A bit of this and that...........

I'm still in that spin up the stash mode - some of the fiber has been in my stash for at least 15 years - time to move it on to new homes or spin it. This was from something I carded on the drum carder at least 15 years ago - not sure what the fiber is but it's soft, maybe mohair just from the hairiness of it - definitely dyed silk added to it. It's very soft. Will make a nice couple of hats or I might save it to mix with other handspun for a woven blanket at some point - in the meantime it will go sit on the shelf and marinate with the rest of the handspun.

I can't believe everyone doesn't want to discuss curling with me anymore.  I've still got 3 curling matches dvr'd to watch - the men's final, and two medal rounds so please don't tell me who won what as I've managed not to hear the results yet.  Yesterday evening we watch the women's medal games - was so thrilled that the young British team (Scots) won the bronze, they worked so hard and are so serious about it all. And yes, was happy for Canada winning the gold - they deserved it after winning all the round robin matches and the semi-final. 

I checked out the curling schedule at the ice rink in Klamath Falls (over 2 hours away) because I'd love to see curling in person but the leagues play one evening a week and we will not be driving home from Klamath Falls at night over the mountain pass in the winter (the rink closes the end of March for the season). My goal for next year's curling season is to hopefully get together a group of friends to go over for the 75 minute beginning curling lessons - only $10 each - I think it would be a hoot.........and we could do it during the day rather than at night, and hopefully we'd be able to work around snow. It's not something I'd take up with no local rink with a curling sheet but it would be fun to experience sliding on the ice, throwing those stones and sweeping....wonder if there's such a thing as a gutter ball in curling, if not I may invent it.........

Life gets in the way............

Off doing other things recently....trip to the coast......family issues.......administrivia.......everyone wanting a piece of me.......all keeping me from the loom but am hoping to sneak a little time in finishing up the scarf warp today. I have piles of weaving waiting for photography work - can't sell it if it's not out there.....where do I find the hours??? Another huge order will be coming in from Ashland Bay Fibers any day now with many new colorways that will need photographing - am hoping Sam will do all the weighing, bagging, putting into inventory for me. Weaving is what keeps me going, centers me, and this past year I wove less than any other year since 1986.....I'm determined it will be different in 2014 but here I am, almost 2 months into the year, and I haven't woven near what I wanted to.

So with that said, I did get a little time on that scarf warp I had started weaving last week. Here's the second scarf crossed with a black tencel weft.

And here it is crossed with a burgundy tencel weft. Amazing how different that painted warp can look with 3 different wefts.

On another note - has anyone else out there enjoyed watching the Olympic curling as much as I have? I am so thrilled that it's being talked about more and more, maybe one day here in the states we'll see curling matches on tv not connected with the Olympics.  Between coverage being shown on 5 different networks on Dish Network (satellite) I have been able to watch 3-4 curling matches a day.........well, I haven't watched them all, many are still sitting on the dvr waiting for me to watch them. I'll be cheering for the Canadian women's team in the medal games - they are so good, I like the Brits too. Not sure who I'll be cheering for in the men's - I like Canada but also Sweden and the Brits are very good..............I was so dismayed when the 'Pants' of Norway lost in the 10th end so won't advance to the medal round - I would have cheered for them just because of those pants and that hot Thomas Ulsrud........yes, I called him hot.  And then there's Sebastian Kraupp of the Swedish team......

Parting shots of Bailey relaxing over on the coast during some great rain/wind storms we had.  He loves that couch, and those crazy pillows made from bathroom rugs.......

.....and he loves sleeping with his buddy Buster in his mouth.....why doesn't he get a cramp in his jaw???

 

.......rawhide chewie and 3 babies make for a wonderful afternoon...........

On the loom..........

I finally got that painted warp for 3 scarves on the loom. This is was the start of the first scarf. Shortly after taking this picture I realized that one of the rods tying up the treadles had fallen off back 1" from the start but I never noticed it because looking straight down on the weaving the color change is very subtle. So, I cut the weaving out and started over. First scarf woven.......slow weaving due to the error watching curling while trying to weave. The threading of this two block twill is based on Fibonacci numbers, the treadling is random playing. I 'interviewed' several weft colors (that's all that color you see underneath) but as I was weaving this scarf using the rust/copper weft I was thinking of a couple other colors on the shelf so before I start the next scarf I'll give those a try.

It's that time......

Yes, it's what I've been waiting for - curling. I've been dvr'ing Olympic curling and watching it here and there when I have time - right now it's on the little tv on my desk as I work on administrivia. The US team conceded to the Brits in the 6th end (that 4 ends before the end of the game for those of you not familiar with curling).  In the 4th end the Brits scored 7 out of 8 of their stones - yikes!  I had to watch what the US did, or did not do, again because I couldn't believe they let that happen - they just fell apart....and the Brits are good, very good. I've been enjoying the curling but really don't have time for it all - they're televising so much of it this year and my dvr hard drive only has so much space on it.......wish I could get it all recorded and watch it over the next couple months........that may happen with the second half of the games........

I never got to putting the painted warp on the loom Monday as planned, yes, life did get in the way - family stuff. And then yesterday Sam and I did some remodeling shopping.  But today it is raining pitchforks and shovels and I am staying in - heading to the loom now............

On the wheel

This is what I started spinning last week at our twice a month spinning get together.  It's from my stash - probably from 15 years ago. I can remember carding it and adding some silk noil but I have no clue what the fiber is - it feels almost like mohair but I can't be positive at this point.  I'm determined to spin from my stash even though there are hundreds of pounds of Ashland Bay Fibers sitting in bins downstairs calling my name, not to mention my hand-dyed fibers - all are for sale in my etsy shop. I have my eye on several Ashland Bay colorways but I'll keep at whittling down the stash for a bit before I grab some.

One warp off, another to go on........

I finally got back to the loom to finish up that warp based on the name draft 'Sand and Sea'. I wove 4 placemats and a runner with green and tan for the weft, very subtle, then today I wove this runner using lavender and white for the weft. They are in the washer as I post. 

I pulled out a painted warp to put on the loom next, enough for 3 tencel scarves.....have decided on 8 harness turned twill blocks using a Fibonacci sequence for the warp blocks and will treadle random size blocks......will be fun to play. Not sure if I'll get it on the loom tomorrow but I'd like to think so.....sometimes life gets in the way........

This and that.......

These skeins are the latest off the wheel - the mystery batts I was spinning. Not my favorite kind of spinning since it's a bit lumpy bumpy and it's medium soft, not something I want next to my skin, but I am determined to spin from my stash. I'm not sure what it will become, maybe something knitted and felted or if there's enough maybe a blanket.....will think on it a while.....quite a while.....

 

 I started knitting another Morning Surf Scarf as seen in Spin-Off magazine's Summer 2008 issue. The first one I knit was fingering weight handspun. This is out of a commercial yarn by Universal Yarns - Classic Shades Sequins Lite - can you see the little green sequins in it?  It was a fun yarn a friend and I bought last fall. I wish I had made the scarf a bit narrower but after doing a couple inches decided not to rip it out as this yarn gets very fuzzy with taking out stitches.

 We spent the past few days at the beach cottage - we'll be starting remodeling soon, we'll do all ourselves (except kitchen countertops) to keep the cost down.  Above you can see the tile wall behind Sam's chair (more on that in a bit) - the former pellet stove sat in this location. We took it out and gave it to a friend as the room is so small it would heat us out of there not to mention sitting just a couple feet away from it in the other chair and couch.  The closet door to the left will be taken out and drywall put up - we'll be opening that area up to the kitchen on the other side of this wall - the kitchen is woefully short on storage space.  That tiled wall behind the chair will be opened up on the top to see through to the kitchen - I'm thinking of hanging an old window frame in the opening for decor.  We thought about tearing out the entire wall and closet area but the house is so small we'd feel like we were sitting in the kitchen if we did that. So, back to the chair - we went out looking for a chair, I was thinking a used vintage cottagey small chair and ottoman to fit with the rest of the décor, an old chair that I'd slipcover - this electric leather recliner is what we ended up with - remind me not to go furniture shopping with Sam.......but he does love his chair.

 Here is Sam knocking that tile off the backer board.  Bailey and I supervised.

 Here it is with the tile removed - so much better.  Painting won't happen until after the closet door area is drywalled over but it already looks better.  The tile on the floor will stay until we get to replacing the carpet, the very dirty smelly carpet, we'll be putting in wood flooring, maybe one of the new engineered floors.

 The rest of our stay was spent relaxing and walking on the beach. This is the river inlet beach leading to the ocean, it's where we find most of our treasures.  Here's Bailey running at breakneck speed toward me.

 Just caught him in the corner of the frame - that is one happy dog.

 This is as far as he'll go into the water, who ever heard of a water dog that's afraid of water, he's our second Golden afraid of water. He's after that rock, every walk he's after that particular rock, not sure what he thinks it is. We were there at a very low tide so it won't ever get closer for him to get to without going deeper in the water......which won't happen........

 Treasures on the beach - snail shells that the hermit crabs grab when they need a bigger home. I'm sure there are agates somewhere in those rocks but I can rarely pick them out, even with my little agate cheat sheet.

 Small cockle shell on the beach - these are a dime a dozen

 I love the way the sand looks as the tide goes out - would make for a nice woven design, wouldn't it?

 I'm not sure what this is but I call it sea spaghetti - or it could be my hair after a windy day.

I have no clue what this little orange plant is - does it live in the ocean? or did it float down river from something on the land?  Don't know.....maybe I'll find out in the future......

Winners announced

Here are the winners of the Valentine pin giveaway
1 - Thistle Rose Weaving
2 - P (Pat)
3 - Sue O

But there were only 5 comments for these and I feel bad about the other 2 who didn't win - Lesley Ann and Tinker Tots, so I have a small gift for you too - a few of my handmade stitch markers.

Now I need mailing addresses so I can get these out in the mail. Thistle Rose I have yours, P I've got you covered too but I need everyone else's. I'll try to contact you but if you haven't heard from me because I have no contact information please email your address to cindiesam at yahoo dot com. 

I'll get them out in the mail as soon as I've got the addresses and can get out the driveway.........today on the schedule is the culvert at the end of our 1/3 mile drive being replaced from the log truck turnover in the ice last month so unless they finish early (or don't show today like scheduled) I won't get out to the post office until tomorrow.

Final name drafting

I started getting this warp on the loom yesterday, finished up this morning and started weaving placemats and will eventually weave some runners. This is another example of a name draft for my April guild program - it's 'sand and sea'. It's very subtle which is not good for a photo but I really like it - there are 3 colors alternating in the warp, a very pale blue, pale sea glass green, pale lavender. The ground weft is a bit darker sea glass green with a tan pattern weft. Warp & ground weft is 5/2 perle cotton - pattern weft is 3/2 perle cotton. The original thought was to weave 6 placemats and 2 runners, now am thinking 4 placemats (3 woven so far) and 3 runners - I don't think 6 rectangular placemats will fit on the oval table at the beach cottage - if I have 6 for dinner I'll use some round placemats. Am thinking at least one runner might lean toward lavender.

On another note for those of you who are curling enthusiasts....if any of you are. I found the NBC schedule for televising the Olympics and was very pleased to see quite a bit of curling including games the USA teams are no playing in. You can bet I'll be setting my dvr for all of it. If you're interested in the NBC schedule for when events are televised (in the States) click here.

In 12 minutes online registration opens up for the Complex Weaver's Conference....which is why I had to walk away from the loom. I'm hoping to get my 1st choices in seminars but even my 2nd & 3rd would be quite ok. I've never attended a Complex Weaver's Conference so I'm pretty excited. Sam and Bailey will hold the fort down here while I'm learning new things there in June.

Giveaway

I'm having a Valentine's giveway because I have these extra scrabble pins I made and because I love all my blog readers - US/Canadian only, so sorry. If interested comment to this post with which pin you'd like - your 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice (Love red hearts, Love peach hearts, XO). I'll draw a winner using random.org on Monday morning, February 3rd - I'll get it out in the mail as soon as I get the winners mailing addresses so you'll hopefully have it by Valentine's Day to wear yourself or to gift to someone else. I will post the winners names Monday morning so be sure to check back since many times there is no way for me to contact you.

Fun stuff

I had more fun yesterday embroidering towels that are now for sale in my etsy shop. I had sold out of the spinning wheel and country sheep towels. Then I found the cute little knitting birds with heart and the fillagree heart. If I can find the perfect t-shirt in my stash today I'll be embroidering that heart on it for myself.

In-between changing colors of thread on the embroidery machine I was throwing the shuttle on the name draft warp - didn't get too much done running back and forth between the two but did accomplish something - hoping to finish it up the warp today.  I've also got lots of photography work to do in order to list more items in the etsy shop but that will have to wait for another day.....

This is a test......

This is a test.......Sam and Bailey just un-installed IE11(Internet Explorer 11) on my desktop and I seem to be able to upload pictures into my blog post as in the past.  Whoo Hoo!  Not sure how long it will take blogger to catch up with IE11 but since it looks like I can post again without going to another computer (that still had IE10) I'm happy......Bailey is looking pretty thrilled too......

Having fun embroidering

Had fun embroidering this weekend. I had sold out of many embroidered towels in my etsy shop so yesterday afternoon I got to work.  I still have some other sheep and spinning wheels towels to embroider - those are on linen/cotton towels, hopefully sometime this week. Today a friend came over and we embroidered 2 t-shirts for her, she got a lesson on the machine, I think I've enabled her to buy one too.

I love this sheep with heart towel - great for Valentine's Day - love the soft flour sack towels too.....

......and here's a sheep with a star......

....and I couldn't resist this heartwood embroidery pattern, this is new to my shop........

.....and these oh so cute chickens, sold out of them recently.

 

Hubby Sam 'may' have figured out a way around the Internet Explorer 11/blogger issue - he uninstalled IE11 on the netbook and I was able to load pictures just fine for this post - next he'll do it on the desktop and hopefully that will work like it used to a few weeks ago too.  When blogger supports IE 11 (which they aren't doing yet) then we'll update. In case anyone else is having this problem (lots of folks on the blogger community forum are) I will update once IE11 is uninstalled on the desktop and I do a post to see if it's working again.

 

 

More name drafting

Today I wound a warp in a very pale steel gray 10/2 perle cotton and threaded the heddles to a name draft I had designed the other day for 'I Love Weaving'. I think it turned out pretty nice. It's woven in overshot, the pattern weft is a very dark teal/navy in 5/2 perle cotton

Here's a shot of the underside - I might like it even more than the top.

When I went to unload the dishwasher this little doe was watching me through the kitchen window. She posed for many pictures before sauntering off.

 Here's a close-up - her ear turned at that moment, maybe listening for her friends who earlier in the day were all laying amongst logs from dead trees Sam and neighbor Merle took down on Wednesday.

As I mentioned earlier this morning we're under a red flag warning for forest fires due to the dry conditions and wind. Wouldn't you know it when Bailey and I went out for a walk someone was burning nearby - so stupid. Fires are burning to the east of us, maybe an hour east......and in numerous other areas of the state. What a crazy winter - no rain in Oregon, unheard of............

Clear skies

Clear skies seen from the deck this morning - whoo hoo. We have been stuck in freezing fog for around 2 months. Yesterday afternoon the skies cleared and the sun came out....now this comes with a red sky warning for fire danger - the winds are what cleared the fog out will also spread fires and in this area all winter long folks have burn piles going. Fire danger in the winter in Oregon??? Unheard of but we're coming off a drought year, lowest rainfall on record, and have started 2014 the same. We're all hoping for rains this winter and spring or it will be a scarier fire season than last year not to mention folks having trouble with wells. But for today I'm rejoicing at being able to see Mt Sexton.

Interesting entertainment tidbits the past week........I attended two movies at the theatre, I usually average a movie every 1 or 2 years so this is a major thing. First movie was Saving Mr. Banks - I loved it. It reminded me that at the age of 9 my birthday party was taking my little gal pals to see Mary Poppins, now I know the story behind it. I definitely need to watch Mary Poppins again. Movie yesterday was August: Osage County.....incredibly done, tremendous acting, but what a downer, not my kind of movie. 

Keeping with the entertainment theme we went to the community concert Wednesday evening, we were entertained by The Diamonds singing 50's-60's music, very fun, we really enjoyed them. I got tickled at one point when some Bobby Darin songs were sung- it reminded me of a campy lounge act at the Ramada Inn in Rockville, MD back in the mid-70's......some of us used to hang out there after late nights at work while in college.

And now on to curling - who of my friends and family would have believed that I'd be on the cutting edge of curling becoming more mainstream in the US. I read it about it everywhere these days and now there's a curling club a 2 hour drive from us. This past week I found out from a friend via an article in the Wall Street Journal that there is a 2014 calendar called Men of Curling. I'm not the type to be interested in buying a beefcake calendar but I might just have to for the entertainment factor I'll get seeing the faces of my husband and cousin.......and the net proceeds go to charity.

I've gotten very little time at the loom but did spend some time this week weaving on the name draft warp which is now cut off the loom. I'm hoping to get another name draft warp on the loom today, one more to go after it for the guild program. I need to spend time working on my handout and WOW factor - there always has to be a WOW factor with a guild program but that won't be divulged until after the program in April as some guild members read my blog.

On another note - still having issues with blogger loading my photos. I seem to be able to get around it moving to a different computer and then it takes several trys. Have not found a solution and no responses in the forums other than the one a while back about blogger not supporting the newest version of IE. I've followed suggestions to clear cache and cookies. This issue is getting old. (just checked community forums again and many others are having the problem, no solution....wonder why not everyone is having a problem)

On the wheel...........

Today was our spinning get together - I needed something new to start on.......with hundreds of pounds of wool for sale in my etsy shop I'm easily tempted by certain colorways but I decided to go check out my personal stash. I found almost 2 pounds of mystery batts from Fantasy Fibers so I decided to start on it. A mystery batt is what's leftover when Janell cards commercially for clients, it's bits and pieces that she then mixes into giant layered batts. It's very fun to open one of these up and see what colors are hidden inside. She sells out of these quickly at both Black Sheep Gathering and Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival.

Last night I pulled some of the batts into strips to ready them for spinning

And here's the start of that spinning on my Hansen spinner - Bailey and Buster are looking pretty bored in the background as I set up my spinner here at home to continue spinning in the evenings.

Our area is still stuck in a freezing fog mode, yes it's better than what's happening in the midwest and east coast but that doesn't help us dealing with this going on 2 months. We escaped to the coast for the past 4 days, just over the mountain range from us it was sunny, blue sky and 60.  As we neared home yesterday evening we hit the fog coming over the last pass near our house - wish we could have pulled over on the highway for a picture of what that fog hanging over the valley looked like. I don't think it got above freezing today. We had a record drought last year and it's continuing with no rain in site - winter is our rainy season and it's dry, not enough snow in the mountains for the ski resorts to open let alone give us water in the summer. Sure wish some of that snow back east was falling in our mountains........if something doesn't change 2014 will be an even scarier fire season than 2013.

On the needles.....

Last night I got some new socks started.....always need a pair  of socks on the needles to grab to work on in meetings or on the go. This is Opal sock yarn, I think the pattern is from the book Socks, Socks, Socks although I can't remember at the moment, it's a simple feather and fan pattern that I wrote down and keep in my sock knitting bag. If anyone is interested in the pattern please let me know and I'll go look it up to make sure that's the book it's out of.

Blocking a shawlette

This morning I decided I should get the shawlette recently knit blocked. The pattern is Brome from the book Free Spirit Shawls.........it's a great book. I knit it out of some of my handspun, between a dk and worsted size - merino in the Baltic colorway from Ashland Bay Fibers. It's a great color to go with jeans. The garter stitch area at the top is done in a series of short rows, wider in the center, dwindling down to practically no garter stitch area on the ends, just couldn't capture it all in the picture from my angle. Next I want to knit the pattern Framework out of the same book - it calls for fingering weight yarn - first I need to decide if I want to knit it with commercial yarn, some of my handspun stash or spin something new.......there are some roving colorways calling my name so who knows what I'll decide..........

Name Drafting

I finished threading a name draft on the leftover warp from our holiday cards for 2013. This draft is based on the words 'happyholidays' and it will be used for our 2014 holiday cards - whoo hoo - I'll be ahead for once. Even though I worked it out on graph paper I still don't know exactly how it will look until woven - I like it, I think it turned out great, and it's an original overshot design. It would be so easy to preview and work on it in weaving software but I'm doing all on graph paper since that's what I'll be teaching in April......after all everyone doesn't have weaving software, besides it's a good learning tool on how to draft for all those newer weavers in our guild, as well as the more experienced ones who just follow drafts but don't understand them.

I can't believe today is my 1000th post on this blog - hard to believe I've kept it up, hard to believe people do read it........

New roving colorways

I've just updated my etsy shop with roving with new fibers, new colorways and relisting of previously sold out items. I've got some beautiful 75% BFL/25% Ecru Tussah Silk blend - I can't wait to dye some of this when the weather warms. The 5 multi-color rovings above (2 in 100% merino, 3 in merino/silk) are old colorway names but new dyelots/blendings from Ashland Bay. They are so different than the originals, I almost feel like they should have changed the names - a few of them are so different. I can't wait to spin up samples to see what they look like as yarn - I bet pretty outstanding which is the norm for their incredible colorways.

Yesterday was spent taking inventory and weighing out 100 pounds of wool into 8oz bags, this morning it's been listing in the etsy shop and updating inventory records. Phew, have had quite enough of administrivia. And my new worker bee, my husband Sam, complained (good heartedly, in fun) all day yesterday about standing on the concrete in the garage weighing wool, complained about his shoulder hurting (which was hurting before he started) and complained about the color purple whenever he came to a roving with purple in it - he says purple makes his head hurt. Phew, I guess I got what I paid for in help......but it was very nice to have company and not do it alone. Pretty soon he'll be doing all the weighing on his own, learning how to update inventory, pack up and print postage for orders........this will free up more time for me to do what I love most, weaving.

Name Drafting

In April I'm giving a program for my weaving guild on name drafting. It's a process of creating an all original draft based on a name/word/saying. In the past I've made table runners to gift using name drafts to commemorate special occasions - then in the hem of the table runners I've embroidered the name/word/saying used to create the draft along with the date. A short explanation is that each letter of the alphabet is assigned a number from 1-4 in the case of a 4 harness overshot weave structure. Since my head is still 'cloudy' from my cold I decided this was something I could concentrate on today - just playing with graph paper. I have several magazines and books for my bibliography but can't concentrate on reading those articles right now, maybe tomorrow........

Here I was playing with a draft using my guild's name, 'Saturday Handweavers Guild' and another one using 'Love To Weave'. There is a much quicker way to do this using a weaving software program but that's not what I'll be concentrating on since most guild members don't have weaving software.......plus a big purpose in giving this program is to teach drafting and we have many newer weavers that have not gone past reading a draft and weaving, they don't understand how the draft works.

I'm trying to come up with some fun hands-on ideas for learning to make the drafts, first learning how to do it on graph paper, then maybe weaving with cardstock - doing that really makes it clear how it works when you treadle a pattern, raise certain harnesses and put the slip of paper through so you can see what happens when some harnesses are raised and others that stay down. I'm thinking this may be a fun activity to drive the concept home.

I'll need to start working on a handout and weave some samples - would love to get this program finished up early and let it sit until April so I can move on to other weaving.

Slow start to the new year.......

It's been a slow start to the new year around this house. We spent New Year's Eve and the following week on the coast, unfortunately both of us had colds so we didn't do much. Days were filled with walks, reading, watching tv and knitting. I planned on working in WeavePoint planning new drafts and also doing research for a guild program I will give in April but didn't do either. We did get out antiquing one day (nothing bought), went to an excellent glass exhibit at the Coos Art Museum and took a drive 2 hours south to visit friends and have a yummy fresh crab lunch. A seagull pooped on my head during our walk on New Year's morning - Sam said it was good luck......I say it was good luck he was the one that didn't get pooped on. Saw a warning sign on the Hwy 101, which runs along the coast, down at Humbug saying "Wild Cows"........we never did figure out were they cows that got loose and were running wild or if they were wild partying cows. And, just as I thought, I am on the cutting edge of being a US curling fan (the sport of curling) - there were 2 mentions in the latest AAA magazine, an article on gloves in the latest Piecework magazine that were originally worn for curling (friend Nadine told me about it, I have yet to pick the magazine up) and at Running Y Ranch in Klamath Falls to the east of us they are giving curling lessons and plan to start up a league this year (Nadine also told me about the article in the local paper mentioning it).

I had high hopes for working in the studio all day but I've had a relapse of my cold and feel plain old worn down so have been working on adminstrivia instead since that takes so little effort. UPS was just here dropping off 80 pounds of wool that needs to be measured out into bags, labeled, put into inventory and relisted in the etsy shop......that's not happening today either.

I made fun bird seed ornaments for gifts this year and have found their the perfect way to feed the birds at the beach cottage. My past experiences with bird feeders over there was having the raccoon raid them during the night or having them blown to bits by the wind over there when they'd swing and hit the tree limbs. These hanging ornaments work perfectly - I can put them on flimsy enough branches that the raccoons can't get them and the birds love them. I found the recipe in Taste of Home magazine.

 Here is one of the birds enjoying the seed, my friend Yvonne thinks this is a thrush. I had 4 different types of birds eating on the see ornaments that day. Sorry the picture is only so-so - I took it from across the room through the window.

Start with some bird seed, some cookie cutters, approximately 4" in size, gelatin, ribbon, a baking sheet lined with waxed paper or foil, non-stick cooking spray, 1 1/2 cups of birdseed (although I found that I needed to add anywhere from 1/2-1 cup more to soak up the gelatin solution.

Tie the ribbon into loops, instructions say to use 12" lengths but this time I made them longer to go all the way through the ornament. Place cookies cutters on lined baking sheet, spray inside with non-stick spray.

Mix 2 packets (1/2 oz) of unflavored gelatin powder with 1/2 cup of boiling water, stir to dissolve, add to birdseed mixing to coat all of the seed. This is where I'd start adding more seed to make sure the mixture wasn't too watery. Mix until it's stiff but sticky.

Press the mixture into a cookie cutter halfway up, put ribbon across.

Then cover the ribbon with seed filling to the top of the cookie cutter.

Here they are all done - this was two batches of the recipe, some of those cookie cutters are pretty big. After a few hours push each ornament out of the cookie cutter and set back on tray to dry, flipping every so often for 72 hours or until it's hard. Hang ornaments in the trees. These make fun gifts packaged in clear cellophane bags.

I don't know if anyone else has been having trouble uploading pictures to blogger but I've not been having fun trying to get them in my post. I think it still has to do with the new Explorer which blogger isn't supporting yet. Two weeks ago they wouldn't load at all, now they'll load into Picassa but then won't load from there. I finally switched computers and was able to get them up - not all our computers have updated to the latest Explorer.

2014

2014 - May it be safe, happy and full of fibery goodness. No long post today with my hopes of the new year - just depressing to go back and read about all the things I never got to, changes never made, so I'm just not going there this year. My only hope is that the year is a great one for myself, my family, my friends and everyone out there reading this............and that blogger will start cooperating again in letting me upload pictures. I finally got the clipart loaded last night after going back and editing my post several times.....so far this morning it's not working. Not sure what the issue is, this happened the first week of 2013 and went on for months with no help from blogger, I eventually was able to publish the text and then go to edit it and get the pictures uploaded........I'll keep trying with this new issue........sheesh. 

 

(update - I just went back to try and get the clipart to load with editing my post and it worked - might be back to doing that until the blogger issue is fixed - I'll be happy if I can get photos up doing that rather than no photos at all)