Dinosaur Birthdays

For well over a month now, Our grandson has been practicing the 3 finger hand sign for how old he will be on December 6th. Finally the day arrived so that he can officially be 3 years old. The birthday celebration was held last night.


Here's K with is little cousin. For the longest time, K was requesting a Strawberry Elmo cake with chocolate chip cookies on top which kinda proves that giving a 3 year old his choice of what kind of cake he wishes for his birthday might result in some odd flavor combinations.
Jen over a period of a few weeks, gradually steered him in a tastier cake combination and they both decided that a chocolate "Dino" cake would be perfect.
He graciously allowed his cousin to share his birthday chair. Thankfully, being only 2, his cousin was not as proficient as K at blowing out candles. Othewise this might have ended up being a candle blowing disaster.

Take a look at this Dino cake ...

Now, for me, I would probably call up the closest bakery and order a cake with a dino picture on it. Jen, on the other hand, has to take advantage of all that creativity that the Lord blessed her with to create the ultimate Dinosaur Design. Honestly, I don't know how she managed to do this but I imagine it might have involved some wood-carving tools. The cake was made completely from scratch too. Chocolate and yellow cake. Wow, my daughter is amazing!

Finally, the "Oh Snowy Night" Table Runner Pattern is ready to sell! It's at the printers now and should be ready for mailing on Friday. Anyone interested in purchasing this pattern, just click up there at the top left of the screen to buy it for the special preorder price of $8.00 which includes shipping. After Saturday, the price will go up to the regular selling price of $9.50.

This measures 10" x 18" and you can look at my previous post to see how to turn this from "Oh Snowy Night" into "Oh Hungry Snowmen" simply by placing a plate of goodies in the center. haha ... that makes me smile to think that I discovered that completely by accident. In fact, I think I like the table runner even better with them sniffing the goodies on the plate rather than admiring the snow in the sky.

I also will have wool kits available for sale. The price of $35 (includes shipping cost too) includes everything you need to make this: the pattern, the black, white and orange 100% wools, the cotton backing fabric and the embroidery floss. If you're interested in the "Oh Snowy Night" Kit, order it in the same way ... up there in the left corner and click on the drop down menu under the picture. The kits should be ready to mail out on Friday too.

Happy Day everyone ...

How UGLY Can Be Good!

I probably shouldn't show a picture of a cute pinkeep right after the word "Ugly" so let it be clear right now... The ugly/good subject will come AFTER the pinkeep subject. :)


*I know that I said in my last post that I would be listing things on Ebay, which should have been done yesterday, but I was just too busy and didn't get a chance to work on doing that so Ebay listings will be done today.

I have a few Ebay pinkeep collector customers and since I haven't been making any pinkeeps lately, I'm hoping this one, which will be listed today on Ebay, will help to keep my customers from giving up on me. I hope to make a few more this week too.

This one is made all of wool, of course and I've used my special vintage buttons to make the snowman. I stuffed the mitten with wool scraps so it has some nice weight to it now. I'll include the white glass headed straight pins with it because they look like snow. If anyone wishes to purchase this without going through Ebay, just send me an email.

So now ... How can ugly be good? Well, I'll give you the recipe and show you how to make my sister's (Casserole Carol's) Ugly Cookies.

I hope she doesn't mind me giving out her recipe. I've made these for a big number of years now, so I really consider it my recipe even though I call it "Carol's Really Good Ugly Cookies"

And let me just say, this is an example of how my sister got her name "Casserole Carol". She always comes up with really unusual but really good recipes. I know that's why I had THIS DREAM about her.

Anyway, these are super easy to make and they are always a HUGE hit whenever they are taken anywhere. It's very funny to watch the reaction of people in a big group when they first taste these because it's always the same. A plate of these are usually ignored and not eaten at first just because they don't look appetizing. Just wait though... all it takes is ONE person to taste them. Once one person tastes them, that person will VERY QUICKLY spread the word about how good they are and then before you know it, the plate is empty. I'm telling you ... it's hilarious because that happens EVERY SINGLE TIME.

So here we go. To start ..... See, I told you they are really unusual ... start with a sleeve of crackers. I've used Keepler Townhouse Crackers and then filled in the tray with some Ritz crackers. The recipe actually calls for Graham crackers, but I didn't have any. Regular saltine crackers work too. This is a 10" x 15" tray. The crackers can be broken, it just doesn't matter, just put as many crackers as will fit onto the tray.

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a sauce pan, combine 3/4 cups of butter, 3/4 cup of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Stir until it comes to a boil and then stirring constantly, continue the boil for 4 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately pour the mixture evenly over the crackers. Don't worry about covering all the crackers though because the baking will take care of that.

Bake this for about 10 minutes or until it's bubbly and lightly brown .. watch it close though because you don't want it to burn.

While it's baking, get 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 - 1 cup of chopped nuts ready. The nuts can be walnuts or pecans or cashews or even peanuts ... whatever you have around is good.

And, while you wait for the baking ... clean up .. your pan will have cooled into a cement-like coating of toffee that might seem impossible to ever remove .....

No fear ... soak it in some hot water and it's magically gone!

this is how it looks right out of the oven. Bubbly and gooey.

Throw on your 1 cup of chocolate chips ......

They will melt once they hit the hot toffee so spread the chocolate evenly.

Quickly throw on the nuts and then let this all cool.

Once it cools completely, it will have hardened into a toffee, crispy sheet of good ugliness.

Break it apart and store it in an airtight container until the time that you're able to surprise a group of people with it's ugly goodness.

Oh my gosh ... I put them on a plate to get a picture of the finished product to show and then thought .. I might as well set them on the "Oh Snowy Night" table runner so that I can push the pattern sale of it and HOLY COW .. look how cute that plate looks on the table runner! It looks like the snowmen are sniffing the cookies. haha ... I found a new way to show the candle mat now. It looks cuter with a plate of cookies in the center than it does with a candle.

See, y'all will have to either buy the finished table runner from me or buy the pattern to make it yourself so that you can show off all your good Christmas cookies! :)

Details about the pattern sale will come tomorrow.

Here's the official recipe if you wish to do a copy/paste of it to print.

Carol's Really Good Ugly Cookies

(Toffee Crisps)

1 package of graham crackers (or club crackers, Ritz or saltine crackers)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup butter

1 teas. vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 - 1 cup of nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts or cashews)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Arrange Graham crackers side by side in a single layer on a cookie sheet (I use a 10 x 15). It might take more than one sleeve of crackers depending on the size of pan. Break them up if you want or leave the crackers whole, it doesn't matter.

In a 2 quart saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Cook over medium heart, stirring occasionally until mixture comes to a full boil across the surface. Continue boiling for 4 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove saucepan from heat and immediately pour mixture evenly over the crackers.

Bake 10-15 minutes or until bubbly or lightly browned.

Remove pan from oven and sprinkle with choc chips. As chocolate melts you can spread it evenly over the crackers. Quickly add the nuts while choc is still warm.

Cool completely, break up and store in airtight container.

Happy day everyone!

"Blank Stare"

For some reason, I didn't sleep well last night. Went to bed LATE and then woke up before 7. I'm sitting here all ready to post in my blog but for the life of me, I just couldn't think of a good "title" to put up there. After sitting here for something like 5 minutes, almost falling asleep, I realized I was doing my title. Blank Staring is something I will be doing a lot of today if I don't get a nap. :) Coffee will only do so much to help only 4 hours of sleep.
I'll be listing some things on Ebay tomorrow afternoon. I'll list them as "Buy It Now" so that buyers can get the things delivered to their homes faster. I'm not messing with the 7 day listings.
If you're interested in any of these things, watch for the Buy It Now listings HERE tomorrow.

This cute little shelf pillow will be listed first. I used a really nice black wool background for this that has flecks of white in it. I stuffed it with wool clippings so it has some weight to it. It's about 5" square.

This gingerbread man will be listed. It's larger than the candy cane one and filled with polyfill. It's all hand-dyed wools. I made this last month and enjoyed his company in the dining room while I did my sewing but it's time for him to have a new home.
The white on white Christmas tree will be listed. The wools that I used on this are just soo soft and dense. I'm stingy with that wool and only use it for really special things. I have this hanging on the back of my old rocking chair in the living room and it's happy there. If it doesn't sell, it's going to be able to happily stay on the back of my rocking chair.
And of course this one will be for sale ... My "Oh Snowy Night" penny rug table runner. The wool that I used for the snowmen is a really fluffy thick wool that I use just for things like snowmen and sheep and Santa beards. It adds a nice texture.

I will be offering the pattern for this design soon. I'm hoping to have it ready to sell on Monday and ... not sure yet, but there might be a wool kit that I sell along with the pattern for this so that y'all that don't have a good wool source can purchase everything that is needed to make this. I've just been so busy that I haven't had the time to put the finishing touches on the pattern layout. Someone local is willing to put together the kit for this so I'm really anxious to see how well they sell for her. If the kits sell well, she will hopefully be willing to do kits for some of my other patterns too.

I also have a really cute Valentine design drawn out that I'm anxious to get started on making. I've way too many things on my plate to work on it though, but it will be ready to go after Christmas.

I know, I know ... let's get through Christmas first!

Rachel's volleyball team lost in the first round of playoffs on Thursday night. Once a team loses in the playoffs, the NCAA quickly puts them on the first plane home. The team arrived back at Pittsburgh airport around noon yesterday. Every year it's the same way ... they are never allowed to stay to watch to see who finally wins in the finals, which are played today.

Rach was nominated to win an award for having a 4.0 gpa during her entire volleyball college career. Out of all the girls around the country that were there for playoffs, she was 1 of only 5 girls who were able to get all "A's". I'm really proud of her. She's a good kid.

Happy Day everyone! Let's get a nap today, ok?

Oh NOooo ... Am I a Hoarder?!?

I finished my white on white Christmas tree table runner. ....


It's such a dreary day so it's difficult trying to get the rich colors of this in natural light. I only have so much time to devote to taking pictures folks, so this is the best I can do. The picture isn't really showing all the "snow"french knots, but they're there.
I had planned to use a vintage off white linen fabric to back this table runner, but ended up using wool for the backing instead. I really think it would be wonderful with a crisply starched and ironed linen backing but that would've required me to force myself to cut into this wonderful old vintage mantel scarf ....
I think it's a mantel scarf ... it's really long. About 5 1/2 feet long and it's absolutely beautiful linen with no stains or signs of age. I've had it for years and I think it must have come from my mother-in-law, but I just don't remember how I acquired it.
I'll never use it for anything as it is so I really think that I could best use it as backings on my penny rugs.

But look at all the hand-crocheted work on this ... I have plans to use that crocheted work too. I have a pin keep heart design that I've made before and I can use these crocheted scallops on the top back of the hearts.

But I just CAN NOT BRING MYSELF TO CUTTING THIS UP!
I guess I could sell it for a few bucks to someone who might use it, but the linen is soo sooo nice ... I could never buy linen like that now without spending a fortune. So I really should cut it up ....

There's a show on the A&E channel called "Hoarders".
Now if anyone has ever watched this show, you will know what I'm talking about here. It's just scary. Sometimes they are ordinary looking people but yet they have this NEED to keep absolutely everything. Trying to get them to even throw away an empty prescription pill bottle is like torture.

They always have excuses and reasons for keeping every single item that they have and the ones on the show are the very extreme cases. Houses filled from floor to ceiling with STUFF.

I do not ever want to use MY 15 minutes of fame depicted as a crazy hoarder with stacks upon stacks of vintage linens and wool crammed into one 12' x 12' spare bedroom. Wait ... I do have stacks and stacks of wool crammed into one 12' x 12' spare bedroom. oh. no.

Should I cut this up and use it or should I pack it away in the spare 12' x 12' bedroom? What would you do with it?

In other news, I went to the local Salvation Army store yesterday, looking, of course, for more wool. Didn't find any wool that I wanted but did find this bag of "Dinos" and this bag of Lincoln logs. Both were only $2.99 each. My grandson loves Dinosaurs now so this abundance of dinos will keep him occupied for a while.

Even though we already have Lincoln Logs, I just can't resist a bargain so we now have LOTS of Lincon Logs to play with.

Ohhh NOooooo .. am I becoming a Lincoln Log hoarder?!?!

I think I need to stop watching that tv show. It's making me paranoid ... or is it a reality check?

Ok, I'm outta here ...

Happy Day everyone!

Washing and "Felting" Wool

A reader had emailed me yesterday to ask a very good question. I did say back in this posting about "skinning the wool skirts" that I would give instructions on how I wash and felt the wool after I've broken it down from skirts and jackets.

The reader wondered where those instructions might be.

Guess what? I forgot to write about it!

It's about time, doncha think?
I should go down and take pictures of my washer and dryer but really, it's just a basic 25+ year old set that does all the work, so just imagine how it would look without pictures, ok?

So I have this pile of wool that used to be skirts and jackets and I need to wash it now to "felt" it. I need to felt it so that the fibers of the wool shrink together making the wool thick and soft and it stops the fraying. Wool fabric is woven, just like any other fabric, except the threads are of sheep/animal hair. Any animal hair, even our human hair, is "sticky", so to make it stick together even better, all that is needed is some hot water and soap and friction. Think of a dog's fur that is matted. That matted fur is felted fur. Dreadlocks on the human head is felted. Friction makes it felted.

Ok, let's felt that animal fur/wool.

Pour your regular amount of laundry detergent into the washer tub. I've read that Tide detergent keeps the moths away ... they don't like the taste of the perfumes. I imagine that any perfumed detergent would work just as well as Tide, so I use whatever is on sale and I've never had moth problems. (knocking HARD on wood right now).

Throw your recycled wool into the washer tub and set your water temperature to "HOT". I use a HOT wash cycle and a COLD rinse. I've heard that the cold rinse will shock the wool into shrinking better but honestly, there have been times that I've forgotten to change the temp setting and washed it warm wash with warm rinse and it's felted fine too.
HOT/COLD is the best though.

Now, to get that wool to felt even better, I add more FRICTION / agitation by throwing in 2 pairs of old mens jeans with the wool. Old towels can be used but I've found that men's jeans are rough with textures that beat that wool like nothing else.
Please be sure to use OLD jeans that will not ever be worn again, because the dyes from the wool will dye the jeans assorted colors and your hubby will NOT be happy with his pants or with you.

I just use the same jeans over and over for each load of wool that I wash and dry. They sit right by my washer when not in use.

Wash that wool now! If you have a stationary tub with a washer drain hose like I do, be sure to attach an old stocking or a filter of some kind on the end of that drain hose because wool, as it gets beaten in the washer, is shedding lots and lots of fibers and those fibers will clog your stationary tub drain.

The felting process will take as long as your wash cycle. It removes the lanolin from the wool too, so for those of you who are allergic to lanolin, the wool can now be touched without breaking out in a rash. ... or so I'm told. If someone who is allergic to lanolin wishes to be the guinea pig and report back to me on this, I'll be happy to admit to being wrong.

After the wash cycle is completed, remove the wool and throw it in the dryer. I don't use dryer sheets for this because I've heard that it puts some kind of invisible coating of something on the wool and I really don't know what I'm talking about here, but I don't take any chances with the wool so I don't add fabric softeners or dryer sheets. :)

Be sure to throw those jeans in the dryer with the wool because the drying cycle is just as important as the wash cycle for FRICTION. The jeans beating on that wool while it's drying, makes the wool soft and fluffy.

Your washer tub now has a coating of wool fibers throughout, so wipe it out as best as you can and then throw in a load of bathtowels or bedsheets ... something that won't hold onto those fibers after it's washed. If you throw in cotton sweaters or tshirts, you're just asking for lots of lint on your clothes.

After the wool is completely dry, be sure to clean out the lint trap because there will be LOTS of wool lint in there.
Your wool is now beautifully felted. Sometimes, if it's really thin wool or if it's loosely woven wool, I'll put it through the entire wash/dry cycle again, just to get it felted better. Also, if you feel like taking the extra time, the felting works really nice if you let the wool soak in the hot soapy water for a while before putting it through the wash cycle. That really saturates those wool fiber which makes it felt even better. After it soaks, drain the water, add a little more detergent and then fill the tub with fresh hot water. I usually don't take the time to do that though just because it takes extra time and .. we have well water here so I'm always careful with my water usage.

Felted wool fresh from the dryer is so nice. Try it, you'll see!

Ok, I have to have at least one picture in my posts, otherwise it's just too boring. I'm more visual myself so pictures catch my attention, making me want to read.

So this is what I'm currently working on. I've this need to make something with neutral colors ... whites on whites is so nice. I used my really nice thick wool for this. I coffee dyed the background color. The picture doesn't show it but it's nicely mottled. The trick to mottling that wool is to resist the urge to stir the wool while it's in the dye pot.
The trees are the natural white undyed color. I lightly coffee dyed the #5 thread too.

I want to keep this design simple so it's just going to be plain trees with scattered french knots for snow. I think it would look really nice with a plain white candle with a white spray of something in a candle ring. I plan to use a vintage off white linen fabric for the backing.

For those of you who like to see how my ideas are born, here is my birthing paper. I keep scrap paper by the computer so that when I have an idea, I can quickly draw my ideas. This one was created last week while I was talking on the phone with my sister-in-law, who was filling me in with the latest of the family gossip. :) The tree design is right there on the bottom left of the picture ... Right under the note to myself to get powdered sugar and marshmallows at the store and right beside the note that Rachel is flying Southwest airlines to get to St. Paul and has a stopover at Chicago Midway airport.

Ok, this has taken a LOT of time to write. I'm done for now.

Happy day everyone!