Getting ready another Tatted Tree for Deck the Trees, Black Mountain

 For the past 11 years, a group I have been a part of has participated in a fund-raiser called Deck the Trees.  It's a benefit for the fuel assistance fund sponsored by the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministries.  Held at the historic Monte Vista Hotel each year (except 2020 when Covid-19 was in its height), this benefit has raised in the vicinity of $100,000 to help families on the edge have enough fuel for our mountain winters.  The committee announced the theme for 2022 as "Let Heaven and Nature Sing" back in August, a theme that is bit more challenging than some have been in the past.  

I chose to acquire clear plastic ornaments that could be filled with not only tatting, but natural elements as well.  The journey to find the various elements began in September.  I first realized that the line "And Heaven and Nature sing" was from the Yuletide carol "Joy to the World" written in 1719 by Isaac Watts, an English Minister.  Locating the song in a hymnal was easy as was making copies that could be trimmed down to a reasonable size and used as a focal point inside the clear balls was a good place to begin.  One of the local charity shops had a hymnal lying on the counter the day I went in, and to my amazement, it was free for the asking.  I trimmed the copies down to the best size to fit the orbs and burnished the edges with a candle flame

The following weeks were spent looking for patterns that would create small snowflakes, musical notes and shapes that could also adorn the orbs.  Any that I couldn't find, I designed to the best of my ability.  Some time was spent looking around the neighborhood for acorns and pine cones that were small enough to fit into the ornamanets.  I also located lavender sprigs, hydrangea blossoms, moss and lichens to be used.  Here are some of the ornaments in various stages of completion:

Sewing project

 I found myself in the position of needing a costume.  Not just for Halloween, but for Swannanoa Valley Museum's Haunted History Tour.  Previously, I had introduced participants to a boarding house turned Bed and Breakfast as a guest of said boarding house in the 1920's.  However the property had been sold and had become law offices.  So a change in the story was in order.  To accomodate this change, I was determined to be a cleaning lady for the building that would give the history of the building since it had been built in about 1912.

There was nothing in the museum's costume holdings that would make this presentation beleiveable.  So a trip to the charity shop was in order.  I found not only a colorful skirt and sweater (think of Carol Burnette's cleaning lady from the 1970's), but also I was in search of an apron without having to create one from scratch.  A skirt with a flounce would do - so I found one and cut out the back of it out. 

My mother's Necci sewing machine, purchased in 1956, or there abouts had been my go-to for sewing since I had received it about 15 years ago.  But this time, when I attempted to fire it up, the motor would not turn the mechanism.  And so the nearly 70 year old machine would not be of any use to me.  Thank goodness for the modest Singer sewing machine purchased several year ago.  

Next was to find what whould make waistband and tying straps.  I found some fabric that I though might work:

 The border of this, if long enough would work for both.   And so it did:

I had enough to make substantial ties as well as a waistband.  This would create a suitable apron for our purposes:

All this created in just 3 hours including shopping.  Not IN the Art Barn, but a part of the creative process indicative of what the Art Barn is.

Hopefully, the Art Barn itself will be ready for using soon.  More to come!

Crafting without the Barn

 With the exterior construction, many of the contents of the Art Barn had to be removed to allow for enlarging the door frame and installing the light fixture.  What was left inside required covering to keep the dust off it.  That’s not going to get in my way!  Over the past week or so, I have managed to finish a project begun at the 2022 Palmetto Tatter’s Guild’s 20th annual Tat Days held in nearby Lake Junaluska Conference Center outside Waynesville, NC.  There I took Martha Ess’s Rick Rack Sunflake (tm) class and have completed it.  

This was my first experience with using Rick Rack as an anchor for tatting, but I was pleased with the way it came out.  Because of the way the fabric was sewn together, it has a tendency to bow a bit, but a healthy shot of steam from my steam iron seems to have taken care of most of that.  

Organization vs. Creativity

It has been said that we can organize or we can create. To a certain extent that is true. If our tools and supplies are in such disarray, when our creative urge strikes (or is harnaced,) we will spend all our time searching for the items we need rather than actually being involved in the creative process. This is especially true if our crafting space is small. Recently my Art Barn door has begun to deteriorate. When we built the space, we were using the most cost-effective (cheep) materials we could find. So this "exterior" door was indeed 36" wide, but only 77" in height. Add to this, the decision was made to have it open to the OUTSIDE, rather than to the INSIDE. The elements of nature are not kind to any door left open and swung to the outside for very long. While not left open constantly, the building is about 12 or 13 years old and time hgas taken its toll. Se we have made the decision to replace it. Standard doors are 32", 34' or 36' wide - not counting the door frame which comes with the "pre-hung doors" - and are usually 80" high - again not including the door frame. We have found and engaged one VERY brave soul who is going to take the necessary steps to remove the existing door and modify the opening to accomodate a new pre-hung door tht will swing inward. THIS IS EXCITING!! The door will arrive any day now! Once re-construction begins, I will have to be without my crafting space for a few days. That's not too much of a problem, however, I don't wany all my supplies and tools covered in sawdust and other nasties - hopefully they won't be wet nasties! So I am spending my time sorting, temporarily re-locating and covering my surfaces with protective barriers. While I would just LOVE to be creating with my Labor Day Weekend "free" time, that will have to wait for a bit. In the end, I will be glad this has been done! However, at this moment, I am ENDURING the process, all the while reassuring myself that it will be better in the end. It will be better in the end. . . It WILL be better in the end. . . IT WILL BE BETTER in the end!!

New Times, New Blog!

Through the recent pandemic, I've been as isolated as I neede to be to protect myself, my family, my crafting buddies and my clients from becoming ill. Being this sort of confined opened opportunities for continued growth in the crafting world. This has brought me a lot of happiness and made some of it shareable with those I care about. The first thing I was able to do was to turn an outbuilding into. . . The Art Barn!! It's not very big - about 12 feet square, but it has 2 lofts for storage and with the shelving, craft table and organizational items, has been a life-saver - well more of a sanity-saver - over the past several years! Since setting everything up, I have been collecting stamps, dies, papers and other embellishments for creating hand made cards for all occasions. Christmas card greetings for the holidays are items I have created during times gone by, but I'm adding to my skills and collections. Cards for birthdays, graduations, special events and others can be pricy! I checked out Target several years back and at that time a hand-made card was more than $7.00. It doesn't take long for that to translate into $100.00 or more and the crafting items will allow many more than the 12 or 13 cards that $100.00 will buy. Even from other outlets such as Dollar Stores and grocery or variety stores, the occasions rack up quickly. Tatting contiinues to be my primary crafting focus, although I have also renewed my interest in knitting and sewing. I'm sure there will be more to come - with Autumn and Winter approaching, outside times will become inside times.