A Rainbow of Felt

These are my latest stash of raw materials -- a whole rainbow of dyed wool felt. I just love the bright colors. The wool felt absorbs the dye in a very random way and give a soft, heathered look. I've been using the felt for ATCs and inchies (okay, they are a little bigger than inchies) with fabric paper applique. I need to incorporate some hand spun yarns because the colors match perfectly. Time to go play!

Our New Home Away from Home

It has been a busy week around the Wheeler home despite my being under the weather for much of it. My husband has been wanting a Suburban for a long time. Even the mini van can get rather crowded when we travel and Adam would like to be able to drive up old logging roads without worrying the van is going to fall apart. Well, he found one very reasonably priced, so we brought it home last week. Then, to make those camping trips a little less stressful for mom, we bought a vintage 1958 Gem travel trailer. We don't know much about our little "canned ham" trailer. There doesn't appear to be much information about the Gem on the internet, so if you know anything let us know.

Saturday, we drove to Albany, Oregon to pick it up. It needs a little work to make it nice, but it is in very working order as it is. Yesterday, we clean it up with a lot of bleach. It has a couch that folds down into a double bed. The dining table also makes into a double bed. There is also a fold down twin bed in the back. We all slept out in it last night. I was a little worried about being cold, since the temperatures have been dipping below freezing, but we all managed to stay warm and cozy. My husband even made breakfast on the little stove. He's ready to head out camping next weekend. I think we should wait until the threat of snow has passed, though.

Now it's time for me to add all those fun comforts of home. I've been looking at fabrics for curtains and pillows. The old curtains reminded me of faded old shirts my dad wore back in the 80's. I've thought about 50's fabrics, but I don't know if I want to limit myself. I think it needs something bright and fun. Maybe I'll even make a quilt for the bed that matches.

And the Winner is . . .

#1. for the Yarn -- Mo from Unmainstream Mom Reads #2. for the Matchbook Notepads -- Lisa from The Rest is Still Unwritten #3. for the Coffee Cuff -- Lisa Jurist from Mud Hound Primitives #4. for the Bookmark -- Karen South I also have been making some fun ATCs and would like to include six additional winners who will recieve an ATC -- Emily Rose from Dreameyce.com Vivien from Seven Pines Designs Marilyn Butler Cathie from Clevelandgirlie Sarah Z Corinna Nitschmann from Felt Trapped Spiritbouncers Now I just need everyone's mailing address so I can send your gifts off as soon as possible. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Still Spinning

I've been spinning away with more of food colored yarn. I just love the colors and so enjoy spinning. We made a trip to IKEA a week ago and bought a china cabinet to hold all my new yarns and spinning supplies. Plus there is room for my sewing machine so it doesn't have to live in my closet any more. I love the look of all the yarns lined up in steel pots. I'm going to need to find a use for all that yarn soon though, or I am going to run out of room. I have a feeling they will find the way to my Etsy shop so I can then buy more wool.

My husband made me a niddy noddy for taking the yarn off the bobbin and turning it into skeins. Much easier then using the dining room chairs. Plus each loop around is two yards, so I can just count the loops and know how much yarn I have.

Another yarn I have been trying is wire core yarn. So much fun! I use 28 gauge craft wire and spin the colorful wool around it. The yarn can then be shaped however you like. It is a little bit of a challenge because I have to wind it around the bobbin by hand. It doesn't seem to want to pull on however tight I put the tension. The wire just wants to cling to the hooks. This is my first length. In a few places the wire came to the outside, but with practice I'm keeping it all hidden inside the wool. I'm thinking it would be fun to make a bouquet of wired flowers with the yarn or some type of yarn sculpture would be really cool. So many ideas!

The Big Chair Reveal

Pop on over to our Twelve by Twelve blog and check out all the results of our latest challenge, "Chairs." Mine is titled "Mom's Hideout." This is my first attempt at using hand stitching. I enjoyed the process for the most part, but it took my much longer than I expected.

One World One Heart Giveaway

Comments are now closed and I'm off to find the winner!!!

Once again I'm a little slow about jumping aboard -- January just seems to have escaped me. But I had so much fun last year I just have to participate again. The rules are very easy, simply leave a comment with your name and contact information before February 11th, 8:00pm PST. The morning of February 12th I will randomly choose the winners and notify them via email. Now what goodies to give away? 1. 50 yard skein of hand dyed, hand spun yarn

2. Set of Matchbook Notepads

3. Glittery Coffee Cuff

4. Slice of the Rainbow Bookmark

If the number of participants grows to a crazy large number I will add more prizes. Please note the prizes may vary slightly from those pictured, but they will be from the same collections. Now have fun!

Food Colored Yarn

I haven't had so much fun with food coloring since I was a kid and dying Easter Eggs. Typically I have thought of food coloring as just a way to make a really big mess that is hard to clean up. Not anymore! (or at least as long as I keep those little bottles out of the hands of my kids)

I used both the McCormick regular and neon colors. First I thoroughly wet the wool so it would accept the liquid easy. Then I placed it in a large, microwave safe baking dish. For the colors, I added 10+ drops of color to a cup mixture of vinegar and water and poured it over the wool. Each batch took about 6 cups of color. I then popped the pan in the microwave and cooked it on high for 10-15 minutes, checking and turning the pan occasionally. It's done when all the color is gone from the liquid. Easy as a TV dinner! When it was cool, I rinsed it by hand and spun it out in the washing machine. I was a little nervous about the spin cycle in our front loader because it tosses the load for a bit before it really gets going. I had read it recommended in several places, but I was still concerned it might felt the wool. Thankfully I had no need to worry. After drying overnight it was ready to spin.

I had no idea how much yarn this wool would spin into. I did use the scale feature of our Wii Fit to weigh the largest bundle of wool and it turned out to be over 12 oz. I need to get an accurate scale to weight the wool before I begin so I can learn what I am actually doing. These large bundles of wool spun up to around 150 yards each. I am so happy I have large bobbins with my spinning wheel because they had no problem holding all that yarn. I still need to set the spin on these skeins, but for now I am just enjoying the happy colors!

Spinning Away the Stress

My daughter had her first BIG trip to the dentist last week, which involved a major cavity in her back molar. I've always found just entering a dentist office stressful, so it wasn't a fun experience for anyone. When we came home I let everyone watch Scooby-Doo for the afternoon and I spun up some yarn to try to relax.

I received some beautiful wool from Mountain Mist for Christmas. The colorway is "Meadow." It spun up quite quickly and I began knitting a scarf. I'm not a real big knitter. I enjoy the act and can do it quite fast, but I typically don't want to count stitches or worry about making something fit. So I usually make scarves. Soon I was out of yarn and only half way to the length I desired. The answer to my problem was hit the Internet. I found 4 oz more of the same top. I then had to fill up my shopping cart to get free shipping. So I ordered about 8 pounds of wool to experiment with. Let the dying begin!

Sweet Tooth Inchie Mosaic

Last weekend I created this 12" x 12" inchie mosaic from my Sweet Tooth fabric paper. I just love all the colors and textures! It has so much depth in real life.

Sweet Tooth Goodies

Here's a few more things I have been working on with the fabric paper I made. I just love the fun colors and paper peeking through. I'm leaning towards naming the series "Sweet Tooth" because of the candies and cupcakes hidden in the fabric paper.

The matchbook notebooks are fun little places for taking notes. They are only 2-1/4" x 3-1/4" so they are easy to take along anywhere. Now if I only could remember to write things down! Hopefully I can get some of these things added to the esty shop this weekend.

Cyber Fyber Opens Tonight!

I wish I could be in Columbia, South Carolina tonight for the openning reception of Cyber Fyber. I will just have to be content to follow along with all the online coverage. Here is just one peak at the gallery. Can you find my pieces hanging near the center of the picture? You can read all about the exhibition on the Cyber Fyber website and journal. Susan Lenz has done such an amazing job. I am honored to be included!

Girly Bookmarks

I spent the morning hanging out at the dining room table. The kids colored pictures and made sticker mosaics while I made some bookmarks from fabric paper and painted watercolor paper. I had fun playing with color and texture while my five year old made plans for feeding all the poor people in the world and keeping her little brother from eating all the Christmas candy canes. Then all the kids made plans for their Arizona cousins to have a sleep over and everyone to go to Disneyland. They are quite certain about what the future holds. I probably need to learn from then -- Dream BIG and be determined to make it happen!

Some More Fabric Paper

Here a few more pieces of fabric paper I managed to make yesterday between the chaos of daily life -- always good to escape to a happy place every once and a while. Now to find some time to get out my sewing machine!

Something Sweet

I spent the afternoon yesterday making fabric paper while the family played with the new Wii. I have a desire to make something sweet and girly, like the princesses I have running around the house. I guess, I should add messy to the list also. If you look closely you can see cupcakes and candies peeking out. I worked on keeping a light touch with the paint so the paper shines through more. I also tried to keep the colors light. I don't know what I'm going to make yet -- maybe some treasure boxes, journals or something 3D. We'll have to see what emerges.

Where has the Time Gone?

The last two weeks have flown by! I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I would have liked, but then again, what did I really expect. We had a wonderful Christmas and nearly a foot of snow. Much of the week before Christmas we were snowed in. The driveway became a sled run and my parents had to pick up the kids so we could attend all the Christmas family gatherings.

I did manage to finish all my projects for people outside our immediate family. Most of them I forgot to photograph before wrapping. I guess I was a little too afficiant this year. For the annual Cookie Exchange I made coffee cuffs with red and green ribbon and filled the cups with Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies. They turned out so fun I made more for co-workers, aunts, uncles, cousins and neighbors. I did have a few blue and silver left over so I was able to snap a picture this morning. I also spun and dyed several skeins of bamboo yarn for my sister-in-law and mother-in-law's birthdays (Sorry no picture).

My big birthday present was a new spinning wheel, a Mach 1 from Spinnolutions. I have been having a lot of fun playing with it. I think I have mastered the overspun, chunky yarn! I'm learning a lot playing with the bag of left over fibers I brought home from Art Fiber Fest.

The wine colored yarn I spun from bamboo fiber fill and dyed with Rit dye (it was the only dye available locally). I just love the colors. The blue yarn is a commercial Merino Silk blend I recieved as a gift. It is so soft and strechy. I just love to touch it. The natural color is some type of wool. I'm going have to kit the Kool-Aid aisle nex time to go to the market so I can do some dying!