July’s Quirky Holidays

July has a lot of holidays.  Of course in the US, there is July 4^th, Independence Day when it was decided to separate from Britain and form our own nation.  That is a big summer celebration with picnics, parades and fireworks.  But there are a lot more reasons to celebrate in July, especially if a picnic on July 4^th isn’t enough.

There are all kinds of food “Days”.  July 1^st is Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day and International Chicken Wing Day. July 3^rd is Eat Beans Day.  Sidewalk Egg Frying Day is also on July 4^th (not sure I would want to eat that egg).  Do you like apple turnovers?  Well, have one on July 5^th, that is National Apple Turnover Day.  July 6^th is National Fried Chicken Day.  July 7^th is Chocolate Day, International Cherry Pit Spitting Day (got to eat the cherry to get the pit) and National Strawberry Sundae Day.  My favorite summer fruit – blueberries is honored on July 8^th.(and then Pick Blueberries Day is on the 10^th and National Blueberry Muffins Day is the 11^th)

July 10^th is National Sugar Cookie Day (and you could revisit the Chocolate Day and Strawberry Sundae Day by having aother sundae with a little chocolate syrup and a cookie).  Just to make sure we get in another dessert, Pecan Pie Day is July 12^th.  French Fries are honored on July 13^th (appropriate since French Bastille Day is the 14^th).  We go back to ice cream with National Ice Cream Day (different from July 1^st which is Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day, remember). Have some pudding on Tapioca Pudding Day on the 15^th.  And with all these sweets, eat some spinach on the 16^th for Fresh Spinach Day.

We do another flavor of ice cream on the 17^th for Peach Ice Cream Day.  And to get a little fancy, try some caviar on National Caviar Day on the 18^th but I wouldn’t combined it with the other food honored on that day, Hot Dogs.  And with all this food you do need a drink now and then, so for the adults try a Daiquiri on its day the 19^th. Cakes are also back on the 19^th with National Raspberry Cake Day.  The 20^th brings another ice cream day with National Ice Cream Soda day.  Don’t want anymore ice cream but you do want something sweet?  Switch the ice cream for a lollipop on the 20^th – it’s that sweet sucker’s national day.

And so we don’t forget a favorite ‘unofficial’ food group, July 21^st is National Junk Food Day.  Remember with chips, you can’t eat just one.  July still hasn’t had enough of ice cream.  We have to honor the basic, vanilla on July 23rd. You don’t have to live south of the border to get some tequila on the 24^th.  That day is National Tequila Day.  The 28^th is a favorite of children of every age: National Milk Chocolate Day.

July 1^st was International Chicken Wing Day.  We also need to bring it home with National Chicken Wing Day on July 29^th.  If you want more of a meal, the 29^th is also National Lasagna Day.  And we finish off the food month with a sweetie on the 30^th, National Cheesecake Day.

Now if you can’t find something to celebrate with food during the month of July, you are just too picky of an eater.  To the rest of us, I say “LET’S EAT!”

 

©2018 Cheryl Fillion

 

 

Punchneedle Embroidery – Other Fabrics

I earlier wrote about the fabric best used for punchneedle embroidery: weaver’s cloth.  It is a woven poly-cotton blend fabric.  Being woven the needle slips between the threads of the cloth to form the punchneedle loop and since it is a poly-cotton blend when the fabric is taken out of the hoop, it closes in around the stitch loops and holds them in place.

Weaver’s cloth is the best fabric but it is not the only fabric that can be used.  Just about any fabric can be used for punch needle.  Cotton as well as a 100% polyester fabric has been used but since the needles are so sharp, they can tear the threads of the fabric. 

One of the other secrets about weaver’s cloth is that if you ever have to take out some loops you can easily iron (or rub with your finger nail) the holes where the stitches were and it will look like no stitches were ever there.   With cotton if you have to take out the stitch loops, you might have a hole that can’t be repaired.  And cotton or polyester fabric doesn’t have a stretch to it like a poly cotton blend, so when you take it out of the hoop it won’t close around the stitch loops and hold them in place.

But there is a way to fix that.  All you have to do is use a woven interfacing.  Iron it to the back of the fabric and it will help hold those stitches in place just like the weaver’s cloth does.  Remember the design in punch needle is drawn on the back of the fabric and you stitch from the back.  So when using woven interfacing draw the design on the interfacing and then iron it on to the fabric.  You could use other types of interfacing but like cotton or 100% polyester fabric, it will tear when the needle goes through it.

Cotton with woven interfacing

Front of cotton

Cotton and polyester are not the only fabric to use the woven interfacing with.  You can use it on knit or jersey if you want to punchneedle a design on a baby outfit or a t-shirt. I even tried it on a velveteen fabric without using the interfacing.  It looked OK but I wouldn’t do it again. 

velveteen back

velveteen front

I read somewhere about other fabrics like tulle, denim, aida cloth (used for cross stitch) needle point canvas and even perforated paper.  I found it had good results. Perforated paper is a light weight cardstock with holes punched it in at regular intervals so you can add stitching to cards or scrapbooks. After you have punched a design, just cut the design out of the paper around the punching (leaving one hole of the paper past the design to hold the edge stitch loops in place) and then glue it to the cardstock.  The fact that it is glued to another paper will prevent the stitches from coming out.

Aida back

Aida front



Needlepoint canvas - back

Needlepoint canvas - front

Perforated paper - back

Perforated paper - front

The one thing about the fabrics I listed above is that you have to be aware of the size needle you use with it.  You wouldn’t want to use a 6 strand or large needle on tulle which is likely to tear the tulle and a small or 1 or 2 thread needle would have a hard time going through denim.

The best advice with using other fabrics for punchneedle is to try it.  Take some fabric, use it with or without woven interfacing and see if you like the results.  I would try it with what ever thread you use the most often (for me that would be embroidery floss).   Since you know how that thread looks on weavers cloth, it will give you a good comparison to how it would look on other fabrics, canvas or even perforated paper

©2018  Cheryl Fillion

Kid’s Crafts at the Farmers Market Revisited

I wrote this almost two years ago and as summer break is starting here  and I thought it might be helpful for those involved it summer camp or vacation bible camp or for parents with lots of kids to entertain for the summer. It has some great tips for those working with the younger kids.  I hope you can make your summer a crafty one. 

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For the last two summers I have volunteered at one of our local Farmers Markets (Rose City Farmer’s Market in Tyler Texas, to be exact).  Every third Saturday is Kid’s Crafts with Miss Cheryl.  I have easy and quick crafts that kids can make for free.

Tomorrow we are decorating braided yarn weather forecasters.  Little yarn figures you hang outside to tell you the weather.  If yarn forecaster is dry, it is sunny out.  If it is wet, it’s raining.  If it is blowing around, it’s windy.

I have learned a lot about what to do or not do with kids.  For one thing most of the kids will be about 6 years old and younger so it has to be very easy with not a lot of steps.  I often do some of the boring prep work. So for our forecasters, I braided the yarn and glued the googly eyes and felt mouth on.  With that done, the kids do the fun part by gluing on the sequins.

Also due to the age of the children, using a bottle of glue can be hard for their little fingers to squeeze and control.  So I put a little glue in an empty peanut butter jar lid and the kids apply the glue with a small paint brush.  I use the jar lid because it is heavy enough to not blow away and it’s free.  Paper plates would work too (but if you are someplace breezy, tape the plate to the table).

I only use a little bit of glue at time – maybe a teaspoon or less.  If you don’t have a steady stream of children to the table, the glue will dry before it can be used.   I also have a jar of water to keep the paint brushes clean and moist.  If the glue dries on the brush, it is hard for the kids to use them.

I let the kids use sequins to decorate the weather forecasters.  The shapes are fun and they sparkle in the light.  But again because the kids are young and may not have the dexterity in their fingers, I use shapes that are about ¼ to ½ inch in size.  It is easier for them to pick up.

I have copy paper to use under what the kids are gluing and then I wrap the paper around the weather forecaster and tape it closed so that they won’t lose any of the decorations before everything dries.   

I rely on money donations at the market with a little donation jar. And last year when I started this, I asked for craft supply donations from others.  My local quilt guild was very generous.  Give a crafter an excuse to clean out a drawer or closet and she will always donate (gives her room for new fabric).

I have a great deal of fun doing these crafts.  What ideas these little ones come up with are amazing.  Plus it lets me do a little kid crafting myself. 



                                                                          



 © 2016, 2018 – Cheryl Fillion

Weaving a Berry Basket

How many of you go to the farmers market during the summer months?  There is nothing like fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables to add to your menus.  And do you get berries that come in little baskets like these?

berry basket

Not sure what to do with all those baskets?  How about a simple craft for the kids? Or adult? Why not weave a Berry basket.

All you need is an empty (and maybe washed out so any berry juice residue doesn’t attract bugs) berry basket and some leftover pieces of yarn.  If little children are doing this, is it best to start with small lengths of yarn – 6” or so—so they don’t have as much to pull through in the weaving.

basket and yarn

I started at the bottom corner tying the yarn around one of the corner lattices bars of the berry basket.  I pushed the tail of the knot inside the basket so that the weaving would look smooth on the outside but you might like the little tails poking out. Knots and knot tails sticking out might give the weaving a  little texture and a secondary design.  That choice is up to you.

starting knot

Now it is simply a matter of weaving which is taking the yarn and going under and over the plastic lattice bars of the basket.  This is where little ones might need help especially if they don’t know the concept of under and over.  This could be a fun way to teach them.

I went over the first one so you could easily see the weave since there wasn’t a lot of space from where I tied the yarn.  Then continue under the second bar and the over the third, etc.  Keep weaving around the basket until you get to the first knot.

start weaving

If you have run out of yarn as you go along, just tie another piece to the first piece and continue weaving.(in my picture I have it on the bottom of the basket just for the photo so you can see the colors.  With the white background I am using for this tutorial it was hard to see the white yarn.)  If you want push the knots and tails to the inside of the basket

adding new yarn

hidden knot

With these types of baskets, you will have to weave around a corner.  At first I just went around the corner because the lattice bars were so close together.. But as I continued, I found the yarn slipped underneath the basket.  So I took it out and weaved around each little bar even though there wasn’t as much space between the bars (Hint for little ones – it was a little hard to get the knot through the narrow space.  They may need help so they don’t break the plastic basket.).

first corner

loose corner yarn

new weaving

When you get to where you started make sure the weaving is on top or above the original weaving line.  Make sure now that the weaving is going opposite of the first row.  So as you can see with mine where the white went under a lattice bar, the red now needs to go over.  It is OK if you continue as you did, it will give it an interesting design but the weaving will hold tight if you alternate with the weaving rows. 

Now for my basket that meant I had to adjust the weaving so I went over two lattice bars right before the start so it would alternate which bars I would be weaving.  I found this happened at another corner so I just did 2 lattice bars rather than one so the weaving was opposite of the yarn row below.  This also works if you accidentally go over or under two bars instead of taking all the weaving out.  Note:  berry baskets can be different so the one you get may not create this adjustment for you. 

weaving for second row

Continue with the weaving until the entire basket is covered.  Depending on the age of the child, the younger kids might get bored with this which is OK.  Just set the weaving aside until they show interest again.  Maybe save it for a rainy day when they can’t play outside. I have to admit it was tedious at time even for me.

When the entire basket is covered in yarn, tie off the yarn on the top and you are done.  You can now fill it with anything you want.  I wouldn’t put berries it in though.  The juice from the berries could stain the yarn (which might attract bugs). Below is also a picture of the inside which gives you a hint of what the weaving would look like if you let the knots hang on the outside.  You could also weave the bottom if you wanted.

Finished basket

Inside the basket

I had fun with this myself and it used up a lot of bits and pieces of yarn.  And if you have baskets but no children around, do it yourself.  You don’t have to be a kid in age to be a kid at heart.

 

©2018 – Cheryl Fillion

Sewing Machine Day – June 13

June has some wonderful holidays to celebrate.  Here in the U.S., there is Father’s Day and Flag Day.  But I found one that just fits me.  It is June 13: Sewing Machine Day.

This day celebrates the humble sewing machine which changed the way clothing and bedding and now everything is made.  Before the sewing machine (patented in 1829) everything was sewn by hand. It took a long time to complete an item..  But with the sewing machine, clothing and quilts, home décor even shoes and purses could be done quickly and efficiently.

Even now, so much in the fiber world is done by machines that are based on the sewing machine.  Long Arm quilting machines are just over sized sewing machines.  Monogramming and embroidery is now done by computerized, multi-thread sewing machines.

So how can you celebrate the sewing machine?  For one thing, take time to clean and oil the machine you own.  If you have a machine that needs a little repair, take it in and have it done. Show your machine some love. If you use your machine often, you might give it a rest and sew a hem or piece a quilt block or do a little embroidery by hand.  Doing the stitching yourself will give you an appreciation for how efficiently and quickly your machine does this work for you.

I don’t know if June 13^th was the date of the patent for the sewing machine but even if it wasn’t, Happy 189th Birthday, Sewing Machine.  I don’t know what I would do without you.

©2018 Cheryl Fillion