AP Article!

I have some exciting news about my other website, the SwapDex. About a month ago I got an email asking if I would like to be interviewed about the SwapDex an I said sure! The article is by Holly Ramer, who writes for the Associated Press so the story will hopefully be picked up by many newspapers and websites! Here it is:
WHICH CRAFT: Swapping handmade goods online

Thanks so much to Holly for writing a fantastic article and hopefully getting more people interested in swapping that may never have known about it before!

And now everyone knows my last name. And I bet none of you pronounce it correctly but I forgive you. :)

4-H 4-Ever

This has been a very 4-H few days! I found some great old 4-H manuals at a garage sale. They were on a table full of cookbooks with no price and I totally expected them to cost far more than the 10 cents each I was asked to pay! Bonus, one of them had 4-H meeting notes and a ribbon inside! Mary Ann, the books' owner, made steak kabobs from the outdoor meals handbook. My favorite is Teen-Time Food Fare, where we learn how to go on a date, take a quiz about "Vin, Vigor and Vitamins" and get the recipe for cheese crackers, choco-mint fluff and bacon and pickle spread!

Were you in 4-H? Did you know 4-H even existed? Or that it still exists? Well, I was in 4-H for most of my childhood (ages 9-18) and though we have no children, I am still involved in 4-H. This week I have been grading 4-H Record Books. A 4-Hers record book is like their yearly log of projects. What they accomplished, how much they spent and won, what they learned, what community service they participated in and more! At the end of the 4-H year, they turn their record books in to the county office and leaders like me grade them, award the top record keepers and encourage everyone to keep up the good work next year. Looking through my own record book, you learn that in 1992 I raised a lamb, sold her at auction at 80 pounds and lost exactly $31.50 in the process.

I also teach 4-H dog training classes for 4 months every spring. It's a tough thing for me, because the kids are so varied in age, experience and their dogs are varied as well. Small child + big dog = disaster for the first few classes and if they aren't persistent enough, sometimes it's sad to see them just stop coming to class. Sometimes parents are the problem, especially parents who compete in dog sports and are all about winning, even if it means training the dog themselves. (NOT what 4-H dog training is about! 4-H dog training is much more for the kids than the dogs.) And when July rolls around and we've sweated our way through another dog show, sometimes I am so glad it's over for another year. But inevitably, later in the year, I start thinking of ways I could improve the class, ideas to make it more fun and pack more skills into each lesson. That happened last week, so 4-H is on my brain. I hope each year to improve as an instructor so any tips are always appreciated!

And now, a craft! If you were in 4-H (or Pony Club or FFA or competed in any kind of activity where ribbons were awarded) you no doubt have a surplus of ribbons. I know I did, boxes and boxes of them! I made this wreath and now I'm going to tell you how!

Supplies:
Wire or grapevine wreath form in the size you'd like your wreath to be
Rosette ribbons
paperclips
floral wire or other fine gauge wire

Prepare your rosettes:
No one wants to clip off those wonderful streamers from the ribbons they worked so hard to earn! No worries, you don't have to. To prepare each rosette for attaching to our wreath, we roll up the streamers and paperclip them in back to the cardboard backing. Should you ever want to remove them and display them on all their streamery glory, just remove the paperclips and iron on a low setting to remove the folds.

Plan your layout:
Once you have a bunch of rosettes, practice your layout on your wreath form. See how many rosettes you are likely to need, how many layers you can fit on and how full you like your wreath to look.

Attach rosettes to wreath:
When you have decided on placement, it's time to begin attaching. Secure your wire to your wreath form as an anchor, then choose your first rosette. There are two ways to attach rosettes. If they have a hole for hanging already, you can simply thread the wire through and twist the wire to secure it to your form. This will give your wreath a dangle-y look and it is harder to arrange and re-arrange your rosettes though since they hang where they like. The way I prefer to attach them is to secure your wire to the form as before, then wrap the wire UNDER the cardboard backing all the way around the rosette a couple of times and then securing your wire to your wreath form in a second location. This makes for a much sturdier construction and the flexibility to rearrange by twisting them a bit and snugging the wires. The wire is also completely hidden by this method! These pictures show some examples of how to fold and paperclip your streamers and how the rosettes are arranged on the wreath.

Dog show weekend

This weekend was an APDT Rally Trial weekend for us. Sully and I compete in both APDT and AKC competitions but anyone who competes in both will tell you they enjoy APDT much more because of the friendly atmosphere and camaraderie. I won't bore the non-dog people will all the details but Sully was his usual star self, earning a third place in one trial and a qualifying score (but no placement) in the other. Later this month we will attend our regional Corgi specialty and compete in AKC rally's second level , which is called Advanced.

Vintage Apron Swap arrived!

Another swap that I can check off as received by both my partner and I! Love it when the mail works like it's supposed to.

My partner, Apron Thrift Girl, got her package and loved it! Hooray! Here's her post about it.

And today mine came! This is such a unique apron! It's got pockets in front and back and can be closed up like a pouch with a drawstring! Perfect for gathering fruits and veggies, or for taking small items like clothespins or gardening gloves out to the backyard with you.

Along with the apron, she sent candy! And a cute little notebook and some lovely lace trim. Thanks so much for the lovely package!

Mmmm, bread!

On Saturday, we made bread. I am NOT a bread baker, no matter how well I follow the directions or how many times I try, something always fails. Except with this recipe.

It is the Challah from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. This book has been talked about to no end online and it is really neat. Now, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. If you go to the amazon reader page for this book, and search for Challah, you can get the recipe for free! The same goes for any other recipe that you'd like, maybe the Blueberry Lemon Curd Ring or the Onion Rye. Find a recipe in the index that you'd like to try, look for it using the search function and there you have it! Now, you won't be able to copy and paste so having a laptop comes in handy so that you can read it online while you bake.

We made a whole recipe which makes several loaves. We made it into one loaf on Saturday and another loaf and a batch of cinnamon rolls later on.

Crafty supplies for a cause!

Just wanted to quickly plug Joyful Abode's raffle. Emily took in a lost pup and is sheltering (and vetting) him until an owner can be located or a new family adopts him. How generous and kind and caring! Buy a raffle ticket, help with vet costs and maybe win some really nifty stuff!

Out of Doors

It was a very orange day in the garden today! A tomato, a pepper and a pumpkin!


And all my hostas are preparing to bloom. This is right outside the back door, in our courtyard area.
This is a recent project, my new compost pile! I had a compost pile at the rental house but having moved in here in February, it was hardly weather to make a new pile here. But everytime I threw away an apple peel or egg shell, I felt like I was throwing good nutrients and next year's compost out the window! What a waste of good soil amendments! So I finally got around to putting some poles in the ground and wrapping it with hardware cloth.

My compost tips:
-My compost pile is about 3 feet square and is made from 4 metal T-posts and 1 roll of 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth. Cheap and easy!
-I've seen a lot of plans for circular compost piles that are just hardware cloth made into a cylinder. My question for these is, how exactly do you stir the pile if's completely enclosed? I prefer an open pile that I can dig into with a stick or pitchfork each time I add something new. Stirring is important to compost to evenly break down all components.
-Make sure your compost pile is in a shady area. Sunshine will dry it out too fast and bake the organic matter to a crisp, not letting it decompose to a nice, rich compost.
-They (compost experts) say to water it frequently. I think this is a waste of water. A good pile, built in a shady spot, will keep a nice moist interior without your help. Yes, it may take a few more months for your pile to ripen but what do you have more of, time or money for a high water bill? I'll let you decide. (I don't water many things, besides seedlings right after their planted. I am stingy with the water.)
-If you have dogs, either make sure your pile is enclosed, add a gate to the front (hardware cloth panel or wooden pallet) or (if you have a dog like Sully who won't dig too much) make sure each time you add choice bits like melon rind or corn cobs that you bury them down in the leaves and grass clippings.
-Do not add meat, dairy products, sugary items or dog/cat poo. Plants like to eat other plants so keep it limited to veg. matter, and maybe some egg shells if you bury them well to keep the rodents out. If you have chickens or rabbits, their poo is just fine. Plant-eaters' poo=good, meat-eaters' poo=not good. Newspaper is ok if you shred it and don't add too much at one time. Large branches and wood chips will need to be sifted out for several cycles before they will decompose so I try not to add those.
-I keep an old Tupperware container on the counter (think Rachel Ray's garbage bowl) that I put scraps in and take out every day. I like something that is sealable just in case you have ants that crawl in the window screen like we do!

Another recent addition to our back porch is this bench, but it is not new to me. My parents have had this bench since before I was born. They found it at a garage sale, missing on spindle. My dad took the bark off a branch, whittled the ends and stuck it in there. When I mentioned to my mom that I wanted a storage bench for taking my shoes off and storing garden tools, she offered it to me but come to find out, years of being left on the back porch at their house had left it in disrepair. My dad was kind enough to rebuild it and paint it black, just for me! I love having something that has been a part of our family for so long. No, it's not an heirloom from hundreds of years ago, but the story behind it reminds me of what frugal, resourceful people my parents are.

I did it

So, labor day weekend got me in a painting mood so I did it! It's green! Very green! Asparagus to be exact. I love it and best of all, husband loves it!

Yes, my kitchen is always a mess. Hopefully the green draws your eyes up and away from the overflowing garbage and the dishes in the sink!

Yo-yo tutorial

I have posted a new tutorial on Instructables for quilting with yo-yos. If you've ever wanted to make yo-yos but never quite understood how to make them or attach them to each other, check it out! I have entered it in the Craft Skills contest so if you're an Instructables member, I'd really appreciate your rating and, later on in the process, your vote.

Belated post

There were several great posts in celebration of the late Tasha Tudor's birthday last week including this wonderful one from Cathy of The Christmas Corgi Blog. I was introduced somewhat late in life (I'm only 27, so how late could it be? But I didn't know a thing about her until a few years ago so what do I say? Middle-off in life?) Having corgis predisposes you to Tasha Tudor exposure. Tasha items are quite popular for auctions that benefit corgi causes such as the yearly Corgi-Aid auction. Her drawings remind me of my mother's, untrained but with an unhesitatingly honest and gentle, and with a humble knowledge of the world behind them. And I admire and aspire to her work ethic and simple lifestyle. I think she would like this picture of Sully all dressed up in a fairy saddle and flower garland.

I never got a hand-drawn card from her like Cathy was lucky enough to get! But Sully got a letter from her corgis!

One of Sully's hobbies is writing to famous dogs (especially corgis) and waiting to see if he gets letters back! Tasha's corgis were one of the few dogs to ever write back. Do you know of any famous corgis or dogs that he could write to next? He has written to several politician's dogs, including Barney and Miss Beazley, those famous Scotties, and Jackson and Dave, the VP's labs. The queens corgis did not respond, sadly. And neither did Stephen King's corgi, Frodo. Martha Stewart's dogs' people wrote back a boring canned response, I bet they didn't even notice it was a dog writing to them despite his own stationary with paw prints on it!