twill. The friend who made the pattern is also a weaver and she looked at it very carefully. She says that the fabric is actually a plain weave; the thing that makes it look like a twill weave is that the rayon and polyester threads are twisted in opposite directions, one is an S twist and the other is a Z twist. She also says that this may be having an effect on how the pants hang.

Has anyone seen similar fabric available commercially? I don't even know how I would try to do a Google search on this.

Margret

 

[foxxycat]

go to a fabric store and touch each fabric until you find a similar piece- yes the weave affects how it hangs. I go by the feel of fabrics. I love linen but I am fussy about what kind of linen. I don't know what that fabric is called you are looking for=but maybe take those pants to the fabric store=maybe you will find a similar fabric.

 

[Margret]

I guess it's time to visit one of the larger fabric stores clear across town. I'm pretty sure Joann's doesn't have anything like this, and if it did the fabric would be narrow enough that I'd have to buy way too much of it (I don't think Joann's carries anything wider than 45").

Margret

 

[posiepurrs]

Right now I am at a creative standstill. I am not patient enough to sew, knit or crochet. I used to enjoy painting but I wasn't very good. I also did cake decorating. I have attached a couple of cake photos - the cat one is not my best but it was of my daughters cat. I guess now I get my creative release at work, arranging flowers. The last one is an arrangement I made for my son to give his girlfriend. When I retire I hope to seriously get into photography.