SEEING GOD IN LITTLE THINGS

I've neglected to blog lately as I've been busy sorting through boxes and boxes of ceramic paints, glazes and underglaze and boxes of bisque that were hastily packed in boxes and stored in a room upstairs when my basement flooded in the last big flood and since I couldn't deal with it because of major surgery, everything just stayed there in it's chaos. Nothing was labeled so it would have been a monumental task to find any particular bottle of product.

Now I have made a decision and I'm not going back. Everything, I mean everything must go but first I have to sort and wipe the clay dust  and label everything so I have an idea of what I have. I have enough of Duncan Ceramic products to supply a ceramic studio for years.  There used to be hundred of ceramics shops around the province but they all closed and all that I can see are Ceramic Cafe where you can buy a piece of bisque that you paint and they dip it in the glaze for you and then you pick it up, paying a hefty price. Things are not like they used to be. I'm not sure how I will proceed but I think that I'll call an auctioneer to take care of the whole thing once I'm done sorting through molds and everything.  I want my house back until that too gets too much for me.

Sorry, no pictures of my huge mess. Maybe later.  Here is where I found God this morning.

This is a picture of my Regatta Lobelia seedlings. As you can see the seed are so very tiny and even though I can barely see the tiny seeds, there is parentage in the DNA that goes way back to when God created this tiny flower. It has been manipulated by plant breeders to come up with this variety but man did not created it. It may be very small but God cares for it as much as He cares for the big things. So leave your cares to the Creator when it gets to be too much for you to bear.

Thanks for stopping in for a visit and for leaving your comment. Have a great weekend

OH NO...DARN IT...

As you know, on the 15th I posted my Grandmother's Trunk  Creative Challenge rug and then started to hook on that little primitive kitten rug kit that I won from Rugs and Pugs. I was happily hooking along and as I was swiveling my frame, I notice that there was a bit of resistance and I torqued a bit to turn it and the little piece of wood that holds the swivel ball cracked and fell to the floor. Now what... I was totally in shock. How could that have happened???  So I took my frame off the stand and glued the little piece of wood back together and put it aside to dry for a day or so feeling very disappointed that I couldn't work on the kitty rug.

Here you can see the little crack still visible but totally mended. My husband drew the pattern on a piece of cardboard and will make a replacement piece out of aluminum on his metal lave.   I hope that the piece will hold for a while.

Here you can see the piece from the other side. 

Since I couldn't hook, I decided that now was a good time to make a cover for my frame since I tear my hands so often on those sharp gripper bars. An octagonal  frame has so many sharp corners. I thought that the worsted wool plaid skirt that was unusable for my fine cuts would be just the right thing for my cover. It's soft and since it has some measured squares it would be easy to work and keeping the fabric straight.  I used the frame as pattern and cut the fabric 4 inches from the outer edge, but then I took off about an inch of fabric from each side that was close to the bottom bar for a better fit. 

I cut two identical pieces and I trimmed off some more fabric from the center so the hole would be bigger when sewed together so that I would have a larger work area and at the same time just cover the sharp gripper strips.

I folded and pinned the inner edges together and sewed all the way around as neatly as I could. I'm no seamstress and I'm just feeling my way through this project.

Here is a close up of the inner seam.

Since  worsted wool tends to fray a lot I decided that I better zig zag the edges since I don't have a Serger sewing machine. You can see the two pieces divided. I zig zag both pieces.

A close up shot 

Now I folded and pinned the two sides together and carefully sewed around the outside edge leaving about an inch opening for the elastic band.

I then sewed another seam about 3/4 of an inch wide all the way around this time  to accommodate the 1/2 inch or 10mm elastic band.  I place the cover with the elastic face down under the frame and the smooth side face up.

Now I only have to be careful when I put the cover on my frame that I don't slice my hands on the sharp corner wires. I'm so pleased to have found a good use for this wool. I also used a piece of this wool to extend my little kitty may that didn't fit my frame and it holds better than jute on the frame.

Now today I finished hooking my very first primitive kitty rug and also my very first round rug.  All that is left to do on this is to whip the edge and add the binding tape.
I hope that this will help you make your very own frame cover if you have been hesitating to make one yourself.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave your comment.  JB