Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

 

 

And plenty of time to rest up for the New Year! ;)

October is here!!!

Aaaah October... My favorite month of the entire year.  I always make sure to take a week off from work to enjoy the glorious weather and scenery.  It doesn't matter if it is windy, cold, gloomy and/or rainy... I LOVE IT!!  :)

September and October are really busy months for me at work.  I have to put in some long hours.  So to make the hours seem a little less daunting,  I decided to take some of my extra revenue and invest in a lovely spun cotton creation from artist Flora Thompson over at Bone Head Studios.  If you have never visited her site, you can skip on over and check her wonderful art out by clicking here.    Flora is an amazingly talented sculptor.  If you haven't been to her site before, take the time to go through all of her early posts.  Her whimsical creations are from the most enchanting world of her imagination.  The sketches of her creations, prior to being sculpted, are equally as fantastic! 

I have admired Flora's work for years and began following her blog after falling in love with her impish elf creatures.  I just cannot say enough about my admiration of her talent.  A quartet of her latest creations, recently revealed on the blog for Bone Head Studios, were too cute for words... They were a little group named the "MushMellies".   All I knew when I saw them was:  One of those little guys needs to come live with me!   So I got on Flora's  waiting list...

Look at the package that just arrived in the mail. I didn't know it was on its way.  So, I almost passed out from excitement when I saw this guy on the side of the box!   It screams Bone Head Studios...

Flora's attention to precise detail and decoration is unmatched...

It makes me smile looking at this photo.  I cannot believe he is mine!!  His expression is absolutely priceless...

Can you see his little teeth?  I am in love... My own little slightly toasted marshmellowie "MushMellie". 

 
Even Mr. Hollow was impressed with this little guy.  He told me to arrange him, so he could stay safe in his wonderfully decorated bag.  My little "MushMellie" will be taking his place of honor in the display cabinet with his "soon to be" Halloween friends.   What a lovely handmade creation... *sigh* 

Flora's work is as impressive in person as it has been in the photos I have marveled at over the years! :)

Flea Market Find ~ Fischer MEWA Sewing Machine

On our trip to the Jefferson Speedway flea market, Mr. Hollow spotted this Fischer MEWA sewing machine at a gentleman's booth.  I walked right past it.  Honestly easy to do if you saw the size of it; although, the colors should have smacked me in the face being so similar to the old singers.   The man selling it was liquidating an estate.  His friend's mother had passed away and the son just wanted all of the stuff in the house hauled away... Quite a bit of sewing notions, some beautiful pristine crocheted quilts and this sewing machine. 

 

Do I need to say for the millionth time that I do not need another sewing machine?  I know!  But this machine is so terrifically odd and about the size, color and poundage of my Singer Featherweight.  I have honestly never seen one like this.  My initial thought was to pass, but Hubby really took to this one.  He started haggling with the guy.  The guy started at $150 and Mr. Hollow was at $50.  The vendor turned it down, since he just got all of this stock.  We completely understood.  But Mr. Hollow couldn't resist a parting shout over his shoulder as he walked away , "Will you take $75."   The guy smiled and yelled back, "$80."   This started another haggling session, and it was beginning to get really hot outside.  Miserable hot, what can I say?   I'm a wuss...  Much to the chagrin of my Hubby, I pulled out the $80.00 and ended the fun.  Sorry people, I love a deal as much as the next guy, but I was starting to majorly sweat in the heat of that darn unrelenting summer sun. :(  LOL   

 

So here is a photo of the newest sewing machine to join the herd, I know absolutely nothing about except the fact that it is German.  The gentlemen did not bring the little notion carrying wood box that goes with it.  He said there was thread in it and did not mention any extra feet.  Unfortunately, the wood had a doggie smell to it, so it got left at home.  If there weren't extra feet involved, it was all for the best. :)

 

 

 

See the flaps in the front and the wings on the side?  When the machine is finished being used, these fold up and end up on each side of the harp/sewing platform.  The bent metal rod at the bottom back of the machine functions the same as the "foot pedal" for other machines.  Pretty neat little unit.  And let me say, someone took great care of this machine.  The black paint and gold design is beautifully preserved. 

She even came with her original instruction manual.  Of course, it is all in German.  LOL    This is a small manual like the Singers, so you can just imagine how narrow this machine is!

Once the sides are all folded up, the bent rod has a hole in the center so it can balance where the thread sits during use.  And this wooden case goes right over the top and locks shut.  I did see, in the photo on the front cover of the  instructions, where this case lines up with the front flap to create a sewing table to the side of the machine when sewing.  A lot of thought went into the design of these machines.  It really is a neat little unit.

 

 

I am guessing that maybe this was a machine from the 50's, since it is electric.  But I cannot find any information about it.  If anyone has some info or direction on how to locate some info, I would greatly appreciate any input.  :)

Meanwhile back on the Farm ~ Wool, Fur & Feathers

I had to go visit the kids' at their farm.  So many new faces to see!  Unfortunately, the most important new face is not going to be present in this post.  Hopefully, Annie will forgive me.  :(   She is the new German Shepherd gran puppy.  I will catch her a little later along with Elliot, the gran cat. ;)  Even with these over sites, there were a lot of new friends to make acquaintances with.

 

Farmerboy is still waiting for the paperwork on his newest Shetlands.  Their names have been forgotten by my son...  He better get those papers soon... I have a habit of coming up with some doozies on my own! ;)  Here is his new Ewe.  I call her Freckles. (Yep, that is how fast I play the name game! LOL)  She is absolutely darling.  Freckles keeps the flock guessing what she is doing in the pasture.  She will eat any green vegetation she finds.  The rest of the group is spoilt and picky about their eats.  So when they see her nibbling away happily, they all come running thinking she has a special treat! LOL

 

 

Why did Farmerboy buy another ewe your asking?  First, Freckles has a tendency to produce spotted lambs.  Second, she has super fine fleece.  See these majorly crimped curls?  They are so springy and tight like a fine carpet.  The original flock has some great crimp, but this is ridiculous! :)

Our Max and his beautiful colored fleece went on to a new farm with a new group of  ewes.  It was bitter sweet.  I know he will be happy, but I will miss scratching his forehead.  He was a gorgeous ram. *sigh*  To bring in a fresh blood line, a new ram came to the fold.  Kind of looks like Count Chocula to me.... Maybe??? ;)   Any who, next Easter should bring us some very interesting lambs.

Not to be out done by the new sheep, little Moon Pie decided to bless the kids with the first babies born to their farm... Let's just call the new arrivals "The Lucky Seven".    This photo was taken after number five.  Momma took a rest and then surprised the kids with two more!

 

The local businesses are sent to bid on 4H animals at the county fair.  One of the purchases made for my son's facility was a duck.  None of the crew bidding wanted to have the honor of butchering and eating their winnings from the highest bid... So yeah you guessed it, the boy who raised the duck was told to deliver the feathered friend to kids' farm.  They found out before they left the auction that in fact two ducks were going to be delivered.  By the time they arrived, there were three!   Apparently, the boy who raised them was having problems with a raccoon that attacked one of the male ducks.  He said its best chance for survival was to stay with the other two.  After a little TLC to the wounded member, all the feathered friends are settling in nicely.  :)

 

 

 

Can you believe it?  Even the new fruit trees planted this year are getting into the action!    I can't believe one is actually going to produce pears!!  LOL

 



It has been such a fun summer.  I just wrapped up the Tour de Fleece last weekend.  (Photos coming soon!)   This month is going to be spent washing fleece, ordering some shelving and painting my new studio area.  I cannot wait to get my sewing machines and art supplies back in order.  My goal is to have the space up and running by my vacation in early September!  :)

Where did June go?

I cannot believe we are already in July!  It has been a busy time trying to get Farmerboy's room emptied out and the majority of my studio items moved into it.  Some of my items are in storage in the closet area, since we have not tackled the walls or floors yet.  Farmerboy still has a few larger pieces left to move.  I am not to worried.  It is a functional space.  Hopefully, the studio will get finished by mid August. 

What else happened in June?   Quite a bit actually.  Even with all the rain, we were able to frequent some flea markets.  Yay!  I found out my cable provider has always offered Hallmark Movies and Mysteries.  Love the shows!  Purchased a new Schacht Ladybug spinning wheel to spin along with my Matchless during the Tour de Fleece ;) on Ravelry.  Will share those details in a post very soon!   Was able to use my sewing machine for the first time in way to long AND set up my large drafting table that has been in storage for 15 years.  Excited to work on some projects with those REAL soon! :)  Finally and most importantly, this guy showed up on the 2nd of June in our pond.  You guessed it... Gary is back!   I almost had a photo of him sunning his body on the terracotta island we made, but he was too quick.  So, a head shot will have to do!

Four years and counting Gary...

I feel like a load of necessary work was completed in June.  It will be wonderful to get back into some projects that have been waiting patiently.  I am more than excited to start this chapter! :) 

I hope everyone had the same beautiful day that Northern Illinois was given to celebrate The Glorious Fourth! 

Tutorial on Washing Stubbornly Dirty Wool Fleece Locks ~ Polwarth

Since my quilting and fine art stations aren't set up in my studio yet, I began a wool experiment to try and get some stubborn grease and dirt laden Polwarth locks clean.  My first try at these locks, using a new system (I will share in another post) for cleaning Shetland, was mediocre at best for these overly grease ridden locks.  I needed to find a less intrusive way to clean the locks, since Polwarth is a fine breed and can be relied on to felt when it gets agitated.

 

After reading several articles, I decided to try a lock by lock method.  It is said to work well with many of the fine greasy wool breeds:  Cormo, Merino, Polwarth etc. .  After my last bout with the fleece, I was ready to throw it away as bad.  Maybe, I let it set to long.  (It was a fleece from last year.)  So with nothing to loose and throwing basic knowledge to the wind, here is my scouring experiment.

 

Necessary items:

 

Two cups.  I used the cups from my liquid Tide containers... making sure the residue of detergent was all gone! 

 



 

 

 

A tea kettle.  This requires the hottest of water.  Got to melt the lanolin fast!

 

Original Dawn.  The newer versions of Dawn will damage the wool fibers.  The upside, Dawn original can be bought super cheap at the DG.  :)

 

 

 

Some dirty Polwarth locks.  These were bought and shipped from England in 2016 and left to sit in a sealed pillowcase in the garage all winter.  I honestly thought they were unsalvageable.

 

 

Now let's get cleaning!  Fill the cups up with hot water directly from the tea kettle (Keep the tea kettle warming at all times.  Add water as needed to keep the process moving along.)  and add a squirt of Dawn to give the water a blue tint.

 How do you like my orange gloves?  Orange is my favorite color.  I vow to have a Mini Cooper some day in this color... *sigh* ;)  Sorry, back to the topic.    The water is really hot, and you will be working in close proximity to it... Use the heavier gloves!  The lighter latex gloves for my Shetland method will not work. 

As you can see, I fanned the dirty tip thinking it would aid in the cleaning process.  With another lock, I left the grungy tip in tact.  Neither lock cleaned faster than the other.  So additional prep work -- not worth the time!

This girl cannot handle a camera and swish, so trust me on this one. ;)  Hold the lock like in the above photo.  Swish the end in the first cup.  (If you have crusty cruddy tips like my locks, hold it in the water a few seconds before swishing to loosen the pasty lanolin.)  If the tip looks clean, turn the lock around.  Hold the lock on the clean end and swish the dirty end in the other cup. That's it!

I made my first cup "the tip end" cup.  A few tips can be washed in it with a little freshening from hot tea kettle water.  Then, my cut end cup came over and became the tip cup for a few more additional washes prior to being dumped.  A rotation of cups makes for less waste of water. :)

Okay, here is where the cardinal rule of wool washing is thrown out the window.  Let water directly from the tap (can be from the cold side) run over your lock.   What are you crazy???  It's going to felt!!!   Yes, that is what I said. No, it is not going to felt.  Run the water over the lock like in the photo.  The soap will come right out.  You will not need to swish it.   Just a nice stream running down it.  Now, hold it by the other end and repeat...

Lay the lock on a towel.  Fold the towel over and give it a good squeeze.

Here are those locks after the cleaning process.  Can you believe these are the same locks?   No compost heap for these babies. 

Look at the finished product! The Polwarth fluffs right up on its own.... Squishy soft!!  I couldn't be happier with the end result. 

My final thoughts...  You might think this process will go slow, but take it from someone that has washed loads of wool, this process hums right along with no mess.  Granted, you will not turn out huge bags of fleece in an hour, but you won't have to lug any heavy buckets around either.  Plus, the end result is clean non felted locks from a fine wool sheep.  Locks that are ready to flick and spin.  It will be my "go to" for all of the finer breeds.  It just makes sense.  Now, I can go to my raw Polwarth storage bucket, pull out a bowl full of locks and wash enough to spin a skein on my Matchless.  How convenient is that?  :)

Time for the Flea Markets!

Although the weather cannot decide what season to be in, the flea markets are kicking off for the year.  I missed the one day Fiber Expo to kick off the season due to an extremely bad cold back in April.  I even swapped to have the day off a month ahead of time! Aaargh!!  Remaining positive, I took a CTO day for the first Friday of May hoping for good weather for a 3 day flea market in What Cheer, Iowa.  We were blessed with  the most beautiful day.  It was a fun and relaxing time.   I am still somewhat nervous about purchasing much, until we get the studio room underway... But the nervousness evaporated as we walked around! ;)

 

A large apple basket was a necessity buy.  During the Fall season at Farmer Boy's place, I kept having to borrow a basket to tote apples back and forth.  Now, I will have my own to haul with. :)  

 

 

This was hanging on the side of a pick up truck bed.  It had some items on top of it.  I honestly was surprised that I hadn't seen it on our first walk through.  A gentleman looking at it drew my attention to the lovely pattern.  Once he left, I went to look it over.   The vendor yelled over, "A dollar and it's yours!"  I don't have to be told twice and made the deal.  The lady selling thought it was maybe an oversized pillowcase... she just wasn't sure.  She picked it up at a sale.  Upon inspection, done in the next row over, I confirmed it was a large vintage feedsack.  Nice bold unwashed colors still stitched up with the old original thread.  Couldn't you see an old feedsack dress made out of this one for a toddler?  :)

For three dollars, I just couldn't pass up on some glass topped jars.  They will come in handy in the studio.  I have loads of smalls to store in them.

A lesson in the art of purchasing at a flea market:  If you really like an item, don't put it on a list... buy it!  There were two sisters looking at these feedsacks.  I was slightly disappointed at not getting there first, since green lettering is my favorite. :(  But I walked around checking out the other items from the vendor, as both ladies discussed what could be made with them.  The vendor finally said to the women that she would do 3 sacks for 6 dollars, since some of them had staining and holes on one side.  Wow!  Yeah, a few were a little damaged but the print was on both sides and these were huge.  The ladies kept talking, then decided they would add them to the list of things to come back for later and walked off.  You can see the result of that scenario.  I acquired all 5 sacks along with one plain for $12.00.  I couldn't have been happier.

Mr. Hollow picked up a vintage tooth pick dispenser, shaped like a Wood Pecker, from the same lady.  As he walked ahead of me, the two ladies were cutting back into the booth after deciding they would get the sacks after all.... Ten minutes too late...

It doesn't happen often.  The unicorn of the vintage glass Christmas bulbs.  You know... The one that I do not have YET in my collection.  Will you look at this? 

The vendor had two but only one had a cap.  I know, I know.  I could have used one of my hundred extra caps at home right?   But, it was my turn to be stupidly tight.  This baby cost me $4.50.  I will go with the thought that it adds to the excitement to have "one of one".  Well, unless the same vendor has the other one when we go in August! ;)

This was part of the mitigating factor to my tightness.  I dropped $12.00 for these Shiny Brite mini icicle ornaments.  Holy Toledo!!! They will look so cool on my mini Shiny Brite tree!!

 

 

Last but not least... I was looking at street signs for my studio.  There was a huge "slow" sign in orange and this "55 speed limit" sign.  The lady said she cut me a deal on two.  The "slow" sign really wasn't hitting me right, so I went with the one that caught my eye.  It makes me think of all the trips I have taken through out my life and the ones to come.  Maybe Farmer boy can work his magic and make a cabinet out of it with some barn boards for art supplies...  Hmmmm...

 

All in all, I think it has been a great start to the flea marketing season.  I will blank out the horrific cold episode and focus on the positive!  Unfortunately for a large group of vendors, this weekend was suppose to be the flea market at the fairgrounds in Pecatonica, Illinois, but our unpredictable weather decided to bless us with an overabundance of rain.  I cannot remember ever having 3 days of rain on a Pec weekend.  But then, I have never seen a winter and spring like the ones we have had this year.  Who knows what the rest of the year will bring?

Spinning with the Schacht Matchless

One of the best purchases I made in 2016 was the Schacht Matchless spinning wheel.  I was a little worried this wheel would be technically above my skill level.  It has the potential to spin anything.  After considering the Schacht Ladybug, I decided to go all in on a wheel that could grow with my experience.  Maybe due to my newness, the learning curve felt less threatening.  There were no new techniques or operations to learn, since my experience with other wheels was virtually non existent.  I did decide to go with a double treadle this time and must say overall , "I am in love!"   Here she is...  

 

 

I started out practicing with some more combed top from Edgewood Garden Studios from Etsy.  At this point, I was still counting my treadling.  It made me kind of panicky causing thick and thin spots.  To be truthful, counting was taking all the fun out of spinning. :(

Then, I practiced making thinner singles to ply.  My singles started becoming more consistent.  :)

I decided to jump back to thicker singles to ply and let myself spin without counting treadles all the time.  What a difference!  I found that as long as there isn't any crazy music in playing in the background, my treadling has its own rhythm and my hands work naturally along with it.  Got a little crazy with my color.  Didn't I?  LOL

I now have it in my head to make some 3 ply sock yarn.  The singles need to be thin.  How is this for consistency?  No counting treadles, just spinning to my own rhythm.  I guess it should be called, " Letting go and trusting myself."  There are two bobbins down with one bobbin to go!

I have moved my fleece storage and spinning wheels into the new location of my studio area.  I cannot wait until my drafting table and sewing machines join them.  It will be so exciting to get back to drawing and quilting again!

Have a Safe and Happy Easter!

Memories of the Fall ~ Kitchen Aid Fruit & Veggie Strainer Review

I thought I would reminisce about the last apple harvest with a review of Kitchen Aid's Fruit & Vegetable Strainer.  A perfect topic for today as I sit with a cold and slight case of laryngitis.  Could be worse right?  On the bright side, my mug of chamomile tea is being sweetened with some local honey purchased during the summer.  This unfortunate affliction has given me  a reason to test out the home remedy property of the honey.   I am finding the taste is wonderful combination and will get me away from white sugar as my "go to sweetener" in the future. 

Okay, back to the topic... My mind has always been drawn to a faster way to do applesauce.  Okay, faster and a whole lot cleaner way to make applesauce!    The Kitchen Aid Fruit & Vegetable Strainer has been on my wishlist at Amazon for a long time.  So when Farmerboy and his lovely wife purchased their farm complete with two gorgeous apple trees, I knew the time was right.  Here is a pictorial review of my first harvest season using the Kitchen Aid attachment.

The farmyard has two unbelievable apple trees.  One is some strain of Golden Delicious and the other is possibly a Snow apple mix.  The trees ripen about a month apart which is perfect for processing the apples.  Many families benefited this year.  The harvest was so huge that Mr. Hollow and I did not bother visiting any orchards this year; although, I did miss my Macintosh apples with melted caramels!  *sigh*   There is always next year.  ;)

The prep work was minimal for making the sauce.  I cored the apples, quarter them and boiled them with a little bit of water until soft.  (Next year I may use the trick of using a little cider instead of water for an extra kick in some of the batches!)

 

 

 I let the bowl cool as the next batch of apples began to cook.  It was a really efficient production line.  :) 

I did purchase the top feeding platform separately.  It holds a lot more apples to feed into the tube of the strainer.  Definitely a must have add on for me, since it kept the work area free of spillage.  I would highly recommend it.  The small area the unit comes with is just asking for a ladle to over shoot the mark.  :(

 

 

 

The apples (skins and all) are funneled by a spooled device down a metal cone with holes all over it.  The apple sauce is forced out of the holes and runs backwards out the bottom flute.  The skins are extruded from the whole in front into its own bowl.  How easy is that?  Instant pig or chicken feed!

 



Dark skins make for a pink sauce with these particular apples.  The sauce is beautiful and smooth.  I do like to add sweetener to my sauce.  So, it was popped back into a pot, sweetener added, brought up to a boil and canned.  No splattering-- No sweating-- No mess!

Seriously, this is all that was left from the apples! 

The process was a fraction of the time from the old way.  Clean up was a breeze.  It made me wonder what took me so long to try the strainer attachment.  The Kitchen Aid Fruit & Vegetable Strainer is a complete winner in my book!