How to Crochet in a Circle

Click on the picture for a short cut to a tutorial I did on how to crochet in a circle round.

The world is full of circles. From beginning to end. Tomorrow I am going in for emergency oral surgery and it's hard for me to keep reminding myself that this is just part of my path and circle. You, my friends where ever you may be this day are also part of my circle and I am part of yours. Today I ask for a little bit of your strength. I am very scared for tomorrow. I have an infection three inches away from my brain that is worse than we had previously thought... To keep my cool tonight I am blogging and asking you all to be with me in spirit, warmth, and prayer tomorrow. I will keep you all posted but I will be unable to respond tomorrow. Now on to the tutorial. This is something that I had a hard time finding easy instructions on how to do when I first started crocheting. I am no master at this by any means but I do find it enjoyable and hope that it is useful to someone out here in blog land. Hopefully I will be able to start making more elaborate doilies at some time but a simple circle can be used for many things such as; a pot holder, mug rugs, tea cozy, and doll wigs. As you progress you can used it to make balls, hats and bowls. I hope this helps. Have fun and please keep me in your thoughts. Appleshoe-
Update: I am home and recovering. More is posted on my Teacup Blog. Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts.

Winter Birds Art Swap

Starting from the top left: Chickadee , Cardinal, Titmouse (the one with a blue background in an ornamental crab apple tree), Nuthatch, and Blue Jay.
I joined an art swap hosted by Jillayne @ http://quiltingfabrications.blogspot.com/ I have been spending every spare moment between working on a garage sale with Mum, a vacation, and getting the house ready for a puppy, trying to finish these squares. At last they are Done! The theme was Winter or Christmas related. I chose to make Winter Birds of Minnesota. They are made with beads, embroidery floss, felt, and wool rovings. The squares measure 5"x5". Each square will go to a different person, and five squares from five different people will be sent back. There are metal eyelets in each of their four corners. These will be used to string them together to make a wall hanging. It has been a lot of fun to participate in this art swap. I do hope whoever gets one of my squares likes them. I've had to get them back from my Mum a few times now. Maybe I will make her a set for Christmas. They were a lot of fun to make and I want to try to make other pictures in this style. Now I'm off to the post office. Where ever you are and what ever you are doing today have fun!

A special congratulations (long over due) to Beth for winning my first give away. I hope she enjoys them. She asked me to wait a week before sending them and I accidentally waited two. They are in the mail and hopefully will arrive before this weekend. Take care.

Cork Dolls

Soon Bear and I will be going to a family reunion at the beach. Last year Beth from http://acornpies.blogspot.com/ did a fabulous blog on how to make acorn people for the beach. If you have not visited her Blog before you may just want to pop in. She is a wonderful artist with a heart of gold especially when it comes to the little ones. I'm so happy to call her a friend. I fell in love with the acorn people she made and wanted to take them to the beach for the kids to play with this year. Acorns, however, are out of season right now. Here is my variation on how to make cork people. They are incredibly fast and easy to make. Because of their size they can still present a choking hazard, so I would not recommend giving them to anyone under the age of 4.

1. The supplies needed for this craft include, little straw hats, wooden beads for heads (Michael's sells pre-painted faces on wood beads in the doll making section). Screws that are long enough to go through the head and most of the body, but not long enough to go all the way through the body and leave a sharp point, high temp hot glue or waterproof wood glue, and a cork. I was able to get everything here at Michael's Craft Store except the screws (well and the corks, but you can buy corks at Michael's).

2. Screw the head and cork together. Right before the screw is all the way in put a dab of hot glue under the head to make it a little harder for little fingers to unscrew. Though it will be pretty tight without the glue.

3. Glue the straw hat on.

4. You are done! Wasn't that cheep, fast, and fun? They float face up. Bear and I put one in a bowl of water and had a blast poking it and watching it bob along. I can't wait to hand these out to the littles at the beach and see what wonderful games they have with these dolls. From sandcastles to shell tea parties whatever you are doing this week Have fun!

Match Sitck Rockets!

In honor of the Fourth of July I thought it would be fun to make Match Stick Rockets. I made these when I was little and had a blast (if you will excuse the pun). First you will need to make a launch pad. They can be made of just about anything that wont burn and will hold a match stick at a slight angle. One of these is made with a block of scrap wood and the metal part of a curtain hanger, one used a paper clip that is duct-taped down to a piece of wood for stability. and one is just a door stop covered in aluminum foil. The launch I used as a child had a hinge nailed to a piece of wood and a small metal tube soldered to the hinge. The scrap wood raises the launch up so that you can get under the rocket to ignite it, but I'm getting ahead of myself.1. For the rockets you will need a wooden match stick, pins, and a small piece of aluminum foil.
2. Take a small piece of aluminum foil and lay the match head on an edge. Place a pin on either side of the match head.
3. Be careful not to punch a hole though the aluminum foil and wrap the match head tightly. Slowly pull out the pins. There should be tiny tunnels where the pins were. These are the exhaust ports for your rocket. Be careful when handling the rockets to not crimp the small exhaust ports the pins have made.We noticed that regular kitchen matches are now bigger and have less phosphorus on the match head then when we were children. If you can find the regular smaller boxed matched the first rockets will work, if not you can cut the kitchen match in half and continue use the first set of instructions. I've also heard that you can scrape the phosphorus off of one match and put the powder in the aluminum cover and double the strength of your rocket.Take your rockets and launch pad outside. I recommend using your driveway as a launch sight. place the rocket on the launch pad with the match head overhanging the edge slightly. Use a lighter to ignite the rocket. Hold the lighter under the aluminum tip for a few seconds. The heat from the lighter will ignite the rocket. Be careful not to burn yourself and have a happy and safe Fourth of July...
Some safe tips if you are lighting your own fireworks are:
Don't cut the wicks smaller unless the instructions say to.
Do not stand directly over a firework as you are lighting it.
Once lit, step away!
Use ear protection for small children. The loud noises can harm their little ears.
Use bug spray.. Really.
HAVE FUN!!

Store Opening and Give Away!!!

It's open! Bear and I have spent all weekend photographing and cataloging all of my crafts; today a dream has been fulfilled. Today I open my online craft store. There is a link in my side bar. There are many more things that I still have to post, but at long last my store is up and running. A special thank you to everyone who has encouraged me along the way. As a special Thank you and to celebrate this milestone I am having my first Give Away. A lot of people seemed to like my mushroom pincushions. As a special thank you I am giving away one of my test pincushions and also one of my sets of two gnomes. A drawing will be held July 31st and the winner will be announced August 1st. The rules of the drawing are as follows:

1. Leave me a comment if you would like to be entered into this drawing on any of my blogs and you will be entered once.
2. Follow number 1 and become a friend and be entered twice into the drawing (people who are already following me and wish to be part of the drawing will be automatically entered twice).
3. Follow number 1 and 2 and help me spread the word of my store opening in your blog (send me the link) and you will be entered three times.

Thank you again for all of your support and encouragement.

How to cut a Love Apple

I hope that you all had a Happy Father's day. I'm happy to have my Father as a guest artist on my blog again today. I thought that it was fitting; AND it also has to do with apples. I do love apples. This "craft" is how to cut a love apple. A love apple is a special apple that is cut so that the two halves fit together like puzzle pieces. The love apple is meant to be shared with someone you love. My Father made these for my sister and I to share when we were little girls. I mangled several hundred apples trying to figure this out as a child. It does take practice to get it right.1. First you will need an apple and a sharp knife. 2. Cut straight down from the top of the apple. 3. Stop when you are about half way though the apple. Turn the apple 90 degrees and cut from the bottom up halfway through the apple.4. Then cut straight through the side of the apple. Stop when you are about half way through.
5. Here's the trick, you cut right at the corner of one of the cuts you made on the bottom, push the knife in about half way in (to the middle of the apple). Turn the knife as you turn the apple from the cut you just made to connect to the first cut you made from the top down on step #2. Count one more line over and then repeat that last step, connecting the bottom cut to the top cut on the opposite side. Use the photos, it will help
6. If it was cut right the apple should come apart with a slight tugging.
This is what is looks like when you are done. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial. Share an apple with someone you love and Have Fun!

The beginings

This is my craft room. It feels good to have a whole room dedicated to crafts. One day I will have to give this room up for a nursery but it looks like that is in the far future. My craft room is full of unfinished dreams. I love Sterilite containers. They make organization a snap. I have a DVD/VHS rack that my brother in law made. I turned it on it's side and it makes a perfect cubby to hide supplies and finished products in. I will be painting it white to match the Sterilite containers.This is the other side of my craft room. I put a beaded curtain across the closet to make it easier to get in and out when my hands are full.
So many crafts. One day (hopefully) soon I will open my craft shop online. Peg dolls for nature tables, mushroom pin cushions, Waldorf dolls, magic wands, necklaces, naturally dyed wood blocks. The list goes on and on. I've been a bit slow on updating this blog lately because I am trying to get things ready to launch. I wanted to open my store in January *sigh*
I've also been hindered by a myriad of medical conditions. Last night was a bad night, but being able to sit down and blog always seems to give me enough strength to go a little further. A special 'Thank you' to every one of you who has taken the time to leave a comment. You are my friends and my inspiration. It means a lot to me to log on and see that people are interested in what I have to show or say. Thank you.