Family Fingers

A super easy, fun family tree of sorts.  We did this this summer when visiting Iowa.  My brother just had his second and last child, so thought it would be a good time.  We contemplated several shapes, including a circle, but determined that this one worked the best.  You could hand write them out as well, but I have AWFUL handwriting, so computer it is.

Make sure you leave space for your prints.  I would highly recommend that you practice as well.  I found that less ink and less pressure on the paper was the best method.  For the frame I used modge podge and paper bags.  Tear the bags into pieces with no straight edges, past modge podge on the frame and the sack.  Apply to frame, making sure to overlap and cover the edges.  The final step I did was to go over then entire frame with a thin coating of the modge podge.   As the bags were done I and gave it a few minutes to dry.  Finially, I used a spray poly urethane so seal it and to make sure that it didn't tear.

Organized Pans...finally

Ok, so I have tried several ways to organize my pots and pans.  I have hung them from the pot rack....that didn't work so well 'cuz I am too short; if I hung them at my height, everyone else would hit their heads.  I stacked them in the cupboard.  Nope, because, invariably the one I needed was on the bottom.  Then I tried to use those plate rack things...nada.

Finally, I stumble onto.  Mostly due to Pintrest.  I love Pintrest.  I try not to spend too much time there, but, well, I love Pintrest.  Anyway, here is the solution I came up with.  Hope you enjoy too.

Super easy, cheap, and best of all, IT WORKS!  Use hooks, inside a cupboard to hang those pots and pans!  You can also use a towel bar attached to the wall to hold the lids, or one of those stacky plate rack things too.  I love this!

Recovering a sling back chair

I copied this from e-how...worked fabulously.  I had to use the fixed-bar method.  I did make a couple of changes, which I included in parenthesis.

• 1.  Examine the chair construction. Note whether the head and seat bars detach to enable you to slide the old sling off the frame.
• 2.  Remove the fasteners that attach the header and seat bars to the chair frame, using a Phillips or flat-head screwdriver, Allen wrench or star driver, depending on the type of fastener holding the chair frame together. Use a power drill to remove dowel pegs if needed.
• 3.  Remove the head and seat bars from the casings. Lay the sling fabric flat. Measure its length from casing seam to casing seam and add 8 inches. Measure its width and add 4 inches.
• 4.  Cut a new piece of fabric to the dimensions from Step 3. Cut a piece of fabric 48 inches long and 34 inches wide, for example, if the original sling measures 40 inches long from casing seam to casing seam and 30 inches wide from left to right.
• 5.  Lay the fabric right-side down on a flat work surface and spread a damp cotton bath towel over it. (I used a steam iron, no towel).The right side of the fabric is prettier, shinier or smoother than the wrong side.
• 6.  Turn the iron to the synthetic setting if you are using recycled PET fabric. Use the high or cotton setting for cotton or hemp fabric.
•  7.  Press the newly-cut piece of sling fabric using a smooth motion, beginning in the center of the fabric and working out to the edges.
• 8.  Remove the towel and fold the sling fabric down 1 inch along each short end. Spread the towel over the sling fabric again and press along the folds.
• 9.  Fold the fabric down 3.5 inches at each end to create the casings for the head and seat bars. Lay the damp towel over the fabric again. Spray the towel with tap water if needed.
• 10. Press along the folds in a smooth motion, beginning at the center and working to the left side of the fabric, which creates the first casing. Repeat to press from the center to the right side, which creates the second casing.
• 11. Face one of the long sides of the fabric, with the casings at your right and left. Raise the needle on your sewing machine to its highest position and lift the presser foot.
• 12. Make sure the fabric is still laying right-side down. The right side is the prettier, smoother or shinier side of the fabric. Move the new sling until the casing on the left side is under the presser foot.
• 13. Stitch along the right side of the left-hand casing -- which is the side with the most layers -- leaving a 1/4-inch seam allowance between the position of the needle and the open edge of the casing.
• 14. Repeat to stitch along the left side of the right-hand casing, leaving the same 1/4-inch seam allowance. Turn the sling fabric right-side up.
• 15. Slide the head and seat bars through the casings. Have a helper hold the seat bar in place, if needed, while you attach the head bar using the original fasteners. Attach the seat bar.

Fixed-Bar Slings

• 16. Slide one point of the scissors between the head bar and the casing. Cut the casing from the head bar.
• 17. Slide one point of the scissors between the seat bar and the casing. Cut the casing from the seat bar.
• 18. Lay the old sling on a flat work surface. Face one of the long sides of the sling, with the casing folds at your right and left. Measure the sling from casing fold to casing fold and add 4 inches. Measure across the short side and add 4 inches as well.
• 19. Cut a piece of recycled PET, cotton or hemp fabric to the dimensions in Step 3. Lay the fabric right-side down on a flat work surface so that you are facing one of the long sides.
• 20. Fold the fabric over 1 inch along each short end. Press the fabric using a damp towel and a steam iron on the low or synthetic setting for PET fabric. Use the high or cotton setting for cotton or hemp fabric.
• 21. Fold the fabric over 1 inch at each end again and press the fabric as stated in the previous step. (I also sewed the long and short ends after pressing them.  Thought it would hold the shape longer/better).  Mark grommet positions every two inches, beginning 1/2 inch from the left corner closest to you and working toward the left corner farthest from you.
• 22. Use a hole punch or the point of a pair of scissors to make a hole for each grommet. Sort the grommet tops, which have a longer tube sticking upward, from the bottoms, which have a shorter tube or none at all.
• 23. Push a top-half grommet through the first hole. Position the top-half grommet cloth-side up in the groove on the grommet anvil.
• 24.  Place a bottom-half grommet curved-side down or tube-side down over the tube of the top-half grommet. Place the grommet-setting tool in the hole of the bottom-half grommet. Strike the grommet-setting tool firmly several times to set the grommet.
• 25. Repeat until all grommets are set. Position the fabric so you are facing one of the long sides, and the right side of the fabric still faces the table.
• 26. Measure 6 inches from the center of each grommet at the left side of the sling and make a mark. Repeat for each grommet at the right side of the sling.
• 27. Set grommets at each marked position, as described in previous steps.
• 28. Turn the sling so that the right side of the fabric faces the ceiling. Cut two lengths of PET or cotton rope twice as long as the width of the sling, plus 6 to 8 inches.
• 29. Tie a large knot of your choice in one end of each rope. Have a helper drape the left end of the sling over the head bar of the chair frame, and line up holes in the two rows of grommets.
• 30. Working from the back of the chair frame, push the rope through the first pair of grommets. Pull until the knot is tight against the back of the sling.
• 31. Weave the rope back through the second pair of grommets, up through the third and all remaining pairs. Knot the rope after pulling it as tight as you can.
• 32. Repeat Steps 14 through 16 to attach the sling to the seat bar

  Hope this is helpful!  

What to knit today

So I'm not a huge knitter.  But I like it.  And more importantly I like, or rather love, yarn. All colors, textures, kinds.  I know two stitches.  Knit and purl.  If you can do a knit stitch, you can do a purl; they are opposites of each other.  However, this is not a knitting lesson.  If you want to learn to knit, use youtube.

I have discovered the square.  Yes, the square.  If you can knit a square, you can make all kinds of cool things.  Two squares together and you have a bag.  Two squares with a rectangle between them and you have another bag.  Take a square and fold it in half and you have a hat (after stitching up the sides)..I would recommend it for a child... take the same square (well actually a different square, but whatever) and fold it in half again and stitch up the sides leaving a hole and wa-la you have fingerless gloves.  Several squares together and you have a blanket.  Use one square and sew it to fabric and stuff in a pillow. Heck, use two and forget the fabric.  Seat cover, book cover, glasses case, Nook case, laptop case.  A really long one into a scarf.  Sew the ends together and it is an infinity scarf.  Make a skinny one and you can put it around your Starbuck's coffee to keep your hands from burning.

The possibilities are endless.  Now get knitting!

Coldmeal

This is apparently NOT a new deal.  For me it is.  I found the original recipe on Pintrest, but have since branched out.  We call it coldmeal at my house, (Cold Oatmeal) and I know there are several other names for it.  We made blueberry and maple syrup, chocolate and banana, and craisen.  The blueberry and craisen we by FAR the favorites of the group.  The chocolate was *gasp* too chocolaty.  Next up is chocolate and peanut butter.  Sounds yummy.

Anyway, these are super easy, inexpensive and fun to make.  Great, fast, awesome breakfast for busy families.  And whose family isn't busy?!

1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup regular (Not steel cut or instant) oatmeal
1/4 Greek yogurt (I used vanilla)
 Shake up these ingredients in a 1/2 pint mason jar.  After it is mixed, open the lid and add either a tbls of maple syrup and blueberries, or craisens, or bananas and cocoa.  Re-lid the jar, put in the frige and enjoy in the morning!  Super Yummy!

Mouse in the house

Here's hoping that I have discovered my inner muse...or perhaps I should say mouse?  I really would like to try and blog regularly and about crafty things that I care about.  So, here goes.  I decided that today was the day.  I am going to be crafty for me and no one else.  I love to make stuff, see my creations come to life, get hot glue on my fingers (a little creepy, I know) .  

Why should a doorstop just be a doorstop?  Ugly and clear, or worse yet, uglier and brown.  Yucky.  So, I busted out the leftover wool, and covered my door stopper with it.  In fact, I turned it into a mouse.  Now, I know we generally don't invite mice into our homes, but I thought this was a cute little mouse complete with whiskers and a sparkly tail.  And he is not going to get into my food.  Or leave little surprises in the pantry. 

Give it a go, it is super easy.  

1.  Find a door stop

2.  Gather some left over fabric

3.  Hot glue fabric to stopper

4.  Wa-la you are done and your plain, old, boring door stop is now spruced up!  

 

Origination and Development of Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Signs

 I became interested in the Pennsylvania Dutch, both their furniture and their painting, when reading and studying the Asheford material on this matter.  I found it fascinating that there were certain colors used, coupled with the utilitarianism of the furniture.  How typical of humans that we take something that we must have, a barn in this case, and make it beautiful within the bounds we are capable of.  Thus developed a love and interest of the specific painting to this region of people.  The origination and development of Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs seemed the logical choice of an AIA essay.

When researching the Pennsylvania Dutch, one of the first discoveries is that there are several names referring to these people.  One, obviously, is Pennsylvania Dutch, but they are also called Pennsylvania Germans, and possibly the best known, “fancy” Dutch.  (folkart.com).  Thus called to distinguish them from the “plain” Dutch or Anabaptist’s who did not assimilate quickly or easily into American mainstream (wikipedia.org).  We would call these people Mennonites or Amish.  

The Germans began to make their way to North America in the late 1600’s to escape what seems constant war and destruction in Germany and Switzerland.  Most emigrated to England first; of these, over half were sent to Ireland to bolster Protestantism there.  The rest were sent to North America.  Eventually, many from Ireland also emigrated here as well.  

When established, finally in Pennsylvania, the Germans employed farming techniques learned in Europe; these were astonishingly successful in their adopted land.  With most of their time dedicated to farming, and no extra money, painting and decorating was by necessity and practicality not necessarily for looks.  As their lives developed and paint became affordable, look and comfort became more important.  To accessorize their barns and homes, they turned to their quilts; there they found the shapes and colors they preferred; the logical next step was to apply these same shapes and colors to their buildings (wikipedia.org).

There was little painting prior to 1830, as the cost was astronomical, so the development of hex signs didn’t really get started until shortly thereafter, around 1860 or so (amishnews.com).  The Pennsylvania Dutch tended to stay with shapes they were familiar with and that had meaning for them.  Some of the symbols were Distlefink, Double Headed Eagle, Tulips, Hearts, and several geometric shapes, the oldest most likely being the Rosette.   Each of the symbols possessed a meaning as well.  See the following list:

• Crescent Moon:  the four seasons
• Distlefink:  good luck and happiness
• Doves:  friendship, peace, happiness, purity
• Eagle: strength, courage
• Heart:  love, true and everlasting; love for others
• Oak Leaf:  long life, strength, endurance
• Pineapple:  welcome and hospitality
• Raindrops:  water, crop abundance, fertility
• Rosettes:  good luck
• Scallops:  smooth sailing in life
• Stars:  good fortune, hope, love, fertility
• Tulips: Faith, hope, charity, and trust (folkart.com).

As with shapes and symbols, colors also held significant meaning.  Blue: protection, peace, calmness and spirituality.  Brown:  friendship and strength; green, growth and fertility.  Orange meant abundance and purple sacred things.  Red dealt with emotions and white, purity.  Yellow represented health, love of mankind, and connection to God (folkart.com).  Due to the age of the Hex Signs, the colors were ones that would be found in nature.  
While the term hex means many things, within our frame of reference it most likely is not negative.  There are several thoughts associated with the term Hex Signs.  One is the Pennsylvanian Dutch word ‘hex’ which in fact means witch.  This is probably not the original derivative as Hex Sign wasn't applied to this decoration until after 1924 and Wallace Nutting’s book Pennsylvania Beautiful was published.  In this book, Nutting wrote that barn signs were used to ward off evil spirits.  A second thought is based on the 1929 coverage of a witchcraft-related murder in York County.  The news media introduced the word hex to the American public at this time (ancestry.com).  
Yet another interpretation is “Chust for nice” in the local dialect.  As stated by amishnews.com, “the meanings we find in the hex signs are ethnic identity, ethnic pride, and the pure joy of colorful decoration.”  A popular belief stems from the previous idea as well; as the state of Pennsylvania tried to dissolve the German language and culture, the increased display of hex signs with the result.  Yet another thought follows the idea that a favorite symbol of these paintings were of the six sided star; the word six in German is “sechs” which sounded like “hex” to the English speaking neighbors (padutch.com).

With all of these varying interpretations, we will probably never know the true roots of the Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Signs.  My guess is that it is probably a combination of several

of these theories.  Part of the beauty is the mystery behind where they came from.  If we
knew without a doubt, they would without a doubt, be less popular and certainly less fascinating.