frogs_of_war

 Just after we got back from vacation, where we walked down into a cave,

climbed an obsidian hill,

and saw a falls 



I worked a lot of days in a row, then my mom came to visit before I'd even got the vacation laundry done. She wasn't feeling too hot, so she came for some babying, good food, and distraction from what was bugging her. So we had a craft day and made clothespin dolls

I did hair and hats, sketched out pattern pieces, and tied bows, Mom cut, glued, twisted, and planned her dolls.
My girl was going to be Little Red Riding Hood, but my mother gave her girl a red cape, so my girl became Adela

and then I made Clemens and Little Hans. They are from the fairy tale mashup I'm writing. Clemens married Adela because the valley elders (those who talk to the forest spirits) told him to. He'd had a helpless, hopeless crush on Johann, Adela's childhood sweetheart and first husband. They are raising little Hans together, but he wants the boy to learn about and love his first father.

Originally, these three characters were going to have names that meant bear (Bernard, etc), but I misplaced the list of all the character names, and renamed everyone. I didn't get a chance to make a peg doll of my Goldilocks character. His name is Ermin, and I'm not sure whether to put him in the formerly frilly nightgown he ran away from home in (now ripped, wet, and muddy) or in the man's trousers and woman's shirt and apron he favors after joining the little family.

Anyway, that reminds me that I found a bunch of videos on flower fairies my day off before my official vacation started and I want to show you my take but I can't find my two bigger mermaids and my Emil, Kurt, and Peregrine dolls set in the King's Dilemma story are not yet dressed for the occasion (should Kurt/Konur be wearing the loincloth from the beginning, or the silk robes he's in later? His hair is clean, so the robes would be better, but the loincloth would be so much easier) and they are not cooperating with being photographed.

So through this whole thing my desk has been getting messier and messier (I also made some felt kitten/babies and converted two t shirts into tank tops), so the place I work and write looked like this:



(That's Clemens upside down while I waited for his leg extensions to dry. The pipe cleaners beside him are his arms. My husband drilled holes in the pegs for us.)

It's slightly cleaner now. Slightly.

Before my mom arrived, I made caramels. I wanted to try some with hot chili oil in them because I'd tried some with pink pepper and they were good, so I put orange oil in half (I know my family likes this) and added a tiny bit of chili oil to the other half. It turned out richer (similar to what the orange does for it) but not spicy at all. I was a little disappointed. I also burned myself royally scraping the chili oil into the pan (the oil is very thick) with a molten-caramel covered spoon. I'm still in a bandage a week later. As long as I wear a hydrocolloid (blister) bandage it doesn't hurt. (just a big pink spot and tiny scab left)

My mom got the idea of trying peanut butter caramels. We couldn't decide whether the peanut butter should go in halfway through or at the end (before or after taking the temp). While I was at it I decided to add chocolate too. So I ended up with

My mom had two favorites, my daughter a different two. My sons each liked one, and my husband liked them all and wants me to add chocolate to my next regular batch.

But the biggest thing I discovered was I don't like peanut butter caramel. At all.

I made my first quilts every these last two days. One was made of paper (to cover the wifi extender that glows like a lighthouse all night), three are pockets sized (and will be pockets on an apron for my mother)  and the final one is about 16"x22" (to wrap around my tablet at night because its power switch glows). 

I used the exploding block method Charis shared with us (sew two same-sized squares together, cut one corner to corner, iron flat, sew on a square the same size as the new square, repeat), but I didn't like the massive triangles near the outside. I figured out that if I sewed two of these exploding squares together, those outside triangles become two. I also like it best with lines of solid color between the squares.

(I was going to put in pictures that matched what I was talking about, but instead you'll have to follow the links. Let me know if you can see them)

If I can find time to make a lap sized quilt, Charis, what's your excuse?

My latest trees:

The color came out wrong. The yellow table is actually unstained wood. The branches on the little blue tree were too wide at the base and not long enough at the top, so I tried a different technique for the next two. The bigger two trees were made using the same ratios. I've decided the pink is a cherry and the red is an oak. From base of the tree to top leaf the trees are 1½", 2" and 3". The tallest tree took three hours to bead and wrap, but then only an hour or so to shape (that is the fun part).

This gives you size (that is the mint tin I wrapped the wire  - the long way round - for the two inch tree):

I think my best work is after the third or forth of something made close together. These are the pendants I made over the last few days.


After the first three (beads too small, beads too big, wire too big), I laid down money for some green beads. I really like the center two. (The ear bud is to show size) The one with fruit is my favorite. The lower two were made while not watching Green Lantern. It was much easier to be entertained while not looking at the screen. My husband and I had fun crafting and spotting who was what Star Wars character. He made this:



Then I tried my hand at a 3D tree. It's in the pot of rocks that keeps my lamp from getting top heavy (the top shelve has plants on it). I think it will live that way for a while. It's about twice as big as I was after, so it's taken me far longer than I wanted, plus I'm not sure what I want to hang off of it. I don't really want to buy anything.