Aunt Ellen’s Lace

Wobbling Along

Undergoing new chemical treatments for intractable pain isn’t an easy process. As my neurologist says, “You can’t make omelets without breaking some eggs.”
Though I am receiving relief from the constant body-wide pain of Fibromyalgia, I am unable to move very well. I feel as though my body is a bag of wet cement. It shifts slowly as I try to move, but weighs me down and negates the ability to move quickly or accurately. It is dangerous when walking past the top of the steep staircase when you have a wobble in your step.

I haven’t felt confident enough to drive while on these meds, and when I do get out I am quickly exhausted and grateful to get back home. Being home hasn’t hindered my skin care project until now.

At the point where I have product to sell my body needs down time, and I am lost just before Christmas with no way to sell my products or even to catalog my products in a price list and information list form with photographs.

My hope is that those who have shown interest in my skin care project will still be interested in learning about better skin care after the holidays.

This batch of first recipes will be significantly cut down to a hand full of products, and my glass jars will change when The Kitchen Witch Creations skin care line hits shelves in January.

I had missed being able to post…

…while I had technical difficulties with WordPress and GoDaddy issues. Hopefully that is done now that I have upgraded my hosting plan. It’s all Greek to me, but now I am back at it.
The last month or so I have spent day and night at my wood stove stirring up some wonderful creams and butters for face and body. Now that the creating part is done, I am switching over to photographer. I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to photography. I do take all the photos and process them for this site, but now I have small bottles and jars to capture through the lens…

Ms. Ma and the Music Lesson

I never knew if her name was Ms. Mar, Ms. Maher, Ms…definitely not Miss…but, she was our grade school music teacher…and we called her Ms. Ma. Continue Reading…

Behind The Blogging Scene…

…I have been busy enjoying the season and working with the details of running my website. Continue Reading…

Pin Woven Pillow

In my previous posts on pin weaving I explained how to make a pin weaving board and showed a weaving project in process. To finish your new ‘fabric’ when you have filled your pin weaving board with your weavings, it is time to steam and remove it from the board.

As all the yarns I used are wool I want to shrink them into a mat with a hot iron and steaming while the weaving is still on the pins. Spray with water and press – straight up and down – and let cool and spray and press again. Leave it to cool and dry on the pins before pulling the pins out of the board. I used glass headed silk pins which are very thin. Most of them bent beyond reuse so I recommend sturdy pins without plastic tops. Though the chances of melting a pin head while pressing is low if your pins extend from the weaving board surface, you don’t want to deal with plastic stuck to your iron sole plate in the middle of pressing.

Turn the weaving over and repeat the spraying and pressing then let it cool and dry flat. I used a silk Organza pressing cloth to reduce the chance of burning the wool.

Cut a piece of iron-on interfacing slightly smaller than the weaving. I used a black interfacing used for needlework backing from the local JoAnn’s. I can’t find it on their website. Iron on the interfacing on the backside of your weaving. Make sure to let it cool flat before continuing.

Cut the weaving into a square. Save the longer cuttings for another project. I used a serger to cut and finish the edges at the same time.

I decided to use my woven fabric for a pillow cover. I made the solid wool backing from recycling a wool woman’s blazer that I cut apart and felted. Sewing three of the sides I attached large snaps to the fourth side so I could remove it from the pillow insert for cleaning. When putting this much time and effort into a pillow cover, spend a little more and get a quality pillow form.

The ironing of the wool does change the fuzziness of the yarns which I like. Before constructing the pillow cover I use a battery powered WAHL  pet shaver to remove the fuzzy surface. This tool is also perfect for shaving accumulating fuzz, but be careful to use the guard and keep the shaver parallel to the surface to not cut into the fabric.

Sew the pillow together at three sides and attach the fourth side as you desire. I use this pillow daily and it holds up very well though it deserves to be treated as an heirloom.

Making Heirloom Tomato Pin Cushions

I got the urge to make a wool Tomato pin cushion this morning when I was playing with some new wool fabric I purchased at Wool & Goods for Primative Rug Hooking.

I googled for a pattern and found The Painted Quilt. What fun to have a quick and easy project that is both very useful and of heirloom quality.

Pin cushions are just that – for pins. Have you ever wondered what happened to all your needles? Pin cushions suck them deep into the center where you may never recover them.

With scraps from making the Tomato I also made a hand full of Strawberry Needle Cushions. Small enough to keep needles from disappearing and cute enough to just display.

I have old pattern weights they don’t seem to make any more. Bright yellow round O’s that fit perfectly over the gathered stitches that create the bottom of your Tomato.

I followed the directions from The Painted Quilt cutting a bias strip 6″ x 12″ long. The remaining triangles were the perfect size for making the Strawberries. I sewed along the folded long edge for the classic strawberry shape.

Stuffed with Corridale wool top, the lanolin is good for keeping your pins in perfect condition.

I do use a fabric glue or fray check on the wool edges to ensure long wear. I recommend also using FrayCheck at the end of the process to protect the edges of the ‘leaves’.

Being a kitchen witch is working with what you have on hand. I could have driven 10 miles to shop for green wool for the small amount I needed to finish the leaf top, but I threw an extra log on the woodstove and overdyed some tan and some dark grey wool with green Pro Chemical and Dye Washfast Acid Dye.

Other than the changes in using wool fabric, wool stuffing and using the O weight, I followed The Painted Quilt directions. I didn’t bother with a template for the greenery and I just cut them free hand.

Try it!

March Winds Bring April Baby Quilt

April Cornell floral fabric for the backing, setting squares and setting triangles to carry the four colors that make up the dancing blocks across the field of flowers.

Grandmother’s Quilt

They say a stitch in time saves nine, but why does it seem the only stitches I find myself sewing are in newly purchased clothing or home goods with poorly constructed seams, hems and sewn buttons.

Big business, no matter what you are paying at the register, is based on profit and greed - pay the worker as little as possible, make the product as quickly and cheaply as possible –  so they can spend more on promoting themselves and pocket more in the end.

 Greed is still master of the owner and the trickle down effect rarely trickles enough to positively effect the ones with the bent back, the arthritic hands, and the diminishing eyesight that bring the pieces together to make you the latest design.

Buy local, buy quality, buy directly, pay full price.

Pin Weaving With Hand Spun and Hand Dyed Wool Yarns

The Wood Stove Collection of hand spun wools which I dyed last winter were the basis for this Pin Weaving project… Continue Reading…